Labor & Employment Law

Wisconsin Republican Vote Stunt ?Highly Unethical?

By Mike Hall

Earlier today we reported that Republican Wisconsin state Assembly members pulled an unexpected trick play and quick-snapped a vote on Gov. Scott Walker?s (R) bill to eliminate the right of public employees to bargain for middle-class jobs. After the middle-of-the-night vote, the Republican legislators lit out of the chamber faster than a burglar with a German Shepherd on his tail.

Democrats still had 15 members set to speak on the bill, but they were shut out by the maneuver. This afternoon, FireDogLake?s David Dayen caught up with one of the Dems who was gagged.

Just did a brief interview in the Capitol Rotunda, where the noontime rally has begun, with Assemblyman Chris Danou, a Democrat who represents the western part of the state. He confirmed to me that the Assembly Republicans, after calling for and casting a quick vote on the budget repair bill at 1:00 in the morning, then immediately ran out of the Rotunda, escaping the protesters as they were waking up to the news.

Danou was one of the Democrats waiting to speak on the bill when the Republicans called the vote. ?I see it as taking away my right to speak,? he said. He wouldn?t go so far as to call it illegal, but called it highly unethical. ?This has poisoned things,? he said, ?I don?t see how we can work together now.?

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 25, 2011 (boomark / email).