Throngs of protesters gathered last Saturday outside a convention center where the Democratic senators made their first public appearances in Madison since ending their self-imposed exile.
All 14 Democrats later marched around the Capitol, trading chants of “thank you” with protesters who ringed the sidewalks. When the senators made their way to a stage, they promised to shift their energies toward recall drives already under way against eight of their GOP colleagues.
“Now … we trade in our rally signs for clipboards and we take to the streets to recall the Republicans,” Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, told the cheering crowd. “In one year we recall the governor that refuses to listen.”
Walker is not eligible to be recalled until he completes his first year in office in January 2012, but eight Republican Senators could be recalled as early as May. Eight of the Democrats also face recall efforts.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, issued a statement Saturday calling them the most shameful 14 people in the state.
The Senate Democrats had fled to deny Republicans, who hold a 19-14 Senate majority, the 20-member quorum needed to vote on measures that spend money. But Republican leaders worked around them, calling a special committee to take spending items out of Walker’s proposal.
The Senate passed it 18-1 minutes later. Assembly Republicans approved it the next day.
For the last week of the Democrats’ absence, Republican leaders insisted that their missing colleagues had begun to question their leader, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, D-Monona, and wanted to return despite his objections. But statements from the 14 senators vehemently denied the speculation.
Still, Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, said he would not leave the state to protest any future bills.
“I think that does great damage to the institution,” Cullen said. “I have no regrets about doing it once, but that was in extraordinary times to try to slow the bill down.”
He started circulating a constitutional amendment last Tuesday that would allow the Legislature to proceed in debating fiscal bills with a simply majority, not a 20-member quorum.
Fitzgerald has already signed on as a co-sponsor and but said the measure was bittersweet.
“It’s disappointing that a constitutional amendment would be necessary to make sure this kind of thing never happens again, but after three long weeks, it’s great to finally hear the voice of reason again,” Fitzgerald said.
Around the time Cullen announced his amendment, Republican leadership decided not to enforce an older resolution finding the missing Democrats in contempt of the Senate. The resolution disallowed Democrats to vote in sessions of the Senate and was still in effect two days after their return until Republican leadership said the contempt order would be lifted in a future session.
Along with being held in contempt, Republicans put forth a number of other measures to put pressure on the Democrats to return. The penalties included a $100 fine for each day Democrats were not in session, ordering law enforcement to force the senators back if they were seen in Wisconsin and reassigning Senate Democratic staff under Republican advisers.
– State Editor Andrew Averill contributed to this article
