The Milwaukee Ironworkers have organized a Madison capitol protest, Extraordinary Measures for Extraordinary Sessions, of today's uncommon GOP gathering which attempts to push through their unpopular budget, complete with the destruction of collective bargaining. The Ironworkers' message is clear:
Hundreds of cops are being bussed in. They expect us to riot. I'm sure there will be paid /planted agitators. Walker's admitted to considering it in the past. This is a call for deafening silence INside our house. Let's pack it full and let our silent scorn send a message. The world IS watching!
The Assembly Organization Committee has placed the Wisconsin state budget into an Extraordinary Session, which is different from a special session in that it is called by the legislature, not the Governor. Special sessions are often resorted to in the face of "conflict between political parties." They certainly have that in Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker's approval rating among Democrats is at 9 percent, two points below President Obama's approval ratings among the state's Republicans.
The party breakdown of the Assembly is 59 Republicans to 38 Democrats. There is one independent. One seat is vacant.
The GOP makes the claim that the action is required to avoid Supreme Court delay. From Wisconsin State Journal:
[Jeff] Fitzgerald said he expects the state Assembly to take up the $66 billion two-year spending plan on Tuesday and will add collective bargaining limits as an amendment if the Supreme Court fails to act on the plan by Tuesday afternoon.
The court last week heard oral arguments on whether a legislative conference committee violated the state’s open meetings law when it rushed passage of the provision in March.
“I’m an optimist. I still think they might rule yet,” Fitzgerald said. “They still have some time.”
Today's Extraordinary Session is scheduled to begin 11AM. The Ironworkers explain the political constraints of the gathering:
Extraordinary Sessions are very rare and seldom used for the Budget. In an Extraordinary Session action can not be postponed, points of order are decided within one hour, the daily calendar is ef...fective immediately upon posting and does not have to be distributed, motion to advance legislation and message it to the other house only requires a majority vote of those present, the session can be expanded to include any other legislation, including new legislation (financial martial law?) and "No notice of hearing before a committee shall be required other than posting on the legislative bulletin board, and no bulletin of committee hearing shall be published.
Not surprisingly, the worker supportive blogosphere is up in arms. Badger Democracy calls today a defining moment in the Progressive Movement and State history, demanding that "all the citizens of Wisconsin...participate in peaceful, mass, silent demonstration this week," asserting that "Governor Walker is planning on violence." The bussed-in police forces mentioned by the Ironworkers would indicate that they expect similar confrontation.