Posted on 02/22/2011 9:20:54 AM PST by Hojczyk
They've painted themselves in a corner," Wisconsin Republican state senator Randy Hopper says of his Democratic colleagues. "There's no way for them to get out of it."
Democratic senators last week fled Wisconsin rather than allow a vote on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's new budget bill, with its curtailments of some public-sector unions' right to bargain collectively. The bill surely would have passed given the Republicans' 19 to 14 advantage in the Senate. So Democrats, deeply dependent on union money and support, ran away to avoid a vote.
Walker has stood firm in the fight, but the truth is a lot of Republicans were nervous last week when crowds of protesters showed up and Democrats headed for the hills. What if the public supported the unions? After going home to their districts over the weekend, Republicans are feeling better. Many heard from constituents telling them to hang tough, and voters were especially unhappy with Democrats for hightailing it out of state. "We think public opinion is with us on the budget issue, and we're sure public opinion is with us on the Democrats' not showing up for work and doing their job," says Mark Jefferson, executive director of the state Republican Party.
In fact, for many Republican supporters, the big question is not whether the fight is worth the trouble but whether there's some way the GOP can steamroll over the Democrats. But that's not going to happen, at least for now. Republicans believe they are going to win without using extraordinary measures.
For example, there's been a lot of talk about whether, with the budget bill tied up, Republican senators could pull out the collective bargaining provisions and pass them as a standalone measure.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Sorry, didn’t see previous post...please forgive error.
They should be recalled or resign.
Why? Here in Florida Voter ID is the Law, none of it is free, and this has been upheld right to the State Supreme Court.
I'm quite many others are the same.
Is there some quirk of the Law there that compels them to offer Free ID?
I asked on Twitter if this were possible and why it had not been considered. I got no response. I don't know what the rules are there. Do they define a quorum based upon both parties being present, or based on numbers?
>They are corrupt communists organizations that believe they are the government...
Perhaps. More likely they truly believe that Unions and their leaders are the elite of this country, and that the rest of you are wage slaves that exist solely to work forever to pay them their large salaries, benefits and pensions, that, of course, the slaves do not have.
Such is the nature of liberalism in America today.
Oh well. Life’s a bummer, isn’t it?
I do not know. I thought it may have been based on party affiliation as well as numbers but I got a comment from a poster who looks like a local and he implied it was numbers.
Wisconsin GOP and/or taxpayer attorneys should be researching the law of abandonment of office and/or constructive resignation.
It’s based on numbers. There need to be 20 senators present for a quorum on fiscal issue votes. There are 19 Republicans.
It's strictly numbers, and the number needed is 20. Doesn't matter what party that 20th Senator is from, GOP, Dem, or "The Rent is too Damned High"...
the infowarrior
It's been challenged as being a "poll tax" if there is a fee associated with getting the ID. In Stewart v Marion County Indiana, the federal court ruled that it was OK, since there was a provision for a person declaring he was too poor to afford an ID. The person would then cast a provisional ballot, and be required to appear before a judge to swear as to his circumstances.
This makes the Voter ID law effective, because what REAL person is going to go into a courtroom and swear under oath that he has no ID because he cannot afford one, in a country where you need photo ID to do anything from cashing a check to getting cigarettes and liquor?
I looked at the Wisconsin constitution. It requires a 3/5ths quorum. The Senate consists of 19 Rs and 14 Ds, which is 34 total. They need 20 to make 3/5ths, so they need one of the Ds to show. If they had 20 Rs and 13 Ds, they would not need any dems at all, which points out how important each single seat can be.
At what point does the Wisconsin governor announce that something awful must have happened to the missing legislators — truly tragic, since they haven’t been seen in so very, very long — and therefore he will need to name replacements to serve out their remaining terms?
And as for teleconference voting ... absolutely not! If you have to be carried into the chamber on your deathbed then so be it, but you MUST vote in person.
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