Pasch Shares Stories of Protests and Political Drama

It has been an eventful week at the Capitol, to say the least.

Tens of thousands of protestors have flooded the Capitol to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, which would strip public employee unions of most of their collective bargaining rights. The proposal is part the governor's plan to fix a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit in state spending this year. .

The Assembly is adjourned until Tuesday, when Walker is expected to address both the Senate and the Assembly.

State Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) said she has received more than 1,000 phone calls and e-mails from constituents expressing their views on the bill. For every constituent in support of the bill, another five or six urge her to vote against it, she said.

Pasch, currently serving her second term, said she has spoken to veteran lawmakers, and they said they have never seen anything like this before. She said she was inspired by the rallies at the Capitol.

“This is truly democracy in action. They have awoken a sleeping giant,” she said. “They are taking away people’s rights, saying, ‘You have no voice.’ This is something people have fought and died for and in a very short period of time they are trying to take that away.”

As for the Senate Democrats driving to Rockford, IL, to avoid a vote on the bill, Pasch said “the best thing for senators to do to slow it down and refuse to engage in this sham of deliberations.”

She said the 140-page bill was introduced one week ago, and in that time, Democrats have learned about the collective bargaining restrictions, and a loss in federal funding as a result of transit workers losing their collective bargaining rights.

“This bill is full of a lot of nonsense things. To slow the process down gives us the opportunity to share what’s in this bill,” said Pasch, whose district also includes Fox Point and Shorewood.

She said the Joint Finance Committee stopped taking testimony on the bill Wednesday morning, but Assembly Democrats continued to listen to and document testimony.

They heard from graduate students that said they might leave Wisconsin, and the bill may lead others to leave the state as well.

“If this state is truly open for business, we have to show that we are a state that recognizes people’s rights,” she said.

The bill exempts public safety employees, including police officers, firefighters, state troopers and inspectors. Public school staff and faculty represent one of the largest employee groups affected by the bill.

"Some of the teachers in the North Shore have incredible experience and have done so much for our kids," Pasch said. "To diminish their importance, they may look elsewhere."

She said they also heard testimony from students, parents, veterans and individuals with disabilities.

“One man, a snowplow worker, a city employee, sheepishly said he was a Republican. He said he’s never been so ashamed of what his party has done to silence the voice of workers in Wisconsin,” she said.

Republican State Sen. Alberta Darling's voicemail box is full, and efforts to reach the River Hills legislator have been unsuccessful.