KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Monday March 7 Housing and Economic stories

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Governor Calls Wisconsin `Broke' as He Argues to Limit Union Bargaining - (www.bloomberg.com) Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appealed to the public to support his bill that would restrict collective bargaining for government workers, saying that the state’s future depended on it. “We’re broke in this state because time and time again, politicians of both political parties ran away from the tough decisions and punted them down the road for another day,” Walker said in a 10-minute televised address yesterday. “We can no longer do that.” Walker spoke as 14 Democratic senators spent a fifth straight day in Illinois to prevent the chamber from having the quorum needed to vote on a bill to restrict collective- bargaining rights for public employees. Democratic House members in Indiana are using the same tactic to stall Republican-sponsored bills, the New York Times reported. In Ohio, an estimated 5,500 protesters came to the Statehouse in Columbus for a Senate hearing on a collective- bargaining bill amid complaints by Democrats that not all demonstrators were allowed inside.

It's Crunch Time for Organized Labor - (online.wsj.com) U.S. labor unions are facing the most direct challenge to their political and financial clout since Ronald Reagan broke the air-traffic-controllers union 30 years ago. Across the industrial Midwest, a union stronghold long vital to Democrats and key to President Barack Obama's re-election prospects, Republicans are trying to roll back the bargaining and dues-collecting powers not just of public-employee unions but also of groups that represent auto workers and carpenters. Democratic members of Indiana's House of Representatives refused to show up for work Tuesday, in an effort to block debate on a Republican-backed "right to work" bill that would allow workers to opt out of paying union dues even in a union-represented shop. Such laws are in force in 22 states. Democratic members of Wisconsin's Senate continued their boycott of the legislative session, effectively blocking action on proposals to curtail the bargaining powers of state-employee unions. Gov. Scott Walker said 1,500 state workers could lose their jobs by July if his proposal doesn't pass.

Wisconsin Governor Lays Out Strategy in Prank Call - (online.wsj.com) Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker laid out his strategy for pressuring state Senate Democrats to return from Illinois, in a prank telephone call by a liberal activist posing as conservative donor David Koch. In the 20-minute call, Mr. Walker, a Republican, floated the idea of tricking the Democratic holdouts into returning to the capital of Madison by offering to talk with them. He said his office is looking into whether Republican state senators could then use a legal maneuver to pass the bill, which would strip most of Wisconsin's 170,000 public workers of many of their collective-bargaining rights. Cullen Werwie, a spokesman for Mr. Walker, confirmed that the governor's voice is on the audio recording, which initially was posted on the website of the Buffalo Beast, a liberal online news site. The recording, in which a reporter tells the governor he is Mr. Koch and prods him for information on his plans for dealing with the Democrats, quickly spread over the Internet on Wednesday. The 14 Senate Democrats fled Wisconsin on Thursday, depriving Republican senators of the quorum they needed to vote on a fiscal bill. The Democrats have remained in Illinois since last week, as thousands of protestors have flooded the capitol building, most of them teachers and other union members opposing the governor's plan.

Portugal's Debt D-Day Nears - (online.wsj.com) Some European officials are quietly discussing contingencies for what might be a Portuguese request for financial aid as early as next month, when the highly indebted country begins facing large-scale debt redemptions. Financial pressure on the country's treasury is increasing, a topic that is likely to come up at the March 11 and March 24 meetings of European Union leaders, according to people familiar with the discussions. "The feeling is that it can't go without a bailout beyond March or April at the latest and is already under pressure by countries like Germany to ask for help, to get it so the situation in the euro zone becomes more clear," a senior euro-zone government official said. Some Portuguese officials are privately considering the possibility, this official said. Portugal has raised €4.75 billion ($6.5 billion) via bond sales so far this year. But it now faces redemptions totaling €3.848 billion in maturing Treasury bills in March, according to data from Portugal's Treasury and Government Debt Agency. It then has €4.342 billion in bond redemptions in April, followed by €4.933 billion to be paid out in June.

AIG Ended Up Having To Pay Millions For The Duke Lacrosse Stripper Lawsuit - (www.businessinsider.com) AIG ended up having to pay part of the multi-million settlements that Duke University paid to the three lacrosse stars who were accused of raping a stripper the team had hired for one of their parties, Crystal Gail Mangum, back in 2006. Duke suspended the three accused students, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, and the entire Duke Lacrosse team for two games. And later, they forced the Duke lacrosse team coach, Mike Pressler, to resign. Then in court, everyone from the lacrosse team was vindicated. But of course, the three players' reputations were ruined. And as a result, Duke eventually had to pay undisclosed settlements to each of the students, and thanks to AIG's involvement, now we have a better idea of how much was paid to each. As its insurance provider, AIG insures Duke University against costs like investigating an accusation like Mangum's.