Another large scale Saturday rally occurred in Madison, Wisconsin, protesting Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s newly-passed law curtailing public employee unions — and this time with some special guests, the 14 Democratic state Senators who had fled the state in an attempt to block the three-fifths budget quorum for the bill. And in all, their starring role likely helped boost attendance at this rally, held to demonstrate continued opposition to Walker’s policies, to between 85,000 and 100,000 people as the largest crowd yet.
The Capital Times reports:
“You go away for a couple of weeks and look at what happens,” said Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, who, along with his smiling colleagues, kept surveying the crowd, seemingly awed by the turnout. “It’s so nice to be home in Wisconsin.”
Saturday’s crowd, estimated by Madison Police to be between 85,000 and 100,000, surrounded the podium on the State Street side of the Capitol and showered the senators with shouts of “Thank you! Thank you!”
Here is a report from the local NBC affiliate in Madison:
As TPM has previously reported, this is likely far from the end of the story in Wisconsin — with a new series of political battles set to begin. Democrats have pledged to quickly recall the Republican members of the state Senate who are eligible, under the state law requiring at least one year of a term to be completed, and then to go after Walker next year. In addition, the union bill itself could potentially result in strikes or other labor unrest, in a state where unions have played a major role in the political culture.
State Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller’s speech alluded to the continued electoral battles to come. He also took up the “This is what democracy looks like!” chant that has been a frequent slogan of the thousands of protesters who have deluged the state Capitol.
WisPolitics reports:
Sen. Mark Miller said the people have inspired America with their peaceful protests. “You have shown America what democracy looks like,” he said to cheers.
He called the protestors heroes and encouraged the fight to move to the ballot box. “[W]e will get our democracy back,” he said.
(Special thanks to Phil Ejercito for Dane 101 for the photo.)
