Back in October, when the campaigns were in full swing, we here at WPRI tipped the public off to a legislative maneuver that seemed pretty far fetched. In a column I wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal on October 17th, I warned the public that the legislative Democrats might actually ram through the state employee contracts during the lame duck session – a scenario so preposterous, I’m not sure I even believed it at the time.
Well, here we are now. Democrats are trying to scrounge up the votes to pass the state worker contracts before Scott Walker can take over as governor. And today, the ridiculousness reached a completely new level.
Short on votes, Assembly Democrats have turned to one of their jailed colleagues for help. According to reports, disgraced State Representative Jeff Wood, currently sitting in jail due to multiple OWI arrests, has been allowed to leave jail for the day to return to Madison to vote on the union contracts. Walker has said passage of these contracts could cost the state up to $154 million, while he is attempting to close a budget deficit in excess of $3 billion.
So we are left with this: State union contracts being rammed through the Legislature at the last possible moment, by a body that voters threw out of power a month ago, with the deciding vote being cast by a legislator who had to be let out of jail to vote for the agreements.
Wood’s trip down to Madison means the public employee unions are one step closer to getting what they want – locking contracts into place that put the state further into a deficit before Walker can undo them. We’ll see how many drunks sitting in jail get the day off so they can do a $154 million favor for a powerful interest group.
At least the unionized prison guards will be nicer to him now.
UPDATE: In fact, Wood cast the deciding vote on 16 of the 17 union contracts. They each passed by a vote of 48-47. For those 48 legislators without shame, the time to be embarrassed is right…. now.
[...] This is disgusting, Wisconsin Democrats are trying to get the convicted multi-drunk driver, Jeff Wood out of jail, so he can vote in this Lame Duck session, to pass sweetheart union contracts before Scott Walker is inaugurated. Democrats were decimated in the latest elections, so they are using their last days to screw the taxpaying voters of Wisconsin. WPRI – This is the Face of the New State Worker Contracts [...]
Pingback by Badger Blogger » Blog Archive » Would you like to know how despicable Wisconsin Democrats are? — December 15, 2010 @ 5:02 pm
[...] You can read more from Chris here. [...]
Pingback by Cheeseheads.. « et cetera* — December 15, 2010 @ 6:16 pm
These are the wages of progressivism.
Comment by Cromulent — December 15, 2010 @ 7:01 pm
[...] through a lame duck session before a Republican governor is sworn in next month, but they are busting convicted Democrat legislators out of jail in order to do [...]
Pingback by Morning Bell: Release the START Negotiating Record | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. — December 16, 2010 @ 8:14 am
[...] http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=1525 - “So we are left with this: State union contracts being rammed through the Legislature at the last possible moment, by a body that voters threw out of power a month ago, with the deciding vote being cast by a legislator (Jeff Woods) who had to be let out of jail to vote for the agreements.” [...]
Pingback by Wisconsin State Senate fails to pass union contracts — December 16, 2010 @ 8:35 am
Public employee union members are part of the privileged class of America. The rest of us live to serve them.
Comment by TiltedTalkDomagoy — December 16, 2010 @ 8:56 am
[...] Read more…. [...]
Pingback by Wisconsin Democrats turn to jailed colleague to pass union contracts — December 16, 2010 @ 12:04 pm
[...] for Tax Reform have the story, but do read the backgrounder from Christian Scheider, at the Washington Policy Research Institute blog, on the Democrat legislator who was released from JAIL for a few hours so that he could cast the [...]
Pingback by On WISCONSIN! New GOP Governor Wins Lame Duck Jailbird Session — December 16, 2010 @ 8:02 pm
[...] down the throats of Wisconsin taxpayers before incoming-Governor Scott Walker can take office that they busted inmate Wood out of jail to vote with them. Short on votes, Assembly Democrats have turned to one of their jailed colleagues for help. [...]
Pingback by americanconservativenews.com » Blog Archive » Wisconsin Lame-Duck Democrats Bust a Jailbird Out to Vote on Union Contracts — December 16, 2010 @ 9:19 pm
It’s pretty embarrassing to own-up to being from Wisconsin when stuff like this happens.
Comment by Don Danielson — December 17, 2010 @ 5:05 am
[...] down the throats of Wisconsin taxpayers before incoming-Governor Scott Walker can take office that they busted inmate Wood out of jail to vote with them. Short on votes, Assembly Democrats have turned to one of their jailed colleagues for help. [...]
Pingback by Wisconsin Lame-Duck Democrats Bust a Jailbird Out to Vote on Union Contracts – 1776 Coalition — December 17, 2010 @ 7:11 am
[...] packing boxes. They realized every voted was needed and sprung convicted drunk-driving, lame-duckRep. Jeff Wood from jail to vote for the [...]
Pingback by Roast a lame duck for the holidays « The GovFreak — December 18, 2010 @ 3:36 pm