Wisconsin Takes A Stand For Fiscal Sanity

[Wezil]

Don's mad about process. That's rich.

[DaShi]

In this instance, I think everyone has a legitimate reason to be mad about the process. As I said earlier, neither side really showed their best in it.

[Wezil]

He should have allowed for Democrat travel time. The bastard.

[DaShi]

He should have just separated it from the fiscal bill to begin with rather than pretend he was doing this for the budget.

[Wezil]

Unless he thinks they are related.

[Wezil]

Apparently the Dems are considering a court challenge (what a novel concept).

Question: Will they file that in Illinois or Wisconsin?

[giblets]

They should ask someone in Canada how they should do things

[Wezil]

Nope, they aren't that clever.

[DaShi]

Whether you agree with Walker or not, there will likely be political ramifications for his actions and evidence points to it favoring the Democrats.

Wisconsin Dispute Could Mobilize Democratic Base
By NATE SILVER
“If only there were precedent for the upper chamber monkeying around with the fiscal part of a bill to bypass the need for supermajority,” the Republican strategist Patrick Ruffini noted on Twitter last night.

Mr. Ruffini was referring, of course, to the decision by Wisconsin Republicans to strip collective bargaining provisions from Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal and vote on them separately, overcoming the need for the quorum that Democratic state senators had denied them by leaving the state. He was also referring to the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health care bill that Democrats passed by using a budget reconciliation procedure that bypassed the possibility of a filibuster.

Democrats paid a price for passing their health care bill, however, which polls had long shown was unpopular. Some of the 63 seats they lost in the House last November were an all but inevitable result of the poor economy, and reversion to the mean after two strong election cycles. My research, however — as well as that of several political scientists — suggests that the health care bill was also a factor in their defeat; Democrats who voted aye on the health care bill were considerably more likely to lose their seats, controlling for other factors.

The quality of polling on the Wisconsin dispute has not been terrific. But there’s a general consensus — including in some polls sponsored by conservative groups — that the Republican position was unpopular, probably about as unpopular as the Democrats’ position on health care. And the most unpopular part of their position — limiting collective bargaining rights — was the one that Republicans passed last night.

Nor is the bill likely to become any more popular given the circumstances under which it passed. Yes, there’s some hypocrisy in claims by Democrats that the Wisconsin Republicans used trickery to pass the bill — they did, after all, approve it with an elected majority, just as Democrats did on the Affordable Care Act. Nevertheless, polling suggested that Wisconsinites, by a two to one majority, expected a compromise on the bill, which this decidedly was not.

One question is how much this might hurt Republicans at the state level. As David Dayen notes, Democrats will have opportunities to fight back almost immediately, including in an April 5 election that could swing the balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as well as in efforts to recall Republican state senators. Essentially all of Wisconsin outside of the Madison and Milwaukee metropolitan areas is very evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, so there could be a multiplier on even relatively small shifts in turnout or public opinion.

Although most of the risks to Republicans are to the downside, Mr. Walker does have one favorable precedent to cite: that of Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, who in 2005 signed an executive order ending collective bargaining for public-sector unions. Mr. Daniels’ popularity suffered initially before subsequently recovering along with Indiana’s economy.

Perhaps the more interesting question is what this could mean at the national level. As Mr. Ruffini noted, Republicans would rather lose in one state, Wisconsin, than all over the country, as Democrats did last year.

But there is no guarantee that the risk to Republicans will be confined to Wisconsin; national polls also suggest that the Republicans’ position is somewhat unpopular.

It is questionable how much voters outside the state will care about the Wisconsin debate a year from now, given other issues like the health of the national economy, the debate over the federal budget and the war in Afghanistan. Two groups that may have longer memories are two core constituencies in the Democratic base: union households and voters who describe themselves as liberal. A Pew poll conducted earlier this month found that while there was little overall change in opinion of unions — the public went from having a favorable view of them by a 45 to 41 plurality to a 47 to 39 plurality, not a statistically significant increase — there were exceptions among these groups.

In particular, the number of liberal Democrats who said they had a very favorable view of unions jumped to 32 percent from 14 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of labor household voters who held a very favorable view increased to 45 percent from 27 percent. There was no comparable change among conservative voters; the number of people who said they had a very unfavorable view of unions was roughly unchanged, both among the country as a whole and among different subgroups.

