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Wisconsin Republicans Approve Bills Stripping Power From Incoming Democratic Governor Wisconsin Republicans Defiantly ‘Stand Like Bedrock’ in Face of Democratic Wins
(about 9 hours later)
MADISON, Wis. — After a rancorous, sleepless night of debate, Republican lawmakers early Wednesday pushed through a sweeping set of bills that will limit the power of Wisconsin’s newly elected Democrats, including the incoming governor and attorney general. MADISON, Wis. — When Wisconsin Republicans pushed through a sweeping set of bills Wednesday to limit the power of the state’s newly elected Democrats, it was another hardball maneuver by a man who has played a key role in driving the state sharply to the right.
The legislation, which Democrats vehemently opposed and protesters chanted their anger over, passed through the Republican-held State Legislature after hours of closed-door meetings and some amendments. The votes fell largely along party lines; no Democrats supported the measures. In the days after the Republican governor’s stunning loss last month — the end of eight years of one-party control of the state’s government — Robin Vos, the Republican speaker of the Assembly, was defiant.
“That’s what this is about: power-hungry politicians using their grubby hands in their last-ditch effort to desperately cling to power,” said State Representative Katrina Shankland, a Democrat, before the vote Wednesday morning. “All we’ve seen demonstrated today and over the past few days is a contempt for the public.” “We are going to stand like bedrock to guarantee that Wisconsin does not go back,” Mr. Vos told local reporters after the midterms.
The fight over power in Madison came after Republicans, who have controlled the state for the last eight years, lost the offices of governor and attorney general during the midterm elections. Tony Evers, a Democrat, defeated Scott Walker, a two-term governor who drew national attention with a brief run for president. Mr. Vos became the first official to publicly suggest that Republicans consider reining in the authority of the incoming Democratic governor, Tony Evers. “If there are areas where we could look and say, ‘Geez — have we made mistakes where we granted too much power to the executive,’” he told reporters, “I’d be open to taking a look to say what can we do to change that to try to rebalance it.”
Republicans explained the moves to limit the authority of the governor as part of a long-needed change in the balance of power, which they said had become tilted in favor of the executive branch. Robin Vos, the speaker of the Assembly, accused Democrats of fanning hysteria and overstating the effects of the bills. This week, during an extraordinary special legislative session, Republicans managed to do it. After hours of mysterious closed-door meetings that went past midnight, the Wisconsin Senate convened at 4:30 on Wednesday morning and passed by one vote a package of bills devised to curb the powers of the incoming Democratic leaders. The State Assembly followed suit by a much larger margin later in the morning.
The legislation was aimed at undermining Democrats. There would be a new limit on early voting, which tends to benefit Democratic candidates, after an election that saw record-breaking turnout. Lawmakers, not the governor, would control the majority of appointments on an economic development board. The legislation would also prevent Mr. Evers from banning guns in the Wisconsin Capitol without permission from legislators.
The bills would also require Mr. Evers to get permission from lawmakers to seek adjustments on programs run jointly by federal and state governments, such as public benefit programs. The legislation would block Mr. Evers’s ability to withdraw the state from a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act, a major campaign promise.
But the legislative package was so sprawling and rushed that many Democrats were still trying to assess the damage.
“Wisconsin has never seen anything like this,” Mr. Evers said in a statement. “Wisconsin values of decency, kindness, and finding common ground were pushed aside so a handful of people could desperately usurp and cling to power while hidden away from the very people they represent.”
Gov. Scott Walker, the one-time presidential hopeful, has signaled support for the measures, though he has yet to sign them.
For eight years, Mr. Vos has been an important ally to Mr. Walker as Wisconsin Republicans have carried out a series of uncompromising moves that stunned Democrats, sent protesters flooding into the Capitol and left lawmakers dazed in marathon hearings.
Together, they passed measures that crippled Wisconsin unions, a bedrock of Democratic Party power for years. In 2011, they cut benefits and collective bargaining rights for most public sector workers. In 2015, they pushed through a so-called right-to-work bill over the furious chants of labor union members.
“This all started a long time ago and it’s more of the same,” said Martha Laning, the chairwoman of the state’s Democratic Party. “This is what their leadership has been, but this time it’s more than just Democrats who are appalled by the level of this. This is as brazen as it gets, to do this after an election you don’t like.”
In recent days, Mr. Vos, 50, became the most visible, most fervent spokesman for the package of measures that would limit Mr. Evers’s power and strengthen that of lawmakers. Many of the bills introduced last week were proposed by a committee chaired by Mr. Vos, who is in his seventh term in the Assembly and became speaker in 2013 after serving as chairman of a powerful joint finance committee.
