U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) yesterday re-introduced legislation aimed at preventing bigger and heavier trucks from traveling on federal highways.

The Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act of 2013 (SHIPA) would apply the current tractor-trailer truck weight limit of 80,000 pounds and length limit of 53 feet to the entire national highway system (both interstates and smaller highways), and maintain certain exemptions, such as for firefighting equipment.

Although most truck size and weight restrictions already apply to the 44,000-mile interstate system, the bill would extend certain restrictions to the much larger 220,000-mile national highway system, Lautenberg said in a press release. The legislation also would expand the current freeze of triple-tractor trailer operations on interstates to apply to the broader national system, close loopholes that allow the operation of overweight trucks and establish an enforcement program to ensure accountability.

Bigger and heavier trucks pose safety risks, including longer stopping distances and increased risks of rollover or trailer swaying, said Lautenberg, adding that large trucks account for a disproportionately high share of deaths based on miles traveled compared with standard vehicle traffic.

“When super-sized tractor-trailers are on the road, they are a threat to drivers and the integrity of our highways and bridges,” said Lautenberg. “Trucks play a critical role in our nation’s economy, but they also share the roads with our families, so we must do everything we can to make our nation’s highways safer and prevent tragic accidents.”

SHIPA is co-sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) is sponsoring companion legislation in the House.

SHIPA is supported by Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Trauma Foundation, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Consumer Federation of America, AAA, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Parents Against Tired Truckers and Truck Safety Coalition. In addition, the Association of American Railroads and Coalition Against Bigger Trucks long have opposed any legislation that seeks to increase truck sizes and weights.

Teamsters members are concerned about the impacts of bigger trucks on a highway system that’s already in disrepair, said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in a prepared statement.

“It makes no sense to cause further damage to our highways and bridges when Congress hasn’t found a way to fund the much-needed repairs to our crumbling infrastructure,” he said.

“American-made” vs. “Buy American”

By Roger Simmermaker

May 11, 2013                                           

I always get a puzzled look when I ask people (usually when giving a speech) how many like to buy American-made products whenever possible, and then follow up that question by asking how many like to ‘Buy American.’ Most folks assume I just asked the same question two different ways.

There is a difference, however, between buying ‘American-made’ and ‘Buying American’ and it’s probably bigger than most would imagine.

‘American-made’ means exactly what it says and nothing more, which is to say that a product was made in America, regardless of ownership or parts content. ‘Buying American’ is a much broader term, however, which means that a product was made in the USA by an American-owned company with a high domestic parts-content within that product. So American-made is good, but Buy American is better…much better!

Perhaps the easiest example is to compare a Toyota made in the United States to a Ford made in the United States. Toyota is a foreign-owned company that uses fewer domestic (American) parts than Ford does (based on fleet-wide averages). When you buy an American-made Toyota, after the workers are paid to assemble the car or truck (which usually takes 20 hours or less), the profits go back to Japan to reward foreign owners, foreign investors, and foreign stockholders. And the taxes on those profits are paid to a foreign treasury instead of the United States Treasury.

Ford, for example (and GM as well) has more American plants than Toyota too so it is actually easier to find that American-made Ford than it is an American-made Toyota.

But the comparison of ‘American-made’ and ‘Buy American’ certainly isn’t limited to big-ticket items like automobiles. We can start right in the supermarket where we spend more of our time and probably more of our money.

For example, Clorox and Lysol are both disinfectants that are made in America for about the same price, but only one of them (Clorox) is American-owned. Lysol, which was sold off by Kodak in 1995, is owned by the British. Irish Spring and Jergens are both made in America, too, but Jergens is based in Japan. That means that a Jergens bar of soap made in America is still a Japanese brand of soap just like a Toyota made in America is still a Japanese car.

Both Prego and Ragu are made in the USA, but Prego is the only one owned by an American company. Prego is owned by U.S.-based Campbell Soup Company, but Ragu is owned by Unilever, which is a joint venture between England and The Netherlands. Unilever owns familiar brands like Lever 2000 (bath soap), Degree and Axe (deodorants), Lipton, Q-Tips, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and Country Crock margarine, and Hellmann’s/Best Foods mayonnaise.

