Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Fight Takes Dramatic Turn

The Wisconsin Union/Collective Bargaining Rights battle has taken a sudden and electrifying turn. It seems the GOP in the state quickly moved to reduce the bill in question in such a way that it did not require a quorum, thus excluding the Democratic Senators who were out of state.

The quickness of this act may have been against Wisconsin’s open meeting law which states:

Public notice of every meeting of a governmental body shall be given at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of such meeting unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given, but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting.

Before the State Senate voted on the bill, it first went through a State Assembly committee where Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D) made a dramatic effort to delay or stop the proceedings. Talking Points Memo has more of the story.

Watch the recording of the feed that went live online after the break.

Notice the horribly awkward musical transition?