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MADISON, Wis.
With tens of thousands of protesters jamming the Capitol and many Wisconsin schools closed for a third day, state troopers were enlisted Friday in the hunt for 14 Democratic state senators whose disappearance has prevented a vote on the new governor's controversial budget proposal.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan seeks to save the state money by curbing state employee benefits and putting tight restrictions on their collective bargaining rights. Wisconsin's deficit is projected at $30 million for the remainder of the current year; a far greater shortfall of $1.5 billion is expected next year, according to state figures.
"We're here today because we were elected to make tough decisions," Walker said late Friday afternoon. He insisted that what he is asking is "a very modest request of our government workers."
He acknowledged, however, that he will not be able to do anything until the absent Democrats return. "You can't operate in a democracy if people don't show up," he said.
Republicans control the Senate, 19 to 14, but at least 20 members — and thus, one Democrat — must be present for a vote. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said he asked Walker to send two state troopers to Democratic leader Mark Miller's home. But the senators decamped to Illinois, putting them out of the troopers' reach.
Among them was Sen. Jon Erpenbach, who said Friday that the group was prepared to be away for weeks, although he would prefer to end the stalemate sooner.
"That really, truly is up to the governor," he said Friday at a downtown Chicago hotel. "It's his responsibility to bring the state together. The state is not unified. It is totally torn part."
Erpenbach accused Walker of trying to rush the legislation, which was publicly unveiled a week ago.
"I'm not calling him a dictator. But this is dictatorial almost," Erpenbach said. "I don't think I've ever seen such a draconian piece of legislation come down from any governor, Democrat or Republican."
Republicans had warned since last year's campaign that they would seek major concessions from unions. But for lawmakers in the minority, "the only other option we had to slow things down was to leave," Erpenbach said.
Walker's plan to restrict collective bargaining rights is a key piece of his budget-cutting strategy. With nearly half of the state budget going toward aid to counties, cities and school districts, Walker argues that those localities must be allowed to cut the compensation of their unionized workers. The legislation eliminates the rights of most government workers to negotiate for anything but wages.
Public employee unions and their Democratic allies accuse Walker of exploiting Wisconsin's fiscal problems to further a goal of weakening both the bargaining leverage and the political clout of organized labor. Union membership in the United States has been on the decline for decades.
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka stood steps from the entrance of the state Capitol on Friday and declared that Walker is "standing in the doorway of our country's most basic values and cherished aspirations. Gov. Walker, you're asking too much. We won't give it to you, and you can't take it away from us."
Republicans, meanwhile, say that public sector employees have become a privileged class that overburdened taxpayers — including many working in the private sector who have seen their own salaries and benefits shrinking — can no longer afford to subsidize.
The images from Wisconsin evoked the Middle East more than the Midwest, and the parallels raise the inevitable question: Is Wisconsin the Tunisia of collective bargaining rights?
The unrest in Wisconsin is spreading to other states. Already, protests erupted in Ohio this week, where another newly elected Republican governor, John Kasich, has been seeking to take away collective bargaining rights from unions.
In Tennessee, a law that would abolish collective bargaining rights for teachers passed a state Senate committee this week despite teachers' loud objections. Indiana is weighing several proposals to weaken unions. Public workers in Pennsylvania, who are not facing an attack on their bargaining rights, said Friday that they nonetheless planned to wear red next week to show solidarity with the workers in Wisconsin.
In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott wants to eliminate thousands of the state's government jobs, and he wants state workers to contribute to their pension funds.
"Workers' rights — including the fundamental right to organize and bargain for better pay, benefits and working conditions — are under attack in states from Maine to Ohio, from Wisconsin to Florida," said GeraldMcEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the main union of state employees.
Meanwhile, the protests in Wisconsin are growing so large that Capitol workers cannot safely move through the halls, according to Fitzgerald, the Senate majority leader, who called the situation "a powder keg."
The situation was expected to ratchet up today, when conservative tea party groups planned their own rallies.
Republican support for the bill remains strong, Fitzgerald said. "If anything, what's going on around this building is galvanizing this caucus," he said.
Information from the Washington Post, New York Times and Associated Press was used in this report.
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