County Democratic, Republican Groups Offer Opposite Reactions to Bill's Passing

The passing of the revised version of the budget repair bill Wednesday night has managed to accomplish at least one thing for sure: Republican and Democratic group leaders reacting at opposite ends.

Ozaukee Patriots Tea Party founder Joanne Terry said the group is pleased with the passing of the bill, and distraught by the idea of recalls altogether — while Tom Lohr, chair for the Ozaukee County branch of the Wisconsin Democrats, said the passing made him "sick to my stomach," and he looks forward with hope for the success of the recall efforts.

"I do not anticipate that the local party will take this lying down," Lohr said. "Unions are extraordinarly important to the good functioning of any nation. Will we continue to fight? Yes."

On Wednesday evening, , the state Senate passed a revised version of the budget repair bill — without Democratic senators returning to vote on the measure.

The bill, among other things, eliminates most collective bargaining rights for many public unions. It is expected to be passed by the Assembly today, but protesters swarming the area have already put several holds on the process.

Recalls have launched against several Democratic and Republican senators since the beginning of the protests, including .

"The general consensus is we are not happy with the recalls on either side," Terry said. "It’s too time consuming, people’s minds aren’t where they are supposed to be."

While Terry said she's not necessarily happy with the way the bill ended Wednesday night, she realizes that something had to be done.

"It was just taking way too long with no end game, and I think that the Republicans handled everything to the best that they could, but push came to shove and it was time to move on," she said. “Be patient ... something’s gonna break, and it did.”

And hitting that breaking point was everything short of a good feeling for Lohr.

"I saw some stuff on television and I was just generally sick to my stomach — my impression of the Republican party has not improved," he said.

But Terry said what happened last night was merely what Walker has said would happen from the beginning.

“It’s a victory ... but, we weren’t in it for a victory," she said. "We wanted to get things done — Walker is just fulfilling the campaign promises that he made.

"I’m speechless with the rest of it — I don’t understand where this is all coming from," she said.

Lohr said it's coming from an "awful lot of people" who are upset.

"It sure looks like the recall efforts are going on full steam," he said. "I would anticipate that some of those will be successful. If the Republican party seems to be under the impression that this will be a one-and-done issue, I think it’s pretty safe to assume it will rear its head again — I don’t see that changing until the (public unions') rights are restored."

In Port Washington
Port Washington City Adminstrator Mark Grams said the city is just taking it in stride, as officials wait for specific information about losses in their shared revenues and other impacts the bill might have.

City employees union contracts are effective through the end of 2011, Grams said, at which point the loss of the collective bargaining rights would hit home.

"The key thing is we still haven't found out what the reductions would be for our shared revenues," he said, before he would know how contracts might shape up for 2012.

If the bill is passed today, Grams said affected employees would see the additional pension deductions for the first time in their March 25 paycheck. Port Washington city employees use a private health care insurance provider, so that portion of the bill does not affect them.