Free Republic

This is how you pour gasoline on what is already expected to be an explosive hearing at State Fair Park on Monday over Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget: You do what state Rep. Tamara Grigsby did this weekend. The Milwaukee Democrat accused the leaders of the Joint Finance Committee of taking steps, in advance, to shut down debate early on the budget bill - and then claimed they are doing this because they don't want to be near Milwaukee too late. "They're scared to death of Milwaukee," Grigsby said. "They don't want to be here after dark." Without naming names,...

Three-minute video synopsis of today's events in the Wisconsin State Senate. Begins with the joint committee meeting where Democrat members of the Assembly try to shout down the chair, and then the vote on the revised reform bill, with fiscal portions taken out.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget repair bill would be unconstitutional because it would violate the constitutional “home rule” that protects cities and villages from interference in local pensions by the state, according to a legal opinion issued today by Milwaukee City Attorney Grant Langley. In a letter to Milwaukee Alderman Joseph Dudzik, Langley stated, “… in our judgment, the courts would find the statue unconstitutional on three grounds: first, that it unconstitutionally interferes with and intrudes upon the city’s home-rule authority over its pension plan; second, that given certain vested rights or benefits that have accrued to employees currently...