Wisconsin Dems Monkey-Wrench Budget Bill as Protests Grow

The Madison Cap Times has featured excellent reporting on the Wisconsin budget battle to date, as union workers and supporters besiege the Capitol Building with numbers exceeding 30,000. Public school teachers have been calling in sick in order to attend the rallies, leading to school cancellations. Thousands of high school and college students marched into Madison from different directions, joining a demonstration larger than any the city has seen in decades. According to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union President Gerald McEntee, Wisconsin is “ground zero” in the national struggle for labor rights. Now, state Democrats, disgusted with Governor Scott Walker’s bill to slash worker wages and benefits, have refused to show up for the vote:

Thousands of protesters crammed inside the Capitol erupted into cheers of “thank you, thank you,” as word spread from the Senate chambers before noon that Democratic senators refused to show up to vote on a controversial budget repair bill.

Because a quorum of 20 of the Senate’s 33 members is required to pass the bill, the Democrats’ walkout puts the brakes on the fast-moving legislation, at least for the moment. Republicans have a 19-14 majority in the Senate, enough to pass the bill, but not enough for a quorum.

The move is the most dramatic action yet to halt or at least slow down the momentum of the union-busting bill that Republican Gov. Scott Walker says is necessary to fill a $137 million hole in the current state budget. Minor changes were made to the bill Wednesday night before it was passed by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee. Yet the most contentious portions of the bill remained intact.

“This is crazier than I expected,” said Sara Marquardt, a high school teacher from Oshkosh. Marquardt was pressed against a rope set up around the entrances to the Assembly to keep the public out of the proceedings.

The enthusiasm of the crowd remains strong, with chants of “Kill the bill! Kill the bill!” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho. Scott Walker has to go!” ringing out through the Capitol. The mass of protesters is easily the largest on this third day of protests, with some hallways near the Assembly and Senate nearly impassable.

Cap Times Associate Opinion Editor John Nichols published an electric opinion piece today that’s also well worth a read: “Never Prouder of My State, Its Workers and Unions.” Here’s an excerpt:

“I’ve been here since the 1960s, I’ve seen great demonstrations,” said former Mayor Paul Soglin, a proud former student radical who was nominated for a new term in Tuesday’s local primary election. “This is different. This is everyone — everyone turning out.”

Everyone except the governor, who high-tailed it out of town, launching a tour of outlying communities in hopes of drumming up support for his bill. Most of the support Walker was getting was coming from national conservative political groups, such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity, which have long hoped to break public employee unions. But the governor held firm, saying after a day of unprecedented protests — in Madison and small towns and cities across the state — that he still wanted to pass his bill. He’s got strong support in the overwhelmingly Republican Assembly. And he might hold Republicans in the Senate together long enough to do his bidding.

But there will be no victory for Walker. Wisconsin has rejected his plan. If he gets a few legislators on his side, it will be a temporary “success.” The people of Wisconsin — teachers and students, scientists and snowplow drivers, small business owners and citizens — are rising to defend their own.