Union leaders ask candidates in the Walker recall election to promise to veto the next budget unless it restores collective bargaining for public employees.

One candidate, Kathleen Falk, immediately agreed.

Falk, who received the state teachers union endorsement Wednesday at an event in the Madison suburb of Monona, said Walker used a budget-repair bill to pass the repeal of most union bargaining so it was appropriate to use a budget bill to undo it.

"I have said that I will veto a budget bill if it does not have collective bargaining," Falk said. "The way you undo (Walker's) damage is the same vehicle by which he did the damage."

Unions spearheaded the recall effort against Walker in November in response to Walker's labor legislation, garnering more than 1 million signatures for the attempt to force a recall election....

Sen. Tim Cullen (D-Janesville) briefly considered running against Walker in a recall election then decided against it. He said that he was asked by leaders of public-employee unions if he would veto any state budget that didn't restore collective bargaining.

"I said I could not make that promise and I did not think any serious candidate for governor could or should make that commitment," Cullen said of a veto of the state budget. "It's a $60 billion document."

I don't know how many times during the protests I heard the assertion: This is not about money.