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Taxing Hiding SenatorsPosted: 11:53 AM Feb 28, 2011 ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- As Illinois becomes a haven for Democrats on the run. Some Northern Illinois Senators think the legislators should be taxed for the time they spend in the Land of Lincoln. Republican State Rep. Mike Tryon of Crystal Lake says he plans to introduce a measure to the legislature to tax the Wisconsin senators for their time working in Illinois. The 14 democrats have been spotted several times in the Stateline over the last week after fleeing the badger state to stall a vote that would strip unions collective bargaining...

The 14 Wisconsin Democratic senators who fled to Illinois share more than just political sympathy with the public employees and unions targeted by Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill. The Senate Democrats count on those in the public sector as a key funding source for their campaigns. In fact, one out of every five dollars raised by those Democratic senators in the past two election cycles came from public employees, such as teachers and firefighters, and their unions, a Journal Sentinel analysis of campaign records shows. "It's very simple," said Richard Abelson, executive director of District Council 48 of the American...

Missing senators rely heavily on union campaign dollarsBy Daniel Bice and Ben Poston of the Journal Sentinel Feb. 28, 2011 12:20 p.m. The 14 Wisconsin Democratic senators who fled to Illinois share more than just political sympathy with the public employees and unions targeted by Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill. The Senate Democrats count on those in the public sector as a key funding source for their campaigns. In fact, one out of every five dollars raised by those Democratic senators in the past two election cycles came from public employees, such as teachers and firefighters, and their unions, a...

Reuters) - Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker said on Monday that absent senate Democrats have 24 hours to return and vote on a measure to reduce the power of public sector unions or the state will miss out on opportunity to refinance its debt. "Now they have one day to return to work before the state loses out on the chance to refinance debt, saving taxpayers $165 million this fiscal year," Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie said in a statement. "Failure to return to work and cast their votes will lead to more painful and aggressive spending cuts in the very...

Walker: It Only Takes One Democrat Doing His Job to Help WisconsinPublished February 27, 2011 FoxNews.com It only takes one state senator to stand up and do his job to balance the budget and avoid a $165 million loss in savings to the state, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Sunday, challenging any of the 14 Democratic senators who fled the state more than a week ago to return to vote on a budget. Democrats "need to come back and do what they were elected to do. They don't have to vote for it, they don't have to support it," Walker...

Wisconsin Dem vows to fight GOP plan as union supporters rally hereBY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter Feb 26, 2011 09:51PM Union workers and supporters ignored wintry weather Saturday as they rallied downtown to protest efforts by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to strip most public employees in that state of their collective bargaining rights. The rally came as one of the 14 runaway Wisconsin senators said in an appearance at Operation PUSH Headquarters on the South Side that she and the other Democratic legislators won’t return home until the GOP governor agrees to negotiate on his plan to end collective bargaining...

Wisconsin Republican lawmakers dispatched state troopers to the homes of absent Democratic senators in search of a quorum Thursday but came up empty as the state's legislative standoff continued.

Will some of our Tea Partiers check out the local hotels in or near Woodstock?

Illinois becomes haven for Democrats on the run February 25, 2011 (AP) — Illinois, known for its wayward politicians and back-door political dealings, is in the odd position of having become the Switzerland on the Prairie as lawmakers fleeing votes in Wisconsin and Indiana take refuge in its borders. If Illinois didn't invent political dysfunction, it's made a career of perfecting it. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell a vacant U.S. Senate seat; imprisoned former Gov. George Ryan, convicted of turning his government offices into little more than divisions of his fundraising machine; and the patronage hiring...

HARVARD, Ill. -- Wisconsin state Sen. Dave Hansen, the assistant minority leader, thought he was staying at a secret location in Harvard, Ill., just south of the Wisconsin border. That was until a group of picture-taking party activists from the Northern Illinois Tea Party showed up at the Heritage Inn and Suites off of Route 14. Hansen, officially outed, looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding tractor trailer.

Democrats have fled state legislatures rather than face up to doing the people’s business. They should change the symbol of their party from the grey donkey to the yellow chicken. The Democratic Party, unwilling to face tough choices on state budgets, is making a systematic effort to thwart the will of the people. They have taken legislative bodies in Wisconsin and Indiana hostage by denying them a working quorum. Insurgent Democratic lawmakers have fled over the border to find safe haven in Illinois, their equivalent of Pakistan, whence they have issued lists of demands. Similar tactics may be employed in...

Mark Miller, Wi Senate Minority leader's televised response to Gov Walker's speech on budget repair bill.

In their latest attempt to force Dems back to the Senate, GOP leaders have voted to require their missing counterparts to pick up their paychecks, per diems or any expense check in person on the chamber floor. Senate Org voted by paper ballot today 3-2 along party lines to impose the requirement on any senator absent without leave for two or more days. The ballot also suspends direct deposit for any lawmaker absent and specifies the majority leader will only provide the checks to the missing senators and only on the Senate floor during a session day.

MADISON, Wis. — State senators who miss two or more session days will no longer get paid through direct deposit. They’ll have to pick up their checks in person on the Senate floor during a session.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- State senators who miss two or more session days will no longer get paid through direct deposit. They'll have to pick up their checks in person on the Senate floor during a session.

Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to make Democrats hiding out in Illinois come back to Wisconsin to pick up their paychecks. The Senate Committee on Organization voted on a 3-2 party line vote, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats against, to change Senate rules so that senators who miss two consecutive floor days can no longer have their paychecks dropped automatically into their bank accounts. The vote was taken by paper ballot, which allowed Democrats to cast their votes from out-of-state. Democrats who have already missed two consecutive floor sessions will now have to come to get their paychecks directly...

It looks like Democrats have found a new strategy to block Republican majorities from enacting anti-union legislation: fleeing the state. Taking a page from Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin, legislators in Indiana have apparently fled the state rather than vote on an anti-union bill, a source told the Indianapolis Star on Wednesday. And they were headed to Illinois, the same state that Wisconsin Democrats fled to last week to block a bill that would limit the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions while forcing members to contribute more to their pensions and health care plans. In Indiana, Democrats could force...

Reports are coming in that the Demo WI legislators are holed up at the Heritage Inn and Suites, 1701 South Division Street, Harvard, IL (815) 943-0700 ‎ Any local Freepers to check this out?

At 8 a.m. Thursday, 14 state senators from Wisconsin met upstairs from a coffee shop a block from the capitol and decided the safest route to blocking Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget bill was to leave town. Elder statesman, 83-year-old Sen. Fred Risser, who was first elected in 1956, gave his blessing. ...snip... Minority leader Mark Miller suggested they meet up at the Best Western Clock Tower Resort in Rockford, Ill. It was across the state line, only about an hour and a half away by car, and the hotel's clock tower was easy to spot from the I-90. ...snip......

Now Democratic lawmakers from another state seem to be leaving their homes for Illinois. House Democrats in Indiana are leaving the state rather than vote a bill that would modify collective-bargaining for some workers there, according to the Indianapolis Star. A source told the paper that Democrats from that state's lower chamber are headed to Illinois, though the paper notes that some might go to Kentucky. Only two of the 40 Democrats were on the Indiana House floor when the chamber convened Tuesday. The lack of Democratic House members showing up at the Capitol in Indiana prevents the Republican majority...