Patterico's Pontifications

3/2/2011

Mobbed Senator: Protestors Are Nice People

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:02 am



That Senator who was mobbed by protestors yesterday says they’re nice people who maybe just need to grow up:

Oh, yaaa, hey.

Is this good politics or not? I think it is. Never show fear; never overstate.

Video via Jim Hoft, who also has details on a reported meeting between fleeing Dem Senator Cullen and Republicans. Still no official confirmation of the report, which I told you about here last night, that Cullen crossed the border into Wisconsin tonight. But stay tuned.

UPDATE 3-2-11 12:10 p.m.: It appears that Senator Cullen is back with the other AWOL Senators in Illinois. So was the story wrong? I don’t think so. Liberty Chick tells me she stands by the claim that he went to Wisconsin last night, and I think she’s right. I also believe the proof may be revealed soon.

What it all means is anybody’s guess.

32 Responses to “Mobbed Senator: Protestors Are Nice People”

  1. And when I say “stay tuned” I mean that literally.

    Patterico (c218bd)

  2. Are we flat?

    EricPWJohnson (569da1)

  3. Whatcha mean?

    Patterico (96c7b5)

  4. All I could find last night was this story from a local Janesville paper-Cullen’s district

    Gazettextra.com

    Cullen works on deal for senators’ return

    The 14 absent Democratic state senators will not be back in the Capitol today despite an effort Monday to work out a deal with the Republican side, Sen. Tim Cullen said.

    Cullen, D-Janesville, said Monday he was working with “a highly placed Republican” on a deal.

    The Democrats met for more than five hours Monday night. There was an offer, a counter offer and a counter to the counter, Cullen said, but no deal as of 9:30 p.m.

    Asked if a deal might be worked out for the Democrats to return Wednesday, Cullen said: “I remain optimistic each day.”

    Cullen would not reveal the name of the Republican or details of the deal, saying it would be counterproductive to negotiate in public.

    The senators have been staying away from the Senate chamber since Feb. 17 to stall action on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill. Without the Democrats, the Republicans lack a quorum needed to pass fiscal measures.

    “These are the most serious negotiations that we’ve had up till now,” Cullen said Monday afternoon.

    Senate Republicans on Monday stepped up pressure, requiring the absent senators’ aides get their pay authorized by Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.

    Fitzgerald also is not allowing Democratic lawmakers or their staff members to use Capitol copiers, saying there has been some “highly unusual usage” of the machines in recent days.

    Material from The Associated Press was used in this story.

    madawaskan (fd190b)

  5. I thought Mark Miller was the minority leader-I was looking up their bios last night to see which ones you could get to do the honorable thing.

    Miller is a retired AF fighter pilot IIRC but he’s boxed in because I thought he was the minority leader….

    There’s about three or two others w/ some military- and there are also some w/ strong union back grounds. (quelle surprise.)

    madawaskan (fd190b)

  6. Cripes here is the link to the local WI paper in Cullen’s districtI can’t get the html to work here.

    http://gazettextra.com/news/2011/mar/01/cullen-works-deal-senators-return/

    madawaskan (fd190b)

  7. I enjoyed Laura Ingraham asking State Assemblywoman Michelle Litjens (who was told “You are f*cking dead” by a nice democrat Assemblyman) what the Capitol smelled like on her radio show yesterday.

    Hilarity ensued.

    daleyrocks (ae76ce)

  8. Pat,

    It was a lame band joke – stay tuned…never mind…

    hangs head in shame

    EricPWJohnson (569da1)

  9. I wish he had found a better word to use other than “nice”. Maybe something like “basically decent” to reflect both his belief in their core Wisconsin values while subtly hinting that some of them are currently more than a little bit off the civility reservation.

    But yes, I think it was very good politics to see a courtly, white haired gentleman publicly respond as he did to questions about the hysterical screamers’ and pushers’ assault. The truly naive students must somehow be separated physically and mentally from the professional bussed-in thugs. It will be a challenge.

