But we're doing it for the workers

Yes, Senator Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) is actually trying to claim that he and and his counterparts in the Assembly want to change the legislative calendar to make sure they can approve any contracts with state employees that haven't be voted on yet. Who knows how he kept a straight face while making that comment?

Legislators wanting to raise money from lobbyists? No, never crossed their mind according to Schultz.

In a move last year filled with a spectacular lack of being able to see past their battle to keep working families from making a wage they can actually live on, the Republicans extended the legislative calendar until the end of this year to make sure they could block any attempt by Governor Doyle to raise the minimum wage.

Never mind that it hadn't been done since about 1997 and since 1997 the legislature has given themselves four raises totaling over $15,000 and increased their per diem rate. Yes, they have given themselves raises that total more than what a person making minimum wage will earn all year but they wanted to make sure they could dash back to Madison in a moments notice to stop those earning minimum wage from getting the slightest increase in salary.

Now they need to raise money from lobbyists to keep their own job but their move to keep working families from getting ahead is keeping them from raising money from the corporate lobbyists they were trying to stop the minimum wage increase for in the first place. They can't raise money from lobbyists if the legislature is technically still in session. So what to do?

Push another group in front of them as the reason why they are changing the calendar, get out of town, and go make those fundraising calls of course.