A fresh crop of death threats are floating through Madison today after the state Senate passed the union reform bill last night.
Talk radio host Charlie Sykes obtained the text of an email which encapsulates the kind of language being hurled at these lawmakers. Below is an excerpt:
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.
I often speak sarcastically about how the public is welcome for government incompetence, but let me serious for a minute. You are welcome for state-level lawmakers, who don’t get the attention of their federal counterparts, who don’t jet set around the world with celebrities, and who could easily make more money in a cushy corporate job – putting up with this kind of crap to make reform.
It must be nice to be a Democrat these days. When a vote doesn’t go your way, simply scream like an angry child and promise that there will be a do-over.
Watch this video from inside the Wisconsin state assembly where lawmakers in the lower chamber passed Walker’s union-busting bill.
In all the tea party protests I’ve attended, never once – not once – did a mob of screaming activists bum rush the House floor to physically intimidate lawmakers. And never once did they think it was okay to disrupt the actual process of taking a vote.
Oh wait, even if tea parties had wanted to do that, the first vote on Obamacare happened at 7AM on Christmas Eve. I distinctly remember liberals not being concerned about transparent democracy then.
Flashback: Liberal media criticized “violent” town hall protests in 2009.
“It is unproductive to resort to threats of a shutdown without any negotiations.”
Was that a quote from Wisconsin’s Governor Walker during the second day of legislative standoffs in Madison?
Nope, that was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attacking Republicans for refusing to pass a budget proposal in Washington.
Congressional Republicans have not walked off their jobs, gone into hiding, or sent cryptic messages to Twitter from an undisclosed resort. Republicans, to their credit, are staying right where Reid can find them. They just refuse to vote for President Obama’s massive deficit-laden budget proposal.
Perhaps if they did run away like little girls, Democrats would respect their right to stall. President Obama, while huffing inside the beltway “there should be no reason at all for a government shutdown,” is busy siding with Wisconsin Democrats over a government shutdown right now. Reid hasn’t released a statement condemning those in Wisconsin for being unreasonable.
Meanwhile in the blogosphere, the Huffington Post is practically begging Democrats to copy the Wisconsin model in other states. Reporters on that site are thrilled at the thought of Cairo-style civil chaos happening everywhere.
Yes, that Huffington Post… the same website which pushed to end the filibuster last summer so that Democrats would have no problem passing new laws.
That push was originally concocted by the Daily Kos in August 2010. Your humble blogger documented that effort at the time. Here’s a nice little money quote to what progressives were concerned about then: “Democrats can either change a system that allows a tiny unaccountable minority to thwart the will of the country, or they can continue being part of the problem.”
Where does Daily Kos stand on a tiny unaccountable minority in Wisconsin thwarting the will of a new majority? Here’s a quote from the site posted yesterday: “This could go on for a while. Good. We can’t just put up a fight for a few days and call it off.”
There’s the true face of progressives, folks. Shutting out conservative dissenters is a necessary part of reform – but leaving the state to sabotage reform is the democratic process at work.
Suddenly all the shrieking about a government shutdown in Washington doesn’t sound too bad.
-Candance
Rally in support of Governor Walker is tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Go HERE for more info.
The battle lines are drawn in America’s political civil war, and the People’s Republic of Madison, Wisconsin, is the frontline. The state is the birthplace of the national union representing all non-federal public employees.
Yesterday, Marxist unions, aided and abetted by elected Demonrat politicians, took over Wisconsin’s state capital for a third day of rage. Some 25,000 protesters descended on the Capitol building. Teachers, students, and Demonrat legislators played truant. Reportedly, the Dems took off to Illinois.
The continuing protest is aimed at Governor Scott Walker’s plan to trim the state’s massive $3.6 billion deficit by curtailing the runaway power of state employees unions via:
Increasing state employees’ share of pension and health care costs by an average of 8 percent.
Limiting unions’ bargaining power: unions cannot seek pay increases above those pegged to the Consumer Price Index unless approved by a public referendum.
This proposal is eminently reasonable. Stand firm, Gov. Walker against the commie Left! Know that millions of Americans support you!
MADISON, Wis. – A group of Democratic Wisconsin lawmakers blocked passage of a sweeping anti-union bill Thursday, refusing to show up for a vote and then abruptly leaving the state in an effort to force Republicans to the negotiating table.
As ever-growing throngs of protesters filled the Capitol for a third day, the 14 Democrats disappeared around noon, just as the Senate was about to begin debating the measure, which would end a half-century of collective bargaining rights for most public employees.
Hours later, one member of the group told The Associated Press that they had left Wisconsin. “The plan is to try and slow this down because it’s an extreme piece of legislation that’s tearing this state apart,” Sen. Jon Erpenbach said in a telephone interview. He refused to say where he was. Democrats hoped Republican Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers would consider revisions to the bill.
Walker, who took office just last month, urged the group to return and called the boycott a “stunt.” “It’s more about theatrics than anything else,” he said. The governor predicted the group would come back in a day or two, after realizing “they’re elected to do a job.” Walker said Democrats could still offer amendments to change the bill, but he vowed not to concede on his plan to end most collective bargaining rights.
With 19 seats, Republicans hold a majority in the 33-member Senate, but they are one vote short of the number needed to conduct business. So the GOP needs at least one Democrat to be present before any voting can take place. Once the measure is brought to the floor, it needs 17 votes to pass.
Other lawmakers who fled sent messages over Twitter and issued written statements but did not disclose their location. Erpenbach said the group had been in Rockford, Ill., but they dispersed by late afternoon and were all still outside Wisconsin. In response to a question of where she was, Sen. Lena Taylor sent a tweet saying she was “doing the people’s business. Power to the PEOPLE.”
