Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Walker's unrestrained vetoes get review by GOP-friendly panel

Only the logic of Gov. Evers' Safer-at-Home order which GOP politicians have vowed to upend kept Monday's video-linked session of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court from being an in-person All in the Family Republican Rightwing Reunion.

It's a little complicated; this Wisconsin State Journal story is a big help:
Wisconsin Supreme Court hears cases that could limit gubernatorial powers
One case challenges Evers' use of the powerful Wisconsin gubernatorial veto which Republicans had happily let Walker use when it suited their righty righteousness.

Too strong for you? Consider some of what's involved in the separate case up for review which involves only Walker - - his outrageous line-item legal vandalism including killing a program for 1,000 years, as the State Journal story explains:
The second case objects to two vetoes former Republican Gov. Scott Walker issued that extended the effective date of one legislative program from 2018 to 2078, and another from 2018 to 3018 by deleting two digits and a comma.
Mind you this is all up for review by a Wisconsin Supreme Court whose 5-2 conservative majority includes Justice Brian Hagedorn, who worked in Walker's office as legal counsel, and the recently-defeated-but-serving-until July 31-Daniel Kelly who, when in private practice, had defended Walker initiatives and sat on the advisory board of the conservative law firm arguing the case against Evers' vetoes. 

Like I said, it's complicated, this return of our ex-bad penny Governor.

And I know you're not supposed to guess how judges and justices will rule, but the current Wisconsin Supreme Court majority is as solidly pro-GOP as a Green Bay Packers home crowd is for the Green-and Gold.

Will the Court toss out any vestige of fairness, let alone non-partisanship and rule against Evers' vetoes and also validate Walker's monkey-wrenching?

Don't say they wouldn't go that far: this is the court which, minus Kelly, just forced thousands of Wisconsinites to vote in-person...in-a pandemic on April 7th, and we know of at least seven participants who lamentably can attest to the thoughtlessness of that dangerous precedent:
Wisconsin coronavirus infections linked to election day, health official says
Advocates say the spread was preventable and step up their push for mail-in voting.
But back to Walker's 1000-year-law-editing-deep freeze. Yes, it was a cavalier use of his official powers, but not surprising it you recall other games Walker played with words and laws.

* Remember when he changed state budgeting wording from "living wage" to a "minimum wage," thus further freezing the state's puny minimal wage for our state's neediest citizens at $7.25 an hour?

Scott Walker Strips Wisconsin Workers Of ‘Living Wage’ In New State Budget
* And don't forget how he tried to gut through budget language the truth-searching state principle known as the Wisconsin Idea, then claimed his ham-handed effort was a 'drafting error.'
Editorial: Scott Walker got caught attacking the Wisconsin Idea, lied about it and then got caught lying
* And he played a version of his truth-stuffing power game right to the very end.
Walker signs lame-duck bills, no line-item vetoes
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