Corporate billonaires, the Kock brothers, have bankrolled the Tea Party movement and Gov. Scott Walker.
Shortly after 8 pm last night, police ceded control of the Wisconsin capitol building to thousands of protesters who assembled as word spread about a hastily called vote on the unpopular bill to strip workers of collective bargaining rights.
The vote was an attempt to end the three-week long stalemate that resulted from Democratic Senators leaving the state to deny the chamber the quorum needed to vote on budgetary items. The Republican controlled Senate removed elements of the bill related to appropriations which eliminated the requirement that 20 senators be present for a vote. The bill was passed without debate
But the move also underscored what critics of the bill have been saying along: that this legislation was never about balancing the state budget, but about destroying corporate power.
“To pass this the way they did — without 20 senators — is to say that it has no fiscal effect,” Timothy Cullen, a Wisconsin Senate Democrat was quoted as saying in the New York Times. “It’s admitting that this is simply to destroy public unions.”
Protests are being planned in cities across the country. Click here for a map to find the solidarity rally closest to you.