As Republicans tried to begin Senate business Thursday, observers in the gallery screamed “Freedom! Democracy! Unions!” Opponents cheered when a legislative leader announced there were not enough senators present to proceed.
The sergeant-at-arms immediately began looking for the missing lawmakers. If he cannot find them, he’s authorized to seek help, including potentially contacting police. Senate rules and the state constitution say absent members can be compelled to appear, but it does not say how.
“Today they checked out, and I’m not sure where they’re at,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said. “This is the ultimate shutdown, what we’re seeing today.”
Elsewhere, some Democrats applauded the developments in Wisconsin as a long-awaited sign that their party was fighting back against the Republican wave created by November’s midterm election. “I am glad to see some Democrats, for a change, with a backbone. I’m really proud to hear that they did that,” said Democratic state Sen. Judy Eason-McIntyre of Oklahoma, another state where Republicans won the governorship in November and also control both legislative chambers.
Across the Wisconsin Statehouse, Democrats showed up in the Assembly chamber wearing orange T-shirts that proclaimed their support for working families. After a routine roll call, they exchanged high-fives with protesters, who cried “thank you” as the Democrats walked by. Protesters unleashed venomous boos and screams at Republicans.
Thursday’s events were reminiscent of a 2003 dispute in Texas, where Democrats twice fled the state to prevent adoption of a redistricting bill designed to give Republicans more seats in Congress. The bill passed a few months later.
The drama in Wisconsin unfolded in a jam-packed Capitol. Madison police and the State Department of Administration estimated the crowd at 25,000 protesters, the largest number yet. Demonstrators stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the building’s hallways, sat cross-legged across the floor and made it difficult to move from room to room. Protesters clogged the hallway outside the Senate chamber, beating on drums, holding signs deriding Walker and pleading for lawmakers to kill the bill. Some others even demonstrated outside lawmakers’ homes.
Hundreds of teachers joined the protest by calling in sick, forcing a number of school districts to cancel classes. Madison schools, the state’s second-largest district, with 24,000 students, closed for a second day. Thousands more people, many of them students from the nearby University of Wisconsin, slept in the rotunda for a second night. “We are all willing to come to the table. We’ve all been willing from day one,” said Madison teacher Rita Miller. “But you can’t take A, B, C, D and everything we’ve worked for in one fell swoop.”
About 12 law enforcement agencies were helping guard the Capitol, which was scheduled to remain open around the clock for an indefinite period. Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney said authorities were ordered to show “extreme measures of tolerance.” “What we’re seeing here is perhaps the most dramatic exercise of the democratic process,” Mahoney said. “We’re not only protecting the rights of organized labor, but also the rights of people supporting the bill.” Nine people were given citations for minor acts of civil disobedience, he said.
The proposal marks a dramatic shift for Wisconsin, which passed a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959 and was the birthplace of the national union representing all non-federal public employees. In addition to eliminating collective-bargaining rights, the legislation also would make public workers pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care coverage — increases Walker calls “modest” compared with those in the private sector.
Republican leaders said they expected Wisconsin residents would be pleased with the savings the bill would achieve — $30 million by July 1 and $300 million over the next two years to address a $3.6 billion budget shortfall. “I think the taxpayers will support this idea,” Fitzgerald said.
Wisconsin has long been a bastion for workers’ rights. But when voters elected Walker, an outspoken conservative, along with GOP majorities in both legislative chambers, it set the stage for a dramatic reversal of the state’s labor history.
Under Walker’s plan, state employees’ share of pension and health care costs would go up by an average of 8 percent. Unions still could represent workers, but could not seek pay increases above those pegged to the Consumer Price Index unless approved by a public referendum. Unions also could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized. In exchange for bearing more costs and losing bargaining leverage, public employees were promised no furloughs or layoffs. Walker has threatened to order layoffs of up to 6,000 state workers if the measure does not pass.
**
Rally in support of Governor Walker is tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Go HERE for more info.
As part of our continuing coverage of the teacher strike in Wisconsin, today we report that State Senate Democrats, fearing punishment from their union ATM machines supporters , have completely skipped out on their jobs as well.
Today is supposed to be the day the state legislature votes to pass Governor Walker’s new budget. Last year’s election-day tidal wave gave Republicans enough seats in that body to essentially pass whatever they want. Rumors leaked last night that Walker had secured enough Republican votes to assure his budget would pass.
Even so, it is necessary for the entire body to be present for such a major vote. At 11:30 Thursday morning when it became obvious the Democrats weren’t coming, the majority leader called on police to round up the missing lawmakers and escort them to the chamber. Failure to show up for this kind of vote counts as refusing to do their job and allows for police to aggressively recommend they come in.
While these Democrats cannot stop the vote from going against them, they can apparently stall the process by forcing Republicans to wait for police to round them up. Your humble blogger suspects a more serious motive: stalling the vote for another day or two would give the union time to grow a more drastic protest.
The biggest joke to emerge from this so far came from one teacher who bemoaned the lack of a “democratic process” being respected by state of Wisconsin. Yes they know there was an election less than six months ago which gave Walker a clear mandate – but no one actually thinks election results matter.
See, this is what you have to understand about progressives. When their side loses through democratic means, the simply pretend the election never happened and work to sabotage reform. When their side gets a victory, it’s called a democratic mandate.
And to think, liberals mocked certain people for predicting massive waves of civil unrest would land on American soil.
At what point will independents realize this train has a predetermined destination?
-Candance
Update (6:30pm) – According to local media, the Democrats banded together and took a bus into Illinois. They are staying at a resort. Wisconsin police don’t have the jurisdiction to leave the state, Illinois police won’t deport them, and President Obama won’t do a darn thing.
If Republicans did a stunt like this you can guarantee the media would be hyperventilating.
