The last time Democratic legislators fled their home state they we’re trying to thwart Tom DeLay’s corrupt redistricting plan. This time they’re from Wisconsin:
As government workers flooded the state Capitol to protest, Wisconsin legislators were tripped up in attempts to vote Thursday on a game-changing law that would force public employees to pay more for pension and health benefits while limiting their union’s power to negotiate.
Police officers were searching for Democratic state lawmakers who had not shown up for a vote on the sweeping legislation, and one Democratic lawmaker said he and his colleagues had left the state.
Sen. Jon Erpenbach told the Associated Press that he and his fellow Democrats hoped to force negotiations over the Republican-backed bill, but he would not say where the group had gone. The state Senate Democrats did not show up when they were ordered to attend a midday vote on the legislation. Though Republicans hold a 19-14 majority, they need at least one Democrat present to vote.
The bill is “tearing the state apart,” Erpenbach said.
Those Democrats should probably spend the next two years in exile. It’s getting crazy out there.
