One errant senator says sending out the troops is ridiculous and it just creates fear.
Many newspaper editorials are calling for the return of 14 Wisconsin senators who fled the state to boycott a vote, saying the “game is over;” “they made their point;” “it’s time to do their jobs.”
State Senator Fred Risser (D-Madison), one of the 14 wayward Democrats, says the senators are playing it by ear. “Something new happens every day. The way things are happening it’s hard to say just exactly when we will be returning. We’re not going to be staying out indefinitely, but the appropriate time has not yet arrived.”
The long-time senator couldn’t say exactly what would convince them to come back to Madison. One thing is for sure, he says, the Republicans won’t get that one lawmaker they need for a quorum to pass the budget repair bill. “The 14 of us meet every day, several times a day. We talked this over, and I can assure you that when we return, we’ll return as a body — all 14 of us. It’s not a matter of one person returning or another returning; we’ll be acting as a group.”
Risser also says it’s a waste of time and effort to have law enforcement trying find and fetch them because, he says, everybody knows they’re in Illinois. The senior senator says he keeps up on the events via newspaper, radio and TV, but would like to be here to see the demonstrations in person.
Governor Scott Walker says the Dems need to come home to avoid massive layoffs. Walker is telling Democrats: “Now they have one day to return to work before the state loses out on the chance to refinance debt, saving taxpayers $165 million this fiscal year.”