Wisconsin News and Sports
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin defends a plan to allow her campus to no longer operate under the UW-System. The so-called split is part of the New Badger Partnership and Governor Walker’s next two year budget.
Martin tells UW-System Regents at their meeting today there is too much inefficiency in being part of the system and uses the term “Byzantine mazes,” to describe the current bureaucracy.
One of the missing Democrats calls what’s going on in Madison a “tragic situation.”
State Senator Fred Risser (D-Madison), one of the 14 senate Democrats who fled the state to avoid a vote, comments on the chaos in the capitol following a vote on Governor Walker’s budget repair bill in the Assembly in the wee hours of the morning. “From what I hear the Republicans submitted to a little trickery to final get out the vote.”
After nearly 61 hours, Assembly Republicans abruptly cut off debate on the measure and forced a vote. The Democrats were outraged, scrambling about the chamber screaming “no” and “shame, shame.” [Read more...]
Assembly Democrats are raising concerns that an early morning vote approving the budget repair bill may have been illegal. Republicans suddenly ended over 60 hours of debate Friday morning on the bill, which strips most public employees of their collective bargaining rights, while several lawmakers were still waiting to speak.
Democrats say Assembly rules should have required a vote to end debate early. Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) says that did not happen, and that could mean the vote was illegal. Barca says Democrats will be reviewing tapes of the final minutes of the session very closely and will explore every option available to them. [Read more...]
The debate in Madison over union rights has conjured up some terms we haven’t heard in a while. Take “labor peace” for example.
Prof. James Oberly has taught history at UW-Eau Claire since 1983. He says the sometimes bloody union movement in the country began back in the 1880s when private workers fought for 10 hour workdays. At the time, manufacturers were requiring their employees to work 13-14 hour days.
Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) following Friday morning's vote. (PHOTO: WRN)
It was chaos in the state Capitol early Friday morning, as Republicans in the Assembly abruptly cut off debate on the Governor’s budget repair bill and forced a vote on the measure.
The Assembly was nearing 61 hours of debate on the proposal, after wading through dozens of amendments offered by Democrats and numerous procedural moves to delay passage. Lawmakers were offering their closing arguments on the bill, with several still waiting to speak, when Republicans suddenly called for a vote on final passage. [Read more...]
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