Take me to your leader

I don't get it. If the budget stalemate and the resulting compromise were so bad for Republicans, why are State Senate Democrats dumping their leader?

The vote came the day after Robson, and the other 17 Senate Democrats, pushed a controversial state budget through the Senate. All 15 Republicans voted against it.

Decker said Democrats decided they needed a "stronger message" as they approach elections next year. Democrats control the Senate, 18-15.

Decker also told reporters he thought that he and other Senate Democrats should have played a stronger role in final negotiations with Republicans, who control the state Assembly. Instead, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) said he was told to negotiate directly with Doyle and his aides, instead of Robson.

Of course they were irrelevant, and it's their own fault. They could have been relevant to the budget debate had they passed the education budget the state assembly passed and then the haggling would have been over the other details. More importantly, by defending Doyle's extensive veto power, any deal brokered between the two chambers is meaningless without the involvement of the governor. Don't like being irrelevant? Ask the different Republican assembly speakers who served with Governor Tommy Thompson and Chuck Chvala as senate majority leader how they felt.

Here's the fun part.

Decker said Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) will remain as assistant majority leader. Decker said he will announce new committee appointments - including co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, which he gave up when he became majority leader - next week.

Other Democratic senators declined comment as they left a 2 1/2-hour closed-door meeting in the Capitol.

Let's see how the thirty pieces of silver were doled out. And making friends everywhere he goes, "Doyle backed Robson in the power struggle that erupted last night."