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[Vactor]

Quite a few things happened yesterday in addition to what Aqizzar posted.

-The 19 Senators present voted to hold the missing 14 Senators in contempt of the Senate, and issues orders for apprehension.  This has sparked a legal debate, as the Wisconsin constitution dictates that legislators may not be arrested unless they have committed a crime.  This is part of the protections that the State has in place to prevent political strong arming.

-A judge issued a compromise order, where public is no longer allowed to stay in the Capitol past business hours of 8am - 6pm, but during those hours free access can not be denied.

-At 6:00pm when the building was to be cleared of the public, protesters gained control of an entrance, and one of the Capitol's 4 wings was flooded with protesters.  Our staff locked down the Senate chambers to prevent the chambers from being taken, but the protesters were contained by police before they got out of the wing.  Police, and an assemblyman spoke to the crowd, laid out the particulars of the judge's orders, and most protesters in that wing left willingly at this point.  The police continued talking to the protesters who had been spending the night in the rotunda for a few hours until a consensus was reached and all the protesters walked willingly out of the Capitol with the police.

On Wednesday the Senate changed its rules to allow the staff of the missing Senators to be assigned to members who have been present, as well as revoking additional privileges of staff in said offices, such as their parking spaces, among other things.


Today the atmosphere was much better, the Senate canceled the session that was scheduled, and the open access was restored, with all wings open, and police wanding people indoors before they were set free into the Capitol.  I am very glad that they are not restricting people any more, as it made things much more messy.

It's going to be in the low 30's tomorrow, which is a nice spring day for us, so I'm expecting that tomorrow is going to be very very big.  Last weekend it was a snowstorm, and ~100,000 people attended the rally.  There have been many things that have happened this week that have escalated interest in what is going on as well.

[mainiac]

Yeah, it sounds to me like governor walkers proposed budget is going to cause quite the hullabaloo on it's own.  Can you confirm or deny that?

[Aqizzar]

As of the end of the last hour, the Wisconsin Senate has passed their repeal of virtually all public employee collective bargaining rights, by deciding in the space of an afternoon that the critical language could be separated from the budget and voted on its own, as a non-budget issue, requiring a smaller quorum, then put back into the budget.  Needless to say, the Wisconsin Democrats are declaring the vote a gross violation of legislative procedure, and probably even illegal, because if nothing else there was supposed to be at least 24 hours notice.  It still has to go back to the House for passage again, since it's technically a different bill, but there's nothing to say it won't pass tomorrow, give the 45 second vote the Republican House Leader authorized to pass it last time.

God, I hope Vactor comes back soon.  Good luck buddy.  This shit is going to explode.

[Zrk2]

Yeah, it's even made the papers up here.

[Vactor]

So I'm home now, we had thought we were done for the day when the Senate wrapped up their session this morning.  At 4:00 this afternoon we were told to get to the floor immediately.  I ran up the 3 flights of stairs from our office, and the session was already underway.  They made a brief statement to be recorded in the journal, appointed a conference committee, and recessed.  At 6:00 the committee was held, and immediately after they were on the floor.  Once a single copy of the 140 page bill had been printed they voted on it. 

People in the Capitol caught wind of what was going on around 4:30 or so, and the press which had mostly gone home for the day flooded back into the building.  There was no preparations made for what was going on, and because we were operating in a low key mode, people were able to come directly up to crowd the doors to the chambers.  After the committee we had to escort some shouting members of the public out of the chambers, and again after adjournment some of the people in the gallery shouted at the Senators. 

There was so little preparation for this, that as they were voting on this, staff were trying to get us to go move the Senator's cars, which they had left parked just outside the building.

Tomorrow is going to be bad, and if there's any silver lining for me, its that the bill is back over in the Assembly, and hopefully people won't be too interested in the Senate.  The worst part of this is that through all of this work taking the brunt of the public displeasure on behalf of these Senators, because of their policies I'm going to see my monthly take-home pay go from $1500/month to about $1200/month, which with the cost of living in Madison, will only cover my rent, utilities, student loans, and food.  So.... is anybody hiring?

[Vactor]

Yeah, it sounds to me like governor walkers proposed budget is going to cause quite the hullabaloo on it's own.  Can you confirm or deny that?

