Wis. GOP to Dems: Get back and vote


February 21, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

MADISON, Wis.

Wisconsin Republicans on Sunday upped the pressure on Democrats who fled to Illinois to return home and vote on an anti-union bill, with the governor calling them obstructionists and a GOP lawmaker threatening to convene without them.

Gov. Scott Walker said the 14 minority Democrats who left Madison on Thursday were failing to do their jobs by “hiding out” in another state. And Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said his chamber would meet Tuesday to act on nonspending bills and confirm some of the governor’s appointees even if the Democrats don’t show up — a scenario that should outrage their constituents.

Senate Democrats acknowledged that the 19 Republicans could pass any item that doesn’t spend state money in their absence. The budget-repair bill they’ve been blocking requires a quorum of 20 senators to pass, while other measures require only a simple majority of the chamber’s 33 members.

Democrats said they were standing firm in their opposition to the bill, which would take away the right of most public employees to collectively bargain for their benefits and working conditions. Hundreds of protesters filled the Capitol for a sixth-straight day, noisily calling on Walker to drop the plan they consider an assault on workers’ rights.

Mary Bell, the president of Wisconsin’s powerful teachers’ union, called on teachers to return to work as scheduled today rather than continue absences to protest that have shut down public schools across the state. She said unions agreed to cuts in health care and retirement benefits that could reduce take-home pay for many workers by about 8 percent, and it was time for Walker to compromise.

In a Sunday interview with Fox News, Walker said he did not believe union leaders were interested in giving up their benefits and cities, school districts and counties will need weakened unions to cut spending for years to come. Walker said he would not compromise and predicted Wisconsin would pave the way for other states to follow suit.