Instead of the above Unilever brands, try American-owned Arrid Extra Dry (deodorant), Arizona (tea), CVS cotton swabs (less-expensive than Q-tips), Land-O-Lakes (butter and margarine) and Kraft mayonnaise. All of these American-owned products are made in the USA just like the foreign-owned Unilever ones, and will do just as well for about the same price.

And perhaps the best example of all? Swiss Miss is American owned, but Carnation is owned by the Swiss!

My book How Americans Can Buy American lists over 20,000 American and foreign products and services like the ones listed above, so we can make smart decisions on a multitude of choices and truly ‘Buy American’ in the purest sense of the term.

Since American-owned companies pay about twice as many taxes to the U.S. Treasury compared to foreign-owned companies, you can literally double the amount of tax revenue you send to American coffers not by spending more, but by using the money you are already spending anyway.

The importance of doubling the revenue we send to the U.S. Treasury without spending an extra dime becomes more clear when we realize over 80 percent of all federal spending goes to Social Security, Medicare, education, national defense, roads, parks, and bridges, and interest on the national debt. We have to be able to pay for the things that ‘We the People’ have demanded with the use of our tax dollars. Anything less would be an unfunded mandate upon Washington, DC (and ultimately ourselves).

Also, we have to think that every time we see a foreign company buy our land, our factories, or our existing American companies, we have to wonder if we helped to fund that acquisition with our past support of buying their products. We can’t always stop foreign-owned companies from buying our American-owned companies, land, and factories, but we can stop sending them the money with which to do it.

In short, it’s easier to ‘Buy American’ instead of just buying ‘American made’ than most people might think, and unless we have some type of strong brand loyalty in a particular area, any brand will do at about the same price. So let’s vote with our dollars and ‘Buy American’ where we can and when we can, so we can keep jobs, profits, and tax revenue within our national borders where they should be.

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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American and My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About, and writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for wnd.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger has a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, is president of his local Machinists Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, and Business Week among many other publications.

Republican hypocrisy run amok.  If it didn’t happen so often, it would be shocking.

It seems like every day, there is more bad news for Wisconsinites as we battle against Scott Walker and the Tea Party Republicans in the State Assembly.

One of the most recent examples?  The egregious mismanagement and failure of Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). 

Oshkosh State Rep. Gordon Hintz cleverly used the Assembly Republicans’ own words against     them, pointing out their hypocrisy.  An excerpt from the Cap Times’ coverage of the story:

“State Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, went to comical lengths to make the point. Here is an excerpt from a statement he released on Tuesday, in which he made some “edits” to an earlier press release from GOP leaders on the UW System. The bolded text is what he added:

Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), Joint Finance Co-Chairs Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills)and Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette) and Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) Representative Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) issued the following statement regarding UW System surplus recent audit showing WEDC lost millions of taxpayer dollars and did not have sufficient policies, including some that were statutorily required, to administer its programs effectively.

We are outraged with the mishandling of taxpayer dollars and the pattern of incompetence shown by university system administrators Governor Walker’s Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). We want the citizens of this state to know that we will examine the gross mismanagement of the system’s finances state’s economic development programs. We will demand accountability and transparency.

At a time when the UW System Governor is asking for more flexibility and funding from the state taxpayer funding for the economic development agency he chairs, this situation clearly illustrates the need for strong legislative oversight.”

As you know, our battle against Scott Walker and the Republicans doesn’t stop at the capitol doors.  The Assembly Democrats are hard at work already in districts across Wisconsin to expand our numbers in the State Legislature.  

Together, with your crucial help, will take this state back block by block, district by district.

The fight continues on.  We will prevail.
 
