New York union members are campaigning for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s Democratic challenger Tom Barrett in Milwaukee, the New York Post reports.
Fearing their own bargaining rights could be stripped away, members of New York’s powerful unions piled onto planes to Wisconsin in an effort to topple GOP Gov. Scott Walker in tomorrow’s recall election.
Tom Mason, a New York City bus driver and executive board member of ATU Local 726, said he’s worried that Walker’s attacks on union rights will spread to the Big Apple and the rest of the country. … "Everybody in the union movement should be concerned. The anti-labor actions will go national if Walker is not defeated."
Walker’s allies blasted the out-of-state unions for meddling. "The whole recall movement began when outside labor forces descended on Wisconsin. This is a last-ditch, desperate attempt to come in and influence the voters of Wisconsin," said Wisconsin GOP spokesman Ben Sparks.
Walker has lost momentum but continues to lead in the polls. On Sunday, Public Policy Polling released its final poll, which puts Walker slightly ahead:
Walker leads Tom Barrett 50-47. That's down from 50-45 on a PPP poll conducted three weeks ago and it's also down from a 52-45 lead that Walker posted in a Marquette Law poll released last week.
Illinois pollster We Ask America posted a poll on Monday that put Walker ahead by more than 12 points. Walker leads Barrett, 54.1 to 41.56.
Those surprising results would project at a 56-44 final win for Walker. HOWEVER [emphasis in original], while Walker continues to lead Barrett, we once again caution readers that this is an extremely difficult election to predict.
Last year's unprecedented Wisconsin senate recalls, sparked by Walker’s bill to close budget gaps by altering collective bargaining privileges for public employees, resulted in two Republican state senators, Sheila Harsdorf and Alberta Darling, expanding on their margin of victory in the previous race.
The gubernatorial recall will take place on Tuesday.