In divided Green Bay, teachers hope lasting anger at Scott Walker will tip recall election

[flamingdem]

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/blogs/the_angle/2012/06/in_divided_gree.html

50/50 !! yikes

GREEN BAY, Wisc. — Jamie and Allison Averbeck are both public school teachers who believe the anger stoked by Governor Scott Walker’s shredding of collective bargaining rights for public unions remains strong enough to prove the polls wrong and recall him tomorrow night in the nation’s most closely watched governor’s race since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recall victory over California Governor Gray Davis in 2003.

“I think, to be honest, that a lot of younger teachers took for granted their collective bargaining rights until they were taken away,” said Allison, 35, an elementary school special education teacher dealing with children with Down’s syndrome and autism in the Ashwaubenon School District, next door to Green Bay. “I know people who were pro-Walker who say he went too far and are definitely voting to get him out. I know people who despised Barrett the first time around but who are voting for him this time because they despise Walker even more." (Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, whom Walker defeated in 2010, is again the challenger in the recall)

“For so many people, it’s personal," she said. "When he cut education" — $800 million to $900 million over two years, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel — "he was going after my children. By cutting teachers he was going after their education.”

Husband Jamie, 34, who works in the district helping teachers understand and use technology in their classrooms, was one of the thousands of unionized workers who participated in the globally publicized, drum-beating sit-in at the Wisconsin state capitol building in Madison. “In some ways, as divisive as it’s been, it’s also been a silver lining that’s renewed the brotherhood a