With the exception of a few races (and the state of California), the November election was about the dog getting tired of being wagged by the tail.

So, when a state like Wisconsin has unions that force-feed union propaganda down school children’s throats, try to have 86-year old volunteer crossing guards removed, threaten the state’s fiscal well being through unfunded pension liabilities, all the while attempting to engineer elections through dirty tricks, it’s only natural that taxpayers would want it cleaned up.

That’s where newly-elected Republican governor Scott Walker comes in. Walker is making plans to curtail the stranglehold that public-sector unions have on his states taxpayers, by any means legally possible:

Walker, a Republican, said he’s looking at a range of options that would weaken unions, including eliminating their ability to negotiate with the state.

“Anything from the decertify all the way through modifications of the current laws in place,” Walker said at a luncheon sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club at the Newsroom Pub.

“The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers and the people who care about services.”

Of course, the union bosses are up in arms over this attack to their base of power.

“It’s too bad Scott Walker wants to destroy a law that assures the uninterrupted delivery of high-quality public services and has kept labor peace for more than three decades,” said Marty Beil, executive director of the Wisconsin State Employees Union. “We certainly prefer negotiation to confrontation.”

While it is doubtful that Walker will succeed in eliminating the unions entirely, there are some steps that he could take immediately.

First, he could ensure that public workers do not have the ability to cripple state services through striking;

Second, he could push the legislature to pass a bill eliminating collective bargaining from the public sector, and;

Third, to begin to attract business back to Wisconsin, he could push the legislature to pass a Right-to-Work law, removing private-sector unions’ ability to have workers fired for refusing to pay unions dues.

Those would be good first steps. However, they won’t come without a huge and expensive fight. Wisconsin unions have millions of dollars taken from member dues to spend on advertising to beat up on Scott Walker.

So far, though, it appears Scott Walker’s up for the fight.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”  Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

X-posted.