Wisconsin, then, could motivate these groups to vote — something that they usually do fairly reliably, but did not in 2010. (The share of union household voters in the electorate dropped to 17 percent in 2010 from 21 percent in 2008, according to exit polls.) Although self-described liberals almost always vote Democratic, between 35 and 40 percent of labor households have voted Republican in recent elections. If that fraction decreases to something like 30 percent at the same time that union turnout increases, that would hurt Republicans by a couple of percentage points nationally.

And, if the Pew poll is right, Republicans will have no particular counterweight to this; the Wisconsin dispute has motivated the Democratic base more so than theirs.

That does not mean that the Republican base will not have other issues to motivate them in 2012 — they will almost certainly have plenty. But the likelihood of an “enthusiasm gap” of the sort that was present in 2010 has diminished.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/wisconsin-dispute-could-mobilize-democratic-base/

Of course, as Wezil so kindly pointed out throughout this thread, had the unions gone to the polls in 2010, they might not have been in this situation now.

[Darius871]

(and without the required 24 hour notice of the meeting, which is where the legality aspect is coming from)

Huh???

Senate Rule 93

Special or extraordinary sessions. Unless otherwise provided by the senate for a specific special or extraordinary session, the rules of the senate adopted for the biennial session, with the following modifications, apply to each special session called by the governor and to each extraordinary session called by the senate and assembly organization committees or called by a joint resolution approved by both houses:

...

(2) A notice of a committee meeting is not required other than posting on the legislative bulletin board, and a bulletin of committee hearings may not be published.

Oh, but the statute overrides internal Senate rules, you say? Well...

unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given, but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting.

Wis. Stat. 19.84

Oh, but good cause was not shown, you say? Well...

No Wisconsin court decisions or Attorney General opinions discuss what constitutes "good cause" to provide less than twenty-four-hour notice of a meeting.

http://www.doj.state.wi.us/dls/OMPR/2010OMCG-PRO/2010_OML_Compliance_Guide.pdf

Oh, but even if it could be successfully argued that the ongoing budget crisis and democratic Senators' abdication of their duties sufficiently establish the as-yet-undefined "good cause," they nonetheless failed to comply with the two-hour alternative, you say? Well...

Despite [Senate Rule 93], it was decided to provide a 2 hour notice by posting on the bulletin board. My staff, as a courtesy, emailed a copy of the notice to all legislative offices at 4:10, which gave the impression that the notice may have been slightly less than 2 hours.

- Senior Senate Clerk

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/wis-senate-we-didnt-have-to-provide-notice-for-key-committee-meeting-on-union-bill.php

Oh, but even if the actual posting on the bulletin board was at about 4:03 and thus two hours before the 6:03 meeting, the bulletin board wasn't sufficient notice and the email's what counts, you say? Well...

Every public notice of a meeting of a governmental body shall...[be] in such form as is reasonably likely to apprise members of the public and the news media thereof.

Wis. Stat. 19.84

Oh, but even if the actual posting on the bulletin board was between 4:04 and 4:10 and thus within two hours of the 6:03 meeting, then the bill's invalid, you say? Well...

Any member of a governmental body who "knowingly" attends a meeting held in violation of the open meetings law, or otherwise violates the law, is subject to a forfeiture of between $25 and $300 for each violation. Wis. Stat. 19.96. ... In addition to the forfeiture penalty, Wis. Stat. 19.97(3) provides that a court may void any action taken at a meeting held in violation of the open meetings law if the court finds that the interest in enforcing the [open meetings] law outweighs any interest in maintaining the validity of the action.

Does anyone want to take bets on whether the Court overturns a major piece of fiscally-related legislation based on 1) a reasonable interpretation of an as-yet-undefined phrase and 2) good-faith efforts to comply that might have been off by a few minutes?

[Dinner]

I believe the claim made (in the Wiseye video) by the Democratic State Rep was that they weren't even given the minimum two hours notice prior to the meeting.

[The Mad Monk]

More in depth, and local.

Assembly opens bitter debate on union bill, after protesters removed

Kristyna Wentz-Graff
Dozens of people occupy the gallery outside of the Assembly meeting area early Thursday morning.

