Life on the Run For Democrats In Union Fights

[onehandle]

Source: New York Times

CHICAGO — By now, Jon Erpenbach, one of 14 Democratic state senators on the run from Wisconsin, has switched hotels in this city three times, a necessity, he says, as word kept slipping out about where he was staying. At first it was unsettling: the essentials were forgotten — extra slacks, socks, even underwear — in a last-minute race to get south of the state line. But gradually the lawmakers restocked, thanks to packages delivered by family members and trips to discount stores.

And while they seem to be adjusting to the rhythms of life on the lam, they are still trying to come to grips with being part of a sudden Democratic diaspora that everyone knows about but that the lawmakers themselves do not want to reveal. Speaking by telephone, many of them will say merely that they are staying “somewhere in northern Illinois,” in hotels or homes or something else, together or separately or both.

“It all feels very spylike,” said Senator Chris Larson, who managed to get a belt from his Milwaukee-area home with help from a friend who met him in a parking lot. “It’s almost like a reality TV show,” Mr. Larson said, ticking off some in the melting pot of personalities who find themselves together — a lot: a pregnant mother, a dairy farmer, an urban senator, a lawmaker who was first elected in 1956, and Mr. Larson himself, who took office less than two months ago.

As battles over limits to public-sector unions and collective-bargaining rights erupted in capitals in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio, Illinois suddenly found itself as the refuge of choice for outnumbered Democrats fleeing their states to block the passage of such bills. By Wednesday evening, most of Indiana’s 40 Democratic state representatives were living in rooms (“plain but all we need,” in the words of one) at the Comfort Suites in Urbana, Ill., about 100 miles west of the state Capitol in Indianapolis. Wisconsin’s Senate Democrats were preparing to mark their first full week, on Thursday, somewhere in northern Illinois.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/us/politics/24exiles.html

[Lifelong Protester]

1. You guys are my heroes! I'll go to work and do my job

and you stay where you are and do yours----protecting us from that oncoming train.

You speak for many of us. You speak for me.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. Stay where you are doing the peoples work.you are working for us. Thank you Dems for a job well done

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. "Democratic diaspora" !!! EVERYONE now, even lawmakers, need a 'Bug Out Bag'

You know- spare socks, toothbrush, underwear, copy of the Constitution, maybe a copy of Sharp's "From Dictatorship to Democracy"...

[AllyCat]

4. Phoned my personal thanks to Mark Miller (my Senator) for being out there

doing the people's work, not the corporation's work. I can't imagine what they are going through so we continue to fight here for them, for Wisconsin, and the entire US.

[Carolina]

5. These guys are awesome

and bravo to Governor Quinn!

Image if that rat bastard Rahm had been governor. How Chicago could give that slimy SOB the keys to the city still baffles, but then look at the Daleys!

[davsand]

7. I am usually first in line to bash the Daleys, however Chicago is so Dem because of them.

Illinois goes Dem in many state and federal races due to Chicago's strong Dem turnout. Chicago has that Dem machine, in large part, because of the Daleys. There is a large part of downstate that doesn't just lean Republican, but really is pretty conservative. When you think of Illinois politics, you need to visualize islands of Dems awash in Republicans...

Quinn is not much to write home about, if you want the truth. The budget right now is raping social services and education. He's had a bill ELIMINATING the death penalty on his desk for an awful long time and he's still not signed it. Yes, Quinn is a Dem, but I'm working hard to remember it.



Laura

[MisterP]

6. it's a new Aventine Secession for a new age

[annabanana]

8. Thank you for an interesting trip to the google!. . .n/t