    I also agree with someone else who commented (not sure if it was here or at Althouse) that the fact that a senator was “turned away” at a “media only” door of his own workplace is highly troubling and suspect. It was that action that set up his long lonely walk through the gauntlet to another entrance. I hope somebody’s job is on the line for that horrible malfeasance.

    elissa (f5fa7c)

  10. The concept of saying that they have to grow up is excellent. The best way of dealing with these people is with “more in sadness than in anger” gentle chiding. Reduce them to the tantrum-throwing infants that they are.

    great unknown (261470)

  11. The video has been removed.

    Tanny O'Haley (12193c)

  12. Actually according to this it was Mark Miller’s idea. ( and his bio refers to him as a “military pilot” so hell he could have flown helos for all I know and makes a reference to Guard not AF.)

    http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_176d994e-4454-11e0-95d2-001cc4c002e0.html

    This makes for an “interesting” read if you can stomach them being referred to as the “Fab 14”.

    madawaskan (fd190b)

  13. Last year the very smart son of very good friends was accepted at UW Madison and considered attending there. Within the bounds of propriety (since it was none of my business other than genuine love for the kid) I begged them to channel his learning experience toward another university–almost any other university. He ended up at Purdue and so far is quite happy there and is doing very well academically.

    I have bit my tongue and not said a darn word as all of this craziness has unfolded in Madison even though the kid’s mom and I have talked several times over the last three weeks. This morning in an email from her about something else, she slipped in a comment that they were so glad he was in class at West Lafayette and not in “that environment up north” I assume she was not referring to the weather.

    Made my day! (No offense intended MD Philly.)

    elissa (f5fa7c)

  14. protesters are friends not food

    happyfeet (a55ba0)

  15. No offense taken, Elissa. I know Wisconsin is the better school. 😉

    Actually, when I was in high school in the early-mid-70’s in Appleton I worked some in a hardware store. The older gentleman who did small-engine repair tried to discourage me from going there as well, saying it was “too radical”. Well, his son had been there in the late 60’s, and I being a HS sophomore in ’74 I had no idea what he was talking about.

    Madison does have everything, from big-time parties to Nobel Prize winners, communists to college Republicans, home of both the Freedom from Religion Foundation and Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, Toga parties in the field and Bible studies in the dorms. One can get into a crowd where you can make your way where ever in the world, or into the gutter. At one time they had more alumni in both the Peace Corps and head of Fortune 500 companies at the same time than any other college/university.

    For all the craziness in MadTown, there are thousands of students, especially undergrads, shaking their heads and laughing at the nonsense and carrying on their life of going to class and whatever else they do.

    MD (from UW-Madison) in Philly (3d3f72)

  16. One thing’s for sure, EPWJ — you’re not sharp. Perhaps an auto-tuner would be of use to you.

    Icy Texan (b4bda0)

  17. UPDATE 3-2-11 12:10 p.m.: It appears that Senator Cullen is back with the other AWOL Senators in Illinois. So was the story wrong? I don’t think so. Liberty Chick tells me she stands by the claim that he went to Wisconsin last night, and I think she’s right. I also believe the proof may be revealed soon.

    What it all means is anybody’s guess.

    Patterico (96c7b5)

  18. Most Big Ten Schools are liberal by nature but the Student Body is lots more normal than given credit for.

    I am a UMich man and to MD’s point — in a campus with 40K students there is room for all sorts.

    Purdue might be bit different b/c frankly it is a Science/Math School whereas the others are more Liberal Arts driven.

    Something to be abstracted there but I won’t.

    Torquemada (2a42d3)

  19. ras (ceba62)

  20. What it all means is anybody’s guess.

    I’ll take a wild one and say that the wayward Senator was acting as a proxy for the others and wanted concessions from the Governor and the GOP majority. Failing to get that, he quickly ran back to his hole. Although there have been reports that some GOP folk may be lessening their resolve, I think the Governor’s spine got them back in line quickly. They’re winning the battle, and they know it – only a matter of time now.

