Walker re-appears...as the same petty partisan we knew him to be

Our Fair Governor emerged from hiding late this week to talk to the media about his loss in a bid for a third term, and the plans that his fellow WisGOPs have floated which would prevent successor Tony Evers from being able to do the same things Scott Walker could.

2 days after claiming he stayed quiet in the name of “civility”, Walker showed on Thursday he was still the same scummy, partisan lowlife that he’s been for all of his 25 years of grifting off of Wisconsin taxpayers. Not only did he indicate he was fine with taking away some powers from Gov-elect Evers, but Scotty came up with a typically lame excuse for doing so.

Walker acknowledged the changes being considered could give lawmakers more appointees to boards for the state Building Commission and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. — which would dilute the influence of the governor’s appointees to those boards.

“Most of what’s likely to come up between now and Jan. 7 is more of a reflection of codifying the practice that we’ve had in the past,” Walker said.

What the hell is he talking about? Walker and WisGOP have consolidated power into the Governor’s Office and his lackeys at the Department of Administration for the last 8 years. The only way you “codify” that is by allowing Evers also take advantage of that consolidation of power, and appoint his own people to those boards.

What WisGOP (and apparently Walker) want to do is the OPPOSITE of codifying what was done in the Age of Fitzwalkerstan. They want to make Evers operate under different rules than Walker did, with less direct power and oversight to mold these organizations as he sees fit.

Sorry Tony, only I get to do these things.

We can debate whether de-centralizing some of these powers would be a good or bad thing (it was sickening how the WisGOP Legislature allowed Walker to grab so much control over the last 8 years). But that should be done after Evers takes office, because perhaps Tony will propose some “good government” reforms that should be put in place as well. The fact that WisGOP isn’t asking for Evers’ input reveals this to be a brazen power play.

And the power play got even more blatant and disgusting Thursday, when GOP Legislative leaders said they wanted to move Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential primary for reasons that had nothing to do with the presidential race.

Republicans for a year have been concerned about the 2020 state Supreme Court race because it will be held alongside Wisconsin's presidential primary — when Democratic turnout is expected to far outpace Republican turnout because Democrats will be deciding who in their party will challenge President Donald Trump.

That turnout imbalance could spell trouble for Justice Daniel Kelly, whom Walker appointed to the high court in 2016.

Legislative leaders have been discussing moving the April 2020 primary, possibly to March of that year. No decisions have been made on whether to advance the plan, according to four Republicans familiar with the discussions …

Moving the presidential primary would tack on costs for taxpayers. Clerks would need to hold three elections that spring — a February primary for Supreme Court and local elections, an April general election for those races and the presidential primary.

But as we’ve seen with redistricting and lawsuits against settled laws like the ACA and marriage equality, when has running up taxpayer costs for partisan politics stopped WisGOP before?

Cut from the same scuzzy cloth.

I also can’t let go of this line of bunk from Governor Dropout that appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal’s summary of his word salad.

Walker said Thursday that he finds it odd that a nonpartisan election, such as the Supreme Court election, would be held on the same date as a partisan election, such as the presidential primary.

Oh, that’s news to you, Scotty? Because it’s no different than it was in 2016, when appointed Walker/GOP hack Rebecca Bradley won her Supreme Court race against JoAnn Kloppenburg on the same day that voters in both parties chose Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz in the presidential primary.

I didn’t recall your concern back then, likely because AM talk radio goosed up enough sheep so that 100,000 more people voted in the GOP primary than the Dem one, which helped Bigoted Becky win a 10-year term. And by the way, why do you guys care so much about rigging elections for “Justice”? Afraid of what an honest judge that’s not owned by WMC, the Federalist Society and other right-wing oligarchs might find?

This statement from our soon-to-be ex-Governor was also rich.

Walker also suggested the changes he and lawmakers adopted the last eight years may have left them with little more to do.

“We’ve been such reformers, I may have reformed myself out of a job,” Walker said.

Oh, “reformed your way out a job”? Is that what you call 7 straight years of bottom-half job growth (including 42nd in the US over the last 12 months measured), underfunded schools that are closing and/or in need of continual referenda, a massive increase in both Scott-holes AND wheel taxes to fix those Scott-holes, and unprecedented corporate welfare and corruption?

Don’t flatter yourself, Scotty. You earned your rejection on November 6. And the garbage you tried shelling out on Thursday shows that have learned nothing from it except to double down and spin and grift some more.

The way Walker and his fellow WisGOPs are acting in the wake of a clear statewide rebuke means they need to be exiled from any power at the Capitol for all of the 2020s. It’s going to be a long road back to restore Wisconsin from the Banana Republic(an) place it has become under GOP rule, and it’s clear that WisGOPs will not be partners in that restoration. Gov-elect Evers better realize that, too.