Wisconsin Democrats show signs of capitulation

CHICAGO – Talks appear to have broken down between Wisconsin’s Democratic state senators and representatives of Gov. Scott Walker, whose plan to cut collective bargaining rights and benefits for public workers has created a major battle in the state, some of the Senate Democrats said on Sunday.

Senator Fred Risser, one of 14 Democrats who left Wisconsin last month to prevent the Republican-dominated Senate from approving the collective bargaining measure, said it now seemed conceivable that he and his fellow Democrats would return to Wisconsin, at some point in the future, without a negotiated compromise.

“We have always said we would go back eventually,” Mr. Risser said, adding that the Democrats had yet to make any decision about when to go back to Madison, a move that would open the way for a vote on the proposal by Mr. Walker, a Republican elected in November. “We will have accomplished some of our purpose – to slow things up and let people know what was in this bill.”

The Democrats left the state on Feb. 17, the day that a vote was expected on Mr. Walker’s measure in the state Senate. While Republicans control the chamber, they need 20 senators – and, thus, at least one Democrat – to take votes on fiscal matters.

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