Quite the shit storm has hit Wisconsin. Their governor has introduced legislation that is disagreeable to the teacher union in an attempt to stop the state from hemorrhaging money. As you can guess many teachers are pissed because they may have to pay more into their pension account and may lose their collective bargaining rights. Either way some schools were shut down Thursday as teachers walked out. But that’s not the most interesting battle, not by a long shot.
To delay voting the Democrats at the Wisconsin capital walked out, refusing to vote in the hopes of delaying passage of the bill under scrutiny:
Walker, who took office last month, called on the Democrats to return to the Capitol and finish their work. Police were ordered to search for the lawmakers and bring them back to Madison.
“Their actions, by leaving the state and hiding from voting, are disrespectful to the hundreds of thousands of public employees who showed up to work today and the millions of taxpayers they represent,” Walker said.
Yes they stormed out and the governor sent the police after them. I wonder how government officials like having the right hand of their authority sent after them? Either way the Democrats, being politicians, knew what to do:
The 14 Democrats turned out to be holed up at a Best Western in Rockford, Ill., where, they said, Wisconsin law enforcement had no jurisdiction. They said they later dispersed, but remained outside the state.
Good move, get out of the state you represent. Obviously the democrats are cheering this action as heroic while the republicans are decrying this as cowardice. Personally I think it’s a failure to perform the jobs they were hired to do and should be fired immediately.
“Representatives” are elected to represent our interests in law making (they rarely do it but that’s their job). They are hired to debate issues and vote on legislation. By walking out the democrats in Wisconsin’s legislature are refusing to perform the job they were hired to do. In the private sector you would be fired for that kind of action and somebody willing to do the job would be hired. If I were the citizens of Wisconsin I’d demand a recall election for each legislator who fled the state, they aren’t doing the job you’re paying them to do. They should be at the capital right now explaining why the proposed legislation is bad not hiding in a hotel in Illinois probably paid for with tax payer money.
Simply taking your ball and going home is childish at best. Do the democrats in Wisconsin feel powerless to stop this proposed budget? Is that why they ran? Welcome to our world. Those of us outside of the legislature get fucked over by you pricks all the time when you pass legislation we disagree with but have no power to stop (see the Health Insurance Company Enrichment Act). The “representatives” who fled to Illinois are finally getting a taste of what the regular citizen gets every time a bad piece of legislation (in other words most legislation) gets crammed through against their wishes. Feeling powerless isn’t so great is it?