Above all, this is a political show-down. The side that the public comes to view as being primarily responsible for the messy standoff will lose. And Walker, having overreached dramatically, has the political winds blowing against him. He has refused to accept a compromise offered by one of his fellow Republicans and to sit and negotiate in good faith with his political opponents, as he is required to do by law (one union filed a complaint this w ...

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Above all, this is a political show-down. The side that the public comes to view as being primarily responsible for the messy standoff will lose. And Walker, having overreached dramatically, has the political winds blowing against him. He has refused to accept a compromise offered by one of his fellow Republicans and to sit and negotiate in good faith with his political opponents, as he is required to do by law (one union filed a complaint this week charging the governor with unfair labor practices). He ordered the capitol building closed to the public, despite the fact that the state's Constitution guarantees citizens access. In response, Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney pulled his deputies from the doors because, he told reporters, it is not their job to act as "palace guard." A judge issued a restraining order on Tuesday ordering the building to be re-opened.

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.