Glenn Grothman - 2011 Wisconsin Budget Protests

2011 Wisconsin Budget Protests

Further information: 2011 Wisconsin budget protests

Grothman has been a vocal proponent of SB11, a controversial bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker in early 2011. He has said he supports the so called budget repair bill because it is fiscally responsible. In a recent press interview, he said that he did not "find it impressive" that over 70,000 protesters marched on the capitol.

During the protests, Grothman was cornered by almost 200 pro-union protesters yelling "Shame! Shame!" outside the state capitol building. Grothman said he was not concerned about violence at the time, adding that, "They're loud, they'll give you the finger, and they yell at you, but I really think deep down inside they're just mostly college kids having fun, just like they're having fun sleeping with their girlfriends on air mattresses. That's the guts of that crowd." He also described the protesters as "a different breed of person" and "a bunch of slobs taking up the building."

During this time, Grothman also advocated the hiring of more business-friendly individuals to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In doing so, he went out of his way to single out one of the University of Wisconsin campuses as a target: "Maybe you (should) look to hire those people who know what the real world is like, rather than a recent graduate from UW-Stevens Point who doesn't know what the real world is like." This was only days before appearing at UW—Stevens Point with the Joint Finance Committee for a day of hearings on Scott Walker's budget bill.

Grothman was subject to a recall effort in the spring of 2011, but the effort failed, collecting only 75% of the required signatures.