    Dmac (b9fd74)

  21. Hey the guy cut my throat but at least he’s a swell guy albeit a murderer.

    /Same logic that drove this Wisconsin senator to say what he said about the protestors

    DohBiden (984d23)

  22. IIRC, during the Texas state senate Dems’ flight to New Mexico in August-September 2003, the senior-most among them, Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston), returned home secretly and with the quiet knowledge of some of his GOP colleagues. Among the things he did while enjoying the leisure of a weekend at home was read the transcript of the court hearings in Laredo from the Dems’ lawsuit claiming that the “twice in one decade redistricting” was illegal. He’d been told by the Dems’ lawyers — speaking simultaneously to reporters — that the hearing was going really well, their chances were good, the judge was receptive, boy the forum shopping had been a great idea. And then when he read the actual transcript, he realized that was a hallucinatory, possibly psychotic description — because what was actually happening in court was catastrophically grim for their team. Citing that misleading by his own teammates, and his concerns that the GOP senators might do something to permanently disturb the collegiality-enforcing rules for calendaring bills in the Texas Senate (something roughly analogous to the “nuclear/constitutional option” once under discussion with regard to U.S. Senate filibusters), Whitmire declared that he wasn’t returning to New Mexico. That effectively ended the boycott, and the other ten Dem state senators skulked home too, calling Whitmire things like “Tom DeLay’s poodle” and predicting that Whitmire would be “rewarded by his new GOP masters” for selling out the black and brown peoples of Texas, yada yada yada.

    Today John Whitmire remains the dean of the Texas Senate and, although part of an even smaller minority of Democrats, one of its most respected members. So today I’ll drink a toast:

    To waffling Wisconsin Dems wishing they were home again, home again.

    To John Whitmire, who was too good a lawyer to ignore the clear import of a court transcript which his partisans wanted desperately to mean the opposite of what it actually meant.

    And to my home state, the great State of Texas, on this the anniversary of its independence in 1836!

    Beldar (d162eb)

  23. Whitmire was paraphrased by knowledgeable insiders as having always pressed to know, “What’s the end game? What’s the scenario where we win?” Because the situation then in Sep. 2003 was also bleak for the Dems: Gov. Perry had already called one special session after the Dem House members had fled to Oklahoma, but he was going to call special sessions one after the other until someone finally came back to Texas. The answer had always been, “Oh, John, our federal lawsuit is a slam-dunk, don’t worry, nobody’s every gotten away with redistricting twice in a decade before.” Except that wasn’t the issue — Texas hadn’t yet completed even one legislative redistricting based on the 2003, but had limped through the 2002 elections with a court-drawn emergency map that perpetuated the Dems’ 1990s’ gerrymander. Keeping that status quo throughout 2003 was harder, though, because the voters had punished the Dems by giving both legislative chambers to the GOP in November 2003 — thus their need to destroy a quorum by fleeing the jurisdiction.

    When he read the transcript, Whitmire realized that he’d had smoke blown up his nether regions, and he was, accordingly, chapped. There was no real end-game scenario where their team won. It had all been a pointless charade all along.

    Beldar (d162eb)

  24. “based on the 2003” should be –> “based on the 2000 Census.”

    And “both legislative chambers to the GOP in November 2003” should be –> “November 2002.” Oops.

    Beldar (d162eb)

  25. My understanding is:
    1) The repubs made it necessary for state senators to pick up their paychecks in person
    2) John Howard Dean and others have been fund raising specifically to provide for the Badger 14 and have already raised $100,000, twice what the Koch brothers “bought Wisconsin for”.

