Call it what you like, the taxpayers need to be liberated from union hostage takers.

RICHMOND, Va. — Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine laid into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) Saturday night, telling a crowd of Democratic activists that what’s happening in that state amounts to a declaration of war on public workers.

Speaking at the Virginia Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, Kaine said the ongoing budget battle and wide scale protests in Wisconsin reveal the true priorities of GOP governors across the country.

“Governors and others in state houses across this country on the Republican side have decided what they want to do is wage a war against their own employees,” Kaine said Saturday night. “Against public employees who are teaching our kids, who are caring for our parents in nursing homes, who are patrolling our neighborhoods.”