Posted on 03/10/2011 6:47:21 AM PST by milwguy
Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said Thursday that the 14 Senate Democrats who have been in Illinois plan to meet this afternoon to discuss their options in the wake of the Senate vote Wednesday night to eliminate collective bargaining provisions for most public workers.
Larson said the group will examine what legal options are available to them to contest what they believe was an illegal action Wednesday night when a committee stripped some financial elements from the bill, which they said allowed them to pass it with the presence of a simple majority.
Democrats say that meeting was a violation of the state's Open Meetings law.
Larson said Democrats also want to study further whether the actual Senate vote on the measure followed proper procedure.
The Democrats also will discuss whether they will return to Madison or stay put, as they have for weeks.
"We've got to see what the best course of action is moving forward," Larson said in a telephone interview from an undisclosed location in Illinois.
Larson said he and other Democrats received telephone calls from lawyers volunteering strategies from a legal standpoint.
Larson acknowledged that events moved quickly last night. Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona), the Senate's minority leader, had sent conflicting signals on Wednesday night whether the Democrats would return to Madison.
"Right now, we are kind of dealing with how bad this was," Larson said. "There are people waking up and not realizing what just happened."
Execellent way to follow the battle in Madison today is wtmj online
http://players.jbgmedia.com/WTMJ/player.html
FleeBaggers! Hey, I like that. From now on we should call the Democrats FleeBaggers!
Does anyone know whether this action was a violation of open meetings? Or some issue being discussed last night about not giving enough notice of the intention to have the vote? Someone was saying it was less than 2 hours, then one of the fleebaggers on Greta said it was supposed to be 24 hours (but could not substantiate that there was a time frame requirement). I am just SO HOPEFUL that this action by the WI GOP is found to be valid and stays in place.
Hey FleeBaggers... so you know, there are skid marks on your faces... better get some Windex and paper towels to help remove them.
Oh, please stay put. That way, every laid-off government employee can give you cowards full credit for their unemployed status.
Just heard the Wis. Senate Majority Leader on WTMJ Radio, Milwaukee. He said there is no question of legality noting that they wouldn’t make such a move if their actions would be illegal. He said he has been in the system long enough to know the rules and sees no legal issues at all.
Way to go folks. My hat is off to you.
BTTTT! Keep the Fleebaggers in the news.. they just make the point for us. When the going gets tough, the Fleebaggers stay home and pull their woobies up over their eyes. I wish I could say I don’t wanna go to work, but I hafta eat. I bet their thumbs are all wrinkly like prunes from all the days spent thumb- sucking because they are out- numbered.
Way cool.
The office content of the law breaking congress should be moved out into the streets.
Their main response seems to be phone calls to MSNBC from the Comfort Inn-Downtown Rockford, whining that “This is not the way that Democracy is supposed to work!” LOL!!!
Hurry, Gov. Walker - sign that bill!
Sykes just spoke with the Spokesperson for the head of the Assembly...they are currently telling R’s to not even try to get in early as the Capitol is not safe.
Supposed to vote on this at 11AM...unless they can legally do it by phone or they are going to bust heads to allow the R’s in its going to be a LONG day...
I’m sure I have read that the WI senate legal team have ruled that it did not violate any open meeting laws.
Right on!
Somebody needed to start showing some spine. Let's hope this catches on.
Since it was a ‘special session’, the 24 hr rule does not apply according to the Senate majority leader who was just on the radio. He said in a ‘normal’ session the requirement is 24 hrs, but in special session, no prior notice is even required. The mSM parroting the pissed off, outplayed.
I thought they voted yesterday...?
I've been buried at work and only getting snippets, so I could be wrong.
Is WI on Central Time?
Wisconsin this winter is the perfect example of why we should be a Republic and not a Democracy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.