How can the rest of the nation help Wisconsin government workers

We are all aware of the currently plight of government workers under Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin.  Perhaps there is something which can be done in our local communities no matter where in the U.S. you live.

A CALL TO ACTION 

1.   Find out who gave financial support for the election of Governor Walker.  This is more than just the Koch Brothers.

2.  Send a message to the individual Walker supporter that government workers (school teachers, university professors, city/county workers) have the right to collective bargain.

 

Todd and Karen Wanek support for Governor Walker is shown below  [These numbers were obtained from:  http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/dataondemand/84390642.html].  Your local Ashley Furniture Home Store is independently owned and operated to sell exclusive Ashley Furniture products.

Scott Walker
9/22/2010
Wanek, Todd
W26921 Mesa Lane, Arcadia, WI 54612-9022
EXECUTIVE -- AD03 - ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONAL - EXECUTIVE
Ashley Furniture Industries
$2,500

Scott Walker
9/22/2010
Wanek, Karen
W26921 Mesa Lane, Arcadia, WI 54612-9022
EXECUTIVE
Ashley Furniture
$2,500

Here is a short history of the company and its current organization from Wikipedia:

Ashley Furniture HomeStore

Ashley Furniture HomeStore is a chain of independently owned and operated furniture stores licensed to sell Ashley Furniture products exclusively, including mattresses and accessories. As of January 2010, there are over 400 Ashley Furniture HomeStore retail furniture stores operating worldwide. Ashley Furniture HomeStore is the largest retail brand of home furniture and accessories.

History

Carlyle Weinberger founded Ashley Furniture in Chicago in 1945 as a sales operation. Specializing in wooden occasional furniture, Ashley marketed goods made by local companies. Later the company opened a branch in Goshen, Indiana. In 1970, Ashley invested in the Wisconsin-based Arcadia Furniture, founded by Ronald G. Wanek, who had begun his career in a furniture factory owned by Eugene Vogel. When Wanek moved to Arcadia to open his own factory he took with him Eugene Vogel's son, Chuck. The two began doing production work for Ashley Furniture. Even though Arcadia started out as a small production plant for Ashley's lines in 1976, Wanek and group of investors bought out Weinberger, taking control of Ashley Furniture. At first the two companies maintained their separate identities, with Arcadia focusing on production and Ashley on sales.

By 1982, the merged company's annual sales reached $12 million and it had moved its corporate headquarters from Chicago to Arcadia. By the mid-1980s, Ashley offered a line of roughly 350 different furniture products, and had turned its design and manufacturing away from "heirloom pieces" toward products aimed at middle-income buyers. The company's growing network included wholesalers such as Levitz Furniture and mass-retailers such as Sears, Kmart, and Montgomery Ward, in addition to smaller retailers. Sales had climbed to more than $44 million by 1985.

In 1994 Ashley acquired upholstery manufacturer Sklar-Pepplar, and by the late 1990s the company was operating assembly and distribution plants in Seattle, Washington; Pomona, California; New Brunswick, New Jersey; and Orlando, Florida. Gambling that motion furniture was a strong growth area, Ashley acquired Gentry Furniture, of Ripley, Mississippi in 1999. That same year the company also branched out into retailing, licensing Ashley Furniture HomeStores to independent dealers. The chain grew in its first year to approximately 40 stores.^[2]

By 2000, Ashley Furniture Industries employed more people in Arcadia than the town's population. The plant in Arcadia had grown from 35,000 square feet (3,300 m²) in 1970 to 1,500,000 square feet (139,000 m²). Today the company maintains plants across the United States and operates several factories in Pacific Rim countries.^[3] Ron Wanek is currently Chairman of the Board and Todd Waneck is currently President and CEO. ^[4] The company has received offers to take the company public, but its owners prefer to keep it under local control.

[edit] Millennium Line

In 1986, when Wanek and his designers determined that a new style of furniture would better serve the market, Ashley introduced its “Millennium” line, which had a polyurethane finish that gave the wood furniture a luster. The company produced very shiny black furniture in its occasional and bedroom lines, and began adding other colors, such as emerald green. The Millennium line remains an integral part of Ashley’s business