By Jason Stein, Lee Bergquist, Don Walker and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel
Updated: March 10, 2011 1:40 p.m. |(1167) Comments


Madison - The Assembly ripped into a bitter debate over Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair and union-bargaining bill Thursday afternoon after police carried protesters out of the body to make way for GOP lawmakers to enter.

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca called for the removal of Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) on Thursday at the start of the Assembly session. Just before the session, the Rev. Jesse Jackson held a prayer and asked for unity between Republicans and Democrats.

Barca, a Kenosha Democrat, said that Fitzgerald showed poor judgment, citing his role in an abrupt vote by a conference committee Wednesday night that prompted thousands of protesters to flood the Capitol.

"Your speaker is impaired," Barca yelled on the Assembly floor as the protesters could be heard chanting outside the chamber. "Our democracy is out of control in Wisconsin."

But Jeff Fitzgerald said the Assembly Thursday will pass the controversial union-bargaining bill, which would repeal most collective bargaining by public employees. He said eventually Republicans will end debate and call for a vote on the bill. He declined to say how long debate will go on.

Fitzgerald said the bill was a "tough vote" for Republicans and a political "gamble" but was needed to balance the state budget and end an intolerable financial situation for the state.

"You know what? We feel it's the right thing to do to get this state back on the right track," Fitzgerald said.

Earlier Thursday, demonstrators were dragged and escorted out of the Assembly by police after they said they were willing to risk arrest to block a vote. The Walker administration, which had not opened to the building at 8 a.m., then opened the statehouse to the public.

"Shame! Shame! Shame!" demonstrators shouted.

Taylor Tengwall, 21, of Duluth, Minn., said, "They grabbed me by the shoulders and took me out."

Walker's Department of Administration said in a statement that the decision to delay the opening of the statehouse was "due to the events the previous night when thousands of people entered the building after the Capitol was to have been closed for the evening and more than 200 people remained overnight."

For a time Thursday morning, the Capitol was closed to members of the media who were outside the building and the Assembly was closed off to some members of the media who were inside the building. The delay opening the building angered protesters outside who began banging on doors and windows, demanding to be let in.

On Wednesday evening with the 14 Senate Democrats still in Illinois, the Senate abruptly voted to eliminate collective bargaining provisions for most public workers that have stood for decades. The Assembly has already passed a nearly identical version of the wide-ranging bill, which Walker introduced last month to address a budget shortfall.

The new version passed the Senate 18-1, with Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) voting no.

On Thursday, Walker said he would quickly sign the measure if the Assembly acts Thursday.

The measure passed Wednesday night by the Senate will help state and local governments and schools avoid massive layoffs and massive increases in property taxes, he said.

The bill would repeal most collective bargaining by public employee unions.

And under the measure, most school, state and local employees would have to pay half the cost of their pensions - 5.8% of pay for typical state employees - and at least 12% of the cost of their health care premiums. Wages could not be raised by more than inflation each year, unless a referendum was passed.

At a news conference at the Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center on the state fairgrounds in West Allis, Walker said the changes put Wisconsin in a better position than many states facing deficits similar to Wisconsin's $3.6 billion.

Other states also are cutting billions but have not passed tools that will help local governments, like Wisconsin is doing. In those states, Walker said citizens will see massive layoffs, massive increases in property taxes or both.

Several times during the news conference, Walker said his bill is intended to protect the middle class. Opponents of the measures have said the changes will destroy the middle class in the state.

He said the action by the Senate Wednesday night was legal, contrary to claims by opponents, including some of the 14 Democratic senators who fled to Illinois in an effort to keep Walker's budget-repair bill from being approved.

Walker said appropriation measures were removed from the bill and that allowed the Senate to approve it to get around the requirement that 20 senators vote on the measure.

Although the bill contains requirements that employees pay half the cost of their pensions and pay toward health care premiums, Walker said those fiscal items did not require that 20 senators vote.

Once Republicans determined it was legal for a vote on a bill containing those measures, Walker said they decided to proceed with it. Walker said the pension and health care measures had to be included because they are the tools school districts and local governments need to avoid layoffs and hikes in property taxes.

They will create $1.5 billion in savings for local government and schools over two years, Walker said.

During the news conference, he also blasted Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona), saying that Miller stood in the way of an agreement being reached. Walker said that Miller had demanded that all of the proposed collective bargaining changes be dropped from the bill.