Take a page from the Rep. Hintz playbook and show Scott Walker and the Tea Party Republicans that this hypocrisy will not stand
Sincerely,

State Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha)
Assembly Democratic Leader ]]> http://wislb.org/?feed=rss2&p=3489 0 http://wislb.org/?p=3485 http://wislb.org/?p=3485#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 23:57:12 +0000 Chairman Dimond http://wislb.org/?p=3485  

TEAMSTERS URGE CONGRESS TO STOP DANGEROUS INCREASES IN TRUCK WEIGHT AND SIZE

DOT and Congress Plan to Push Company-Friendly Legislation

(WASHINGTON) — Today, the Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and representatives of several families who have suffered death and injury as a result of truck crashes, held a news conference marking the re-introduction of legislation that would prevent an increase in size and weight allowances for trucks.

“Corporate greed is the only thing driving the trucking industry to push reckless legislation that would put heavier and longer trucks on our highways,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “Our members travel the nation’s highways every day and know fully the dangers of putting bigger trucks on a highway system already in disrepair. It makes no sense to cause further damage to our highways and bridges when Congress hasn’t found a way to fund the much-needed repairs to our crumbling infrastructure.”

Currently, federal limitations on truck size and weight are enforced on interstate highways while states are allowed to set the limits on all other roads. The Safe Highways and Infrastructure Protection Act (SHIPA), sponsored by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), will be re-introduced today and will thwart efforts by some in Congress and at the Department of Transportation to seek further ways to circumvent these restrictions.

“The claim that fewer trucks will be an end-product of truck size and weight increases simply isn’t true,” Hoffa said. “This is about safety and ensuring as safe a workplace for our driver members on the highways as anyone working on a factory floor.”

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org

Re-thinking re-shoring

By Roger Simmermaker

April 27, 2013                                           

Everyone has heard of outsourcing and offshoring, but not everyone realizes the negative economic consequences to the nation that results from the closing of domestic manufacturing plants and the shipping of those jobs overseas. Replacing American workers with foreign workers adds to our U.S. trade deficit, increases the unemployment rate, deprives our national treasury of tax revenue (workers in foreign countries don’t pay taxes to America), and puts the formerly employed Americans in unemployment lines which works to further drain our national treasury.

Perhaps still fewer Americans realize that there are ways to combat the offshoring of our jobs to other countries, either by supporting patriotic organizations that have a proven track record of fighting the offshoring trend, by simply becoming more educated about American choices as consumers, or both.

By visiting www.reshorenow.org, you can learn about and lend your support to an organization that has helped keep jobs in America by showing companies contemplating offshoring American jobs the total cost of doing so and how it might not make monetary sense. How does www.reshorenow.org sway these companies to stay in the United States?

Most companies make sourcing decisions based on solely on price, resulting in a 20 to 30 percent miscalculation of actual offshoring costs. That 20 to 30 percent is enough, when realized, to keep companies from making sourcing decisions that will ultimately be detrimental to their own bottom lines.

The folks at reshorenow.org demonstrate other factors to companies considering offshoring that they may have overlooked, like overhead, corporate strategy, inventory carrying costs, traveling costs to check on suppliers, intellectual property risks and opportunity costs from product pipelines being too long, and other external and internal business costs. They also demonstrate how offshoring often contributes to company or corporate waste and instability.

Harry Moser, founder of Reshoring Initiative (www.reshorenow.org), estimates that 50,000 manufacturing jobs have been reshored to the United States since 2010. Furthermore, a 2012 Boston Consulting Group report estimated that a manufacturing revival in the U.S. could usher in 5 million more jobs by 2020.

We can also help bring back manufacturing by being informed consumers. Just because a product is made in USA does not mean that we’re not sending American dollars to countries like China anyway.

A few years back, Frisbee maker Wham-O announced a goal to bring back 50 percent of the company’s Frisbee manufacturing to the United States from China. But here’s the catch.  In 2006, Wham-O was acquired by a Chinese company. It wasn’t until 2009 that an American investment firm in California purchased the maker of iconic American brands like the Frisbee, Slip “N” Slide, and Hula Hoop. So any American-made Frisbees purchased between 2006 and 2009 resulted in you unknowingly patronizing a Chinese company whose profits would be sent to reward Chinese owners and Chinese investors. The taxes on those profits would be paid to the Chinese government, even though you were buying an American-made product!

