Wis. Dem. Coggs: Votes Embolden Recall Efforts

Democratic State Sen. Spencer Coggs says the state’s Republicans stole democracy from the people of Wisconsin, and the swift Senate and Assembly votes to strip public workers’ collective-bargaining rights were acts of desperation to thwart efforts to recall GOP lawmakers, including Gov. Scott Walker.

“It is desperation, and this is not what democracy looks like, or should look like,” Coggs Thursday said on MSNBC. “What you have basically is 18 Republicans who stole democracy from the people in the state of Wisconsin.

“They were saying this is about the budget – this is about the fiscal deficit that we are in – and yet what they did … was they stripped out all the fiscal and left in that terrible, terrible policy that hurts the workers' rights and the working families in the state of Wisconsin,” he said. “You won't be able to bargain for your hours, you won't be able to bargain for your safety.”

Coggs said the votes to impose sweeping restrictions on public sector unions will embolden ongoing efforts to recall GOP lawmakers. Petitions need to have signatures from at least 25 percent of those who voted in the last election to get possible recalls on the ballot.

“It is just a brazen, desperate attempt by the Republican Party, especially Governor Walker, to lock in those 18 Republican senators, because there were so many of them who will be getting waivered because we have gotten recalls against all of them,” he said.