Madison Attorneys Allege Illegal Conduct By Republican Legislative Leaders

[LiberalFighter]

Source: The Political Environment

Madison attorneys Lester Pines and Susan Crawford are circulating a memo cataloguing Constitutional, statutory and rule violations committed by Republican legislative leaders since Senate Democrats left the state to prevent a vote on Gov. Walker's budget-repair bill.

Each house may punish as a contempt, by imprisonment, a breach of its privileges or the privileges of its members; but only for one or more of the following offenses:

(a) Arresting a member or officer of the house, or procuring such member or officer to be arrested in violation of the member’s privilege from arrest.

(b) Disorderly conduct in the immediate view of either house or of any committee thereof and directly tending to interrupt its proceedings.

(c) Refusing to attend or be examined as a witness, either before the house or a committee, or before any person authorized to take testimony in legislative proceedings, or to produce any books, records, documents, papers or keys according to the exigency of any subpoena.

(d) Giving or offering a bribe to a member, or attempting by menace or other corrupt means or device to control or influence a member’s vote or to prevent the member from voting.

(2) The term of imprisonment a house may impose under this section shall not extend beyond the same session of the legislature.

[zaj]

1. I don't know what this has to do with anything the GOP has done, but...

" Refusing to attend or be examined as a witness, either before the house or a committee, or before any person authorized to take testimony in legislative proceedings..."


... seems like a good way to force the Dems back or really arresting them if they don't. I wonder why the GOP hasn't called them as witnesses to testify for some random reason. Not attending that really would be ground for them to be arrested.

[EC]

2. Why?

They're not witnesses.

[LiberalFighter]

3. They can't call legislators to testify as a witness.