Free Republic

Madison -- Democrats on Tuesday announced three of four of their candidates for likely Senate recalls. The lineup is largely as expected: Former Sen. John Lehman will run against Sen. Van Wanggaard of Racine; Rep. Donna Seidel will run against Sen. Pam Galloway of Wausau; and former Rep. Kristen Dexter will run against Sen. Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls. Lehman served in the Senate for one term but was defeated in November 2010 by Wanggaard. "With the announcement today of Kristin Dexter, Donna Seidel and John Lehman as candidates to replace Walker's blindly loyal lieutenants, Democrats are poised to complete...

The four Republican Wisconsin state senators targeted for recall said Thursday that collectively they have about $734,000 in the bank to fight efforts to remove them from office. ~snip~ Recall organizers submitted more than enough signatures on Tuesday to force elections in all four districts. State elections officials are in the process of verifying those signatures, which could take months. It's not known when any elections may be but most expect them to be in the spring or summer. Under state law, anyone targeted for recall can raise unlimited amounts until an election is certified. In regular elections, donations are...

Snips from Excerpt Only Website: Senators from both sides of the aisle are warning that looming EPA regulations on gasoline could impose billions of dollars in additional costs on the industry and end up adding up to 25 cents to every gallon of gas.  Citing the nearly $3.40-a-gallon average price of gas and the state of the economy, the senators said "now is not the time for new regulations that will raise the price of fuel even further." 

The national labor unions have accumulated more than 500,000 signatures on their petition to recall Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, so they are getting close. There is no process, apparently, for validating the signatures, so it is impossible to say how many are fraudulent. But it seems probable that one way or another, a recall election will take place in May. Will that election be a triumph for the Democrats? Ann Althouse thinks not: Let’s assume the signature-gatherers hit the mark and trigger a recall. Walker can only be removed if the Democrats come up with an opponent who beats...

Senators from maple syrup-producing states are seeking a law to make selling the fake stuff a punishable offense. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, proposed legislation Thursday to make selling fraudulent maple syrup a felony. The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is called the Maple Agriculture Protection and Law Enforcement (MAPLE) Act. Leahy stated in a press release that he is alarmed at the increasing number of people and businesses claiming to sell Vermont maple syrup but actually selling something "that is not maple syrup at all." "This is fraud, plain and simple, and it undermines...

Senators urge baseball to ban tobaccoPosted: Oct 18, 2011 11:58 AM by AP WASHINGTON (AP) - Four U.S. senators and health officials from the cities hosting the World Series are urging the baseball players union to agree to a ban on chewing tobacco at games and on camera. The senators, including No. 2 Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois, and health officials from St. Louis and Arlington, Texas, made the pleas in separate letters, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. The World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals begins in St. Louis Wednesday night. "When players use smokeless...

Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the ranking member and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, respectively, on Tuesday introduced an amendment to the Constitution that would allow Congress to pass laws preventing the physical desecration of the American flag. Tuesday was Flag Day. The two senators have introduced this legislation in the past, and believe that an amendment is needed in order to give Congress the right to protect the flag. Hatch explained on Tuesday that under a 1990 Supreme Court ruling, burning or destroying the flag is protected speech, and that any law against these actions...

Dem senators want to warn states against targeting Planned ParenthoodPosted by Stephanie Condon May 27, 2011 10:10 AM Thirty Democratic senators sent a letter to the Obama administration on Thursday, urging them to warn Medicaid directors at the state level that it's against the law to block Medicaid funds or Title X family planning funds from going to clinics that provide abortion services, like Planned Parenthood. The letter comes in response to Indiana's new law, which took effect May 10, barring state agencies from entering contracts with or giving grants to entities (besides hospitals) that perform abortions. Republican lawmakers in...

Republican senators press president on War Powers deadline Washington (CNN) – As the U.S. military campaign in Libya approaches the 60-day mark this Friday, six Republican senators wrote President Obama asking if he will comply with the War Powers Act, which says Congress must authorize action that lasts more than 60 days. "Friday is the final day of the statutory sixty-day period for you to terminate the use of the United States Armed Forces in Libya under the War Powers Resolution. Last week some in your Administration indicated use of the United States Armed Forces will continue indefinitely, while others...

Washington— The Obama administration is refusing to provide information that congressional auditors say they need to root out waste and fraud in federal programs that pay out billions of dollars in disability benefits, stirring complaints about White House open-government practices.The position taken by the Health and Human Services Department has resulted in a standoff with congressional investigators, who want to flush out cases of people who obtain jobs while collecting federal disability payments. That could be a violation of law under certain circumstances.

Republicans on the Hill are taking President Obama’s nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as a sign the White House is not serious about cutting spending. Heather Higginbottom, a longtime policy advisor to Democratic politicians, was nominated by the president on January 7 to replace acting Deputy Director Rob Nabors. “I believe it is pretty clear from the opposition that she is seen as a political operative and that members see this as a sign that President Obama has no interest in having a serious discussion about reducing spending,” one Republican staffer told The...

Just wanted to find out and in the process, share any news that you Freepers may or may not have heard about Wisconsin and the weak kneed Democrat Senators. I know they are supposed to arrive home today but Drudge really has not reported any details (if there are any to report)........

Sad that Fox doesnt have the flexibility to cover this amazing story. CNN and MSNBC all over this Heads need to roll at FOX

Efforts to recall 14 Republican and Democratic senators in Wisconsin picked up momentum Tuesday while Gov. Scott Walker released emails suggesting the two sides discussed compromises in the three-week standoff over the governor's "budget-repair" bill. A handful of emails between the governor's staff and top Democrats appear to show the governor softening his position on collective bargaining for public employee unions, which has been at the center of the stalemate. Fourteen Democratic senators left the state on Feb. 17 to prevent a vote on Mr. Walker's legislation. The governor, who has previously said collective-bargaining rights should be restricted to wages,...

Five runaway Democratic Wisconsin state senators made a pit stop Tuesday at a Grayslake hotel where they watched a budget address by Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Wisconsin's Democratic nomadic senators who surfaced at Grayslake's Comfort Suites are among 14 legislators who bolted for Illinois on Feb. 17 in protest of Walker's proposal that has infuriated public employees. After the senators left, a vote has been unable to occur on Walker's plan to have public workers contribute more to their pensions and health insurance, while losing the ability to collectively bargain benefits and work conditions. “We must work together to bring...

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...

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...

Local Ad Pokes Fun at Wisconsin SenatorsReported by: Alex Shabad It's gone from a state-wide search to a city-wide joke. The 14 runaway Wisconsin senators probably never knew they'd be part of a marketing campaign called "Hideaway in Rockford." "In the video you never find anyone who's a senator but you do find people getting away from the work place world" says John Groh, President of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. It's meant to highlight "getaway spots" and deals at restaurants, sporting events. And of course, the clock tower where the senators first arrived. "It’s very very cute,...

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Wisconsin Senate Republicans sent police on Thursday to find at least one of the 14 runaway Democrats who fled the state to block a vote on a spending bill that would curtail public union bargaining rights. Republicans sent state patrol officers to the homes of the Democrats in a failed attempt to break a standoff that has blocked Republican Governor Scott Walker's proposal to strip most collective bargaining rights from public union workers. All 14 Democrats in the Senate fled to Illinois last week to deny Republicans a quorum and a vote on the bill, which...

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.