Grown ups in charge

Since the early weeks of 2011 we’ve described the infantile behavior of Democrats in the Wisconsin Legislature, but nothing illustrates their profound childishness as vividly as their own quibbling reaction to adult supervision.

The ineffectual Capitol Police chief who winked at virtually every offense by protesters and occupiers has taken a job, fittingly, with Dane County. His replacement, Chief David Erwin, has announced he intends to maintain order in the Capitol by enforcing existing laws. Senate Majority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) has made clear what he’s all about by publicly expressing alarm.

Last week Miller sent a letter raising “concerns” about Erwin’s “new plans for Wisconsin’s Capitol.”

“I expect you to meet with legislative leaders and the Chief Justice before making any changes,” Miller wrote, proving once again that it’s a mistake for him to take on anyone who knows what he’s doing.

Erwin wrote back, explaining that permit requirements for Capitol demonstrations, to be enforced under his “new plans,” date to 1979.

Anyone who’s attended a legislative hearing since early last year knows proceedings are disrupted every day at noon by non-permitted demonstrators singing protest songs that drown out testimony every time a door is opened. Less widely known is the harassment of Capitol employees. Erwin’s letter to Miller notes the regular intimidation of legislative staffers by protesters invading the space behind their desks and following them to their cars, screaming obscenities.

Erwin describes this as “behavior that anyone in any setting would find threatening in their workplace,” saying, “It is harassment and it will be cited.”

For endless months, leftist slobs got away with whatever they felt like doing in the Capitol. Now a police chief saying he’ll enforce the law moves the leader of the Senate Democrats to “express my concerns.”

That says it all.

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