If the 14 Democratic state senators who fled Wisconsin thought life would go back to normal with their return to Madison, they were sorely mistaken. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) wrote an e-mail on Monday afternoon saying that any votes taken by Senate Democrats will not be counted or documented.
“Please note that all 14 Democrat senators are still in contempt of the Senate," Fitzgerald wrote in the e-mail posted on wispolitics.com. "Therefore, when taking roll call votes on amendments and bills during executive sessions, Senate Democrats' votes will not be reflected in the Records of Committee Proceedings or the Senate Journal."
According to the Capital Times, the news is not going over that well.
"In my career of 50-some years, I have never come across a situation where the majority leader of any party could determine that the votes of another party could not count," state Sen. Fred Risser (D) is quoted as saying. "This is the height of arrogance."
In an e-mail to National Journal, Tina Flournoy of the American Federation of Teachers said Fitzgerald's action is akin to disenfranchising a large portion of the state.
“These duly-elected Senators represent 150,000 to 175,000 citizens in each district, so the GOP is, in effect, stripping 2.2 million Wisconsinites of their voice in government,” she said.
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