Haier Group is a Chinese-owned company that is best known for HDTVs and full-sized refrigerators. You may have seen some of these products in various big-box retail stores. Some Haier refrigerators are made in their Camden, South Carolina facility, which was built just over a decade ago. But as you might have guessed, when you purchase one of the company’s American-made refrigerators, the company profits are sent back to China.

We would do far better for the U.S. economy by buying American-made Whirlpool appliances instead of Chinese-owned Haier appliances. Whirlpool, which employs more American workers in the appliance industry than any other manufacturer, is the American company that prevented Maytag from falling into Chinese hands back in 2005. When Haier made a bid for Maytag, Whirlpool stepped in and snapped it up instead, keeping a valuable American company in American hands!

Since that time, Whirlpool has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in America on existing and upstart plants, factories, and distribution centers.

So by supporting the right organizations and making intelligent consumer choices, we can help stem the tide of offshoring and keep our fellow Americans working on assembly lines and keeping them out of unemployment lines.

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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American and My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About, and writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for wnd.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger has a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, is president of his local Machinists Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, and Business Week among many other publications.

By Roger Simmermaker

April 13, 2013

There’s a lot of talk these days about how America should not be dependent on foreign oil, but what about independence from other items like the food we eat and the beverages we drink? Isn’t that just as important, if not more so because we want to ensure our food products are safe to consume? As we import more of our food products from other countries, we want to be confident that they are produced with the same level of safety as food in the United States, but this is not always the case. If we can find domestic sources for our food, then we have one less thing to worry about when it comes to our health.

When is the last time you went to the store and bought a can or package of truly American tuna? It seems that the tuna found in grocery stores is often caught off the coast of Thailand or some other distant country. Also, you may have a concern that tuna contains very high levels of mercury. This leaves tuna lovers everywhere forced to consume tuna in moderate amounts, at most.

Well, here’s some good news for all of us who have been avoiding tuna when we would rather be enjoying it. There is an American source for tuna. More good news? This American source also puts to rest any health concerns that you might have.

The company is simply, and appropriately, called American Tuna (www.americantuna.com). And in this more domestic-friendly, health-conscious consumer environment, it is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

American Tuna’s albacore is caught, canned, and distributed by American fishermen off the North Pacific coast, and the company is comprised of six fishing families from San Diego, California. Its pole caught, small albacore tuna is hand-filleted and hand-packed in BPA-free cans. Once in the can, American Tuna steam-cooks the tuna with no added water, oil, soy, or fillers of any kind. Simply stated, American Tuna is the best canned tuna you’ll ever eat.

So what steps can we as consumers take to ensure that foods like canned fruits and vegetables and beverages like apple juice comes from U.S. sources? A perfect place to start would be to pay a visit to www.usgrown.com. The mission of American-owned U.S. Grown is quite simple. It is to show consumers that they have a choice to purchase food products grown in the United States.

What is evident from the statement on its patriotic-style labels is that U.S. Grown believes that to in order to survive, a nation must feed itself. It is devoted to reviving and preserving U.S. agriculture through a campaign focused on food labeling. Its desire is to make consumer selection easier by giving consumers the ability to choose 100 percent U.S.-grown products.

More than half of all apple juice imported into the United States now comes from China. That’s up from a mere 1 percent a decade ago.

At www.usgrown.com, you’ll see canned goods like U.S. grown peaches, pears, green beans, sliced carrots, sweet peas, whole kernel corn, and mixed vegetables. You can also buy premium apple juice, from U.S. grown apples, from U.S. Grown.

If we truly want homegrown food products, we need to ask for them from America’s retailers. Only then will they see the benefits in stocking their retail store shelves with domestically grown food. Ask your local food store to carry U.S. Grown products today!

USA Coffee Company was established with the goal in mind to roast only coffee grown in the USA instead of importing coffee beans like other coffee companies do that merely roast them here. Only 1 percent of the world’s coffee is grown in Hawaii, and anyone who isn’t lucky enough to visit that beautiful state most likely doesn’t know that some of the best coffee in the world is becoming a major crop on the Hawaiian Islands.

