Learning Nothing From Their Self-Inflicted Open Meetings Fiasco, GOP Ready To Ignore Another Law

Last time, the statute-breaking was led by Gov. Scott Walker and State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, rushing their so-called Budget Repair Bill through an illegal vote, and spinning Wisconsin into FitzWalkerStan, Land of Recalls.

This time the same Republican strategists are getting ready to flout a new law - - their law - - requiring a two-thirds vote in the Legislature on any measure that raises taxes.

Remember that's what Republicans rushed into state law in February, right after Walker was elected, to outfox what they were sure would be tax increases proposed by Democrats some day.

Oops: Now the Republicans are advancing through the Committee on Joint Finance that they control a budget that raises taxes on the working poor - - something I pointed out three months ago and which has been there in plain sight since Walker's budget was leaked to me - - but since it's only an increase on the working poor - - and not on real people in the GOP's country-club world - - the Republicans feel they can ignore the new two-thirds' threshold they created.

Get ready to watch Republicans argue - - while hoisted awkwardly by their own petard - - that the tax increase that the Legislature's non-partisan advisory staff says is a tax increase somehow isn't a tax increase.

PolitiFact decided it was a tax increase and graded Walker down for breaking a campaign promise not to raise taxes.

Prediction: We'll witness Republicans pass their budget on a majority vote basis - - in other words, break the law - - and throw the state into fresh chaos. And into court, for sure.

Again.

You know what they say about people who keeping repeating the same bad, unproductive, self-defeating behaviors?