Anti-QEO Signs Popping Up in Legislators' Neighborhoods

South Milwaukee teacher Guy Costello places a yard sign in a lawn in the neighborhood of Rep. Jeff Stone.

Wouldn't it be nice if a legislator who can't decide whether the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) law should be repealed would be encouraged to support repeal by his or her neighbors - the people who drive on the same streets, walk on the same sidewalks and pay the same taxes as the legislator?

That's exactly what's happening this spring as signs are being placed in legislators' neighborhoods encouraging the legislators to "Repeal the QEO."

This is how the sign campaign works. First, key legislators who have not committed to supporting the repeal of the QEO are identified. The first list includes Senators Chuck Chvala (D-Madison), Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield), and Representatives Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) and Jeff Stone (R-Greendale). This program will keep moving into other key legislative districts as the budget bill moves through the Senate, the Assembly and on to Governor Jim Doyle.

WEAC members who live within a one-mile radius of the legislator are identified and asked if a sign can be placed in their lawns. WEAC members and WEAC-Retired members put together the signs and place them on the lawns.

The signs are part of a statewide campaign by educators and supporters to repeal the QEO, the 10-year-old law that has stripped teachers of their collective bargaining rights and caused a degeneration of teacher salaries. Governor Jim Doyle placed the repeal of the QEO in his 2003-2005 budget plan, and WEAC members are fighting hard to keep that provision in the budget as it is debated in the Legislature. WEAC Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs John Stocks has said that this is the only opportunity in the foreseeable future to win repeal of the QEO.

The signs are designed to get the attention of legislators "back home," letting each legislator know that his or her actions have an impact on real people who live in their neighborhoods.

In addition to the signs, WEAC members are using the WEAC Cyberlobby (in the Members Only section of OnWEAC) and other means to tell legislators about the damage done by the QEO: The QEO has harmed the quality of public education by discouraging the best and the brightest from entering and staying in the teaching profession, and it has deprived education professionals of the respect they deserve.

Members of WEAC-Retired help staple together hundreds of “Repeal the QEO!” yard signs. The signs are being placed throughout the state. Among those working on preparing the signs are (left to right) Allen Knop, Ginger Stuvetraa, Shirley Coppernoll and Denny Coppernoll.