Consumers wanting truly American coffee, here is an alert for you: if you see a coffee label that says either Kona Blend or Hawaiian Blend, take note, because in most cases that coffee will consist of no more than 15 percent Hawaiian beans. USA Coffee Company beans, however, are 100 percent grown in Hawaii.

Only American workers and American jobs are involved when you buy any of the numerous kinds of coffee from the USA Coffee Company. So if you truly want American coffee from tree to cup, the best place to go is www.usacoffeecompany.com.

When considering your liquor options, you have a choice that you might not be aware of. It’s also a great choice if you want to buy the best, buy American, and you want to stock vodka in your liquor cabinet, all at the same time. If this sounds like you, Tito’s Handmade Vodka is an absolute necessity.

Tito’s Handmade Vodka (www.titosvodka.com) is made entirely from corn (mostly from the American Midwest, but all American nonetheless) and is also completely gluten-free.

It’s refreshing to know that there is a refreshing liquor that is proudly 100 percent American and is privately owned. According to the website, this is one company that has no plans to go public, which means that the ownership will remain in American hands. Fortunately, the hands of Tito’s staff (upwards of 20 people) make the best handmade vodka around.

When Americans talk about their families, they’re not always just talking about Mom, Dad, Junior, and Sis. Often they bring their pets into the conversation too. And giving their pets food that is safe and won’t cause any long-term ill health effects is foremost on the minds of pet lovers.

If you buy your doggie treats from a company called Kona’s Chips, you’ll never have to worry about whether it has healthy ingredients again. If you want an exceptional brand of dried chicken jerky treats for dogs, Kona’s is the place to go.

The owners of Kona’s Chips started the brand in 2007 after their beautiful black Pomeranian, Kona, became ill from eating dried chicken breasts that were imported from China. So they know how important it is to produce only wholesome and healthy treats for your dog. And at www.konaschips.com, they always seem to be expanding their selection of treats and toys too.

With great American companies like these, enjoying American food and drink for yourself and all the loved ones in your life (including pets) is better for your health and for the American economy all at the same time!

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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American and My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About, and writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for wnd.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger has a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, is president of his local Machinists Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Business Week among many other publications.

What was the single most important decision Gov. Scott Walker made in his first year of office? Hands down, the consensus judgment would be undermining the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

But 20 or 30 years from now? Wisconsinites will probably point to Walker’s fateful decision to reject an $810 million federal grant to build a passenger rail line connecting Madison and Milwaukee.

Chances are that the logic for the train will be evident to most everyone by then. The I-94 corridor linking Dane County with Milwaukee and Waukesha will likely be the state’s 21st-century economic engine. In turn, it will be a vital link in what technology booster Tom Still has called the “I-Q Corridor” — the 400-mile stretch of interstate connecting the heavyweight metropolises of Chicago and the Twin Cities.

“That corridor contains some of the nation’s leading research universities, well-educated tech workers and thriving tech-based companies at all stages of development,” Still, who’s president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, wrote a few years ago.

Now imagine an updated rail system carrying people from the Twin Cities to downtown Chicago in less than six hours — even faster than driving and on a par with a complicated airline connection.

Oops! Don’t consider it. That scenario is precisely what Walker killed when he gave back the $810 million — federal funding that would have paid the full capital costs of connecting Madison to Milwaukee.

Says Watertown Mayor Ron Krueger: “That decision will hurt the state of Wisconsin for decades to come.”

Critics like Walker castigated the rail plan as a boondoggle — unwarranted by consumer demand, unaffordable for taxpayers and destined for huge cost overruns.

But as Mike Centinario, a young planner for the village of DeForest, points out, “The argument against the train was so present-oriented as opposed to future-oriented.” In other words, critics focused on the immediate costs and complications versus the longer-term economic gains from strengthening the transportation ties between the state’s two largest markets.

Last year, I wrote about Centinario and his wife, Rachel, as prime examples of the growing number of households where one member works in Waukesha or Milwaukee and the other in Dane County (“Look East, Madison,” 11/4/11). They settled in Lake Mills to ease their east-west commutes, and he says he sees a lot of people also living the dual commute life.

Centinario asks the right question: Why not reinforce the flow of talent and enterprise between Madison and Milwaukee by providing train service? “Tremendous tax base could have been generated along the train stops,” he says.

