Wisconsin's Peter Barca: Scott Walker "trampled on democracy"

Governor Scott Walker's controversial budget measure that would strip most public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights moved forward in the wee hours Friday morning, when Wisconsin Republicans surprised Democrats by abruptly ending debate and passing the bill through the state assembly before Democrats could stop them.

On Friday's live edition of Washington Unplugged, Wisconsin representative Peter Barca, the Democratic leader in the state assembly, gave CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante his impression of what happened.

"It was quite a scene last night in the capitol," Barca said. "[Republicans] trampled on democracy though throughout the day and really throughout this past week."

Barca said he was amazed that Republicans could pass the bill even as thousands protested outside the statehouse. He told Plante, "People are outraged that their governor and other legislators are willing to take away their rights to collectively bargain at every level."

The bill must still pass through the state Senate - a difficult task since all 14 Senate Democrats have left the state, denying Republicans the quorum they need to vote on the bill. Plante asked Barca how long those Democrats can hold out.

"I'm sure after the spectacle that occurred in state assembly last night they're probably very reluctant to come back," Barca responded.

Does Barca think that Walker can win the battle -- one that is likely to define his legacy even though it comes less than three months into his term?

"I think many of the legislators are starting to wake up," he responded. "...We're going to keep up the battle, and if he does win this battle I think don't think he'll win the war. I think public opinion has turned against him. Dramatically."

Watch the interview with Rep. Peter Barca above.

[ge556]

Who said, "I don't understand. I'm the leader. The people are supposed to follow me! Why are they rebelling?"?

1) Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, of Tunisia
2) Hosni Mubarak, of Egypt
3) Muammar Gaddafi, of Libya
4) Scott Walker, of Wisconsin
5) All of the above

TruthTeller in Madison

[eddee4911]

robala...I guess you are wealthy, if you're not, I hope your republican and tea party friends will protect your job. GOOD LUCK. And by the way, did walker ever mentioned that he will ABOLISH THE UNION in his campaign or did he say i will balance the budget.

[ge556]

No, he didn't say he would destroy the unions. Neither did he say he would ruin the schools. But he's doing both, unless the people stop him.

TruthTeller in Madison

[jeffinpa1234]

The Senate Dems have trempled democracy in Wisc.

They lost the election - show up and do your job!

So you don't like the bill - vote these guys out of office NEXT time and until then stop trampling on democracy!!

[ge556]

Insurance company health care denier to patient: Shut up and die already!

[010sonny]

Similar to Behner's tactics. Do it my way or I shut down the government! Second time he has threaten that. Time for a chang Many on this thread are bashing the unions. Weak minded, naive and or ignorant they be. They did vote in a Republican government didn't they? That pretty much sums it up.
Consider Roberts Court ruling of Jan. 2010 allows for corporations with unlimited funds and no disclosure required ! First in line Koch Brothers! Chinese and Iranians patiently await their turn to purchase pieces of our nations through their corporations funding to our politicians. Mussolini defined his Fascism as the incorporation of the corporations to the state ! Bingo exactly what you now are experiencing. First order of the regime is to dispose of all unions. Gee is that Koch standing over there? Your new master making sure everything is going according to their plans. Peculiar, ironic? Family of !KOCH! to purchase our democracy !
Union is the culprit of the miss management of the government's negations? Admitting that the union representatives are superior in negations to them? Perhaps this would be a good time to impeach this republican losing outfit and elect the unions to be the government? They do take better care of their constituents don't they? Oh yeah like that idea&!

[realist51]

started to read the 144 page budget repair bill. read and scaned through 70pages last night. very little about budget repair so far. more on stripping and revising labor laws, the whole sale selling of power plants to whoever they chose, the attack on medicaide with and Emergancy declaration provision that allows behind closed doors proceedings and not open to the public for viewing and then refering back to this emergency declaration in all other parts. all controlled by the governor and his people and not legislators or the public, telling municipalities what and how they are allowed to bargain with there employee's and how some of the wage increases if they are over the consumer price index increase will have to go to a public referendum the following november. to that they must pay half of the pension fund. a pension fund is not like a 401k there's some questionable wording in the process about what the state can do with this money once there. the best thing is to do the teaparties favorite motto "kill the bill and start over". where do we need 144 pages to save the money when the public unions have allready publicly accepted the governors budget concessions, whats it really about? power hungry repubs infringing on peoples rights the greatest hypocricy ever. put the blinders on and walker over the cliff mindless lemmings

[luckylu97]

This "with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. " alone should get Walker impeached.

[PrideInCountry]

I agree.

[010sonny]

A Slow Train Coming
Ominous Onus's Omens De La Capitalists Elitist
Have noticed, that there are those that claim, that it is the Unions that have brought the problems to their communities. The Unions have negotiated far more favorable terms and benefits for their constituents than the government. Solution is obvious. Replace these failed negotiators of the government, that are more in the red than the black,&replace them with Unions. Impeach the failed negotiators, with the Unions. It has been and continues to be proven that Unions are more beneficial and responsible to their constituents, than their local governments. Members from the various Unions, say like; the Police, Firefighters, Teachers, Library's, and so on and so on to sit on the councils. Election of a Union member to represent each individual Union. This way Non Union and want to be's can vote and keep an eye on them. Both from the Union laborers and the general public. Koch and his cronies want Capitalist elitist to represent the laws, we know where that leads. Fascism, dictators and Imperialism. " We The People " would be better, represented by the Unions, than an elitist minority. Who's sole purpose is to expand the population of P-ONS. It once was said that "We The People In Order To Form A More Perfect Union"
Oh, sorry where are my manners? Anyone care for a cup of Tea? How about you Mr. Koch? And you Scotty? I'll go fetch the merry Pied Piper and his prancing dancing Fox to keep us all entertained.

