Another Outrage, Another Missed Opportunity: Mining Hearing held in West Allis (Milwaukee), not in Northern Wisconsin!!?? What in god’s name are the Democrats doing?

Look, the Democrats are doing the right thing by calling for a hearing in north country, where the public should have a say over whether they support mining in their backyard or not. But they should have forced the Republican legislature to hold their own hearing in front of the citizens most affected. 

Avoiding public feedback was not only ballsy, but completely inexcusable.  

WSJ: A pair of Democratic legislators plan to hold their own public hearing on a Republican bill that would rewrite Wisconsin's iron mining statutes. The measure is designed to jump-start Gogebic Taconite's plans for a mine in the Penokee Hills just south of Lake Superior in far northwestern Wisconsin.

Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, and Rep. Janet Bewley, D-Ashland, say people in their region deserve a chance to speak after Republicans held a hearing on the legislation earlier this month in a Milwaukee suburb (of West Allis) hundreds of miles from the site of the planned mine.

Ya think? Not only is this a terrible way to let the Republicans off the hook, but Jauch and Bewley gave the Fitzgerald brothers a pass on this potentially career ending reason for ignoring input from northern voters...special interests:

Republicans also said West Allis made sense because several heavy equipment manufacturers that would benefit from the mine are based in southeastern Wisconsin. 

What, they couldn't be inconvenienced to take a little drive up north? Republicans wanted to be closer to private special interests reaching into the pockets of state taxpayers.

Get your weak kneed act together Democrats.