Watertown, a Jefferson County community of 23,000, wanted to do just that. The city had ambitious plans for a train-depot development and a new industrial park on the rail line, and it was fielding queries from housing developers who saw the train opening the community to high-end commuters, according to Krueger.

“Conservatively we thought the train would generate $20 million in new development in the first two or three years,” says the mayor. “It would have created an economic boom not just for Watertown, but for the region.”

Krueger, who was probably the savviest of area mayors in viewing the train as an economic catalyst, blames the “big blowhards” of talk radio for turning the public against the train in Wisconsin. “We will live to regret the day we didn’t build it,” he predicts.

As earthshaking as Gov. Walker’s move to break the public employee union was, there’s a good chance the unions will bounce back in one form or another when the political winds inevitably change. Killing the train seems likely to be the more lasting legacy of Walker’s first year in office.

Congress has already slammed the door on new rail funding, though planning continues for Midwest rail on the not-unreasonable assumption that Congress will turn the spigot back on when its budget problems are resolved.

But it’s worrisome that Madison has already been dropped from the proposed Milwaukee to St. Paul route approved in November. It follows Amtrak’s existing Empire Builder tracks north of Dane County through Columbus and doesn’t dip to the south to accommodate Madison, as the earlier plan did.

“We have nothing against getting to Madison, but we’re not going to see that $800 million,” says Daniel Krom, Minnesota’s director of passenger rail, who cites the obvious — that the spurned money would have been spent on upgrading Madison’s tracks.

Dropping Madison from the route also eliminates the city from the environmental impact study. Not good. Krom says that Madison can later be restored to the review, but one gets the sense that Madison’s rail future is steadily dimming.

The governor can’t be blamed for everything. Rail proponents were curiously inept at times. The two stabs at deciding on a Madison station missed the mark. The ignored First Street site is arguably superior to either Monona Terrace or the airport.

Rail supporters also never hammered home the long-term economic importance of linking Madison to the great cities of the Midwest. Instead, the patina of coolness and an anti-car animus were buffed the most. It should have been about jobs and smart growth.

“Failing to invest in the infrastructure that undergirds the economy is a very dangerous move,” says Kevin Brubaker of the Environmental Policy and Law Center. He rattles off the names of prosperous 19th-century American cities that decayed when their transportation links became obsolescent.

How odd that a pro-business Republican governor didn’t understand that dynamic.

Marc Eisen is the former editor of Isthmus.

(Jefferson City, Mo.) – Despite hearing testimony overwhelmingly in opposition to SB29, extremists in House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety Committee voted today to send SB29 to the Missouri House floor. This paycheck deception bill seeks to shut hardworking public workers out of the political process – and to take away their voice on the job.

Opposition to this unfair and unnecessary legislation wasn’t limited to the packed committee room, however. Voters held rallies and knocked doors to talk with their neighbors, and have sent thousands of emails, letters and phone calls to elected leaders. 

“This bill is all politics,” said Mike Louis, Missouri AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer. “Not one Missouri worker has testified in favor of SB29, and that’s because this bill has nothing to do with helping working people. Public workers in this state have faced an uphill fight for collective bargaining rights and are 50^th in the nation in pay. It is shameful that instead of correcting the very real problems faced by the workers who care for our veterans, teach and protect children at risk from abuse and neglect, and serve so many other critical roles – politicians chose to again reward special interests on the backs of our everyday heroes.” 

Attending today’s committee meeting, autoworker Stan Stevenson from Wentzville has been knocking doors and phone banking against paycheck deception. “We vote for legislators and expect them to work for us, not CEOs and special interest groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council and Americans for Prosperity. I know they can do better – yesterday the House voted to pass a Bring Jobs Home bill that would reward companies for bringing good jobs back to Missouri. SB29 does the opposite – it is payback for the same corporations that have been shipping our jobs overseas and dodging their taxes.” 

