Wisconsin warning shot

There will be a temptation to view Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s successful rebuff of a recall effort in Wisconsin as a harbinger of the 2012 presidential race. But the more relevant lessons may be drawn from the central issue of the campaign: Walker’s efforts to strip most public employees of their collective bargaining lessons.

Even in Wisconsin, a battleground state with a rich history of union activism, organized labor was unable to oust a governor who went to extremes to rein in the cost and influence of public employees. Pension reform measures also prevailed in San Jose and San Diego on Tuesday.

Are you listening, Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Legislature? Middleclass voters are willing to ask whether politicians have gone too far in bestowing benefits on government workers who are in line for compensation packages that taxpayers in the private sector could not hope to attain.

Thoughtful California Democrats, such as Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, have suggested that the state could be headed to another Prop. 13-style taxpayer revolt if Sacramento fails to honestly address runaway pension costs. The Wisconsin results show that working-class voters are not necessarily going to side with the public-employee unions in an us-against-them campaign.

But the other message out of Wisconsin is that there is a line between asserting fiscal responsibility and demonizing public employees. Walker showed insufficient respect for that boundary, which is why it cost many millions of dollars — outspending his opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett — to preserve his job.

Both sides should note that the real mandate of Wisconsin was against the polarization that has frozen progress from Washington to Sacramento.