Tuesday, May 29, 2012
State Rep. Sandy Pasch highlights what she calls state Republicans’ unprecedented attack on women’s access to health care and information and fair pay remedies.
In light of Lilly Ledbetter’s recent visit to Wisconsin, I believe it is important to highlight the Wisconsin Republicans’ unprecedented attack on women’s access to health care and information and fair pay remedies this past legislative session. Instead of focusing on the real issues facing Wisconsin families, Gov. Scott Walker and legislative Republicans continually pushed forward extreme, ideologically driven attacks on women. As a prime example, they repealed Wisconsin’s pay equity enforcement law, which allowed victims of discrimination access to state courts to seek less-costly redress. Due to pay discrimination against women, the repeal will allow offending employers to keep $8 billion dollars a year in their own pockets that …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
A day after Gov. Scott Walker called recent jobs numbers inaccurate and sped up the release of federal statistics, the state Department of Workforce Development reported the state lost private sector jobs for the second consecutive month.
Employment has become central to the decisive recall battle for the state's top office, and Gov. Scott Walker experienced yet another setback Thursday as state labor officials reported the state lost 5,900 jobs in April. The new monthly data, which the state Department of Workforce Development stresses is preliminary and subject to revision, shows the state lost 6,200 private sector jobs, but added 300 government jobs, netting out at a loss of 5,900 non-farm jobs. The data was gathered through a survey of 3.5 to 5 percent of Wisconsin employers. Since December 2010, the month before Walker took office, the state has added a total of 400 jobs. It's the second consecutive month of private sector job losses in the state. The state's …
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Facing a recall election, the governor says new jobs numbers released Wednesday are a more accurate reflection of how the state is doing. Meanwhile, Democrats are calling the new report political spin and a stunt.
Gov. Scott Walker released a new set of job numbers Wednesday morning that showed the state gained 23,300 public and private sector jobs during 2011, up from a previously-reported drop of 33,900. The new numbers come from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, part of a national report due to be issued on June 28, according to an Associated Press report. With Walker pushing the announcement three weeks ahead of the June 5 recall election, reaction has been predictably and wildly mixed. Walker's campaign said the numbers more accurately reflect what is happening in the state. The data is comprised of reports issued to 96 percent of Wisconsin employers and makes the numbers "much more reliable," according to a news release. "With more…
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Kristopher Rowe tells supporters he's stepping aside and giving the floor to Rep. Sandy Pasch, who is going to run for Shorewood's new Assembly district formed by the Legislature's redistricting plan.
Kristopher Rowe, the man behind the failed recall effort against Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), said Wednesday he’s suspending his run for the state Assembly to clear the path for Democratic state Rep. Sandy Pasch. “I feel that it is in the best interests of the people that I wish to represent to step aside,” Rowe told supporters in a Facebook message late Wednesday night. “I have spoken with Representative Pasch … she has pledged to fight just as hard for you as I have. I believe she is genuine and she is not tied to the oligarchy that has lost sight of the people. With the GOP’s ongoing war on women we need strong leaders like Sandy in Madison," he wrote. Rowe announced his candidacy in October, saying that in light of the …
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Kelly Herda is organizing women across Wisconsin to march on the state Capitol, one of 50 coordinated national efforts
On Saturday, women in all 50 states are uniting against the War on Women and marching on their state capitols. Among them is a Bayside mom who is spearheading a minivan brigade to Madison, where women plan to hold hands and surround the Capitol from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Kelly Herda said recent legislative changes and what she calls outright sexist comments from local politicians are driving her to fight for the rights of her daughters. "I have three daughters who, right now, are being told they’re second-class citizens," Herda said. Earlier this month, Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) sponsored legislation that repealed the state's 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act, which gave victims of wage discrimination a better chance in court. Grothman was…
Friday, April 20, 2012
The state's largest and oldest reproductive healthcare organization announced Friday it would no longer offer medication-induced abortions due to recent legislation it described as "vague."
Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) joined state Democrats' cries of foul Friday over Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s announcement it would discontinue offering patients abortion medication in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. The non-profit reproductive healthcare provider's move follows Friday's activation of Act 217, signed into law two weeks ago by Gov. Scott Walker. The measure imposes criminal penalties for physicians who fail to follow established procedures in the new law. Teri Huyck, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said the measure is too "ambiguous and difficult to interpret." It requires a patient to visit the same doctor three times and the physician establish that women aren't coerced into abortion. …
Monday, April 16, 2012
The two-term representative currently lives in Whitefish Bay, but says she would move if she wins election to the new post formed by the legislature's redistricting plan.
The state Legislature's redistricting plan tilts the political makeup of the 22nd Assembly District from purple to red, leading incumbent Democratic Rep. Sandy Pasch to announce Monday she will run for the new 10th Assembly District representing Shorewood and part of Milwaukee. After two terms serving North Shore communities in the state Assembly, Pasch said if she wins the election she would move to Milwaukee or Shorewood. That 10th District seat is held by Milwaukee Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Coggs, who is believed to be running for state Senate. Kristopher Rowe, the organizer of the effort to recall Alberta Darling, has also announced his intentions to run for that Assembly seat. Pasch said she talked with Rowe about the seat a while ago…
Thursday, March 22, 2012
A three-judge panel ruled Thursday that congressional and legislative maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature will stand, except for those defining Milwaukee's south side because they fail to create a majority-minority district.
Top state Republicans were ordered to return to the congressional and legislative district map drawing board by three federal judges Thursday morning — but only for Milwaukee’s southern, Latino-heavy voting districts. The court ruled new lines defining Assembly District 8 and 9, drawn last summer by the Republican-controlled Legislature, violate the federal Voting Rights Act by breaking the Latino community on Milwaukee’s south side into two districts, failing to create a majority-minority district. However, the judges also ruled all other maps will remain in intact and dismissed other challenges. Lawmakers will need to quickly redraw the districts on Milwaukee's south side with elections approaching. Legislators are constitutionally …
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Local lawmakers issued dueling statements Thursday on the news that the state added 15,700 private-sector jobs in January.
The state added 15,700 private-sector jobs in January and the unemployment rate declined from 7 percent to 6.9 percent in December, according to a new state Department of Workforce Development report. “Wisconsin’s preliminary January unemployment rate of 6.9 percent is now the lowest it has been since December of 2008, and it remains well below the national rate,” department Secretary Reggie Newson said in a statement. State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) said she was pleased with the news and the job growth shows Republican reforms are moving the state in the right direction. But, she challenged Democrats over “good paying jobs” lost after the death of a mining bill that promised to bring 600 to 700 jobs to northern Wisconsin. “…
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Sen. Alberta Darling says the state missed a real chance at creating hundreds of jobs, while Democrats rejoice over the rejected bill.
Legislation that would have streamlined a new iron mine in northern Wisconsin appears dead, and local lawmakers have begun the finger pointing. Republican State Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills issued a statement Wednesday saying the Senate missed its chance to create an environment for hundreds if not thousands of good paying jobs, when it rejected the bill. “I am amazed to see senators, who have watched for years as MMSD dumped raw sewage into Lake Michigan, raise environmental concerns over a bill that provides real protections for the water near the proposed mine,” said Darling who represents Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, Fox Point and Menomonee Falls. “I will continue to look for real solutions, but I fear the Democrats in the Senate …
Sobbeger
6:43 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Pasch should crawl back into her bit%^ cave and only speak when us men ask her to speak! What a clown, but soooo typical of the other WI Liberal union-ista thugs! more ›