Posted on 02/19/2011 6:54:32 PM PST by Libloather
Wisconsin senators' absence raises questions on tactic
By Eric Johnson – 17 mins ago
CHICAGO (Reuters) – As demonstrators wrangled on Saturday over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's move to weaken public unions, analysts weighed the consequences of 14 Democratic senators' decision to flee the state to stall the bill's consideration.
**SNIP**
"As far as the constitution goes, there is nothing that expressly forbids their actions," Copelovitch said. "But if the same thing that is happening in Wisconsin spreads to other states, there should be explicit rules written to forbid it."
Senator Jon Erpenbach said Friday that the senators were prepared to be away for weeks, and Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca said he didn't know when they would return.
"Sooner or later all 14 will have to return--they are away from their states, homes, and businesses," said Sabato, adding that a vote is inevitable and the mathematics is not on the side of the Democrats.
"The upside is that they have brought a lot of attention to their point of view. The downside is they are setting themselves up for a big failure in public relations at some point," Sabato said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The great tantrum wouldn’t be happening if they were winning.
Just declare the offices vacant and schedule elections.
Could the current Assembly and Senate pass a law that forces these people back or, if they don’t come back, to forfeit their office?
So, if I don’t show up for work “for weeks”, there is nothing my boss can do to me? I didn’t know that. Must be a union thing.
There are a lot more tough votes ahead. The Wisconsin Senate will have to post guards at the doors, when the Democrats are already inside, to get the legislation through.
OTOH, the left has shown itself in this skirmish to be willing to rob the taxpayers right in front of their noses (collecting sick pay for protesting), to bully elected officials, to leave piles of filth for their fellow state workers to clean up, and, in the case of the Senators, to be cowards who run away rather than face up to the new reality.
It’s crystal clear that these loser RATs didn’t hear We The People last November. We The People will be louder in November 2012. These gutless Elitists just gave whomever runs against them all the evidence needed to defeat them.
Proof positive that these RAT Senators spit in the faces of the taxpayers of Wisconsin, IMO.
Weather the rest of this storm in WI and make sure a couple of the wobbly R’s stay firm and this is the last gasp. There will be plenty of tough votes, but the tantrums will be over. This was their best shot and public opinion will now be firmly against repeat performances.
This was a HUGE overstep by the teachers union reps and their members
The state senate needs a 2/3 quorum to vote to discipline any member.
What they should be doing is start sailing through all kinds of non-fiscal dream legislation (which don’t require the higher 20 person quorum): make WI a right-to-work state, concealed carry, etc. The pressure on the missing 14 to come back while that was going on would be irresistible.
Plus, they can strip out of the Budget Repair Bill the most controversial part — eliminating collective bargaining — and pass it right now. It’s not fiscal. Once that’s done, what reason would the 14 have for staying away? That’s really the overriding issue for them.
Just do it.
And there are some wobbly Pubbies. I have also been worried about the shenanigans coordinated by the WH. What kind of promises of campaign funding or job offers they might be making behind the scenes to ruin the majority vote. There is nothing Democrats won’t stoop to.
That is the obvious next step. I sure hope they do it.
Well thank you Cap't Obvious. That point has come and gone Mr. Sabato - you less than intelligent wazoo.
“The upside is that they have brought a lot of attention to their point of view.”
They have also brought alot of attention to OUR point of view. As people are made aware of the high income and benefits total, it will work against them.
I cannot believe that these clowns would draw their pay for this period of time...they obviously are not doing the work of the stete, have no valid reason to be absent.....NO WORK, NO PAY.....that's the way it is with the people who pay their salaries.....and I hope many of them will reconsider ever voting these doltd into office again.....hey Wisconsin, send me a check, I didn't represent you either.....PATHETIC
The White HOuse can pull what they want, but the complete repudiation this State gave them in our Statewide elections 3 months ago should open their eyes. It won’t but it should.
We hired the people we needed to fix what we know needed fixing. There will be recalls over this (political retributin for Dems if they can), but the running 14 will have hell to pay when they finally come back.
Yes the Dems will do what they always do, but they picked the wrong hill to die on in this one.
STOP THEIR PAYCHECKS AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT!!!! NOW!!!
Recall petitions are floating in Wisconsin. Waging a recall election would get their attention, and maybe get them tossed out of office too. Double win.
They are obviously taking a leaf from the book of the Texas legislators, who fled the state and hid out in Oklahoma ten years ago, to avoid a redistricting vote.
They managed to delay matters for quite a long time. But in the end they lost the redistricting battle, and I doubt whether it did their reputations any good with the Texas voters.
What is there to keep Wisconsin pubbies from simply declaring an end to public schools in Wisconsin and redirecting the money to private schools and home-school alliances?
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