GOP Chairman Will Target Republicans that Supported WI Workers

by: Jeremiah

Tue Mar 15, 2011 at 22:48:50 PM EDT

GOP Chairman Mike Stuart stated in a MetroNews interview Monday that he would target House Republicans in the 2012 primary that voted in support of a resolution passed Saturday in support of Wisconsin public employees.  The four House Republicans were Bill Hamilton, Ray Canterbury, John Ellem, and Erika Storch.  

The situation in WI has inspired Democrats all over the country to draw a line in the sand and promises to reinvigorate the Democratic base.  WI Republicans have stripped collective bargaining rights from public employees there even after public employee unions agreed to severe cutbacks in benefits and pay.  AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue stated in a Gazette article:

Around our country ... politicians are giving huge tax breaks to corporations and the very rich -- and then cutting funding for education, police, emergency response and vital human services.

Stuart's remarks lend credence to rumors that he had threatened Republican House members on several votes in the last week of the tumultuous Legislative Session.  It appears that Stuart is willing to run his moderate members out of the WVGOP as he pushes his radical anti-worker agenda in West Virginia.

Here is the roll call vote:
http://www.legis.state.wv.us/B...