Not a joke. They’re ducking a vote on union benefits and may have fled the state.
MADISON, Wis. – Police officers were dispatched Thursday to find Wisconsin state lawmakers who had apparently boycotted a vote on a sweeping bill that would strip most government workers of their collective bargaining rights.
The lawmakers, all Democrats in the state Senate, did not show up when they were ordered to attend a midday vote on the legislation.
As the story notes, the GOP has a majority but needs one Dem to show up to make a quorum for the vote. And there’s no word on when any of them plan to return. They would rather gum up the state’s government than deal with how unions are bankrupting state and city governments everywhere.
Democratic Minority Leader Mark Miller released a statement on behalf of all Democrats urging Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans to listen to opponents of the measure and seek a compromise. His statement did not address where Democrats were or when they planned to return.
This reminds me of what the Democrats in Texas did when they lost power about 8 years ago. A vote on redistricting came up that they knew they would lose, they just couldn’t bear to face the fact that their minority status meant they couldn’t unilaterally wield power anymore, so they bolted for Oklahoma. My guess is the Wisconsin Dems will hole up in Chicago. It’s not far from Madison and run by their fellow liberals. It’s time for the WI GOP to put these senators’ faces on milk cartons, run radio and TV ads that sound like missing persons alerts, and mock these Democrats without pity or mercy.
This, by the way, is a joke — or should be.
“The story around the world is the rush to democracy,” said Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch of Poplar. “The story in Wisconsin is the end of the democratic process.”
So it’s only democracy when Democrats and unions get their way?
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