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Monday, March 7, 2011
Competing rallies draw political celebrities By Samy Moskol The Daily Cardinal
Matt Marheine/the daily cardinal
Rev. Jesse Jackson visited Madison this weekend and spent time discussing the budget repair bill with Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
Rival rallies for and against the budget repair bill were held over the weekend, bringing in big names from both sides of the debate to Madison. Thousands of unions’ rights supporters gathered at the King Street entrance to the Capitol Saturday to listen to director Michael Moore speak, who accused corporate interests of manipulating the public. “[The Republicans] have expertly convinced many Americans to buy their version of the American dream,” Moore said. “They have
created a poison pill [of ] mutually assured destruction.” Moore also critiqued Republicans on their efforts to change bargaining rights and what he said is an unwillingness to negotiate. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and other local political figures spoke at the rally to usher in the fourth week of protests. As the protesters filled Capitol Square through the weekend, Tea Party supporters had their own rally Sunday at the Alliant Energy Center. protests page 3
Rev. Jesse Jackson visits mayor, calls Wis. ‘ground zero’ for public workers Mayor Dave Cieslewicz spent Saturday afternoon with Rev. Jesse Jackson discussing Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed state budget and budget repair bill before Jackson spoke to a large crowd of protesters
at the City County Building. Cieslewicz said he previously invited Jackson to tour the mayor’s office and Jackson accepted the invite to visit Saturday afternoon. Jackson and Cieslewicz met
alone before joining a small group of union and community leaders, Cieslewicz said. “Throughout Rev. Jackson was jackson page 3
Baldwin sees hope in activism over budget By Scott Girard The Daily Cardinal
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., discussed her thoughts on the budget debates going on at the national and local levels in an interview Saturday with The Daily Cardinal. Baldwin said she has made many connections between the two debates, and has reached out to her fellow members of Congress to show them the events in Wisconsin. She said she gave a presentation to the Democratic caucus and many were surprised at the magnitude of the protests. “They were really, I think, bolstered by the fact that this is happening and that people are getting organized elsewhere,” Baldwin said. She also said the protests in Wisconsin will have an effect across the country, and has taken on the responsibility of keeping her colleagues informed. “I also recognize the role I can play
in sharing what’s happening with my colleagues from around the country, because so many have come up to me and said, ‘If you don’t succeed in Wisconsin, my state’s next,’ in terms of attacking workers’ rights,” Baldwin said. Baldwin said the protests have already inspired some governors who thought of eliminating collective bargaining rights to pull their proposals because of possible backlash. “In many ways, we’ve already won some battles that we may never even take full credit for, which is very inspiring,” Baldwin said. She said she has remained in touch with Democratic state legislators, both in the state assembly and state senate. She also said she supports the 14 Democratic senators who fled the state and remain camped out in Illinois to avoid a vote on the budget repair bill. “They have taken the only action they possibly could to allow
the Wisconsin people’s voices to be heard,” Baldwin said. “For that I am very, very grateful.” Baldwin said Gov. Scott Walker has not shown leadership throughout the weeks of protests and debate. She said there are ways he could end the uproar that has taken place, but he is choosing not to. “Real leadership means bringing people with very diverse perspectives together,” Baldwin said. “But he’s just dug in his heels and that shows to me a lack of leadership.” She said the main issue with taking away the bargaining rights was the lack of information about that plan when he campaigned. “He didn’t campaign on taking away workers’ rights,” Baldwin said. “He certainly campaigned on balancing the state budget, so there are many things we could have anticipated, but this is not one of them.” baldwin page 3
Sellery named a top-10 party dorm in national survey While UW-Madison fell to 12th place on the Princeton Review’s list of top party schools, Sellery Hall received a top-10 ranking for party dorms in the first annual “Dormy Awards.” The awards, based on user reviews on the website
DormSplash.com, ranked Sellery seventh in the nation. Two other Big Ten schools had dorms ranked in the top 10. Indiana University’s BriscoeShoemaker and McNutt ranked 1st and 8th, respectively, and Northwestern University’s Bobb-
McCulloch ranked 4th. The survey ranked the top 14 dorms and schools in multiple categories, including “14 Schools with Best RAs” and “14 Dorms with the Hottest Residents.” Sellery was UW-Madison’s only representation in the six categories.
Victor Bittorf/the daily cardinal
State Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison, addressed the thousands of protestors outside the Capitol Saturday.
Capitol to reopen The Capitol building will reopen to the public on Monday, March 7 at 8:00 a.m. With its reopening comes new rules: • • •
The building will only be accessible to the public during business hours Nothing can be posted on Capitol walls Anyone who arrives at the Capitol with items indicative of spending the night will be denied entrance
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”