Is Wisconsin GoverNO! Scott Walker Biting The Hand That Fed Him?

Calm down, Scotty, calm down.

Watching Wisconsin public sector employees asserting their right to collective bargaining, I wondered whether GoverNO! Scott Parker was about to bite the hand that fed him – to fire, as he has threatened lately, more than a thousand state employees should he fail to get his way on ending meaningful collective bargaining for public sector employees. Interestingly, these are some of his own campaign contributors. So, last evening I visited Wisconsin’s Campaign Finance Information System (WCFIS) to see how many public school teachers contributed to Friends of Scott Walker, his campaign organization. I ran a search of the contributions database, and queried monetary donations only.

Although the number of public school teachers who contributed money to Scott Walker’s gubernatorial campaign was small, their contributions were generous. In all, these 37 public servants donated $10, 304.99 to help catapult Mr. Walker into the governor’s mansion. The average contribution is somewhat less useful than the median since four contributors gave more than $1,000, skewing the average to the high side. The median of $250, though, indicates that half the teachers gave less than that and half gave more.  These generous people included full-time teachers, of course. But there were also teachers aides; a substitute teacher; a music teacher; a teacher/librarian; retired public school teachers; and a special ed. teacher. 

The fact, though, that teachers gave contributions to Walker’s campaign is not a foolproof indication of their underlying reasons for doing so. The data provided by WCFIS doesn’t, of course, indicate whether they are union members at all. In fact, their motivations may be far from education issues altogether; some, maybe all, admired Walker for his stance on abortion (he’s against, regardless of the reason), or his fiscal conservatism. His beliefs about the importance of asserting state sovereignty move some, as well as his anti-tax stance. And, let’s face it, Scott Walker’s feelings about public sector unions have been well-known for many years, particularly in Milwaukee.  So anyone who didn’t, at the very least, suspect that a Walker governorship would not go easy on collective bargaining was not paying attention.

So, perhaps the list below does not reveal anything certain about the contributors at all. Yet, one can’t help wonder if a few of those teachers who gave their support to candidate Walker tonight sit near the state capitol, having marched and chanted all day, and entertaining some doubts and regrets . . .

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