Media fog in the recall

On Tuesday night Fox News first called the recall election in favor of
Scott Walker, while NBC continued to blast on its ticker that it was to
close for calling. In checking the Internet on The New York Times and
other websites it was noticeable that there was a significant lag
between their calling the election for Walker and Fox News’s doing so.

It is quite intriguing in retrospect how the media shifted the
significance of the recall from the original issue of reducing public
employees’ bargaining rights to the issue of jobs. While jobs are the
critical issue to the American economy today, out-of-control government
compensation of its employees must be reined in. We are certain that the
mainstream media will downplay the significance of Walker’s victory in
terms of its effect on the public service unions, the power of the
Democratic Party and the pending November presidential election. The
original issue of public unions’ collective bargaining rights appears to
have been downgraded when it became apparent that Walker would win by a
landslide. 

There has been virtually no coverage of the nationwide rejection of public unions across the country in elections held in key U.S. territories. Lost in the fray of the Wisconsin recall was the results of several California ballot initiatives where voters approved pension cuts to city workers. It is not just the Wisconsin voters who believe that public employees are overcompensated, but voters across America, including the bluest state of all, California.

{mosads}It is obvious that there is an inherent conflict of interest between politicians who are supposed to manage public employees and public service unions that negotiate on behalf of these employees. Without resolving this conflict it would be virtually impossible for elected politicians to control the spiraling wages and benefits of public employees. This out-of-control employee cost, along with entitlement costs, is creating huge deficits in government budgets. Gov. Walker’s success in the recall put up a firewall against out-of-control employee compensation. Now we need the politicians to deal as courageously with entitlement reform.