Mr. Vos, a former Racine County supervisor who has owned a popcorn packaging company, has a reputation in Madison as being a bulldog legislator who is effective at keeping party members in line.
The package of bills passed Wednesday take aim at the powers of not just the governor, but those of the newly elected Democratic attorney general, Josh Kaul. Under the legislation, the attorney general would need lawmakers’ approval to settle certain suits, and legislative leaders would be permitted to intervene and hire their own lawyers — in addition to the attorney general — if the constitutionality of a law was being challenged. The attorney general could no longer appoint a solicitor general to represent the state in major lawsuits, and would be restricted in how he spent settlement money, which lawmakers would now oversee.
Senators also confirmed 82 last-minute appointees of Mr. Walker’s despite the protestations of legislative Democrats, who said the candidates had not been thoroughly vetted, and of Mr. Evers, who asked that the posts remain vacant until he takes office in January. The posts ranged from the obscure, like the pharmacy examining board, to the high-profile and vital, such as the university board of regents.
During news conferences and on the floor of the Assembly this week, Mr. Vos defended the legislation as a necessary check on executive power and brushed aside claims of an undemocratic power grab. “What it does is make sure we have an equal amount of power at the table,” Mr. Vos said.
His tone was brusque at times, accusing the Democrats of fanning hysteria and overstating the effects of the bills.
“You are so grossly exaggerating the words of this bill it makes me sick,” Mr. Vos said.“You are so grossly exaggerating the words of this bill it makes me sick,” Mr. Vos said.
Democrats scoffed at that explanation, noting that Republicans had seemed perfectly satisfied with the balance of power when Mr. Walker held the role. Hundreds of protesters streamed to the Capitol as the debate went on over several days. Some carried signs with messages like “G.O.P. Grinch Stealing Democracy” and chanted “Shame! Shame! Shame!” during one hearing. Other times, Mr. Vos sounded more conciliatory. “I certainly don’t think that what Governor Evers ran on is evil. I think that he loves Wisconsin,” Mr. Vos said shortly before the final vote Wednesday. “No one here doesn’t respect the state. We have different paths to get to the same destination.”
Mr. Evers, the governor-elect, issued a statement on Wednesday expressing outrage, and accusing the Republicans of grabbing power against the wishes of the voters. But Gordon Hintz, the Democratic leader in the Assembly, said the legislation undermined the power of democratically elected officials.
“Wisconsin has never seen anything like this,” Mr. Evers said, adding at another point, “Wisconsin values of decency, kindness, and finding common ground were pushed aside so a handful of people could desperately usurp and cling to power while hidden away from the very people they represent.” “We’re here because you don’t trust Tony Evers and you don’t want to give up power,” he said. “You’re sore losers.”
The package of bills, which now awaits Mr. Walker’s signature, would limit early voting and, for the coming months, give lawmakers, not the governor, the majority of appointments on an economic development board. They also prevent Mr. Evers from banning guns in the Wisconsin Capitol without permission from legislators.
The bills would also require Mr. Evers to get permission from lawmakers to seek adjustments on programs run jointly by federal and state governments, such as public benefit programs.
And they would bar Mr. Evers from installing any political appointee whose confirmation is rejected by the Senate. (Current law allows a governor to renominate such appointees or allow them to serve as a provisional appointment.) The measures also include a provision requiring the corrections department, at lawmakers’ request, to publish online the names of prisoners pardoned by the governor or released before finishing their sentences.
“It provides more opportunity for oversight for a coequal branch of government,” Romaine Quinn, a Republican state representative, said of the measures.
But Gordon Hintz, the Democratic leader in the Assembly, said the legislation undermined the power of democratically elected officials. “We’re here because you don’t trust Tony Evers and you don’t want to give up power,” he said. “You’re sore losers.”
On state legal matters, the package of bills shifts more authority to lawmakers that would ordinarily be held by the state attorney general. A Democrat, Josh Kaul, was elected attorney general in November to replace the outgoing Republican.
Under the newly passed measures, the attorney general would need lawmakers’ approval to settle certain suits. Also, the measures would allow legislative leaders to intervene and hire their own lawyers — in addition to the attorney general — if the constitutionality of a law were being challenged. Under the new bills, the attorney general could no longer appoint a solicitor general to represent the state in major lawsuits, and would be restricted in how he spent settlement money, which lawmakers would now oversee.
As the debate went on in recent days, some measures were softened or removed by amendments, such as a proposal that lawmakers be able to completely remove the attorney general from some lawsuits.
On Tuesday, senators confirmed dozens of Mr. Walker’s political appointees despite protests by Mr. Evers, who called the last-minute installations an “example of putting politics before people.”