“The out of state special interests can look out for themselves – we need our elected leaders to stop these unfair attacks,” said Natasha Pickens, state social services worker from St. Louis County. “Like all Missouri public workers who voluntarily join a union, I did so because I want a voice at work and in Jefferson City. I help families every day who are struggling in this economy – it is about time that politicians start creating jobs and quit trying to make it even more difficult to do our jobs.”

###

“Feingold would be the best Democratic hope for taking on Scott Walker next year,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “But he might have an easier time waiting until 2016 and running against Ron Johnson again.”

PPP surveyed 1,799 Wisconsin voters from February 21st to 24th. The margin of error for the sample is +/-2.3%. This poll was not paid for or authorized by any campaign or political organization. PPP surveys are conducted through automated telephone interviews.

Topline results are below. Full results, including crosstabs, can be found here.

Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of President
Barack Obama’s job performance?
Approve …………………………………………………. 50%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 48%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 3%

Q2 Do you approve or disapprove of Governor
Scott Walker’s job performance?
Approve …………………………………………………. 48%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 49%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 3%

Q3 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Peter Barca?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 19%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 18%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 63%

Q4 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Jon Erpenbach?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 19%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 15%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 66%

Q5 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Russ Feingold?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 53%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 37%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 11%

Q6 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Steve Kagen?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 14%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 20%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 67%

Q7 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Ron Kind?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 26%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 19%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 55%

Q8 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Mahlon Mitchell?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 13%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 13%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 74%

Q9 If the candidates for Governor next year were
Republican Scott Walker and Democrat Peter
Barca, who would you vote for?
Scott Walker …………………………………………… 48%
Peter Barca…………………………………………….. 43%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 9%

Q10 If the candidates for Governor next year were
Republican Scott Walker and Democrat Jon
Erpenbach, who would you vote for?
Scott Walker …………………………………………… 48%
Jon Erpenbach………………………………………… 42%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 9%

Q11 If the candidates for Governor next year were
Republican Scott Walker and Democrat Russ
Feingold, who would you vote for?
Scott Walker …………………………………………… 47%
Russ Feingold…………………………………………. 49%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 4%

Q12 If the candidates for Governor next year were
Republican Scott Walker and Democrat Steve
Kagen, who would you vote for?
Scott Walker …………………………………………… 48%
Steve Kagen …………………………………………… 41%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 11%

Q13 If the candidates for Governor next year were
Republican Scott Walker and Democrat Ron
Kind, who would you vote for?
Scott Walker …………………………………………… 46%
Ron Kind………………………………………………… 42%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 11%

Q14 If the candidates for Governor next year were
Republican Scott Walker and Democrat
Mahlon Mitchell, who would you vote for?
Scott Walker …………………………………………… 48%
Mahlon Mitchell……………………………………….. 39%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 13%

Q15 Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Ron
Johnson’s job performance?
Approve …………………………………………………. 37%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 41%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 23%

Q16 If the candidates for Senate in 2016 were
Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Russ
Feingold, who would you vote for?
Ron Johnson…………………………………………… 42%
Russ Feingold…………………………………………. 52%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 6%

Q17 Who do you have a higher opinion of: Ron
Johnson or Hillary Clinton?
Ron Johnson…………………………………………… 42%
Hillary Clinton………………………………………….. 53%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 5%
Q18 In the last presidential election, did you vote for
Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Barack Obama………………………………………… 51%
Mitt Romney……………………………………………. 45%
Someone else/Don’t remember …………………. 4%

Q19 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 11%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 21%
Moderate………………………………………………… 29%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 22%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 17%

Q20 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 52%
Man……………………………………………………….. 48%

Q21 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a Republican,
press 2. If you are an independent or identify
with another party, press 3.
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 31%
Republican……………………………………………… 30%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 39%

Q22 If you are white, press 1. If other, press 2.
White …………………………………………………….. 91%
Other……………………………………………………… 9%

Q23 If you are 18 to 29 years old, press 1. If 30 to
45, press 2. If 46 to 65, press 3. If you are
older than 65, press 4.
18 to 29………………………………………………….. 12%
30 to 45………………………………………………….. 24%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 44%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 20%
- See more at: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/02/feingold-walker-race-could-be-a-nail-biter.html#more