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<blockquote data-quote="Babagounj" data-source="post: 810836" data-attributes="member: 12952">(Investors.com)&nbsp; — According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, state lawmakers have&nbsp; “routinely” been allowed to cast votes by fax or phone in recent years&nbsp; rather than actually appear in the statehouse. Apparently it is a&nbsp; courtesy extended by the majority. A few Democrats were even able to do it Tuesday. But some Republicans are beginning to rethink that practice.
…
Also&nbsp; today, the Republicans moved forward with a voter ID bill that&nbsp; Democrats oppose, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.&nbsp; Republicans believe they can strip the bill of the quorum-requiring&nbsp; financial provisions and get it through while the Democrats are out of&nbsp; town.
As always with these things, it is the little details that&nbsp; highlight the absurdity of the situation. The AP story on the direct&nbsp; deposit vote reported: “Tuesday’s vote was along party lines. The three&nbsp; Republicans on the Committee on Senate Organization voted for it and the&nbsp; two absent Democrats cast their no votes by fax.”
This raises the question: How&nbsp; can they be allowed to do that yet the legislature as a whole can still&nbsp; be said to not have a quorum? Some Republicans are apparently beginning&nbsp; to wonder this themselves.
Regarding the voter ID bill,&nbsp; GOP Sen. Mary Lazich, chairwoman of the committee handling the bill,&nbsp; refused to let missing Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach literally phone in&nbsp; his vote.&nbsp; The scene was pretty surreal, as Erpenbach was allowed to&nbsp; listen in by conference call, but that was it.
“I won’t extend courtesies for unethical behavior,” Lazich told Erpenbach.
“Do&nbsp; you want the headline to be, ‘Republicans won’t let Democrats vote,’&nbsp; even though we’ve allowed that many, many times?” Erpenbach said.
Erpenbach’s name was not called as the clerk took the roll, but he repeatedly yelled, “No!” over the speakerphone. The committee’s three Republicans voted for the bill.
The&nbsp; irony of the protest appeared lost on Erpenbach. His absence was&nbsp; deliberately preventing the duly elected majority from voting on other,&nbsp; more pressing, legislation
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[QUOTE="Babagounj, post: 810836, member: 12952"] [INDENT](Investors.com) — According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, state lawmakers have “routinely” been allowed to cast votes by fax or phone in recent years rather than actually appear in the statehouse. Apparently it is a courtesy extended by the majority. [B]A few Democrats were even able to do it Tuesday[/B]. But some Republicans are beginning to rethink that practice. … Also today, the Republicans moved forward with a voter ID bill that Democrats oppose, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Republicans believe they can strip the bill of the quorum-requiring financial provisions and get it through while the Democrats are out of town. As always with these things, it is the little details that highlight the absurdity of the situation. The AP story on the direct deposit vote reported: “Tuesday’s vote was along party lines. The three Republicans on the Committee on Senate Organization voted for it and the two absent Democrats cast their no votes by fax.” This raises the question: [B]How can they be allowed to do that yet the legislature as a whole can still be said to not have a quorum? Some Republicans are apparently beginning to wonder this themselves[/B]. Regarding the voter ID bill, GOP Sen. Mary Lazich, chairwoman of the committee handling the bill, refused to let missing Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach literally phone in his vote. The scene was pretty surreal, as Erpenbach was allowed to listen in by conference call, but that was it. “[B]I won’t extend courtesies for unethical behavior[/B],” Lazich told Erpenbach. “Do you want the headline to be, ‘Republicans won’t let Democrats vote,’ even though we’ve allowed that many, many times?” Erpenbach said. [B]Erpenbach’s name was not called as the clerk took the roll, but he repeatedly yelled, “No!” over the speakerphone[/B]. The committee’s three Republicans voted for the bill. The irony of the protest appeared lost on Erpenbach. His absence was deliberately preventing the duly elected majority from voting on other, more pressing, legislation [/INDENT] [/QUOTE]

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