The Dems' tantrum In a snit, Senate Democrats run and hide - making a mockery of the democratic process.
Democrats in the state Senate threw a temper tantrum Thursday - essentially they took their ball and went home.
Actually, they didn't go home. They apparently went to Illinois, just out of reach of their obligations.
By boycotting an expected vote on Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, they were able to prevent action on the measure. Twenty senators are required for a quorum; the Republicans have only 19.
The Walker plan is deeply divisive. We're not supportive of some aspects of the bill, either, including those that will make it nearly impossible for unions to negotiate. And we think that police and firefighter unions should not be excluded as they are now. But public worker benefits need to be reined in, and Walker is right to target them.
State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), apparently with plenty of time on her hands Thursday afternoon, posted on her Facebook page, "brb," slang for "be right back." Too bad she and her colleagues weren't.
One leading Democrat - Obama was his name, as we recall - put it well after winning the White House in 2008: "Elections have consequences," he told Republicans at the time. Indeed they do. The Democrats' childish prank mocks the democratic process.
Meanwhile, some Wisconsin teachers decided to make a mockery of their own profession by penalizing their students after an irresponsible call to action by Mary Bell, the chief of the state teachers union.
"On Thursday and Friday, we are asking Wisconsinites to come to Madison," Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said Wednesday. She then claimed disingenuously that she wasn't telling the union's 98,000 teachers to walk off their jobs.
Unfortunately, that's what many of them did. There were no classes in Madison schools. Port Washington High School had to close. The same was true at other schools around the state. Do these teachers care more about their jobs than their kids? We wonder.
Both Senate Democrats and teachers should get over their snits and get back to work.
