Read AP stories with a grain of salt

I read an article in the Bee recently, headline “What to know about the Wisconsin recall vote.” It was in a question-and-answer format. Are we to believe that the information in this front page Associated Press nationally circulated piece is the bottom line on what is to be decided in Wisconsin’s recall election Tuesday?

I was not impressed, in fact I was saddened by the biased content that the question and answer was spoonfeeding to the people who read newspapers nationally expecting objective and factual news. Dean Singleton, the AP chief, should be ashamed and readers should be wary of all the “AP” content that adorns daily publications nationwide, including this one.

Gov. Walker was elected to address the huge and rising deficit in his state. The financial burden of public worker pensions and medical payments were insurmountable, the collective bargaining power of these workers unions was suffocating any reform for recovery. The democrats and unions went ballistic, legislators went to Chicago to hide from the vote that passed anyway. Everyone remembers the massive union and left led sit-in in the capitol that followed. Who wouldn’t want to retire at 48 and live off the private sector for the next 35 years. Walker’s new policies forced the workers to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries to their pension, most were paying nothing. He doubled their medical contributions, which were small. He diminished union power to dictate lavish wages and retirement benefits paid by the bankrupt state treasury. Walker has now turned the deficit around, jobs are rebounding. Democrats and union leaders are panicked that a failed recall here will spell doom for Obama and the left agenda.

Well that’s the ‘What to know’ about the Wisconsin recall today in my opinion. Read AP accounts with a grain of salt. And yes, this recall is a small window into the November decision we all need to make.

R. BRUCE JOHNSON

Sandpoint