Wisconsin Democrats Flee State Ahead of Budget Vote

All 14 of Wisconsin's Democrats on the State Senate fled the state on Thursday in a bid to derail a GOP bill that would severely limit collective bargaining for public employee unions.

In a last-ditch effort to stop the passage of Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial budget repair bill by depriving the Senate of a quorum, all 14 Senate Democrats staged a walkout Thursday, leaving the state to avoid a forced return to the Capitol and a doomed vote against the bill.

The missing legislators traveled across the state line, spending at least part of the day at the Clock Tower Resort in Rockford, Ill. — far enough away that state troopers could not force them to return. They then spent the afternoon in a cat-and-mouse game with members of the media, sometimes speaking by cell phone but not revealing their locations.

The move stalled the vote, and the Senate adjourned Thursday afternoon without taking up the matter. Senators, however, are expected to come back into session Friday for another run at passage.

The drama here began at 11:30 a.m., when a roll call revealed none of the Senate Democrats were there. Soon after, Republican Senate President Mike Ellis announced a “call of the house” to send officers to force errant Democrats to return to the chamber.

Twenty senators are required to vote on fiscal bills, more than the Republican senators could muster alone.

Assembly Democrats joined the protest Thursday morning, entering the Assembly floor together wearing orange T-shirts reading “Assembly Democrats fighting for working families!” The lawmakers later broke for party meetings.

It’s unclear when debate on the bill will actually begin. The Assembly, where the measure is expected to pass, may take up the bill first if the Senate Democrats don’t return, according to a spokesman for Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon. Late Thursday night the Assembly recessed until 9 a.m. Friday, meaning they wouldn’t act on the bill overnight.

For the record, this is where the runaway Wisconsin Democrats were staying for at least part of Thursday. If I were a Badger state taxpayer, I'd have to wonder if lawmakers skipping town and staying in an out-of-state resort on my dime while technically on the job is the best use of taxpayer money.

No word on whether or not Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn or Chicago mayor Richard Daley would offer the fugitive cheeseheads asylum.

Apparently one of the lawmakers on the lam had the unmitigated chutzpah to call CNN with what amounts to a 'list of demands' for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. State Senator Mark Miller, a member of the missing band of Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers who fled Madison Thursday to avoid a vote on a budget bill, called into CNN with the group’s list of demands for Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

Miller, a state senator since 2004, would not disclose where he and his colleagues were hiding out, saying only “we are in what we consider a secure location outside the capital. We are not all in one place at this time.”

Miller’s demands focused on the collective bargaining portions of the bill.

“We demand that the provisions that completely eliminate the ability of workers… to negotiate on a fair basis with their employers be removed from the budget repair bill and any other future budget,” Miller said

Asked about the deficit the state is facing, Miller said Walker is ignoring the economy’s recovery, which makes reigning in union benefits unnecessary.

“The economy’s recovering and the governor is completely ignoring the fact that we have a… recovery going,” Miller said. “The only thing that hasn’t recovered has been the rate of unemployment.”

[OK- what did I say back when this blog wasn't even a month old? Call 9% or 10% unemployment the 'new normal' and then insist that the nation is in the midst of a robust economic recovery and there is really no fiscal harm in continuing the platinum plated benefits to some of your most entrenched donors while other segments of the economy wither and die- NANESB!]

The walkout came amid protests where Teachers and public employee union members surrounded the homes and offices of Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate- blocking them in some cases. Not surprisingly, the Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America website- a remnant of President Obama's 2008 campaign- is actively and openly organizing on behalf of the protesters in Madison.

UPDATE 2/18- White House Plans closed-door meeting with AFL-CIO 'war council' [oh my! violent and uncivil discourse- NANESB!]

Remember that 'civilian national security force' Obama mentioned in his 2008 campaign? I think he's itching to deploy it to Madison.

[hat tip: Weasel Zippers; Althouse; Redstate]