Parsing MJS

It is abundantly clear that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has big time love for Scott Walker, so I am used to the biased reporting and editorializing. But sometimes, they really go overboard with their blatant bias to the point of inaccurate reporting.

For example, JSOnline has this story today, about the two legal actions that AFSCME has taken against Walker's power grab. It is so chock full of inaccuracies that the only way to parse it is paragraph by paragraph.

The article will be blockquoted and my response will be in between.

Milwaukee County workers expect to find out Friday if they'll be taking a pay cut and working a shorter workweek for the rest of the year.

Actually both the judge and the arbitrator said that they might not be able to provide a ruling until Sunday morning, when the furloughs are to take effect.

The shorter week is supposed to go into effect Monday.

Again, according to Walker's own memo, it goes into effect Sunday.

Both an arbitrator and a judge are expected to release decisions Friday on the legality of County Executive Scott Walker's order requiring that most workers start their work days a half hour later and end them a half hour earlier.

Again, they said it might not be until next week. Also, the hours could be split that way, but most of the people I know that are going to be effected were also offered either coming in an hour later or leaving an hour earlier.

On a side note, I have been told that Walker is already rescinding on some of the people being affected, including the zoo, the parks and the highway workers.

Amedeo Greco, the arbitrator hearing a grievance filed by the union, confirmed Thursday that he intends to issue a decision on whether Walker had violated the contract with the union when he issued the order May 14. He declined to comment on the hearing he conducted Thursday on the matter.

The hearing was actually on Wednesday. In response to this article, the union was alarmed and called Mr. Greco, since he is not supposed to be talking to anyone about the case until he made a ruling. Greco categorically denied speaking with any reporters.

Reserve Judge Dennis Flynn is also expected to issue a written decision Friday on the union's request for an injunction to prevent Walker's order from taking effect.

Again, it could be not until Sunday.

Walker said the move was necessary to help erase the projected $14.9 million county budget deficit for 2009.

Except the deficit was never that high, so the move was unnecessary. This would be called a sin of omission.

Milwaukee District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - the union that filed the grievance and the lawsuit on behalf of the 1,800 workers that will be affected - disputes the savings and whether the measure is necessary.

Hey, one right! Too bad it wasn't until the last paragraph.

Now, I know that most of the points are just petty. But the part about the arbitrator speaking with the press is highly alarming. They, like a judge, are not allowed to speak about an active case at all. This would mean that either the arbitrator is lying, or the paper is. Either way, it is a gross betrayal of the public trust.