Wisonsin's 14 Senators Need to Return Home and Face the Music for Abandoning Their Constituents: Christine's Chronicles

It's natural to wonder if the 14 Wisconsin Senators who abandoned their state in its time of crisis have learned anything important from their escapades into the world of unfounded absenteeism. When other leaders were ready to hunker down and get the job done, these 14 unfamiliar faces were nowhere to be found. They have disregarded pleading, warnings, and the needs of their constituents to the point where a bill was passed to limit collective bargaining by state workers without their input or votes.

When problems are avoided, it's difficult for them to be solved. When people run away from their problems and hide, hoping they'll just go away, they relinquish their power over the outcome. That's exactly what happened in Wisconsin. The 14 AWOL senators were powerless in the outcome of the new bill to limit bargaining rights because they weren't present at the negotiating table.

Now the process of trying to explain away their logic begins, as voters wonder at the wisdom of their political choices. They will need to paint 14 pictures that include some really good excuses for shirking their duties as lawmakers. Now that they have been caught with their political pants down, legal and moral entanglements await them in their home state of Wisconsin, as it languishes in a state of turmoil.

If they had been pow-wowing while AWOL, perhaps they might have foreseen the possibility that the collective bargaining matter could be extracted from the financial component, a strategic move that would not prove favorable to their cause. Irate union members and upset citizens are probably pondering why their 14 elected officials abandoned their posts, an evasion that has resulted in the matter being resolved without them.

It's a safe bet that constituents will be waiting for the litany of logical explanations behind their runaway tactics. They'll also want some sort of reassurance that their lawmakers' month-long adventure into the frivolous world of unjustified abandonment won't be paid for by the taxpayers who elected them to the public offices that were so hastily forsaken.

Amid the plethora of questions awaiting these responsibility-free senators is one unanswered query: Did they decide to run away and turn their backs on their state in an unplanned, spontaneous manner? Or is there a more powerful political source behind their untimely disappearances?

Even if the truth is never is completely unearthed, one thing is certain: Voters will decide the fates of these 14 deserters when re-election time rolls around. If these senators don't like the political songs being sung by the voters, it's too late to change tracks. The music of political dissonance that is being played is a movement that they orchestrated.

Just for the "record," here is a list of the 14 notorious Wisconsin Senators who took a break in the middle of the set and didn't return to the stage to finish:

* Tim Carpenter

* Spencer Coggs

* Tim Cullen

* Jon Erpenbach

* Dave Hansen

* Jim Holperin

* Robert Jauch

* Chris Larson

* Julie Lassa

* Mark Miller

* Fred Risser

* Lena Taylor

* Kathleen Vinehout

* Robert Wirch