This is an even bigger mess whose box hasn't even been opened.  The budget bill cuts $1.5 Billion in shared revenue, which is money that the state pays back to local government to allow them the freedom to manage their own affairs without having to rely solely on property taxes.  It also includes a law that prevents said local governments from adjusting their property taxes to make up for the revenue loss, with the Governor instructing them to make up the difference in payroll cuts, with police and fire exempted.  Once people start to see this in action I have a feeling that there will be an even louder, and more forceful outcry.

[Aqizzar]

The budget bill cuts $1.5 Billion in shared revenue, which is money that the state pays back to local government to allow them the freedom to manage their own affairs without having to rely solely on property taxes.  It also includes a law that prevents said local governments from adjusting their property taxes to make up for the revenue loss...

I hate to say it, but I have a strange feeling that after seeing the technical success he had in getting his union-busting law passed now, Walker might be looking across the lake for some ideas of what to do about financially crushed municipalities.  They certainly sound a lot alike.

[Nadaka]

What the hell. They just publicly confirmed this isn't about a budget. Its nothing but union busting. Taking down the only organizations left in America that represent the common working man. I knew it, but I never really expected them to show that much disregard. God damned unAmerican bastards. This pisses me off.

[Bouchart]

What the hell. They just publicly confirmed this isn't about a budget. Its nothing but union busting. Taking down the only organizations left in America that represent the common working man. I knew it, but I never really expected them to show that much disregard. God damned unAmerican bastards. This pisses me off.

Good.  Bust up the public service unions.

Members of private unions don't get to vote for the management of the company they work for.  But public service members get to vote for the people on the other end of the bargaining table.

[Vactor]

What the hell. They just publicly confirmed this isn't about a budget. Its nothing but union busting. Taking down the only organizations left in America that represent the common working man. I knew it, but I never really expected them to show that much disregard. God damned unAmerican bastards. This pisses me off.

Good.  Bust up the public service unions.

Members of private unions don't get to vote for the management of the company they work for.  But public service members get to vote for the people on the other end of the bargaining table.

Only ~30% of the population is with you on that one.

Private worker's jobs don't get held hostage in political fights the way that public workers do.  In a career where your job is an expenditure weighted against more attractive projects and tax breaks that your boss might prefer to make to win their re-election, it really does become necessary to have the ability to negotiate with your employer the terms of your work.

I've been working 60-80 hours a week, and I don't even get paid past the first 40 hours I work, where private employees will not only get paid, they get time and a half.  I find it very disappointing for people to call for me to give up a significant portion of my modest wage because they have been convinced that I have some sort of dictatorial power over the government I work for. 

[Urist Imiknorris]

They believe in the Almighty Janitor.

[darkrider2]

Strip a knight of his shield and he only has a sword. People will fight back if the unions get dissolved.

Also, this is completely shameless. How those legislators can look their voters in the face is beyond me. You elected me, why should I care about your wage?

[Bouchart]

Only ~30% of the population is with you on that one.

Yes, and we like to call ourselves "taxpayers".

Private worker's jobs don't get held hostage in political fights the way that public workers do.

And private sector employees can't be outsourced as easily because they tend to do work on-site.  My job could be sent over to some guy in India tomorrow morning if necessary.

I've been working 60-80 hours a week, and I don't even get paid past the first 40 hours I work, where private employees will not only get paid, they get time and a half.

And are you union represented?  If you are your union is doing an awful job here.

[mainiac]

This is an even bigger mess whose box hasn't even been opened.  The budget bill cuts $1.5 Billion in shared revenue, which is money that the state pays back to local government to allow them the freedom to manage their own affairs without having to rely solely on property taxes.  It also includes a law that prevents said local governments from adjusting their property taxes to make up for the revenue loss, with the Governor instructing them to make up the difference in payroll cuts, with police and fire exempted.  Once people start to see this in action I have a feeling that there will be an even louder, and more forceful outcry.

That is absolutely horrific.  Where could they possibly find that money other then by mass layoffs of teachers?

[Nadaka]

This is an even bigger mess whose box hasn't even been opened.  The budget bill cuts $1.5 Billion in shared revenue, which is money that the state pays back to local government to allow them the freedom to manage their own affairs without having to rely solely on property taxes.  It also includes a law that prevents said local governments from adjusting their property taxes to make up for the revenue loss, with the Governor instructing them to make up the difference in payroll cuts, with police and fire exempted.  Once people start to see this in action I have a feeling that there will be an even louder, and more forceful outcry.

That is absolutely horrific.  Where could they possibly find that money other then by mass layoffs of teachers?

Probably from the tax breaks they recently passed on the wealthiest citizens and corporate masters.