Right-wing witch hunt focused on MATC

When there was a public hearing last week on the proposed budget for Milwaukee Area Technical College, more than 20 people showed up to testify.

Much to the dismay of the right wing, every one of them supported the budget with its 5% proposed tax lefy increase, and praised the work MATC is doing to prepare skilled workers.

So Republicans who run the legislature "took turns criticizing MATC" at a "hearing" Tuesday to which no MATC faculty members or union reps were invited, even though much of the fire was directed at faculty salaries. That should provide some "balance," I guess. [I originally said no one from MATC was invited, but some administrators, who sit on the other side of the bargaining table, were asked to testify.]

MATC'S union is calling Tuesday's hearing a witch hunt, and that's not far off.

Charlie Dee, an MATC faculty member and union officer, responds to some of the misinformation being peddled about MATC in a WisOpinion column written before the latest barrage from the right.

There is a concerted effort by Republicans to discredit the technical college, and it smells a lot like an anti-union philosophy that's driving it. Dee's column includes this gem:

Fox Point insurance agent Paul Pedersen is the latest to weigh in on WisOpinion.com, repeating some misinformation, inventing some other. I well remember Pedersen from his several terms on the MATC Board. His main contribution was periodic rants about various issues at the college, but he never seemed to have his “facts” straight enough to get anyone to take him seriously.

He was straight about one thing: he couldn’t stand unions or the people represented by them. He once voted to give top MATC administrators a salary increase on the same night he voted to give no increase to janitors, secretaries and faculty represented by unions.