Wisconsin Union-Busting Concealing a Koch Brothers Power Grab?

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The new Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was just one of many Tea Party/GOP candidates inserted into office by the Koch Brothers, under our new Supreme Court ruling allowing corporate bribery. Now their puppet Governor is trying to bust the remnants of unions in this country.

But the Koch brothers are in the fossil energy business. The fossil energy industry hardly has to bother about such impediments. Why would they care about unions? It turns out, there’s more!

Thomas Content at The Wisconsin Sentinel is reporting that a little-noticed section in the rest of the bill  (the part that will get passed once one side or the other relents on the union issue) allows Walker to  sell state owned power plants at pennies on the dollar.

It bypasses the public utility commission oversight, specifying “no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary”

SENATE BILL 11
AN ACT relating to: state finances, collective bargaining for public employees, compensation and fringe benefits of public employees, the state civil service system, the Medical Assistance program, sale of certain facilities, granting bonding authority, and making an appropriation

SECTION 44. 16.896 of the statutes is created to read: 16.896
Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants.

(1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state.

Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).

Interesting times. No wonder people in Egypt are sending us pizza!

Susan Kraemer@Twitter


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