Wisconsin Protests Have State GOP Sending State Troopers After Democrat

MADISON, Wis. — Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate have asked the governor to send state troopers after Democratic leader Mark Miller.

Senate Democrats are boycotting a Senate vote on a bill that would strip public sector workers of their collective bargaining rights. They have been missing from the Capitol for a day and a half.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he has asked Gov. Scott Walker to send two state troopers to Miller's home in Monona. He says he believes the troopers are en route.

The Wisconsin Constitution prohibits police from arresting legislators while they're in session. Fitzgerald says he just wants to send a message to Miller – if he's even home – that he must bring his caucus back to Madison.

Comments

[loki]

07:56 PM on 02/21/2011

great, the GOP controls the police force now too. This is 1930 Germany.

[WhereSheStops]

09:34 PM on 02/21/2011

lol. Way to minimize real horror.

p.s. re your note below which didn't go through ... it was not the Texas GOP who did this same trick a few years back. It was the Democrats ... again.

[Rusken]

10:49 PM on 02/21/2011

And for sound reasons, also. The repubs were trying to ramrod changes to the congressional districts. (Which they succeeded in doing in the end.)

[BagdadBob]

05:39 PM on 02/21/2011

Hey, Wisconsin state troopers, Walker is going after your union next. I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to find those Dems.

[Alex Moschopoulos]

05:11 PM on 02/21/2011

My my my...didn't we invade Iraq to stop tyranny like this?

[WhereSheStops]

05:43 PM on 02/21/2011

yeah, riiiiight.

Hyperbole is going to bring the Democrats down. It excites the base. It won't win the middle. Equating Scott Walker to Sad dam Hus sein is bizarre at best.

[mendelcrosses]

07:49 AM on 02/22/2011

You missed the point,tyranny is not good over there but its just fine in the US.

[leannk]

04:38 PM on 02/21/2011

I hope everyone is watching closely. This is what happens when you give the conservative party to much power. I guess people forget about what Bush and Cheney did......

[mendelcrosses]

07:52 AM on 02/22/2011

Correction:
This is what happens in America today and has been in the making for quite sometime while you all sat on your couch with big macs and diet cokes.
The only difference is the dems dont use brutal violence,they use ignoring the people to pass the same draconian and anti-democratic laws.
In the end it doesnt matter whether dem or GOP,the US is heading in the same direction - fascism.

[Progress08]

04:27 PM on 02/21/2011

The Cheesestapo!

Can you use the police force as your personal bounty hunters (when nothing illegal has happened)?

[anthonyve]

04:25 PM on 02/21/2011

Remind me again, Wisconsin is in North America, right? Not South America by any chance...

[Robespierre]

02:58 PM on 02/21/2011

Somewhere Osama Bin Laden is thanking Allah for the Koch brothers.

[sterlingsilversurfer]

02:47 PM on 02/21/2011

Wisconsin is becoming a police state. Martial law can't be far behind.

[breakfast]

02:05 PM on 02/21/2011

No compromise, no negotiation. Wisconsin Democrats beware.
The next move for the Republicans is extraordinary rendition.

[Mikeystyle]

12:07 PM on 02/21/2011

The GOP's next tactic will be guys on camels and swords plowing into the crowds.

[Monk2001]

12:00 PM on 02/21/2011

I didn't realize that WI State Police had jurisdiction 3 states, and over 1500 miles away? I guess (R)'s like to make up their own rules. This bill that's being protested is a prime example of this.

[Michael Overboe]

11:46 AM on 02/21/2011

The Wisconsin Constitution prohibits police from arresting legislators while they're in session.
I do not think this will stop that governor; he will start to lean on friends, family and maybe trumped up ideas and notions that will get you shot!
This bum is as good as the great leader in Iran!

[MatTech4]

11:41 AM on 02/21/2011

Just like Libya sending in the forces to keep the peace. Next it will be, "we authorized rubber bullets, so I don't know how they were shot"

[Sinister Minister]

10:20 AM on 02/21/2011

Talk about irony. The Wisconsin GOP wants to send the law after the democrats, yet feels Bush should not be investigated for war crimes.

If the troopers are sent, what would the charge be? Are the republicans openly calling for a police state where they can use law enforcement agencies to enforce their political desires?

I guess it's only a small step now that we have no knock warrants, preemptive war, torture, TSA and the "Good Faith" exemption to the 4th amendment. All brought to us by the GOP.

[mendelcrosses]

10:16 AM on 02/21/2011

The same people who decry government intervention are now asking union members to let government alone do the bargaining for them and accept whatever it comes up with for them.

I have to say,its a fulltime job just trying to keep track with what exactly the GOP philosophy and reasoning is.
The same thing they decry if a dem tries it,is welcome when a GOP tries it.