Wisconsin: Senate Leader Gives 4 p.m. Ultimatum To Missing Democrats

[Purveyor]

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald Thursday morning ordered the apprehension of the 14 Democratic senators who left the state two weeks ago to avoid a vote on Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget repair bill.

Republicans voted 19-0 to give the Democrats until 4 p.m. Thursday to appear before the Senate. The 14 Democrats are believed to be in Illinois.

"They have pushed us to the edge of a constitutional crisis," Fitzgerald declared.

The Senate also voted for a "call of the house," which is the mechanism used to compel senators to return to the chamber.

That means the Senate sergeant at arms can "with or without force" and with or without the help of any law enforcement officers in the state to take them into custody and bring them to the state Capitol.

MORE...

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_8d9ad090-45bd-11e0-bf68-001cc4c03286.html

[Deep13]

1. Or else what? nt

[ck4829]

3. He'll send his Daddy to find them and bring them back. Really.

If that doesn't reek of middle east style nepotism, then I don't know what does.

[MadBadger]

2. They have no authority in the state of Illinois however...

[bluestateguy]

4. They chose Illinois for a reason

Democrats run the whole show in Illinois, every state office, the legislature, are all Democratic.

Similar to the reason the Killer D Democrats in 2003 fled to Oklahoma and New Mexico: at the time all of the pertinent offices were held by Democrats would protect them.

[BadgerKid]

10. I hope they have security there to prevent abductions. n/t

[Lifelong Protester]

5. WHO has pushed us to the edge of a constitutional crisis?

Look in the mirror, you a**hat

[frazzled]

6. Sending stormtroopers into Illinois?

I can't imagine how they're going to catch them, but: pssssst, Wisconsin 14: You are totally welcome to stay at my house. PM me for the address. You need a key to get up our elevator, so they'll never get in to find you. I'll even give two of you tickets for tonight's CSO concert. They'll never look for you there! And just imagine the ruckus it would cause if they stormed into the middle of Bruckner's 7th!

[Lasher]

7. Now lemme see, they don't have a quorum, right?

And they need to get the Democrats back before they can pass legislation, right? So, they're voting on resolutions to fine these Democrats and release the hounds and everything. So that they can get these rebel Democrats back and have a quorum. After that their votes won't be meaningless like they are right now.

:wtf:

[Keefer]

9. We need to be thankful...

that they only have 19 senators. If they had 20, they wouldn't need ANY dems to return. They would have their quorum. It's still a long, uphill fight.

:-(

[Bodhi BloodWave]

15. this might be a silly question or an important one all depending

But I'm curious, what exactly is required/what are the steps for a politician to change from one party to the other?

[Lasher]

16. I think that's a good question.

We know that politicians do it and we know why. There are some state restrictions that must be considered. For example, Nevada state law provides:

Anyone intending to become a candidate cannot have changed political party affiliation after September 1 of the year preceding the primary election, whether or not the previous registration, anywhere in the United States, was still in effect at the time of the change.

http://www.churchillcounty.org/clerktrs/politicalpty.htm

Ballot issues notwithstanding, I'm going to guess that a politician can change parties simply by approaching the enemy's camp and declaring (s)he wants to be one of them. Two independents currently caucus with Senate Democrats, for example, so it's apparent that you don't even have to change voter registration in order to switch.

[fishwax]

21. actually, I think they only need the dems for a quorum on budget/financial matters

I could be remembering this wrong, but the way I remember it being explained when they first left was that the quorum requirement for finance/budget issues is higher than that for regular legislation, and the repubs have enough for one but not for the other.

[ClarkUSA]

8. I hope Mayor Emanuel is buying them good nosh on his dime at 4 p.m.

[Keefer]

11. Well...

It's after 4:00. What happened???

[Arkana]

12. Hahahahahahahaha fuck them.

They're out of state, fuckheads! You can't touch them!

[AsahinaKimi]

13. Oh yeah, its ALL the Democrats fault...

Stupid idiots brought it on themselves for trying to ram rod a bill though that has no business being rammed through. Now they can COMPLAIN about not being able to use their parking spaces...because of the "Slobs" and "Slackers" in the way.


Methinks, these people have eaten way too much damn cheese..

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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[Avant Guardian]

20. Real classy

My daughter reads here sometimes

[and-justice-for-all]

17. Those WI Dems better tell those pukes to shove it...nt

[JoePhilly]

18. "I'm going to hold my breath until you come back!!!!"

Dope.

[kentuck]

19. "They have pushed us to the edge of a constitutional crisis," Fitzgerald declared.

"They"??

[Avant Guardian]

22. This is what the RW did to Obama RE: unemployment benefits

Difference being these Democrats are making a solid stand.