The MEA-MFT is certainly the most powerful labor union in Montana. Eric Feaver is the head of the MEA-MFT, representing school teachers and other public employees.
Feaver certainly is known for his candid, get-to-the-point style. Following Wisconsin’s recall effort, I thought it would be great to get reaction from Feaver and the MEA-MFT, so I asked if he would be interested in being a guest on our statewide radio talk show. (He’s been a great guest several times in the past)
FEAVER: Thanks for the offer, but, “I really don’t know anything about Wisconsin except that Walker clobbered Barrett and by so doing gives life to Walker wannabes as in maybe right here in Montana. But you don’t need me to say that. It would be obvious to almost anyone.”
Here’s how Politico summed up the vote in Wisconsin:
“Democrats suffered a good old-fashioned beatdown. They invested seven months of effort, tens of millions of dollars, exhausted volunteers to collect nearly 1 million signatures. Then, they litigated an extremely divisive primary and spent millions more – all to get back to exactly where they were when they started: with Walker on top. There’s no other way to slice it: this was a crippling blow to a party in Wisconsin that not long ago controlled both U.S. Senate seats and the governor’s mansion. … [T]he psychological blow is impossible to ignore and will certainly echo in the state’s first open U.S. Senate race in 24 years.” Five more Lombardi quotes tell last night’s story. http://bit.ly/L9bgCw
From the left, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz had this, as quoted by RealClearPolitics.com:
“Certainly it is not the end and it’s going to be an opportunity for the progressive movement to regroup nationally and understand exactly what they are up against,” a teary-eyed Schultz lamented.
And, from the right, Bill Frezza writes this in Forbes:
In 1959 Wisconsin became the first state to allow collective bargaining by government employees. The projected cost of supporting Baby Boomer union retirees now threatens to bankrupt the state, as it does many others. Scott Walker ran for office promising change. The fiscal medicine he is administering may be bitter, but it looks like it is starting to work. The state budget has been balanced. The unemployment rate has been dropping and is now below the national average. Property taxes are down. Fraudulent sick leave policies—which allowed employees to call in sick and then work the next shift for overtime pay—have been ended. The government has stopped forcibly collecting union dues from workers’ paychecks.
And, just for the fun of it, Human Events shared a video compilation of MSNBC’s recall election coverage. Human Events added, “who needs “Anchorman 2” after this?”