Update: WI Mayor Gives Labor Council an Ultimatum After GOP Banned From Parade

Yesterday The Blaze reported on a county labor council president in Wisconsin who said he was banning Republican lawmakers from the city of Wausau's Labor Day Parade, an event which the council sponsors. Now Wassau's Mayor has shot down the ban, saying that because the city of Wausau pays for a portion of the parade's costs including liability insurance, the event is required to be non-partisan.

In fact, Mayor Jim Tipple delivered an ultimatum to the local labor council via WSAW-TV:

The Mayor's office released in a statement:

"The banning of a political party from participation at any event co-sponsored by the City is against public policy and not in the best interest of all the citizens of the City of Wausau. And therefore, we encourage the event organizer to invite all interested parties, or reimburse the city for other costs."

All in all, Hot Air describes what this means in plain English:

The mayor of Wausau has responded with an ultimatum to the union board — reimburse the city for all costs or reinvite the Republicans.

[...]

I’m guessing that after blowing tens of millions of dollars on failed recall efforts, the unions won’t have a lot of cash to reimburse Wausau for its costs, and that Republicans will once again be invited to participate in the parade.

The President of the Marathon County Labor Council Randy Radtke, is upset GOP lawmakers supported the legislation signed by Republican Governor Scott Walker on issues Walker campaigned on in the 2010 gubernatorial election, where Walker won with 52% of the electorate.

According to WAOW-TV, Radtke says Labor Day is about honoring hard-working people and, in his opinion, “Republicans don’t represent those values.”

WSAW reports that department heads like Wausau's fire chief Gary Buchberger say they'll still participate in the parade despite the controversy.

"We are an integral part of the community and we want to support these kinds of things we have in the past and we have every intention of trying to do so in the future," Buchberger told WSAW.

The usually fun, family-orientated parade is set for 4:00p.m. September 5. Mayor Tipple told WSAW that he is confident the conflict will be resolved in a few days, but hopes there won't be any protests on Labor Day.

(H/T: Hot Air)