Asked whether Republicans had pulled a dirty trick by stripping the bill of appropriation items and then approving it, Walker said the dirty trick is what the 14 missing senators have done in the last several weeks.

"You can't mail in your vote," he said of the absent senators.

He told voters in those Senate districts to ask why those senators are not in Wisconsin. Those voters also should ask who is calling the shots. Walker suggested it was Miller, Miller's staff or "union leaders from Washington, D.C." instructing the missing 14 on what to do.

Some of the Democrats who have been boycotting the Senate for three weeks said they would return to Wisconsin once the bill passes the Assembly. But they had not crafted their exact plans for return, and Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) issued a statement saying they would not return on Thursday after earlier indicating they might.

From Feb. 17 until Wednesday, the Senate Democrats were able to block a vote on the original version of the bill because the state constitution requires 20 senators to be present for bills that authorize spending money. Republicans control the house 19-14.

Republicans devised a plan to get around the impasse and hurriedly approved the bill late in the day after meeting for hours behind closed doors. Walker met with them for more than half an hour at the start of the private meeting.

"The Senate Democrats have had three weeks to debate this bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come home, which they refused," Walker said in a statement. "In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government."

Just before the Senate vote, a committee stripped some financial elements from the bill, which they said allowed them to pass it with the presence of a simple majority. The most controversial parts of the bill remain intact.

That committee, formed just two hours earlier, quickly approved the bill as the lone Democrat at the meeting screamed that Republicans were violating the state's open meetings law - a claim Republicans disputed.

"This is a violation of law!" Barca bellowed.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) ignored him and ordered the roll to be taken.

Minutes later, the Senate took up the bill and passed it without debate.

"Shame on you!" protesters cried from the viewing gallery.

Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) decried the move as "political thuggery." He and other Democrats warned it could end the political careers of some Republican senators who are under the threat of recalls.

"I think it's akin to political hara-kiri," said Jauch. "I think it's political suicide."

Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said Wednesday night that he attempted to drive back from Illinois to Madison to get to the Capitol before Republicans passed the measure.

"If they decide to kill the middle class, it's on them," he said.

Vote defended
Republicans, who quickly left the Capitol after the vote, said in statements they had to pass the bill after Democrats had blocked it for three weeks.

"The people of Wisconsin elected us to do a job," Fitzgerald said. "They elected us to stand up to the broken status quo, stop the constant expansion of government, balance the budget, create jobs and improve the economy. The longer the Democrats keep up this childish stunt, the longer the majority can't act on our agenda."

Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) said that GOP lawmakers were seeking to avoid even more painful options, referring to layoff warnings sent out by Walker to unions on Friday.

"Something needs to be done to balance the budget in the current year and avoid large-scale layoffs of public employees," Lazich said.

Schultz - the only one to vote against the bill - said in a statement collective bargaining should be kept intact because it has preserved labor peace for decades. He said the two sides should have been able to work out a deal.

"I've had the honor and privilege of representing folks in southwest and south central Wisconsin for 28 years, and where I come from 'compromise' isn't a dirty word," he said.

In an interview, Miller warned that passing the measure increased the chances of recalling Republicans and said there was a "distinct possibility" Democrats could take control of the house. They would need to win three seats to do that.

"The people I don't think knew what they were getting when they voted last November, so there will be a do-over," Miller said.

In November, voters put Republicans in charge of both houses of the Legislature and the governor's office. Democrats had complete control of state government before that.

Recalls are now under way for 14 senators - eight Republicans and six Democrats.

Miller also said the fight over collective bargaining is soon to leave the domain of the Legislature but is likely to be taken up in the courts.

Republicans said they were able to push through the bill by removing a few provisions, including a $165 million bond restructuring and the no-bid sale of 37 state power plants. But the bill still includes several monetary changes, including charging public workers more for health care and pensions, which will save the state $330 million through mid-2013.

Republicans removed appropriations from the bill to get around the requirement that 20 senators vote on the measure. Fitzgerald said the determination that fewer than 20 senators had to be present was deemed acceptable by three widely respected nonpartisan agencies - the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Reference Bureau.

The bill will also help close a $137 million gap in the fiscal year that ends June 30, but not all of it. The rest of the shortfall would have to be addressed with separate legislation later.