[endurorob_5]

This guy is an idiot. Walker and the other repubs that Wisconsin elected into office flat out stated during their campaigns that this was what they planned on doing. The people elected them to do this. Those portestors make up a very small part of Wisconsin and many of them are from our of state anyway. The ones who are trampling on democracy here are the state senetors who fled like cowards under the orderes of their union bosses to stop a democratic vote on this legislation.

[ge556]

Walker most certainly did not campaign on union busting and giving away power plants.

TruthTeller in Madison

[RobAla]

Legislators who walk off their jobs and run away to another state, just because they want to undermine the elected majority "trample on democracy". Democracy is allowing the democratically elected majority to do the will of the people. Democrats in Wisconsin lost in an election. Now they would rather see no democratically functioning government, than one that is run by those elected members of another party. This is anarchy, not democracy.

[gep1955]

Trampled on democracy? The unions have trampled on the taxpayers by electing and re-electing corrupt politicians for the last 50 years who further the cause in order to get union votes and political donations to the point of bankrupting every state in the country. And in spite of that they want the system to continue. The TAXPAYERS voted in people who said ENOUGH, the system must change and we are seeing the unions as they truly are, just as greedy and corrupt as the corporations they rail against as being the same. The children? Who cares.

[010sonny]

A Slow Train Coming
Ominous Onus's Omens De La Capitalists Elitist
Have noticed, that there are those that claim, that it is the Unions that have brought the problems to their communities. The Unions have negotiated far more favorable terms and benefits for their constituents than the government. Solution is obvious. Replace these failed negotiators of the government, that are more in the red than the black,&replace them with Unions. Impeach the failed negotiators, with the Unions. It has been and continues to be proven that Unions are more beneficial and responsible to their constituents, than their local governments. Members from the various Unions, say like; the Police, Firefighters, Teachers, Library's, and so on and so on to sit on the councils. Election of a Union member to represent each individual Union. This way Non Union and want to be's can vote and keep an eye on them. Both from the Union laborers and the general public. Koch and his cronies want Capitalist elitist to represent the laws, we know where that leads. Fascism, dictators and Imperialism. " We The People " would be better, represented by the Unions, than an elitist minority. Who's sole purpose is to expand the population of P-ONS. It once was said that "We The People In Order To Form A More Perfect Union"
Oh, sorry where are my manners? Anyone care for a cup of Tea? How about you Mr. Koch? And you Scotty? I'll go fetch the merry Pied Piper and his prancing dancing Fox to keep us all entertained.

[luckylu97]

from Walker's budget "16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state?owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state?owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b)."

[eddee4911]

Let's start the RECALL process NOW. All we need is 500,000 signatures to RECALL Republican Gov. Scott Brown. Let's show him how serious we are. We can RECALL the rest of the REPUBLICAN and TEA PARTY candidates at the same time. With the REPUBLICAN and TEA PARTY in charge of government policies, we will never recover from this recession and economic slump.

The deficit cannot be lowered if we continue to cut the taxes of the RICH and OUTSOURCE JOBS. Think about it, for every ONE OUTSOURCED JOB EQUAL ONE JOBLESS AMERICAN. It's one individual tax lost to help lower the deficit. How can we recover from the the housing slump if there are no buyers. The BUYERS are UNEMPLOYED because their jobs have been OUTSOURCED. We continue to make other countries RICH like CHINA because we patronize their products.

We must buy "MADE IN AMERICA" products. Improve the quality of these products so they are better than the imports. UNIONS must not demand exorbitant salaries and benefits. It should just be commensurate with cost of living especially cost of homes are a lot cheaper. This will help lower the cost of AMERICAN PRODUCTS down. With the price and quality improved it will hopefully attract more buyers and compete better with imports. We should also increase the tariff levied on imports to help lower the deficit. The rich don't feel the pinch because they're the ones getting richer from outsourcing. There are only 4 percent rich in this country and yet they manage to win elections. WHY, they manage to convince the easily mesmerized and gullible KOOL AID DRINKERS that the REPUBLICAN and TEA PARTY policies are good for them. An example is the REPUBLICANS and TEA PARTY advocates cutting taxes for the rich in order to create jobs. This POLICY has been in effect since BUSH was president but WHERE ARE THE JOBS. Poor and middle class REPUBLICANS and TEA PARTY supporters look around you. How many of you neighbors are unemployed. How many of the businesses near you have closed down and moved overseas. If you continue to support the REPUBLICANS and TEA PARTY it is very likely you will be unemployed next.

WE CANNOT RECOVER FROM THE RECESSION WITH THE REPUBLICANS AND TEA PARTY IN CONTROL OF THE GOVERNMENT POLICIES. SO LET'S RECALL THEM ALL OR VOTE THEM OUT.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8601-503544_162-20036570-3.html?assetTypeId=41&blogId=503544&tag=contentBody;commentWrapper#ixzz1FCmaWv5d

[Doug_CT]

After years of preaching a "tickle down economy", we find ourselves with
an abundance of ammonia crystals and no one to clean-up the mess.