WI Dems Deny Return Date Set
Reuters reports:
Wisconsin Democrats who fled the state more than two weeks ago to block a vote on a Republican plan to limit public union collective bargaining said on Sunday they have no immediate plans to return.
"I think the situation has not been resolved," said Mike Browne, a spokesman for Wisconsin senate minority leader Mark Miller, while adding: "I don't think anyone has ever suggested that at some point the Democrats don't return."
Browne and several of the 14 Democrats in the senate who left the state on February 17 sought to downplay comments by Miller to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that Democrats will return to the Capitol soon for a vote on the Republican bill.
"I think he's speaking the truth that at some point - and I don't know when soon is - at some point we have to say we've done all we can," Senator Bob Jauch told Reuters.
Jauch and Sen. Tim Cullen have been part of negotiations with the staff of newly elected Republican governor Scott Walker, who says the controversial bill now stalled by the Democrats is vital budget repair for the current fiscal year.
Miller told the Journal that moving forward with a vote on the budget repair would give Democrats more leverage in seeking changes to the 2011-13 budget the governor proposed last week.
Cullen declined comment, saying Miller didn't speak with him before making the comments, while Sen. Jon Erpenbach, who's been the lead contact with media during the standoff, said Democrats are not preparing to return.
Browne said there was nothing really new in Miller's comments and that Democrats continue trying to keep the lines of communication open.
"The bottom line is that Democrats would still like to see a reasonable negotiated settlement," Browne said.
He added: "The whole strategy by stopping a vote on the bill was to allow the public to comment on the bill."
A poll by Rasmussen Reports of 800 Wisconsin voters on March 2 found 34 percent strongly approved of Walker's performance as governor, while 48 percent strongly disapproved. Walker was elected with a 52 percent majority last November.
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