WI: Republican Senate "leader" threatens to send State Police after Dems.

[RandySF]

In protest of the budget repair bill that will strip public union workers of almost all of their collective bargaining rights, Senate Democrats walked away from a floor session.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Dems are refusing to come to the floor to debate and vote on the bill.

Fitzgerald said at some point, if needed, Republicans will use the State Patrol to round up Democrats to bring them to the floor.

Senate President Mike Ellis is calling the roll, but no Dems are present.

-- By Greg Bump


http://budget.wispolitics.com/2011/02/senate-session-begins-amid-dem-walk-out.html

[PeaceNikki]

1. He already HAS sent troopers.

[cali]

2. they've already done it

but the senate dems are evidently hiding out out of state

live thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x438442

[Botany]

3. good luck w/ that

go out and pick up a democrat and bring back here so we can screw you out of your union rights,
money, and benefits.

That is gonna be a really hard sell.

[louis-t]

4. A repeat of OK? Wasn't that where some dumbass

repug sent troops out looking for Dems before?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. Austin to Ardmore OK - Killer D's 2003

Texas Democrats went to Ardmore to stop a quorum. I think the gov. sent the Texas Rangers after them.

Wearing my T shirt for Killer D's, proudly, as I type. :D

[hobbit709]

8. that was the second round

Lloyd Doggett led the first walkout in 1979

[tkmorris]

6. I believe that was Texas

[KharmaTrain]

7. Texas...

That involved the state redistricting in 2002 and ultimaely ended up with Weasel DeLay being convicted.

[JDPriestly]

9. Why aren't the state troopers out there protesting with the other state workers?

Are they getting some special deal?

[Lifelong Protester]

11. yes, they were exempted from this bill (along with firefighters)

police and firefighters have shown solidarity in marching with us.

[PeaceNikki]

15. Police officers, firefighters just marched through rotunda supporting WI teachers!

Bagpipes and all.

[annabanana]

18. Bagpipes were originally called War Pipes

. . just sayin'

[Denninmi]

10. What legal basis do they have for doing this.

Is there a law that requires their presence on the senate floor or something? Can they be compelled to return? Can they be arrested if they refuse?

[HereSince1628]

12. It's unclear at the moment.

I'm searching to see if that's ever been done in Wisconsin.

[FBaggins]

17. Found one.

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lrb/pubs/feature/legispro.pdf

Each house of the legislature must have a quorum to conduct business, so the first order of business of a daily session routinely is a call of the roll. Senate and assembly rules both define a quorum as the majority of the elected membership of the house (17 in the senate and 50 in the assembly). While this general rule applies in most cases, the state constitution does specify that three-fifths of the elected members (20 senators or 60 assembly members) is a quorum for final approval of fiscal bills. Lacking a quorum, the members present may adjourn or may compel the attendance of absent members.

I don't, however, see that there's any teeth in the rule.

[HereSince1628]

19. I'm having no luck find it's previous use.

I can see anything about what authority the senate would have over any law enforcement agency.

However, I am quite sure that Scott Walker would issue a directive to all state law enforcement. All of which will take some time because lawyers for every agency involved would want to double check it before making recommendations. If they are out of state I don't know what if any cooperation they might get.

Court orders for telephone records which could be used to track them down will take a while to get.

And all of this makes Walker look more and more like a 3rd world dictator.

[FBaggins]

20. I haven't seen anything yet... not that it matters.

I can see anything about what authority the senate would have over any law enforcement agency.

"but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide."

It's also important to note that they have a quorum to pass most laws/rules... just not financial legislation. So they can make up just about anything they want.

If they are out of state I don't know what if any cooperation they might get.

If they leave the state long-term, you can expect them to go to a state that won't "give them up". The problem is that they can really only delay this while public opinion hopefully changes. Opinion would turn rapidly against them if they stayed out indefinitely and no work was done. It would be far too easy to spin.

[FBaggins]

13. I don't know about WI, but yes, there is usually the authority to compell

It's going to be tight too. IIRC, they're only one vote shy of a quorum in the Senate (they already have one in the House), so every single Democrat has to stay out of reach.

Presumably this is to give the protests time to have some impact on public opinion and force the republicans to reconsider... because there's no way that they can stay away forever. There's no clock ticking (that I'm aware of) for them to run out.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Drale]

16. And the democrats are Nazi's

Does he really have to power to order the state troopers around like that? Seems rather dictatorship to me, why would Wisconsin give that kind of power to their government?

[Dawson Leery]

21. Brings back memories of early 2003.