Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Campaigns For David Williams In Lexington, Kentucky.

As protesters chant, Wisconsin governor appears with David Williams
By Jack Brammer

While about 70 protesters stood in the rain Thursday morning, chanting "Stop the War on Workers," Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams stood with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at a rally in Lexington.

Walker, in his first year in office, has been the bane of unions for curbing collective bargaining for state worker unions in his budget, which was passed by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin legislature.

Walker landed in the national spotlight when workers and Democrats protested his moves.

Walker was not fazed by the protesters outside the Fayette County Republican headquarters on Southland Drive whose loud chanting could be heard as Walker and Williams touted conservative values at the rally.

Asked what he made of the protest, Walker said, "You have folks from all across the country protecting the big government union bosses.

"But in the end, what we are doing in Wisconsin and what I think others are going to do across the country is actually defend workers — middle-class workers who want to have the right to choose whether or not they want to be a part of a union or not and ultimately want jobs."

Walker said that Williams has said, "You can't organize in a plant where there is no jobs."

Walker's appearance in Kentucky for Williams and the GOP slate of candidates for state constitutional offices came a day after Williams released a position paper on jobs and the economy.

Williams' plan, in part, calls for allowing counties to decide whether workers can keep their jobs without paying union dues and whether they will pay the cost of prevailing wage that unions seek for public construction.

Gary Blake, secretary-treasurer of International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union 651 in Lexington, said his union does not agree with Walker's positions.

"We will unite to protect our Kentucky workers and resist David Williams and any others who share Scott Walker's views on labor," he said.

During the rally, flyers against Williams were placed on car windshields. Paid for by the Kentucky Democratic Party, they claimed that Williams, as state Senate president, has been spending taxpayers' dollars on himself rather than struggling Kentucky families.

Walker was scheduled to go later in the day with Williams to a GOP rally in Edgewood.

Before the Lexington rally, he attended a fund-raiser in Lexington with Williams and several other GOP candidates.

Williams faces Democratic incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear and Lexington independent Gatewood Galbraith in the Nov. 8 general election.

Beshear was in Owensboro Thursday morning to launch a group known as "Veterans for Beshear."

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/09/15/1883329/as-protesters-chant-wisconsin.html#ixzz1Y3KLgW5Z