Althouse: "A Dane County judge will allow a lawsuit over Madison teacher contracts to go forward in its entirety..."

February 10, 2015

"A Dane County judge will allow a lawsuit over Madison teacher contracts to go forward in its entirety..."

"The lawsuit, brought by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty with conservative blogger David Blaska as plaintiff, seeks a declaration that teacher contracts for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years violate Act 10, the legislation that virtually eliminated collective bargaining rights for most public workers."

The Madison School District and Madison teachers union argued that Blaska lacked standing, but Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess said (correctly) that under Wisconsin law, to sue local government, "a taxpayer need only show that he has sustained, or will sustain, some pecuniary loss, however infinitesimal."

(Act 10 is the legislation that led to all the protests here in Wisconsin, back in 2011.)

56 comments:

Meade said...: Heroic.; 2/10/15, 2:04 PM
trumpetdaddy said...: I'm happy to see the Right turning the lawfare tactics back on the Left. The Left is losing the elected branches of the government. It'll be wonderful to see them lose the refuge of the courts, too.

Crush them, crush them, crush them some more, please.; 2/10/15, 2:13 PM
Fernandinande said...: “People do not seem to understand that so many people come to government knowing that they are not going to make the kind of money that they would make in the private sector but they come to government to feed their souls.”

Soul food.; 2/10/15, 2:15 PM
MadisonMan said...: If the contract for the 2014-2015 school year is found to violate Act 10, what happens? The school year is almost over.

Would MTI refund all the dues paid? (As if); 2/10/15, 2:17 PM
lemondog said...: however infinitesimal."

A penny?; 2/10/15, 2:28 PM
damikesc said...: Would MTI refund all the dues paid?

If it was not legal, they wouldn't have much of an option, would they?; 2/10/15, 3:01 PM
walter said...: Does Blaska have Segway boy chasing him around at this point?; 2/10/15, 3:06 PM
garage mahal said...: We dun fukced the teechers good now!; 2/10/15, 3:08 PM
Gahrie said...: We dun fukced the teechers good now!

Do try and pay attention Garage..it is not the teachers who got fucked...it was the unions.; 2/10/15, 3:15 PM
damikesc said...: We dun fukced the teechers good now!

Misspelled "union goons" again.

Note: The teachers, when given the chance, chose to not be in a union.

Also --- any thoughts on the GAB using secret routers? Garage, you have to have an opinion on this. It is kinda your thing.; 2/10/15, 3:17 PM
Curious George said...: The new AG should look into this and if valid file criminal charges.; 2/10/15, 3:20 PM
walter said...: WEAC more than halved their staff once they weren't assured automatic membership dues. A collective "Awww shiiiit"; 2/10/15, 3:22 PM
tim in vermont said...: I was wondering if garage had any opinion on the secret gmail addresses that the GAB was using, and that the investigators kept the Republicans on that board, that they were using as beards, in the dark?

garage? garage?; 2/10/15, 3:23 PM
Mark said...: Blaska, living large on his government pension.

A true hero would stop sucking off thw govt teat.; 2/10/15, 3:23 PM
I Callahan said...: People do not seem to understand that so many people come to government knowing that they are not going to make the kind of money that they would make in the private sector but they come to government to feed their souls

Dear God. The fact that anyone said that with a straight face is just beyond my comprehension.; 2/10/15, 3:29 PM
Quaestor said...: A penny?

How about a mill? I haven't found an image for a Wisconsin mill, but some states actually issued them for purposes of tax payment.; 2/10/15, 3:29 PM
I Callahan said...: A true hero would stop sucking off thw govt teat.

Nope. This is government money well spent, in my eyes. If it saves the taxpayers that much more money, so be it.; 2/10/15, 3:30 PM
garage mahal said...: Blaska, living large on his government pension.

Conservatives that suck off the government teat are the biggest complainers of others living off the government. Walker has been a teat sucker almost his entire adult life. His family knows nothing else.

