Senate Democrats were leaving Madison to avoid participating in the vote on Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget repair bill, which has sparked four days of protests at the Capitol, an aide confirmed Thursday morning.
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity, because she was not authorized to speak on behalf of her boss. Legislative assistants answering the phones at the offices of Sen. Jon Erpenbach of Middleton, Sen. Mark Miller of Monona and Sen. Fred Risser of Madison all insisted they knew nothing about the walkout.
However, at 11:30 a.m., when the session began — 30 minutes late — a roll call revealed that most if not all 14 Senate Democrats were absent. At 11:35, Republican Senate President Mike Ellis announced a "call of the house" to send police to force errant Democrats to return to the chamber.
"The Senate is now under a call of the house, and we will try to find the members who decided not to come to work today," Ellis said as loud protesters sought to disrupt the session.
The Senate then adjourned, lacking enough of its 33 senators to act. Twenty are required and there are just 19 Republican Senators.
The Capitol was crowded shoulder to shoulder with protesters late Thursday morning especially near the Senate chambers chanting "Kill this bill," and "Walker must go."
The governor's proposed budget repair bill seeks to strip thousands of public-sector workers of most of their collective bargaining rights. The Republican governor has said Wisconsin is in a budget crisis and must take action to close a looming deficit.
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