So what might WisGOPs try to take away from Evers in the next 8 weeks?

Well, the plot thickens at the Capitol, as Senate GOP Leader Scott Fitzgerald agreed with Assembly Speaker Vos on considering moves to limit the power of the Governor’s Office before Tony Evers takes office.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says GOP lawmakers want to increase legislative authority on things such voter ID rules, but pushed back at the suggestion he and Republicans are trying to undermine Dem Gov.-elect Tony Evers.

With Republicans set to lose the executive branch, Fitzgerald said he and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos are interested in codifying GOP moves in recent years on things such as the makeup of certain state boards. He said the list under consideration is “as long as my arm.”

Fitzgerald pointed toward the WEDC as a priority given Evers’ campaign trail pronouncement he’d gut it and replace it with the old Department of Commerce. Still, Fitzgerald said Republicans have no interest in taking away the governor’s power to appoint the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, an agency Evers has said he’s looking to shake up.

Gee, why would Republicans want to try to limit Evers’ power to oversee voting laws and ability to put new people in charge of the GOP slush fund of tax dollars known as WEDC? Odd, isn’t it?

Why do you care now, Fitz?

But the most common limitations on Evers that the GOPs will likely try involve the oversight of rules and related abilities to carry out laws. Right now, unless laws are passed that specifically outline what can or cannot be done to deal with regulations and statutes, it’s largely up to the Governor’s Office to explain how state agencies will carry out those laws. The Governor’s Office can throw proposed rules and procedures down to the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (they have another meeting next week, ironically), and usually they’re signed off on as a formality.

My guess is that the GOPs in the Legislature won’t be so willing to allow things to go through under Governor Evers, and will try to hamstring the ability of these agencies to carry out laws (especially if the new rules might hurt some GOP donors). They will likely do the same for ruling boards where the governor appoints some or all of the members (click here to read the extensive list), and have more oversight over who the governor can put on those boards.

Many of these boards deal with mundane items such as the regulation of cemeteries or CPAs or how to maintenance snowmobile trails or promotion of the arts in Wisconsin. But some are very big deals, such as 2 of the 6 spots on the State Elections Commission, almost all the seats on the UW Board of Regents (where Evers is about the only Dem left on the 18-member group). The Governor currently also appoints people to the insurance board that helps arrange and decide benefits for hundreds of thousands of public employees, and puts in all 3 members of the Labor and Industry Review Commission, which handles the following items.

The Commission is a quasi-judicial body, which handles petition seeking review of the decisions of the Department of Workforce Development related to unemployment insurances, worker’s compensation, fair employment, and public accommodations. It also hears appeals about discrimination in post-secondary education involving a person’s physical condition or developmental disability.

I think it’s safe to say that Evers’ appointees to that board might have different opinions on how to interpret those cases than people that were put on the LIRC by the corporately-bought Walker.

This is where Evers' election can make a major difference after 8 years of WisGOP and the Walker Administration stripping independence from these boards along with other aspects of state government. And don’t the ALEC-GOPs know it, which is why they’re considering these moves to change and/or take over these boards before Evers can put his people in place.

It leads to one final act of Scott Walker’s tenure as governor, as he would have to sign on to any legislation that Vos and Fitzgerald try to get through in a lame-duck session. After grabbing so much over the last 8 years, is Scotty going to disallow Evers or any other future governor from using that power? It would be the ultimate dick move to nuke Evers’ ability to put a stamp on those boards and rules as Walker is heading out the door, but Walker is enough of a partisan hack that I could see him not caring.

Whether Walker decides to allow the GOP Legislature to take back this control is strongly related to whether Scotty wants an electoral career in Wisconsin in future years. If he wants to run again for governor or some other office in the state in the future, blowing more things up on the way out the door would not be something he’d want as the last thing for voters to remember him by. It’s hard to tell what Walker is thinking or planning to do, because he ducked out on his supporters on Election Night, and has been holed up at the Governor’s Mansion tweeting cryptic Bible verses in the 3 days since he lost (UNINTIMIDATED!).

You going to ride off quietly, Desperado?

As Rachel Maddow frequently says, “Watch this space.” Unlike what Scotty tried to claim earlier this year when he wanted to avoid having elections to fill legislative seats, it looks like there’s a lot of action left to be had at the Capitol before Evers takes the oath of office in January. Some of these limitations may even be good ideas (heck, I wish the DNR Secretary was an elected position), but there’s no doubt that this new concern from Vos and Fitz about the consolidation of power has 100% to do with GOP partisan hackery vs any interest in good, clean government.