When Walker and crew come for the faculty that support him I admit I will be laughing my ass off.; 2/10/15, 3:33 PM
TosaGuy said...: "but they come to government to feed their souls"

Which costs the rest of us a hell of a lot of money because a hungry soul can never be satiated.; 2/10/15, 3:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Heroic.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

it is not the teachers who got fucked...it was the unions

it is not the trees who got fucked...it was the forest; 2/10/15, 3:44 PM
tim in vermont said...: mr garage 'secret routers' mahal just won't come clean and admit that the Walker witch hunt was every bit as politically motivated as that drunk driving prosecutor in Texas's attack on Perry.

Not to mention the political prosecution of Ted Stevens in Alaska.

"That's what democracy looks like!" Abusing power to attack political enemies. Use the IRS, whatever weapon comes to hand, right garage?

**THAT'S WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!***; 2/10/15, 3:44 PM
tim in vermont said...: It's not the trees who got fucked, it's the Dutch elm disease.

FIFY; 2/10/15, 3:45 PM
Curious George said...: As usual garage and Mark (the moron Mark) care not for the taxpayers, or the law, but the cause.

Noted.; 2/10/15, 3:46 PM
Curious George said...: Correct me if I'm wrong but Act 10 was passed, put into law, and these fuckers sued, and ignored the law because it "was up in the air".

Fuck them. Every single one.; 2/10/15, 3:49 PM
tim in vermont said...: Solidarity means that everybody agrees to do what I say. Just so we are clear.

I define what is best for the forest.

I define what is best for the trees.

I define what is best for the bears.

I define what is best for the salmon.

I define what is best for the eagles.

To each according to his needs as I define them.

From each according to his abilities as I define them.

Your job is to get behind me and Teh Wisconsin Idea.; 2/10/15, 3:53 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: As a conservative and a teacher Union Member and Building Steward for 37 years it wasn't so much for the politics. Many conservative teachers like myself gritted our teeth and voluntarily paid our Florida teacher county Union dues fully understanding politically what they were doing with a portion of the money. Why we were members was more to protect ourselves against unprincipled principals of which in my 37 years as a class room teacher ran at about a quarter of them. Public school Principals in the South have all the power of a ship's Captain. All it takes is one crazy lying person in that office and you're a gonner. I've seen that happen numerous times Union be damned. I've seen Principal do it just so they can have a friend of theirs take the position. Numerous times for that too. And public school teaching as a profession isn't like selling cars where you can move from dealership to dealership. One bad evaluation whether you deserve it or not and you're done. Very few second chances - and specifically no second chances where public schools hold a monopoly in a city. The problem of Teacher Unions is much more nuanced than simply how they donate to political parties understanding the differences in Unions between Wisconsin and Florida or North and South in general.; 2/10/15, 3:56 PM
Hagar said...: Teachers need protection against principals - which is one reason I am against "merit pay" - and certainly from the local school boards.
I can remember when NEA insisted that it was a professional association and no kind of a union. Then AFT got going and cut into NEA's membership dues, and it did not take long before it was a union too.
Perhaps it is time to go back to being a professional association?; 2/10/15, 4:08 PM
MadisonMan said...: @surfed, so what's the non-union solution to poisonous principals? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.

I would guess, maybe, that exposure would help, but if the principal also controls who one's kid has as a teacher, then that puts a damper on any parent/journalist or parent/blogger who wants to investigate.; 2/10/15, 4:21 PM
tim in vermont said...: We all would like protection from our bosses. No class of employees *needs* it more than others. The vast majority of taxpayers don't have it. The argument that the perquisites of teachers are more important than the well being of students is a pretty thin one.

I have dealt with a couple of teachers who couldn't be fired that long since lost any interest in the well being of the children in their classes.

My daughter had developed deafness in one ear and let's just say her teachers were of so little help that we were forced to change her school. At least we had the power to do that.

We were acquainted with a member of the school board and this teacher was well known as a problem and all they could do is wait for her to retire.

My other daughter also ran into a terrible teacher in another state, who was also well known as problematic.; 2/10/15, 4:22 PM
tim in vermont said...: Maybe a good idea for teachers would be for them to work the jobs of average taxpayers in their district.

50 weeks a year, employed at will and accountable for performance.

IRA rather than defined pension.

