Wisconsin wrap-up: Workers, 17 -- Koch-heads, 16

[KansDem]

Hear a rather informative report this morning on DemocracyNow! about Dale Shultz, Republican state senator.

http://www.democracynow.org/

One of the reporters mention State Senator Dale Shultz, a Republican who had not always voted with the Repubs.

I googled a few articles and found these:

Posted at 1:33 PM ET, 02/28/2011
Wisconsin GOPers angered by Republican official's efforts to reach compromise with labor, Dems
By Greg Sargent

Here's a pretty good indicator of just how resistant Republicans allied with Governor Scott Walker have become to reaching a compromise of any kind with labor and Dems to end the standoff in Wisconsin over the Governor's proposal to roll back public employee bargaining rights.

I'm told that some Republicans in the state senate were so angry at fellow Republican senator Dale Schultz for proposing a modest compromise with unions and senate Dems that they actually threatened at a private meeting to kick him out of the state senate GOP caucus.

This comes to me by way of a source close to the situation. While the idea didn't go anywhere, and it didn't appear to have the support of Wisconsin GOP leaders, it shows how high tensions are running among Wisconsin Republicans who are under heavy pressure from unions, Dems and mass demonstrations to break with Walker.

The proposal by Schultz that so angered fellow Republicans was, after all, a modest one: He suggested that unions agree to have their bargaining rights rolled back right now on the understanding that they would be restored in 2013, after the state got its finances under control. Schultz's compromise got national media attention, which further angered his GOP colleagues, the source tells me.

--more--
WP

Dale Schultz: Wisconsin Republican with a Soul
March 11, 2011 by Matthew Frederick

Any politician who votes against the party line deserves credit. Even if we don’t agree with their actual vote, we should least appreciate that by defying their own party they’ve taken a political risk, usually because their principles manage to survive their selfish interests.

Former Rhode Island Republican US Senator Lincoln Chafee’s opposition to the Iraq War comes to mind as one of the best examples of this in recent years.

Now, so too does Wisconsin State Sen. Dale Schultz’s lone dissenting vote the other night when his fellow-Republican colleagues successfully carried out a sneak attack on the middle class.

“Ultimately, I voted my conscience which I feel reflects the core beliefs of the majority of voters who sent me here to represent them,” Schultz said.

Protesters gathered in the state capitol in Madison chanting “Shame, shame, shame” after Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate used a procedural loophole–and, some argue, broke the open meetings law–to pass a standalone bill restricting collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions.

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Public Intellectual

Wed Aug 10, 2011 at 07:30 AM PDT

Wisconsin's new de facto Majority Leader: Dale Schultz

Remember Dale Schultz? He was the one Republican Senator in Wisconsin to vote against Governor Scott Walker's anti-worker Budget Repair Bill.

Well, with his Republican Party now clinging to a 17-16 majority in the State Senate, Schultz is now going to be the most popular man in Madison, and de facto majority leader of the Wisconsin Senate, simply by virtue of not being a Scott Walker Republican.

Consider this: if Walker tried to pass something like his last budget again, Democrats would have enough votes in the state Senate to kill the bill outright. There would be no running to Illinois to deny quorum, no protracted battle of several weeks; the Senate could vote, and with Jessica King and Jennifer Shilling to go with Schultz and the 14 incumbent Democrats, they would have a functional majority.

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Daily Kos

:shrug:

edited for capitalization...

[Historic NY]

1. Don't count the chickens just yet 2 more elections for Dems seats on 8/16.

[louis-t]

2. It is possible with relentless pressure on him from angry repugs

that he could switch parties. Most pundits don't see that happening, but we know how offensive and threatening repugs can be. They are determined to put themselves in the minority for another 30 years.