The leader of the police union in Wisconsin is calling for Gov. Scott Walker to keep the state Capitol open—and today announced plans for a sleepover to make sure that happens.

Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, is willing to cost state taxpayers millions in lost revenue solely to advance their personal political vendetta against working families and their right to bargain for good middle-class jobs.

If true, this is a really horrifying development. According to Adam Weinstein at Mother Jones, when the magazine’s staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep workers out of the Wisconsin Capitol building,

one Twitter user sent out a chilling public response: “Use live ammunition.”

Memo to Gov. Scott Walker: Your allies are deserting you. They know something you don’t seem to: the public supports the freedom to bargain for good middle-class jobs.

Most governors taking office hope to create jobs for their constituents.

Not Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). Before his massive attack on the middle-class jobs of Wisconsin public employees, he rejected federal funding for the creation of high-speed rail that would have added more than 14,000 family-supporting jobs to his state.

This from Think Progress today via ”The Rachel Maddow Show.”

The last time Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) went after public-sector unions it had “disastrous results” for him and for taxpayers. As Milwaukee County Executive in 2009, Walker tried to get rid of the unionized security guards at the county courthouse and replace them with contractors, which he promised would save the county money. The County Board rejected the idea, but in March of 2010 Walker “unilaterally ordered it,” claiming there was a budget emergency.

More shows of solidarity with Wisconsin workers. Tomorrow, Feb. 22, Pittsburgh Council member Natalia Rudiak will preview a proclamation co-sponsored by all nine city Council members expressing support and respect for public workers prior to the Pittsburgh City Council’s regular weekly meeting.

Wisconsin working families, rallying to save middle-class jobs in the state Capitol in Madison, have received hundreds of free pizzas from supporters literally around the world.

It’s no coincidence that public-sector collective bargaining arose in tandem with the civil rights movement between 1955 and 1965, writes Joseph McCartin, associate professor of history and director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.

John August, executive director of Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and a native Wisconsinite, sends us this on events there. The coalition is an alliance of 29 local unions representing 90,000 health care workers.

I am a proud Wisconsinite—not just because of the recent victory of the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl 45, but also because of the state’s great progressive traditions. Those traditions include a strong labor movement and the birth of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the major public-sector union, in 1936.