Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Question for working people

Let's say your job calls on you to do something you don't want to do, though it is within the normal scope of your assigned duties.

Show of hands: can you —
  1. Walk away from your job?
  2. Continue to get paid?
  3. Keep your job?
Most of us might do the first, or we might do the second and third.

But all three? At the same time?

Only if you're a Democrat politician in Indiana or Wisconsin.


20 comments:

Dave said...

Just get a Doctor to say you're suffering strees from your job and you're good to go. Unlimited time off and no consequenses.

Mike Westfall said...

If the Democrats have enough members to prevent a quorum, doesn't that mean they have more than half the votes total? Why don't they just vote "no" if they don't like the bill, and just get it defeated? What are they afraid of? I don't see the point of hiding out.

Cathy in NOLA said...

I googled it and they must have 3/5 of the members present for a quorum. If just one more Dem had showed they'd have been able to vote.

Robert said...

I don't see why any of the Democratic governors should not comply if the governors ask for help getting the senators back. this is ridiculous. What would have happened if the Republicans in Congress would have pulled this kind of thing with the health care bill? How would these same senators and their supporters react to that? And do they realize there is a huge conflict of interest when the employees have to pay into the unions and then the unions heavily donate to the Democratic Party? There are so many layers of issues wrapped up in this whole thing and the dems/unions are to wrapped up in it all to step back and look at the overall picture.

Mike Westfall said...

Oh. And here I always thought that a quorum was 50% + 1.

Tom Chantry said...

Update from the Land of Badgers:

Milwaukee talk radio stations today are all carrying an ad which opens with a pretty good facsimile of the emergency alert system, followed by an automaton voice alerting the people of Milwaukee that their senator has gone missing and asking anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts to call the statehouse - pretty funny stuff.

Meanwhile, the Senate Republicans are hard at work here. The constitution only requires a 3/5 quorum to approve fiscal bills; they can do pretty much anything else.

They cleared the decks today by approving appointments and getting all the fun bills out of the way (congratulating the Packers, etc.) Now they are in committee. Word is out that tomorrow the issue du jour will be racial profiling: the Senate will repeal a law requiring the police to compile extensive records on the race of persons they arrest or question. Everyone expects that by the week's end if the Dems aren't back in town they will have completely revamped the voter requirements - something which badly needs doing and which they will do sooner or later anyway.

DJP said...

Sweet! I love that! Make hay.

coldwell said...

Down here in Texas, we're experienced in this sort of thing. Our Democrats did it in 1979 and 2003. Also something like it happened in 1870, but I'm not old enough to remember that :)

Tom Chantry said...

Yeah, the political theater is beautiful. I just found out that the Senator from Green Bay was listed as "not voting" in the bill commending the Packers for their Super Bowl win!

DJP said...

Priceless.

Tom Chantry said...

Question just asked on the radio in Milwaukee, seeking to help conservatives understand how the rest of conservatism is viewing this story: Imagine you're you, only you live in California; now what would you think when you read about Scott Walker?" And I thought, "Hey, I know how to answer this."

...So, Dan, think with me a minute. Imagine you're a few years younger and not a grandfather yet. (Oh yeah, and you're covenantal.) So, how do you like our governor?

Tom Chantry said...

Oh my word! I can't stop listening to the radio today! The state senate just passed a new house rule: any senator who misses two sessions will no longer be paid by direct deposit, but must pick up his paycheck on the senate floor.

Paula Bolyard said...

Way to go WI! Ohio will follow. I've been reading some of the Facebook posts from a group trying to stop these reforms in Ohio (teachers). Here are a couple gems:

""What I am concerned about are my WORKING CONDITIONS, what I will endure on a daily basis for the next 26 years, and what rights of mine will be preserved and protected. SB5 is the WAR, and we have an OBLIGATION to go out and FIGHT for our PRESERVATION and RIGHTS as WORKERS!"

and

"First of all, consider the proposed minimum starting salary for a teacher of $17,000. That equates to an 52 week hourly wage of $8.17."

If you're following along, you'll understand that these people:

a. think that the 88% of Americans who aren't represented by unions are working in squalid sweatshops making $1.03/hour, being beaten and abused by their employers and...

b. are using some kind of new math where the 182-day school year is equal to 52 weeks. Either that or they...

c. think the taxpayers should subsidize their summer vacations (good deal if you can get it).

DLW said...

Tom, since the governor does not need a quorum to vote on non financial matters, why does he not take the collective bargaining element out of the financial bill and vote on it separately?

Sonja said...

Tom Chantry could moonlight as a play-by-play announcer. :)

It's so refreshing to have grown-ups in government and the Badger State is leading the way. I hope many more follow however my state will unfortunately continue throwing temper tantrums in keeping with their normal behavior of a 2-year old.

Tom Chantry said...

Technically he could, but it would surrender the whole issue. He has promoted the collective bargaining changes as an essential part of fixing the budget - quite rightly. If he takes it out of the budget repair bill, it looks like mere anger against the unions, and that wouldn't fly.

Robert said...

Tom,

That paycheck deal is AWESOME!

DLW said...

Who is he going to layoff that is not going to anger the unions? The MSM will find them and the sob stories will ensue. Layoff's just draw out the inevitble.

Reagan had the right tactic during the PATCO strike. Walker has a moment of opportunity, tackle it head on and do what needs to be done.

How much more can the unions hate or be angered at him than what they already are?

trogdor said...

I'd like to congratulate these Democrats on a truly remarkable accomplishment: finding a circumstance where a bunch of liberals leaving the state could be considered a bad thing.

Lynda O said...

b. are using some kind of new math where the 182-day school year is equal to 52 weeks. Either that or they... c. think the taxpayers should subsidize their summer vacations (good deal if you can get it).

Exactly... in my parents' generation, when they (teachers) didn't make enough money teaching -- a) first they moved to another state that paid higher wages to the teachers, and b) did side jobs on weekends/evenings, and during the summer, to supplement their pay. I recall my dad working part-time at a local Sears store for awhile, to help make ends meet.

Now all they do is complain about how underpaid they are (and nobody take away my pension!), as if the 180-day school year were a full-time job.