Falk details plans for collective bargaining, tech colleges

Contender for Governor of Wisconsin, Kathleen Falk, speaks at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee on Feb. 22, 2012. Photo by the author.

Democratic candidate for governor Kathleen Falk unveiled a plan Wednesday to restore funds to the state’s technical college system.

“It’s a big producer of jobs in the state,” said Falk, who announced Feb. 7 that she would join the race to unseat Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election, a date for which has yet to be determined.

In her plan to create jobs, Falk said she would close “a corporate tax loophole the governor created” that costs taxpayers $46 million and use those funds to provide training through the state’s technical colleges.

Falk, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002 and for state attorney general in 2006, made those remarks at a WisPolitics luncheon Wednesday at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. The program was sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Aurora Health Care.

“The best way to produce jobs and grow our economy is to invest in education,” said Falk, who criticized Walker for not creating the 250,000 jobs he promised while campaigning.

Falk, 60, who served as Dane County Executive from 1997 to 2011, also vowed if elected to veto any budget bill that did not restore collective bargaining – the only method to do, she said.

“There is only one way,” she said. “There is the only bill that has to pass. It’s the budget bill. If you’re not willing to say you’re willing to veto it, you have no leveraging power.”

As the former county executive in Dane County, she said she relied on what she called “shared sacrifices,” and worked with eight unions to negotiate salary cuts and increase their members’ contributions to health care in 2007 and 2008.

It’s a matter of sitting down with bargaining units and saying, “Here are our choices, here are the facts. Will you work with me?”

Falk, who was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Waukesha County, earned a bachelor’s in philosophy from Stanford University in 1973 and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1976, and practiced environmental law in Wisconsin.

She criticized Walker for “rolling back environmental laws regularly.” In particular, she noted changes made in a late-night legislative session Tuesday that relaxes rules on wetlands development, a bill Walker has said he’d sign.

Falk said if elected, she would work to reform public education, and she pointed to her creation of the Early Childhood Initiative in Madison’s most impoverished neighborhoods. The initiative’s aim was to “make sure moms and dads get and keep jobs,” so their children can remain in school.

At the same time, she said she did not support using public dollars to fund private schools. “I’m not interested in expanding school choice,” Falk said.

The state’s American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) division has endorsed Falk in her recall candidacy, as has the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers’ union, and Emily’s List, a national organization whose aim is electing pro-choice Democratic women to office.

The WisPolitics program is the first in a series that will be followed March 7 with one featuring Mayor Tom Barrett, who is still weighing whether to challenge Walker in a recall bid. A third program featuring Republican U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan will be held on April 9.