CBS reports on the boycott of the State Senate by Wisconsin Democrats.
When I posted the article below comparing what national Democrats and their cats’ paws had said about conservatives using incendiary rhetoric and what public union members are doing in Madison, Wisconsin, I didn’t know about a tactic being used by their Wisconsin legislative supporters.
Those are the Democrats, just in case you are in doubt.
Apparently at least one person from the minority party must be in the Wisconsin State Senate Chamber before business can be conducted, to meet the quorum requirements.
So, Democrats have left the state…or want people to think so.
Surfing at the Kalahari in the Wisconsin Dells.
Those of us who have visited the Wisconsin Dells know that Madison is not very far north of the Illinois-Wisconsin state line. It’s a long way from Madison to the Kalahari water park.
If you were a Democratic Party state legislator and wanted to get somewhere that the Wisconsin State Police couldn’t get you, wouldn’t you drive down I-90 to Illinois?
Can’t you just hear the cash registers ringing in Rockford?
Maybe at the Clock Tower Inn.
Wisconsin legislative Democrats could cool off by standing under the water tank when it dumps in load.
There’s a water park there named Coco Key.
Madison is so much closer to McHenry County than Springfield I wish the state lines had been drawn at the southern boundaries of McHenry and Lake Counties.
Say, we wouldn’t have to be in the same state as Chicago then, would we?
Sean Driscoll of the Rockford Register wonders if union workers in Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota will boycott Wisconsin.
If so, that might make the resorts less crowded. They certainly draw a lot of people from Illinois.
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If the Wisconsin Democrats don't want to go into the water park, they can sit around the hotel pool.
Since posting this article, the Rockford Register-Star has reported that the Democrats are at the Clock Tower Inn.
Is this a story about waterparks or a Republican governor’s efforts to break unions in Wisconsin?
Incidentally, the unions aren’t the fiscal problem in Wisconsin:
“To the extent that there is an imbalance — Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit — it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January.”
Rusrus,
Just wondering, what were the “$140 million in new spending for special-interest groups” that were allegedly pushed through in January? I haven’t been paying attention to Wisconsin (Illionis politics is enough of a downer) and am wondering if there is any truth to what you posted, or just talking point rheroic.
from an article on the talkingpointsmemo.com site:
You can read the fiscal bureaus report here (PDF). It holds that “more than half” of the new shortfall comes from three of Walker’s initiatives:
?$25 million for an economic development fund for job creation, which still holds
$73 million because of anemic job growth.
$48 million for private health savings accounts — a perennial Republican favorite.
$67 million for a tax incentive plan that benefits employers, but at levels too low to spur hiring.
In essence, public workers are being asked to pick up the tab for this agenda. “The provisions in his bill do two things simultaneously,” Norman says. “They remove bargaining rights, and having accomplished that, make changes in the benefit packages.” That’s how Walker’s plan saves money. And when it’s all said and done, these workers will have lost their bargaining rights going forward in perpetuity.
Decades ago, I thought unions were necessary, but after a yr-long overseas living experience in Italy, I changed my mind.
University delayed academic year start until December due to strike.
Garbage workers strike left garbage overflowing in the streets for 3 weeks.
Postal worker strike caused Italian postal system to bulldoze mail into landfills.
Transportation worker strike paralyzed buses, trains, airlines and even taxi service for one day a month every month.
Museum strike closed the Uffizi, Pompeii etc.
These strikes cost the Italian economy possibly 100s of millions of dollars over the decades.
Finally the strikes ceased to a degree once sane people realized it was costing them too much not to work.
Interesting link Rusrus, however I think that the real issue is here…
While not as bad as Illinois (not saying much) Wisconsin has a huge debt issue. Arguably the $140MM programs are long term revenue growth engines (more business, more employed, more taxes collected).
http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-wisconsin-debt-clock.html
@Mike
They’re not interested in busting unions to save money, they’re interested in busting unions because that’s what Republicans do – they take-away power from the weak and return it to the strong.
@Mike again…
Another link for you. This time, it’s an example of how the Republican governor of Wisconsin is not necessarily looking to union-destruction as a way to balance the budget:
“We are prepared to implement the financial concessions proposed to help bring our state’s budget into balance, but we will not be denied our God-given right to join a real union . . . we will not – I repeat we will not – be denied our rights to collectively bargain,” Beil said in a statement.
Wisconsin Republicans are being intellectually dishonest.