{"id":3948,"date":"2023-06-30T05:04:58","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T05:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=3948"},"modified":"2023-06-30T10:00:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T10:00:22","slug":"wisconsin-senator-drops-f-bomb-during-senate-floor-speech-but-there-probably-wont-be-any-consequences-for-decorum-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=3948","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Senator Drops F-Bomb During Senate Floor Speech, but There Probably Won\u2019t Be Any Consequences for Decorum Breach"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/politics\/wisconsin-senator-drops-f-bomb-during-senate-floor-speech-but-there-probably-wont-be-any-consequences-for-decorum-breach\/mkittle\/2023\/06\/30\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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So much for Senate decorum.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin State Senator LaTonya Johnson<\/a> (D-Milwaukee) dropped the f-bomb \u2014 and another bad word to boot \u2014 during Wednesday\u2019s budget debate.<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers said the foul language on the floor is a bridge too far in an era marked by overheated political rhetoric.<\/p>\n

\u201cF \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 the suburbs, because they don\u2019t know a goddamn thing about how life is in the city,\u201d Johnson (pictured above) said, punctuating her point as she wrapped up her speech.<\/p>\n

The profanity-laden comment followed a heated debate on crime spilling over from Milwaukee into the suburbs and smaller communities.<\/p>\n

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Wisconsin State Senator LaTonya Johnson says \u201cfuck the suburbs\u201d on the senate floor during a debate on crime spilling from cities to suburbs.
pic.twitter.com\/YvlJy57uda<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 29, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Republicans said it was a low point in decorum from a senator whose party has complained about a lack of collegiality in the Republican-controlled legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely caught a lot of people\u2019s attention,\u201d said State Senator Andre Jacque (R-De Pere). \u201cI was looking across the chamber to [Senator] Julian Bradley [R-Franklin]. We were both raising our eyebrows. I didn\u2019t now if we had that on our Bingo card of things that would happen during the budget debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacque said State Senator Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point), who serves as Senate President Pro Tempore, was in the President\u2019s chair presiding over the debate at the time. Testin, like many others, was stunned by the foul language, Jacque said. So stunned he did not check it.<\/p>\n

Everyone just kind of moved past the awkward moment.<\/p>\n

Testin could not be reached for comment Thursday.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for senate Republican leadership called the incident \u201cunfortunate,\u201d but said he had not heard any discussion about discipline for the violation of senate conduct.<\/p>\n

Senate rules don\u2019t get into offensive language, but they do cover decorum in general. In short, they demand members treat one another and the body with respect. A senator who repeatedly violates the rules of decorum while speaking can be found to be out of order. Such an offender would then lose the opportunity to continue to speak.<\/p>\n

As far as discipline goes, censure exists, but it\u2019s simply not used.<\/p>\n

Senate officials say there\u2019s rarely a need for such discipline.<\/p>\n

So, there isn\u2019t much in the way of a penalty for swearing like a sailor on the senate floor.<\/p>\n

Some Democrats were all good with Johnson\u2019s F-bomb rant. She was just being passionate, according to State Representative Francesca Hong, a far-left Madison Democrat. She blamed Republicans for \u201clegislating racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator Johnson spoke passionately to defend the communities she represents. Republicans who continuously weopanize and villinize the people of Milwaukee without accountability need to answer for constantly legislating racism. These absurd times in state gov call for real talk,\u201d Hong tweeted.<\/p>\n

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Senator Johnson spoke passionately to defend the communities she represents. Republicans who continuously weopanize and villinize the people of Milwaukee without accountability need to answer for constantly legislating racism. These absurd times in state gov call for real talk. https:\/\/t.co\/5JKlC61sDn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Francesca Hong \ud64d\uc724\uc815 (@FrancescaHongWI) June 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jacque said he didn\u2019t think Johnson\u2019s F-bomb drop was a \u201ccasual slip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something where there was a kind of an unsettling edge to the way it was delivered that just disappoints me in terms of the direction we might be heading in this chamber and as a Legislature,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n

Jacque added that he\u2019d like to see Johnson apologize.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite frankly, there needs to be an apology to the state, to her constituents, and to her colleagues in terms of the reflection of what using those words has on the Senate as an institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
\n<\/strong>Photo \u201cLaTonya Johnson\u201d by LaTonya Johnson.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Wisconsin Senator Drops F-Bomb During Senate Floor Speech, but There Probably Won\u2019t Be Any Consequences for Decorum Breach<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/politics\/wisconsin-senator-drops-f-bomb-during-senate-floor-speech-but-there-probably-wont-be-any-consequences-for-decorum-breach\/mkittle\/2023\/06\/30\/ So much for Senate decorum. Wisconsin State Senator LaTonya…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3949,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions\/3949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}