Tom Barrett Pushes Back On Reports Of Labor Record

Wisconsin candidate says he never pushed to limit collective bargaining, despite document.

The four candidates in the Wisconsin recall Democratic primary, at a forum on Wednesday evening. Tom Barrett and Kathleen Falk at left.

Image by Michael P. King / AP

John McCormack at The Weekly Standard asked Tom Barrett, one of two main Democratic challengers to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, about a BuzzFeed report of his efforts to limit collective bargaining among city workers in Milwaukee:

Following Wednesday’s debate, Barrett told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the report was “inaccurate.”

“We worked to try to have a collective bargaining agreement. What we have in Milwaukee that’s different from the state is by law—a court decision and a global settlement—our employees do not pay toward their pension, so we were faced with close to $15 million in cuts. So the question was how do we deal with these $15 million in cuts.”

His opponent Kathleen Falk — who’s garnered the bulk of labor support in the Democratic primary leading to the recall — shot back, telling McCormack “He’s got his record, and I’ve got mine.”