Wisconsin Republicans Attempt Vote Without Democrats

[crashhelmet]

Wisconsin Assembly Republicans attempt to hold a vote prior to the "official start" of a scheduled session to keep Democrats from voting against the Governor's Budget Repair Bill.

Part 1
Part 2

They had a 5pm start time. The video starts with them taking role at 4:55 and an immediate vote taking place at 4:57pm, before any of the Democrats are able to make it in. Even after the Democrats start coming in at 4:58pm, they continue to hold votes despite their objections.

Talk about some dirty, underhanded tricks.

[Greenday]

You know what's a dirty trick? Leaving your state so you can't do your job. Then expecting everyone to actually wait on you.

[Jason]

I agree with Greenday on this

[AdminAssistant]

No Democrat will ever be able to match a Republican in the dirty trick department. Ever.

Leaving the state may not have been the best tactic, but what else are they supposed to do? Lie there and take it while the Governor and his GOP cronies fuck up the whole state? Creating a budget deficit and then trying to make it up by going after a Democratic stronghold is a dirty trick.

I swear, the more I read and learn about what's going on in Wisconsin (and the rest of the country), the more pissed I get at the whole damn Republican party and the people who voted these idiots into office. Give money to those who need it the least and pay for it by stripping social services in the name of "smaller government."

[Rageaholic]

I cannot defend what the democrats are doing here. It's a real dirty trick to leave the state and try to hold up voting. In this case, I think it would be completely justified for the Repulicans to vote without them. How would they like it if the tables were turned?

Does this mean I support the Republicans? HELL NO! They just want to kill the union and make sure the working class has no voting rights. The same crap is going on in Michigan. That bastard Snyder wants to tax pensions and he too is voting for anti union measures. Way to screw the common man.

Fuckers.

[crashhelmet]

But the issue here isn't that they left the state to avoid the vote. The issue here is that they scheduled a session and the Republicans purposely started the session early to be able to vote the bill through without the Democrats there to vote against it.

Obviously, by this tactic alone, it wouldn't matter if the Democrats left the state or even the country. The Republicans feel they can start a session whenever they want to, regardless of whether or not the Democrats are present.

[BlaqueKatt]

But the issue here isn't that they left the state to avoid the vote. The issue here is that they scheduled a session and the Republicans purposely started the session early to be able to vote the bill through without the Democrats there to vote against it.

actually even if EVERY democrat voted against it it would still pass, Republicans have the majority. the reason the dems left was because you need a 3/5ths quorum to debate or vote on fiscal bills. A "call of the house" was issued which took a good percentage of our WI state patrol to look for them, rather than patrolling the highways, thus wasting more state resources, because they decided to not do the job they were voted in for.

At least the teachers that shut down Wisconsin schools for a week, got fake sick notes(the doctor's are now under investigation by the medical board and the ethics board for that move, as "stress" is not considered a valid medical diagnosis-they may lose their jobs or medical licenses over it)

[Hyena Dandy]

I don't much approve of either side. Voting before the scheduled meeting OR running away to avoid a quorum.

[Greenday]

Does this mean I support the Republicans? HELL NO! They just want to kill the union and make sure the working class has no voting rights.

Um, what? This bill is trying to make people in unions pay for retirement and health benefits like everyone else does. And preventing them from being able to just stop everything from functioning because they think they deserve a raise even when they don't.

But the issue here isn't that they left the state to avoid the vote. The issue here is that they scheduled a session and the Republicans purposely started the session early to be able to vote the bill through without the Democrats there to vote against it.

Obviously, by this tactic alone, it wouldn't matter if the Democrats left the state or even the country. The Republicans feel they can start a session whenever they want to, regardless of whether or not the Democrats are present.

Don't like decisions being made at work when you aren't there? Don't purposely skip out on your job and that won't be an issue. Maybe if they showed up to do their damn job instead of going on vacations, the Republicans wouldn't have to hold votes without them.

At least the teachers that shut down Wisconsin schools for a week, got fake sick notes(the doctor's are now under investigation by the medical board and the ethics board for that move, as "stress" is not considered a valid medical diagnosis-they may lose their jobs or medical licenses over it)

Unethical doctors losing their medical licenses? Good.

[McDreidel09]

That's not all the Republicans have done. The representative from Oshkosh was stating that he had to hear about the bill on the radio, which was being talked about by a DC special interest group. They received the bill on Monday and were told they were voting on Thursday. The bill was about 140 pages long and they weren't even given enough time to make amendments or actually go through the Democratic process.

So how can they "do their jobs" when they are not even given a chance to go through the actual process?

[Greenday]

3-4 days to read a whole 140 pages! Say it isn't so! It did go through the democratic process. It's put through a vote. That's democratic.

[AdminAssistant]

Um, what? This bill is trying to make people in unions pay for retirement and health benefits like everyone else does.

Actually, it's going to strip them of collective bargaining rights, which means that the government can then fuck over public workers any time it jolly well feels like it. Public employees (even those in unions) make a lower salary than other workers of a similar educational level. The sweet benefits make people actually want to work in the public sector. When lots of people want to work there and you have a wide pool of applicants, that usually means that you get better people for the job. And shouldn't we want the best people possible teaching in public schools and working for City Hall?

And, remember, the so called budget gap that this is trying to address was deliberately created by the Governor in the form of tax breaks to his cronies. Let me say that again: He created a budget gap by giving money to the rich and corporations and is going to make up for it by stripping money away from public schools and social services. How the FUCK does that make any damn sense? Well, it makes sense because if you're going to give someone a lava enema, it's not going to be your friends, right? No, it's going to be your enemies - Democrats - who happen to make up the majority of union workers.

I swear, I give up. Dammit, why does Canada have to be so cold?

3-4 days to read a whole 140 pages! Say it isn't so! It did go through the democratic process. It's put through a vote. That's democratic.

So, it's okay for the Republicans to do this, but when the Democrats try to pass a lengthy health care bill it's, "WAAAH! It's too long!"

[Greenday]

So, it's okay for the Republicans to do this, but when the Democrats try to pass a lengthy health care bill it's, "WAAAH! It's too long!"

Can't find me saying that...

[Racket_Man]

plus there is the fact that the Gov. made the bill unamenable (meaning that no amendments could be attached or modifications made). in the state assembly however the Dems are introducing about 100 amendments to the bill.

The original bill was announced on Thursday but not published until Monday and the vote scheduled on Thursday. no public comment was scheduled and the bill was "ramrodded" into both state houses.

[McDreidel09]

Greenday, there is more to it than "here, read it and then we vote." In between the reading and voting, there are meetings of compromise and amendments. That takes more than 3 or 4 days. The Democratic representatives were not given the opportunity to go through and make amendments, which takes a hell of a lot longer than 3 or 4 days. Why do you think it takes longer for bills to go through the state government?