Constituent Service

Leading up to, then following the March 1 budget speech, Scott Walker's team had police limiting access to the Wisconsin Capitol Building.

The move contravened the state's Constitution, which requires the building to be open to the public.

And it was a move to reign in the reasonableness of the law enforcement agencies that have maintained the public's right to be in the building over the last weeks.

As Walker's actions have become more extreme, the County Sheriff has gone on record saying the State police had to take over, because "I refused to put my deputy sheriffs in a position to be palace guards."

Frustrated at constituents not being admitted to the building, Democrats moved desks outdoors, and hung a banner: "Assembly Democrats Are Open for Business."

John Nichols, on what drove them to it:

A judge has ordered the governor and his aides to open the Capitol.

... the governor and his aides have failed to comply with the order. Instead, they have restricted access so severely that, in the words of former Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, they make a mockery of the state's tradition of open and accessible government.

"Opening the Capitol to the public does not mean letting one person in every three hours, as then restricting the movements of that one person once she is inside," explains Lautenschlager. "The governor and his aides are not respecting the judge's order; they are in contempt of it."

While this was happening, Walker's team was admitting their constituents.

That's going by what Nichols said on the Thom Hartmann show yesterday: the public was being admitted no more than one per hour, but the building was "swarming with lobbyists."

Perhaps they were from the bunch described here: ringers sneaked into the building to applaud the Tuesday night budget speech—

Nearly without exception, the west gallery was all men in black suits and, when the governor said something meaningful, they all rose and applauded, and they did it with verve and volume. I'm not saying these guys were not from Wisconsin, but if you know Wisconsin, you know for a fact that even for most businessmen, black suits are not part of the wardrobe. In general, the only time one will see a large gathering of Wisconsin men in black suits is at a funeral, or, apparently at a Governor Walker budget address.

There are so many fascinating aspects to the story.It's clear that Wisconsin expects open government, and that many citizens have re-thought voting for Walker, now that they've seen his Banana Republicanism in action.

Wisconsin elected officials can be subject to recall after one year in office. That gives Walker about ten months, but the campaign to start recalling his allies has begun.

And of the big picture—the real struggle ahead and the real hope—a wonderful piece by John Nichols: The Spirit of Wisconsin.

In Ohio, the course of events and possible remedies are very different, but a state referendum is likely to be the next move unions and Democrats make against the class warfare being waged by their governor and Republican majority legislature.