Sarah Palin To Attend Wisconsin Tax Day Tea Party Event

Sarah Palin, with son Trig, holding a sign commemorating the first Tea Party which was held in Boston in the year 1773

Sarah Palin will be heading to Madison, Wisconsin for the big Tax Day Rally on Saturday. Sarah is no stranger to Wisconsin politics as she endorsed Governor Scott Walker's successful election bid, and most recently backed Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser in his successful re-election bid.

She was also very vocal during the violent left wing protests over Governor Walker's attempts to save the state from bankruptcy.

Sarah penned an open letter to her union brothers and sisters asking them to stand with Governor Walker and refudiate the union thug leadership and their violent rhetoric. This letter was then read aloud to a large and receptive crowd by Dave Westlake.

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

Former Alaska governor and current tea party sweetheart Sarah Palin is coming to town Saturday to help rally the GOP troops for the now-annual Tax Day Rally.

Event organizer Nancy Mistele confirmed the presence of the Mama Grizzly Thursday. She said more details would come out later in the day.

Organizers are planning the event to run from noon to 2 p.m. at the state Capitol. It's expected to be a gathering of conservative activists from around the state. Other speakers include radio personality Vicki McKenna, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund, talk show host John T. Harris, and Americans for Prosperity State Director Matt Seaholm.

Americans for Prosperity is organizing buses to the event.

"Governor Palin is a strong voice for taxpayers and for reforming government to make it more accountable," Seaholm said. "She doesn't pull punches and is one of the most influential and followed commentators in politics today."

And Northwoods Patriots founder Kim Simac, who is also speaking at the rally, called Palin a "huge role model."

Madison tea party activist Kirsten Lombard is going to be out of town Saturday, but she said most of her fellow tea partiers will be in attendance.

"I think (Palin) will certainly energize the conservative base in Wisconsin," she said.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Mike Tate said Palin was an early supporter of Scott Walker so it makes sense she would come to Wisconsin.

Here is the official press release from Americans for Prosperity:

Americans for Prosperity, The Founders Compass: Sarah Palin to speak at Madison tea party

Contact:

Matt Seaholm 608- 658-2312

Nancy Mistele 608-575-8589

MADISON, WI - Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will deliver the keynote address at the Madison Tea Party.

On Saturday, April 16th, Governor Palin will rally tea party patriots from throughout Wisconsin at the state Capitol in Madison to celebrate past victories and to protect Wisconsin's future. Joining Governor Palin will be talk show host James T. Harris and John Fund columnist for The Wall Street Journal. Fund is an author, pundit and columnist who pens the weekly "On the Trail" column for OpinionJournal.com.

The April 16th Taxpayer Tea Party in Madison will feature:

Sarah Palin - Former Alaskan Governor, VP Candidate, pundit, author

John Fund - The Wall Street Journal

Tony Katz - Pajamas Media

James T. Harris - talk show host

Chuck Day - vocalist

Nancy Mistele - The Founders' Compass

Matt Seaholm - Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin State Director

Vicki McKenna - WIBA/WISN rock star of radio

Meg Ellefson - Wausau Tea Party

Kim Simac - talk show host, Northwoods Patriots

Tiger & Shannon Heberling - Stood up to union threats

Nancy Milholland - Racine Tea Party

Ross Brown - We the People Madison chapter

The Wisconsin State Director of Americans for Prosperity, Matt Seaholm, says he is excited Governor Palin will be attending the tea party on Saturday.

"Governor Palin is a strong voice for taxpayers and for reforming government to make it more accountable," Seaholm said, "She doesn't pull punches and is one of the most influential and followed commentators in politics today."

The Founders Compass is an online resource for tea party members to organize, inform and reach out to other patriots. Additional information on the event can be found at TEA Party rally on April 16th on Facebook. Registration and transportation can be found by visiting the website of Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin.

F.D.R. Warned: Allowing Public Sector Unions Collective Bargaining Rights "Unthinkable and Intolerable."

James Sherk, writing in the New York Times, speaks to the well known dangers of allowing public sector unions the "right" of collective bargaining. Of course, anyone who lives in a state overrun by unions [public and private] knows full well the dangers of this.It's interesting to note that not only FDR, but union leaders themselves, once recognized allowing public sector unions collective bargaining rights was madness.

"It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government."

That wasn’t Newt Gingrich, or Ron Paul, or Ronald Reagan talking. That was George Meany -- the former president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O -- in 1955. Government unions are unremarkable today, but the labor movement once thought the idea absurd.

Public sector unions insist on laws that serve their interests -- at the expense of the common good.

The founders of the labor movement viewed unions as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they help create. Government workers, however, don’t generate profits. They merely negotiate for more tax money. When government unions strike, they strike against taxpayers. F.D.R. considered this "unthinkable and intolerable."

Government collective bargaining means voters do not have the final say on public policy. Instead their elected representatives must negotiate spending and policy decisions with unions. That is not exactly democratic – a fact that unions once recognized.

