With Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled State Senate ready to pass a bill today eliminating the collective bargaining power of public unions and forcing them to pay more for their pensions and health insurance legislation that 25,000 people gathered to rally against in Madison the chamber’s fourteen Democrats did the only thing they could do: They fled the state for a Best Western in Rockford, Illinois. Without a quorum, which would require at least one Democratic senator to be present, the GOP can’t vote on the bill. Wisconsin law-enforcement officials are empowered to escort renegade senators back into the chamber, but not across state lines. This whole thing is a mess for Wisconsin, but great marketing for Best Western, the preferred hideout for fugitive lawmakers everywhere.
Budget Battle: Democrats Who Left State are Located [WTMJ]
Wis. Lawmakers Flee State To Block Anti-Union Bill [AP via Channel 3000]
