WALKER 1, STATE EMPLOYEES 0
Thursday, December 16th, 2010 -- 11:42 AM
Democrats failed to get state employee contracts passed during an extraordinary session that included some major surprises.The contracts narrowly-passed through the Democrat-controlled Assembly, but stalled when they reached the Senate.
In a surprise move, outgoing Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Wausau) and Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) crossed party lines to vote with Republicans to reject the contracts. The agreements then failed on a 16-16 tie vote in the Senate.
The votes in the Assembly were also interesting as Chippewa Falls Independent Jeff Wood was released from jail just to cast the deciding votes. He's serving a sentence for driving while intoxicated.
The news is a victory for Governor-elect Scott Walker who hopes to win concessions from state employees to help fix a gaping budget hole estimated at around $3.3 billion in the next three years.
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