I am sure it would be quite eye opening for all of the special snowflakes who imagine they need the perfect mattress of a job so that they could never feel so much as a pea under it that came from the real world.; 2/10/15, 4:24 PM
garage mahal said...: Nothing more delicious than seeing someone like Jessica McBride, big Walker supporter, suddenly have a change of heart when the cuts land at her door.

Or the rubes who are finally waking up to the fact that all this cutting and union busting ain't actually going back to the taxpayer. Bwahaha.; 2/10/15, 4:27 PM
walter said...: "I've seen that happen numerous times Union be damned."

Ok, surfed..
If that's the case then what was the reason for paying the dues?; 2/10/15, 4:43 PM
Hagar said...: Tim,
Your daughter has a medical problem and the school system is supposed to take care of it?; 2/10/15, 5:00 PM
Curious George said...: "garage mahal said...
Nothing more delicious than seeing someone like Jessica McBride, big Walker supporter, suddenly have a change of heart when the cuts land at her door.

Or the rubes who are finally waking up to the fact that all this cutting and union busting ain't actually going back to the taxpayer. Bwahaha."

Know what's more delicious? The governor of Wisconsin is Scott Walker. And the Wisconsin Assembly is 58-49 Republican. And that the Wisconsin Senate is 18-14 Republican. And that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is 4-3 conservative.

Yummy.; 2/10/15, 5:05 PM
tim in vermont said...: Tim,
Your daughter has a medical problem and the school system is supposed to take care of it?

I left a lot out of that story, but the teacher called my daughter slow and inattentive. She is in college at a fine school you have no doubt heard of and is carrying a very good GPA, BTW. I do expect a teacher to address a disability like that with sensitivity and effective techniques.

Something that was too much for that particular teacher who couldn't be fired.; 2/10/15, 5:12 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: @Walter - for a Lawyer to negotiate severance pay, health care benefits, a striking of the bad eval among other things off the top of my head. No way someone who makes $36K can afford a lawyer to try and save a job where they're not wanted. Another trumped up eval is just in the wings for next year. Seen that too. Had one teacher who was the teacher of the year in one school get a horrible eval with a new principal because of a letter written to the editor. She was gone the next year. Think about that for a second - from teacher of the year to fired in two years. It's not the same as the private sector. Wish it was. It's not. Pretty soon no one will want the job. Already in my neck of the woods they're bribing teachers with a Deferred Retirement Option Program for them to hang on in the classroom because they can't find replacements for the inner city schools. They bribed me with $250K tax free to stay five more years in the inner city. I made it 4 1/2.; 2/10/15, 5:21 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Addendum - $250K tax free PLUS salary of $70K.; 2/10/15, 5:23 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: For what it's worth - I spent time in Wisconsin though not in Milwaukee. In my inner city school in 37 years I was shot at and dodged bullets, assaulted numerous times, battered several times, cursed to on a daily basis, called a racist on a weekly basis, 15 year old students who were mass murderers, father rapers, regular rapers, burglars, drug dealers, car thieves, regular thieves....And that was just my clientele. Add in principals so incompetent that it beggared the definition of the word. Don't forget politicians telling you how do to your job or else. You want that job? Anybody out there in Althouse world want that job raise your hand and come on down. In my inner city school district we have a 50% turnover burnout rate every 5 years.; 2/10/15, 5:31 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Further addendum - And the worst of the worst was having to live a daily professional life hearing that terrible word "nigger" and all it's permutations the entire time you were at work. From the moment you arrived on campus until the moment you closed your door and walked off campus. That was tough.; 2/10/15, 5:41 PM
Big Mike said...: I've seen the teachers union go all out to save the job of an elementary school teacher so bad that kids who had her for a year needed psychiatric counseling. I've witnessed teachers sabotaging my own son and telling me that he was deficient (that's the one that went on to get a Ph.D. in mathematics).

I've also seen the teachers union sit on their hands when a thoroughly inadequate high school principal pushed the best teachers out the door.

I can't imagine that Madison, Wisconsin is much different. I have no sympathy for teacher unions.; 2/10/15, 5:43 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Teaching in Madison, Wisconsin would be like getting free money.; 2/10/15, 6:10 PM
LuAnn Zieman said...: garage mahal--from 2008 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel--"Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker said Tuesday he'll scale back the amount of his paycheck he returns to the county, if he's re-elected to another term April 1.

