The Democrats in the Wisconsin State Senate are having trouble getting along.
From AP, via FOX 11, WLUK:
Democrats have been running the state Senate for a little more than a week and already they're fracturing after one of their own decided to quit the caucus Tuesday.
Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville said Majority Leader Mark Miller offered to make him chair of a new small business and tourism committee. Cullen said he refused, telling Miller the committee isn't important and he wanted to deal with health care and prison issues.
Miller released a committee chairmanship list on July 16, the day Democrats officially took control of the Senate after winning a one-seat majority in last month's recall elections. The list showed every Senate Democrat had a committee chairmanship except Cullen. Their last conversation about it on Saturday ended with Miller hanging up on him, Cullen said.
"I said it was an insult to my district and the line went dead," Cullen said. "(Miller) blatantly, intentionally intended to insult me."
Cullen said he will no longer meet with other Senate Democrats and won't feel obligated to vote with them. He said he was pondering leaving the party all together. He won't become a Republican, he said, but he might turn independent.
...The infighting makes for fascinating political theater but probably won't amount to much outside the Capitol.
Senate Democrats officially gained a 17-16 majority on July 16 when John Lehman of Racine was sworn in after defeating Republican Sen. Van Wanggaard in recall elections last month. Democrats tried to oust six Republican officeholders, including Walker, as payback for the union changes, but Wanggaard was the only Republican who lost his seat.
The Democrats' edge will grow to 17-15 next month after Sen. Tim Zipperer, R-Pewaukee, leaves to join Walker's staff. That means that even if Cullen becomes an independent, Democrats would still hold a 17-15-1 majority.
Senate control means little right now. It isn't scheduled to reconvene until January and the balance of power in the chamber could swing back to the GOP in November's elections.
This disruption among the Democrats isn't likely to be significant in terms of the Senate's legislative work.
The Dems' current majority in the Senate is irrelevant. It won't reconvene until 2013. Control could return to the Republicans before the Senate is back in session.
Nonetheless, this Cullen drama is revealing. It seems to show that all the recall chaos has taken a toll on the Democrats rather than uniting them.
They are in disarray.
No comments:
Post a Comment