    3) There was a deadline to vote on restructuring a debt yesterday, which did not happen, hence the state owes another $160 million or so they didn’t need to.
    4) I don’t know if there are any other financial/budgetary concerns that are imminent, or whether Walker can let them continue to enjoy Rockford

    5)If they don’t return, one person at Althouse said this: As soon as these missing Senators are absent from their desks for 30 days, Wisconsin law says Walker can declare their seats vacant and call special elections to fill them. While those seats are vacant, the Republicans will have a quorum and be able to pass anything they like by 100% votes. And anything that doesn’t require spending money they can pass today. Where’s voter photo ID and concealed carry? The Republicans are wasting a tremendous opportunity.
    In addition I know several districts have been looking at what is necessary for a recall vote.
    6) So far the Repubs have not pushed their agenda on things like voter registration, etc., I assume for PR purposes as much as anything, to minimize the possibility of the press making the Repubs look like the bad guys (more than they have tried already).

    7) One of the elopees is pregnant, not sure how far along, not sure if she was planning to give birth “at home”.

    MD (from UW-Madison) in Philly (3d3f72)

  26. “What’s the end game?” was reportedly a comment of one of the Wis. senators, one who had said, “This wasn’t my idea.”

    MD (from UW-Madison) in Philly (3d3f72)

  27. The Wisconsin Dems end-game thus resembles that of the captured American pilots in Hanoi who consoled themselves that they only had 19 … 18 … 17 nails to be ripped from fingers and toes before the North Vietnamese started on other body parts.

    The GOP folks can make this as slow and excruciating as the Dems give them time for.

    Thus they will find an excuse — “Squirrel! Karl Rove! Look, over there, it’s Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush, get them!” — declare victory, and then lie shamelessly through their teeth about how they’ve scored a great symbolic blow for democracy by shutting down, yah know, democracy. And on to the next headline.

    Beldar (d162eb)

  28. I think Walker and the Wisconsin GOP are being quite cagey, though, in going slow. Not only is this generating priceless imagery day after day — dominating the pre-presidential primary news cycle — but they have a legitimate concern about the perceived legitimacy of their actions. One of the many stinky parts of Obamacare is its illegitimacy — passed through legislative games expressly designed to frustrate the result of the Massachusetts special election. One of the reasons that the repeal of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell has spawned less controversy than it might have is that it was allowed to come to an open up-or-down vote in Congress on a clean bill, rather than being tacked onto some appropriations rider or sneaked through some procedural window. We can, and should, win fights on things like voter ID on their merits. But yes, there are plenty of small enactments that can twist the vise ever tighter without giving the Dems especially good campaign sound-bites.

    Beldar (d162eb)

  29. Over at Althouse and http://thebadger14.wordpress.com/ there is discussion of several interesting twists in the plot. One is how much of the budget legislation, especially some of the issues concerning union function, could be voted on without a 3/5ths quorum if the Repubs really wanted to.

    Another discussion has to do with technicalities of how a quorum is defined, etc., in Wisconsin law. The reason behind the quorum rules is obviously to prevent a relatively small number of legislators from pushing through legislation when no one is looking. But, if everyone knows when the vote will take place and voting via phone/etc. is allowed, then there exists a quorum whether the Dem. Senators are there or not. The presence of legislators who abstain from voting does not negate or “unmake” a quorum.

    So…some suggest this is political theatre by the Repubs as well. That they could go ahead and pass the legislation whenever they want, but they just don’t want to when it is so obviously a “blame the Repubs for it” scenario.

    To err is human, to really mess things up takes a computer, to make things really complicated takes a team of lawyers.

    MD (from UW-Madison) in Philly (3d3f72)

  30. MD – don’t forget the collusion with the mayor of Madison, as there is some evidence that he was attempting to negotiate a new contract, on behalf of the taxpayers, and was trying to get it done before the law went into effect.

    JD (d56362)

  31. JD – As Gov. Walker pointed out to David Gregory on Meet the Depressed, contracts were being negotiated all over the state. Union leaders professing to agree to concessions meant nothing when the contracts are negotiated individually on a local basis, which was the reason to get a bill passed in the first place. Union leaders were saying one thing publicly, while locals were doing something else all over the place.

    daleyrocks (ae76ce)


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