Walker will cut the sum he gives back from $60,000 annually to $10,000. He said he's already returned a great deal - some $360,000 by the end of the month - and will have upped that to a total of $400,000 by the end of the next term.

The job pays $129,611 a year, a sum that won't change in the next term.

Walker volunteered to give back $60,000 of that per year when he was first elected in 2002 on a reform platform that included criticism of the pay level for county executive and other county jobs. At that time, the Milwaukee County executive was paid more than the governor, which seemed out of whack, Walker said.

He has also said returning a portion of his paycheck gives him some moral authority in attempting county budget cuts."

So--maybe he was sucking as hard as you thought.; 2/10/15, 7:31 PM
LuAnn Zieman said...: typo--that should be "wasn't sucking as hard as you thought." Good grief!; 2/10/15, 7:35 PM
walter said...: surfed,
So you paid union dues to have lawyer access if need be?; 2/10/15, 8:23 PM
Hagar said...: We had a school board election in Albuquerque recently. To avoid contamination by politics (Heavens to Betsy! I feel quite faint at the mere thought!), it is an entirely separate election like most school board elections. 3% of the voters showed up.
No wonder we get a strange mixture of personalities on the local school boards.

BTW, in any reporting on the school board - as also for the City Council, who are also elected in "non-partisan" elections - the first thing the Journal lists is the member's political affiliation, especially if the member is registered as a Republican, and the Journal opposes whatever the member is for.; 2/10/15, 8:28 PM
Gahrie said...: So you paid union dues to have lawyer access if need be?

It's the reason I do. In California I'd have to pay most of them anyway even if I wasn't a member. I just periodically show up and try to get at least my local to be bi-partisan. They tolerate me.; 2/10/15, 9:55 PM
cubanbob said...: Surfed makes a great argument for school vouchers, being able to sue personally school administrators for cause and for requiring welfare beneficiaries to pass a GED.; 2/10/15, 11:38 PM
wildswan said...: Surfed makes a great argument for home schooling also.; 2/11/15, 12:36 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: I sent my daughter to Catholic Schools fo 12 years. Worth. Every. Penny.; 2/11/15, 7:19 AM
Meade said...: Also heroic.; 2/11/15, 8:28 AM
ndspinelli said...: I did work for Rick Niess when he was in private practice. He is a smart and righteous man. One of the few attorneys, of the thousands I worked for, that I would hire.; 2/11/15, 10:01 AM
Rusty said...: tim in vermont said...
Solidarity means that everybody agrees to do what I say. Just so we are clear.

I define what is best for the forest.

I define what is best for the trees.

I define what is best for the bears.

I define what is best for the salmon.

I define what is best for the eagles.

To each according to his needs as I define them.

From each according to his abilities as I define them.

Your job is to get behind me and Teh Wisconsin Idea.

Have you ever noticed how Lech Walesa's name isn't attached to "Solidarity" any more? He's the guy that made it a cool word.
Like he's an embarrassment or something.
Weird.; 2/11/15, 10:49 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: Thanx Meade. She's been an analyst for two Governors of Florida and now holds Top Secret clearance for the State Dept. Of the United States. She has done well with her education. Now her chuckled headed brother....; 2/11/15, 11:04 AM
Birkel said...: How this turned into a discussion of the well-compensated 'surfed' escapes me. I see so many flaws in the allegations 'surfed' makes that I find it pointless to respond.

As for the teachers, they have reportedly largely stopped paying dues. I support individuals pursuing their own best interests and so I support the teachers and the Walker Administration's attempt to free them from forced unionization. Anybody who supports the unions over the individual teachers is a collectivist fool, an unthinking Democrat, or both.

Walker is clever to reveal the disdain his political opponents have for people. That disdain extends even to Leftist political supporters.; 2/11/15, 12:31 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: @Birkel - Compensation as bribery to dance to bullets? How much would you charge? I've seen more "combat" than some members of the Armed Forces. Ask me about my PTSD.; 2/11/15, 12:48 PM
Birkel said...: It's not about you, surfed. But keep trying.; 2/11/15, 4:30 PM