The measure would also give Walker broad powers over the state's health care programs for the poor and turn 37 civil service jobs into political appointments.

Most school, state and local employees would have to pay half the cost of their pensions - 5.8% of pay for typical state employees - and at least 12% of the cost of their health care premiums. Wages could not be raised by more than inflation each year, unless a referendum was passed.

Union leaders have repeatedly said they could accept concessions on benefits, but not the termination of most collective bargaining.

Walker has said the benefits changes are essential to his plan to solve his budget for the next two years, which includes deep cuts to schools and local government to erase a $3.5 billion deficit. He says schools, municipalities and counties can absorb those cuts because of the cuts to benefits.

The school and local aid cuts will be at the center of the next major fight before the state Legislature. Fitzgerald said he is expecting such huge crowds at budget hearings next month that he is considering holding them at large sports arenas, such as the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and the Kohl Center in Madison.

Walker has seen a steep drop in his poll numbers between his Nov. 2 election and the controversy over his budget-repair bill. He was steadfast in saying he would not negotiate over the bill for weeks, but starting last week dispatched aides to meet with Senate Democrats who have spent the past three weeks in Illinois.

Democrats and labor groups said Walker was offering little.

Demonstrations have rocked the Capitol for weeks, but had quieted somewhat in recent days. That changed as word of the conference committee meeting spread and thousands of people flocked to the Capitol. They refused to leave well after the building officially closed.

Outside the Senate chambers, protesters chanted "Shame!" "This is not democracy!" and "You lied to Wisconsin!"

Fines issued
Earlier in the day, Republicans fined Democrats $100 each for missing the Senate session.

Fines can be levied under a resolution adopted last week that applies to those who miss two consecutive sessions without an excused absence.

The fines passed 18-0, with all Democrats and Sen. Frank Lasee (R-De Pere) absent. Lasee had an excused absence and was present later for the vote on the budget-repair bill.

A key provision in Walker's budget-repair bill is the restructuring of bond payments to free up cash, but Republicans were unable to include that measure in the bill passed Wednesday because 20 senators were not present.

Walker's administration had said the bond deal had to pass by Feb. 25, but after that deadline passed said lawmakers may have more time for it. On Wednesday, officials said legislators may now have until early April to pass the deal.

Walker's plan would delay a bond payment and spread it over 10 years - a move that frees up cash in the short term but greatly increases the state's interest costs.

The existing bond payment is due May 1, but state law requires internal fund transfers before that date. Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said in a memo Wednesday he believed the fund transfers could be delayed in a complex maneuver, but warned the move had never been tried. That would allow more time for passing the bond restructuring.

Bill Glauber and Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117735163.html

So I guess what the Dems are saying is that the Wisconsin middle class is entirely compsed of government workers?

[The Mad Monk]

Capitol Chaos: Lawmakers Get Death Threats
By Jon Byman
Story Created: Mar 10, 2011

(Story Updated: Mar 10, 2011 )

MADISON - The State Department of Justice confirms that it is investigating several death threats against a number of lawmakers in response to the legislature's move to strip employees of many collective bargaining rights.

Among the threats the Justice Department is investigationg is one that was emailed to Republican Senators Wednesday night. Newsradio 620 WTMJ has obtained that email.

The following is the unedited email:

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in
the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me
have decided that we've had enough. We feel that you and the people that
support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing
with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand
for it any longer. So, this is how it's going to happen: I as well as many
others know where you and your family live, it's a matter of public records.
We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a
nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn't leave
it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the
message to you since you are so "high" on Koch and have decided that you are
now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a
demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed
in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent.
This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won't
tell you all of them because that's just no fun. Since we know that you are
not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided
to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it's
necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making
them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families
and themselves then We Will "get rid of" (in which I mean kill) you. Please
understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked
everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel
that it's worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives
of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and
say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!
Reply Reply to all Forward

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/117732923.html

Go democracy.

[Hauldren Collider]

Don's mad about process. That's rich.

Yes, what a classic

[Hauldren Collider]

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/117732923.html

Go democracy.

I seem to recall a lot of Democrats claiming that Republican vitriol was responsible for the Tucson shooting. I would like to now call on gribbler to thoroughly condemn this behavior through a series of posts spanning around 12 pages like he did with the Sarah Palin map, especially considering that death threats are actually illegal.