I wonder what the WI senate rule is for declaring a quorum? Could they change it to say elecontronic contact can be considered as available...as long as they have the means to vote it’s good to go.
If so just change the rule and then vote already. I think Walker wants to drag this out to keep the public against the unions and make it easier for him to get what he wants. Which I’m good with that, but it does appear as if there are several work-arounds to this problem (like just vote on the non budget union stuff today). Maybe he really doesn’t want to restructure the debt and just push the problem to a future generation and would rather deal with it by cutting today’s spending. This way he can blame the unions and the rats (and right-fully so).
I believe it’s in the WI Constitution and not a ‘rule’... I thought I read about it while scanning the WI Constitution, but I might be misremembering as I wasn’t interested in the quorum part.
From an article I linked, it would seem that they could pass a rule regarding this issue;
“What is unambiguously not in the Wisconsin Constitution is a statement as to where those legislators must be in order to be counted towards a quorum.
The Wisconsin Constitution assigns the state legislature the responsibility of crafting rules and definitions governing how voting is to be conducted, i.e., the mechanics of voting. Article IV, Section 7 empowers 51% of the elected legislators in each house of the Wisconsin legislature to do the following:
1) Define a quorum to include those legislators who have the ability — if they choose — to vote absently, either by electronic means or proxy. This would ensure that no citizens are ever deprived of representation in the state legislature even if their representative is in the hospital or out of town; and/or
2) Pass a statute (or legislative rules) that any legislator who refuses or fails to represent his constituents by participating in the deliberations of that body for more than 30 days is to be regarded as having resigned his office. Once again, this would ensure that no citizens are ever deprived of representation in the state legislature even if their representative is in the hospital or out of town or just refuses to show up for work.
Every state permits absentee voting, and more and more are permitting electronic voting from locales other than town halls and school gymnasiums. Extended times for voting (between Day X and Day Y) are also being enacted in a number of states.
Such a statute or rule for Wisconsin’s legislature would state that so long as a member can reach a telephone and is able to record a vote, that member should be counted as part of a quorum. The act of not voting, that is abstaining, has never been counted against a quorum. It’s the ability to cast a vote that is all that has mattered.”
I think it’s like W taking 14 months to go to war with Iraq. He’s got to create a paper trail to show he was calm and reasonable every step of the way.