Wisconsin Democrats’ Strategy Backfires

For weeks, Wisconsin’s Democratic State Senators have been hiding out in Illinois to prevent a vote on a budget bill that would strip public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights. Republicans became so fed up with the Democrats’ run and hide strategy they decided to separate the collective bargaining provision from the rest of the budget and vote on it anyway:

Wisconsin lawmakers voted Thursday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from the state’s public workers, ending a heated standoff over labor rights and delivering a key victory to Republicans who have targeted unions in efforts to slash government spending nationwide.

The state’s Assembly passed Gov. Scott Walker’s explosive proposal 53-42 without any Democratic support and four no votes from the GOP. Protesters in the gallery erupted into screams of “Shame! Shame! Shame!” as Republican lawmakers filed out of the chamber and into the speaker’s office.

The state’s Senate used a procedural move to bypass missing Democrats and move the measure forward Wednesday night, meaning the plan that delivers one of the strongest blows to union power in years now requires only Walker’s signature to take effect.

He says he’ll sign the measure, which he introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall, as quickly as possible — which could be as early as Thursday.

“We were willing to talk, we were willing to work, but in the end at some point the public wants us to move forward,” Walker said before the Assembly’s vote.

This is the first step in Wisconsin’s efforts to regain fiscal sanity and Governor Walker and his fellow Republicans should be applauded for their courage in standing up to the bullying tactics of the unions and the Left.

By the way, if you’re still in doubt about whether public unions are bad for our country, check out this post by Mike Flynn at Big Government which will tell you all that you need to know.