On the recordMarch 2, 2011
Let me just say to you--and I thank you for yielding and allowing me this time--as mayor of a city, I balanced budgets for 9 years. I understand what it takes to balance a budget. But let me just suggest to you that Wisconsin, being very similar to Ohio, when you look at the fact that wages and benefits for public employees in the State of Ohio account for only 9 percent of the budget, so Ohio is saying, as you are, that they've got this huge, huge deficit. They're saying we've got an $8 billion deficit. Well, just like in Ohio, if we were to fire every single public employee in the State of Ohio, we would save about $2 billion this year. They would still have a $6 billion deficit. So public employees are not the problem. And for them to suggest that the only thing they can talk about is wages is ridiculous. It is nothing more than a smokescreen. They are basically saying: We are taking all of your rights. And that is what it boils down to legally is that they really have no rights at all. There is no collective voice. There is nothing that they can do to protect themselves. They have taken away their seniority, their security. It is just, to me, the most barbaric thing I've seen in a long time.
