Archive for the ‘Dems Behaving Badly’ Category

From Tennessee Report:

Senate Republicans appeared to be barreling toward a vote to approve a $30.8 billion budget Thursday night — until Senate Democrats caucused.

The result: no budget vote in the Senate on Thursday.

Democrats simply weren’t in the mood to be rushed on the matter, as could be heard in the hallway outside the third-floor conference room at Legislative Plaza where they were meeting.

At one point, Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Nashville, said the Republicans couldn’t pass the budget without the Democrats present on the Senate floor.

“They can’t convene the session without us,” Haynes was heard telling his colleagues. “They can’t get a quorum.”

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Seems that people who signed the recall petition against Democrat Senator Dave Hansen are now being harassed.

From JSonline.com:

A man who headed a recall effort against state Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the state Democratic Party from harassing people who signed or circulated petitions to recall Hansen.

David Vander Leest, the representative of the Recall Dave Hansen committee, filed his request for a TRO in Brown County on Monday. A hearing was set for May 16.

Vander Leest said some people who signed the petition have gotten as many as 10 calls from people seeking to see if they were misled into signing the petitions.

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From The Washington Post:

Lawmaking can be a frustrating business, especially when you’re outnumbered. But some Democratic state legislators have recently embraced a simple tool to gain leverage: the empty chair.

The strategy was used to great effect this week, when two Maryland delegates did not show up at a committee meeting about a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. Their colleagues cracked nervous jokes for 30 minutes before the session was canceled, delaying a final vote.

The tactic is still being used in spectacular fashion by Wisconsin legislators, who fled to Illinois two weeks ago to prevent a vote on a bill that would weaken public employee unions. And Democrats in Indiana who are upset about a similar issue also have decamped to Illinois, holing up at a Comfort Suites in Urbana. They work out of the breakfast nook, subsist on Subway sandwiches and donated chili dinners, and make frequent visits to the coin-op laundry.

They took umbrage this week when Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), at his wit’s end over the inability to call a quorum and get any legislation passed, accused them of trying to legislate from a hot tub in Illinois.

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From Yahoo!:

A Wisconsin state senator says the 14 Democratic lawmakers who are boycotting a vote on a controversial anti-union bill have left the state.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach says the group wants to force negotiations over the Republican-backed bill, which would strip most public employees of their collective-bargaining rights.

Erpenbach told The Associated Press that he and his colleagues had left Wisconsin, but he would not say where.

He said the plan is to slow down the bill because it’s “tearing the state apart.”

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There’s something wrong about someone getting convicted of a felony, barred from ever running for office again, but remaining in office until the next Election Day.

From statesman.com:

As a convicted felon, he now can’t legally run for office. And he can’t vote on Election Day.

But state Rep. Ismael “Kino” Flores, the Palmview Democrat who was sentenced to five years of probation earlier this week on felony ethics charges, remains a legislator in good standing in the Texas House.

He’s still entitled to his $600-a-month, taxpayer-paid salary as a legislator.

The reason: There’s no law or rule that prohibits convicted felons from serving in the House if they are convicted while in office.

The situation has some lawmakers and watchdog groups shaking their heads in disbelief.

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If you want to see the speech, click through the link.

From UnionLeader.com:

Cornerstone Action president Kevin Smith accused the Democratic Party of “religious bigotry.”

Smith said the party’s “mischaracterization” of “Bates’ faith represents the height of hypocrisy for a party that supposedly prides itself in being tolerant of other’s beliefs. The NHDP owes Rep. Bates and the hundreds of thousands of Christians in this state an apology for his truly offensive and ignorant remarks.”

Smith added, “Mr. Kirstein ought to re-read the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and realize all people are guaranteed the freedom of religion, whether he agrees with their beliefs or not.”State Republican Party spokesman Ryan Williams said Thursday he was flooded with media calls on the dispute.

He said Bates “is only expressing his personal religious conviction at a prayer event. And the Democrats are trying to belittle and demean him because of it. They should apologize.”

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Another story for DemsBehavingBadly…

From lohud.com:

Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada and his son were indicted Tuesday on charges that they stole more than $500,000 from the Bronx clinic they run, prosecutors announced.

The federal indictment from outgoing Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said that Espada, the Bronx Democrat, and his son, Pedro Gautier Espada, embezzled money from the Soundview Health Clinic that the elder Espada founded in 1978.

Cuomo said taxpayer money that went to Soundview was used as Espada’s personal piggybank, including for Broadway shows, baseball games, home repairs and meals.

“This is a powerful message today that when we say we’re going to clean up Albany, we are serious and we will be effective in that pursuit,” Cuomo told reporters in a conference call. “The days where Albany politicians can victimize the people of this state are over.”

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Former State Senate candidate withdrew campaign donations from ATMs and didn’t report how he used it.

From STLtoday.com:

Former state Senate candidate Rodney Hubbard and his treasurer withdrew thousands of dollars in campaign donations, often at ATMs, without documenting how the money was spent, the Missouri Ethics Commission said Tuesday.

The commission fined Hubbard, a Democrat, and his treasurer Joy Camp, both of St. Louis, more than $350,000 for their roles in violating multiple campaign finance laws related to Hubbard’s failed 2008 race for Senate. If Hubbard and Camp pay 10 percent of the total amount of fines, or about $35,000, and don’t violate campaign finance laws for two years, the rest of the fines will be wiped out.

The Ethics Commission doesn’t keep historical records on fines, but a commission official said the fine was the agency’s largest in recent memory.

The commission concluded Hubbard violated campaign finance law by not properly reporting $129,000 in campaign spending and $86,000 in contributions.

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