George Meany was not alone. Up through the 1950s, unions widely agreed that collective bargaining had no place in government. But starting with Wisconsin in 1959, states began to allow collective bargaining in government. The influx of dues and members quickly changed the union movement’s tune, and collective bargaining in government is now widespread. As a result unions can now insist on laws that serve their interests – at the expense of the common good.

Union contracts make it next to impossible to reward excellent teachers or fire failing ones. Union contracts give government employees gold-plated benefits – at the cost of higher taxes and less spending on other priorities. The alternative to Walker's budget was kicking 200,000 children off Medicaid.

Governor Walker’s plan reasserts voter control over government policy. Voters’ elected representatives should decide how the government spends their taxes. More states should heed the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Executive Council’s 1959 advice: "In terms of accepted collective bargaining procedures, government workers have no right beyond the authority to petition Congress — a right available to every citizen."

James Sherk is the Bradley fellow in labor policy at the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation

Check out photos from the Wisconsin union protests courtesy of Michelle Malkin here. [Language warning]

Chicago Communists Join Wisconsin Protest, Call For Revolution

The protests in Madison, Wis, which originally began in opposition to a budget repair bill being debated in the legislature, are now drawing individuals and organizations from beyond the state.

This morning MacIver News Service's Bill Osmuski caught up with some Communist organizers from Chicago

Hat tip: Ray

Dave Westlake Reads Sarah Palin's Letter To Union Workers In Madison, Wisconsin

Dave Westlake reads Sarah Palin's powerful letter to union members at the Tea Party counter rally in Madison, Wisconsin. The mere mention of her name has the crowd cheering loudly, as they do again and again as Westlake reads from the letter.

We must all stand with Wisconsin's Common Sense Conservative Governor and legislature, who are trying to get a grip on out of control government. These out of control unions must be stopped or the nation will fall.

Hat tip: Karen Allen @Organize4Palin

Sarah Palin: Union Brothers and Sisters: Seize Opportunity to Show True Solidarity

From Sarah Palin:

Union Brothers and Sisters: Seize Opportunity to Show True Solidarity

The union-led school closures and demonstrations in Madison have left most ordinary Americans shaking their heads in disbelief. Months ago, I penned a message to my fellow union brothers and sisters when I found myself on the receiving end of union boss Richard Trumka’s wrath. Yesterday’s demonstrations reminded me of the full-page ads taken out against me when I put my foot down in dealing with union demands while I served as governor.

My message then and now to good union brothers and sisters is that you have another option. You don’t have to kowtow to the union bosses who are not looking out for you, but instead are using you. You can join millions of other union members in a commonsense movement to help fight for the right causes in our great country – for budgets that share the burden in a truly fair way and for commonsense reforms that take power away from vested interests like union bosses and big business lobby groups, and put it back where it belongs – with "We the People."

Here we are still struggling to get out of a deep recession and coping with high unemployment, record deficits, rapidly rising food prices, and a host of other economic problems; and Wisconsin union bosses want union members out in the streets demanding that taxpayers foot the bill for unsustainable benefits packages. 

I am a friend to hard working union members and to teachers. I come from a family of teachers; my grandparents, parents, brother, sister, aunt, and other relatives worked, or still work, in education. My own children attend public schools. I greatly admire good teachers and will always speak up in defense of the teaching profession. But Wisconsin teacher unions do themselves no favor by closing down classrooms and abandoning children’s needs in protest against the sort of belt-tightening that people everywhere are going through. 

Union brothers and sisters: this is the wrong fight at the wrong time. Solidarity doesn’t mean making Wisconsin taxpayers pay for benefits that are not sustainable and affordable at a time when many of these taxpayers struggle to hold on to their own jobs and homes. Real solidarity means everyone being willing to sacrifice and carry our share of the burden. It does no one any favors to dismiss the sacrifices others have already had to make—in wage cuts, unpaid vacations, and even job losses—to weather our economic storm.

Hard working, patriotic, and selfless union brothers and sisters: please don’t be taken in by the union bosses. At the end of the day, they’re not fighting for your pension or health care plan or even for the sustainability of Wisconsin’s education budget. They’re fighting to protect their own powerful privileges and their own political clout. The agenda for too many union bosses is a big government agenda that only serves the union bosses themselves – not union members, not union families, and certainly not the larger community. Everybody else is just there to foot the bill; and if that bill eventually takes the form of thousands of teachers and other public sector workers losing their jobs because the state of Wisconsin can no longer afford to keep them on the payroll, that’s a risk the union bosses are willing to take as long as their positions are secure. Union brothers and sisters: you are better than this and you deserve better. Don’t be led astray.

One final word of warning to my fellow Americans: back in 2009, I warned about what would happen if states accepted short-term unsustainable debt-ridden "Stimulus Package" funds. Accepting those funds allowed states to grow government, increase already unsustainable levels of spending, kick the can down the road on reforming entitlements, and create public expectations that they would continue financing these new mandates once the federal funds ran out. States were not in a position to grow government and take on new financial commitments then, and now the chickens have come home to roost. As goes Wisconsin today, so goes the country tomorrow.

~ Sarah Palin