February 20, 2012
-For Immediate Release-

Contact: Brian Sikma, Communications Director, brian@mediatrackers.org

MILWAUKEE – Kathleen Falk, a candidate for governor, has come under fire for signing a pledge to veto the state budget in exchange for union support during her current campaign. The pledge was put forward by several labor unions that met with Falk and other potential candidates in secret closed-door sessions. After Falk signed the pledge the Wisconsin Education Association Council endorsed her without a vote of its members. Today, AFSCME, another union present at the meeting, announced its endorsement of Falk.

A new photo that Media Trackers obtained shows Falk holding a copy of the controversial pledge. Brian Sikma, communications director for Media Trackers, commented on the development saying, “Kathleen Falk is positioning herself as the leader of a supposedly grassroots movement, but it is clear that union bosses are the ones leading this movement and telling everyone – even the candidates – what to do and what to think.” Sikma noted that Falk has so far not expressed any concern that her pledge was the wrong thing to do. “Instead of recognizing a pre-emptive sell-out of the state budget as something that could throw Wisconsin’s finances into deep turmoil, Ms. Falk believes that it is a badge of honor to be unduly influenced by unions.”

“Public employee unions have a deep interest in recovering the revenue they lost when mandatory union dues taken out of workers’ paychecks were ended,” Sikma said. “This alliance between Kathleen Falk and public sector labor unions is nothing short of a desperate gamble by both sides to salvage labor’s death grip on the paychecks of Wisconsin’s public workers.”

The photo may be found here.

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