Three weeks after he left the state, WisPolitics reports that Dem State Sen. Jim Holperin is returning home–and that he expects other Democrats to head back as well.
Holperin said that a majority of the Democratic caucus met Wednesday and agreed to return to the state after the Assembly voted through the anti-collective-bargaining provision that was passed by the Senate Wednesday night.
He told WisPolitics he still believed leaving the state was the right strategy for to Dems to have pursued.
[Holperin] said in the end, the action achieved the short-term goal of bringing attention to details of the budget repair bill and proving its true intent was ending collective bargaining rights.
But long term, Senate Dems failed to negotiate a compromise that would achieve the savings the guv sought through the higher pension and health care payments while protecting the rights of public employees to negotiate.
“As it turns out, that was a hope not realized and so that’s why I say it was kind of a bittersweet return and those bargaining rights were lost where I thought might be a compromise,” Holperin said.
