Author’s note:
I was there last night and the scene was incredible. Within an hour after the bill was passed, there were hundreds gathering. In another hour, thousands. Eventually the Capitol police relented and let people in the building…but only after a few climbed through windows and opened other doors. There were no arrests that have been announced…yet. For hours people chanted, “This is what democracy looks like!” And cars circling the Capitol honked their horns in cadence with the chant. I am beginning to believe this is WAY bigger than Wisconsin.
Keep in mind that everything Hitler did followed the letter of the law, but that did not make it right. The WI Senate did NOT have a quorum and that means that the people of Wisconsin have grounds to refuse to accept this vote or the state government that uses such dirty tricks to defy the expressed will of the people.
Excerpt:
The bill passed at around 6 p.m. on March 9, 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin. In a modern version of the town hall criers that announced the “British are coming” back in the 1700’s, the blogs, emails and social networking sites of Wisconsin citizens who have subscribed to information regarding the ongoing labor protests lit up: “Head to the Capitol, NOW!”
By 7 p.m. there were hundreds of people around the Capitol building chanting, “This is our house, let us in!” By 8 p.m. several hundred were inside the building and thousands were outside. The signs that had been taken down earlier in the week reappeared on the walls. By 9 p.m. the building was packed, with many outside still waiting to get in. (See slideshow).
The measure approved 18-1 Wednesday forbids most government workers from collectively bargaining for wage increases beyond the rate of inflation. It also requires public workers to pay more toward their pensions and double their health insurance contribution, a combination equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut for the average worker. The bill will now go to the state assembly for a vote at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Wisconsin Republicans separated the part of the bill that strips public workers of nearly all collective bargaining (CB) rights and passed it in a sort of “end around” the 14 democrats that have been holding up the vote on the “budget repair bill.”
Because the union provision was part of a budget bill involving expenditures, Republicans in the Senate needed at least 20 senators present for a quorum to vote on the bill. By declaring that the part of the bill that addresses CB and worker contributions does not involve expenditures, it was able to be voted on and passed in a separate bill without the presence of the 14 Democrats that are absent.
This procedure raises ideological questions and legal issues. Firstly, if stripping public workers of most of their collective bargaining rights is not a fiscal issue, then why was it part of a “budget repair bill” in the first place? If making most CB illegal is not part of the fiscal budget, then it may be what public workers have said about it from day one – a direct attack on their unions.
State Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald may have provided insight into one ulterior motive behind this bill in an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly. According to Think Progress, Fitzgerald explained that “this battle” is about eliminating unions so that “the money is not there” for the labor movement. Specifically, he said that the destruction of unions will make it “much more difficult” for President Obama to win reelection in Wisconsin (see video):
If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you’re going to find is President Obama is going to have a much difficult, much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin.
The legal issues that the passing of this bill raises may be even more complex and are almost sure to end up being decided in court.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, attorney Robert Dreps, an expert in media and political law, said exceptions can be made if notice is “impossible or impractical. It raises a lot of serious questions,” he said. “I don’t think they can satisfy the standard for giving such short notice for that committee meeting.”
That is the near-term legal challenge – how the bill got passed. It was done in a way that may have violated open meetings laws, by not allowing 24 hours notice for a public meeting of the conference committee.
Enough speculation and back to reality. The people of Wisconsin are fired up about this issue, as was clearly seen at the Capitol last night and will be in days to come. It has become much larger than a state budget issue, because it epitomizes the struggle that the working class in America is facing after 30 years of assaults by the wealthy elite and the politicians they have bought. The people of Wisconsin are saying, “enough!”
Michael Moore, in his speech last weekend at the Capitol (see video in linked article) said, “Madison is only the beginning…The rich have overplayed their hand…There was no revolt, until now here in Wisconsin.”
Right now the powers that be may be winning the battle in Wisconsin, but the war is far from over.
Read more, get links, video and a slideshow here: Madison Independent Examiner – Wisconsinites flood Capitol after part of Walker’s bill is passed