Hope Does Not Change Mining Bill

A few days ago, the Journal Sentinel editorial board hoped that GOP legislators managing the mining bill towards a speedy approval - - and Wednesday night's 17-16 State Senate vote makes that a certainty, given Republican domination in the Assembly - - would be reasonable and open to improving a bill the editorial board was liking more and more :

...we hope the Republican majority - which has made this measure its No. 1 priority in jobs bills - doesn't rush the bill through at the expense of sound amendments.

At the time, I had this to say about the editorial board's argument:

*  The editorial board says it hopes the GOP legislative leadership does not rush the bill through to passage without fair consideration of sound amendments.

In fact, that has been exactly what has been happening because the bill is Scott Walker's #1 priority, and he and the GOP are still smarting over the bill's defeat last year.

On the matter of credible consideration of substantial changes, ask Democratic State Sen. Tim Cullen how his alternative proposal, created with public and scientific input, fared in final bill drafting.

And there would be little need for amendments if the bill-drafting process hadn't been open to the mining company and closed to officials and experts representing environmental issues and Native Americans living downstream from the mine site with a water-based rice-growing culture. 

Well, power is as power does, and the GOP leadership kept the pedal to the floor, as The Journal Sentinel reported:

Democrats sought changes to the mining bill on Monday when the bill came before the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee and again Wednesday on the Senate floor. Republicans rejected all their proposals.