Lame Duck Madness, and the laughably dishonest takes from WisGOP that result

As the Lame Duck goofiness goes on, it's nice to finally see some Journal-Sentinel reporters throwing serious shade when the WisGOPs try to BS them. It's almost like they sense the national media's eyes going onto them.

Hours before @ScottWalker said this, @SenFitzgerald said lawmakers had been working with Walker’s top aide in finalizing the package of bills to be taken up. https://t.co/6oZHVin0Ne

— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) December 4, 2018

Nice "plausible deniability" act, Governor. I imagine this was also done all on the phone and with in-person meetings to duck records as well. No wonder why this guy ducked the media after choosing today for the annual "lighting the Capitol Christmas Tree" photo op.

On Nov. 8, @SenFitzgerald told reporters the Legislature would "respect Tony Evers like we have any other governor and we’ll work with him." And that measures addressing rule-making don't have "anything to do with Tony Evers." https://t.co/28FC90bsrq

— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) December 3, 2018

Gotta love how Fitz keeps giving away the game. Kind of like his most famous gaffe, which happened after another attempted sneak attack bill in early 2011 (with a special guest appearance by Megyn Kelly!).

And let's not leave out the other GOP Legislative leader in the "BS and secrecy" parade.

Why not tell the public when began drafting bills months ago? @SpeakerVos says he was discussing the ideas at @NCSLorg and says media chose not to cover it.

Reporters did not receive a press release about these proposals. https://t.co/jkF1ZBTdru

— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) December 3, 2018

Lastly, let's give you another one from our Grifter Guv, who I just saw on video (Channel 27 in Madison) say the lame-duck session was fine because "the Legislature was elected in a term that ends in January, just like my term ends in January."

March 2018 Scott Walker would like a word.

It would be senseless to waste taxpayer money on special elections just weeks before voters go to the polls when the Legislature has concluded its business. https://t.co/GKFmfKcaPY

— Governor Walker (@GovWalker) March 23, 2018

Wonder what changed?

The level of cynicism from these guys is beyond insulting. And if you're going to be cynical, can't you pathetic WisGOPs at least try to be good at it? We have the Google and the Twitter, you know!

EDIT- Add Wisconsin State Journal editor Matt DeFour to the list of "media throwing shade at WISGOP."

You can tell it's good public policy because the 43 proposals were introduced late on a Friday, up for a public hearing and vote in one committee the next Monday, taken up by both houses of the Legislature Tuesday with debate behind closed doors until a 6 a.m. vote Wednesday. https://t.co/3cQJpMerQL

— Matthew DeFour (@WSJMattD4) December 5, 2018

Walker Admin planned for more Scottholes, and Lame Duck bills may have made it worse

This article from the Daily Reporter reminded me of something I and many others had let slide – the updated WisDOT budget request.

The Daily Reporter article mentioned that one part of that request is that WisDOT wanted to be able to borrow for more types of projects around the state.

In its 2020-2021 biennial budget request, WisDOT proposes changing Wisconsin law to allow so-called Transportation Revenue Bonds to be used for its State Highway Rehabilitation program, which pays for highway and bridge improvements. State law now prevents these sorts of transportation bonds, which are backed by registration and other vehicle-related fees in the state’s transportation fund, from being used for anything other than the agency’s Major Highway Development program. That program deals with costly and complex projects such as the ongoing reconstruction of Interstate 39/90 between Madison and the Illinois state line….

WisDOT’s budget request calls for changing state law to expand the department’s borrowing powers to allow debt to be used for rehabilitation projects. The plan proposes using $26.4 million worth of transportation-revenue bonds in the 2020-2021 budget period to make up for a expected shortfall of transportation revenue and cutting the amount of bonding allowed for the major highway development program by $34.8 million.

It’s a relatively cosmetic change, if you think that “all DOT money is green” and that revenues shouldn’t be segregated much based on what the project is. But the expansion of what projects canbe borrowed for masks a bigger story that appears inside the updated budget request (which you can read by clicking here). And it also is in the Daily Reporter article.

The budget, meanwhile, proposes cutting $198 million from the state’s major highway program and adding $153.5 million to its highway rehabilitation program. Such a change would be in line with how Walker said he’d pay for infrastructure projects if he won re-election this year — by placing a priority on highway maintenance and repairs rather than large interstate projects and giving local governments more cash for roads.

Read that again – Walker’s DOT wanted to cut $198 million from projects such as Madison’s Beltline, I-39/90 south of Madison, Highway 15 in Outagamie County, Highway 23 between Sheboygan and Fond du Lac, and Highway 50 west of Kenosha. It also would come on top of a cut of $77 million in the current 2017-19 budget, which means we would fall even further behind over the 2019-21 biennium for these projects, as well as new needs that may come up.

More coming without changes

But it's even worse than that. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau just released their "Plainer English" summary of the budget requests, and it mentions that borrowing is also reduced in the 2019-21 DOT budget request.

Highway borrowing, FY 2019 vs 2019-21 budget request
2018-19 base $192.8 million
2019-20 request $62.7 million
2020-21 request $62.1 million

In addition, the budget request expects a cut from the deficit-wracked Federal government of $15 million over the next 2 years. Put it together, and the 2019-21 WisDOT budget requests cuts overall spending on highways each year by at least $150 million compared to what we're spending now. And what we're spending now is a decline of $173 million compared to what we spent in 2017-18 (which granted, is inflated due to a $160 million grant to pay for I-94 improvements near Foxconn). Major freeway projects are projected to have significant reductions throughout the state.

Let me remind you that these figures are before we inflation, which seems especially concerning with material costs increasing.

So did Wisconsin Republicans use this lame duck session to possibly send more money to highway projects and put the finances on a better footing going into the next budget? OF COURSE NOT. Instead they installed handcuffs on what Tony Evers’ DOT might spend money on. This provision in the Lame Duck Bills is an example.

Limitation on the Use of Federal Funds on State Highway Project Types. For those projects on which the Department expends federal moneys, require DOT to expend federal moneys on not less than 70% of the aggregate project components eligible for federal funding each fiscal year for the following project types: (a) southeast Wisconsin freeway megaprojects; (b) major highway development projects; and (c) state highway rehabilitation (SHR) projects with a total cost of less than $10 million. This provision would limit the use of federal funds for these project types to not less than 70% of the aggregate federally eligible project components.

Specify that if the Department determines that it cannot meet this requirement or if it could make more effective and efficient use of federal moneys, DOT would be able to submit a proposed alternate funding plan to the Joint Committee on Finance. Provide that if the Co-Chairs of the Committee do not notify the Department within 14 working days after the date of DOT's submittal that the Committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the proposed plan, the Department would be able to expend moneys as proposed in the plan. Specify that if within 14 working days after the date of the submittal, the Co-Chairs of the Committee notify the Department that the Committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the proposed plan, DOT would be able to expend moneys as proposed in the plan only upon approval of the Committee.

The LFB went on to add that such a restriction on where federal money could go might lower the amount of redistribution aid the state gets from the Feds (basically money left over from prior projects nationwide), because there are fewer projects that WisDOT can use that money on. And yes, this is the same redistribution money that Scott Walker once claimed would be a way to fill WisDOT’s budget holes.

This plan didn't quite work out.

In addition to the hands-tying when it comes to federal money, “small government” GOPs on the Joint Finance added on to the lame duck DOT bill Monday night that would have put further restrictions and requirements on local road construction projects, but it didn’t make the cut the next day.

The Joint Finance Committee amended the bill to add a prohibition on local governments from using their own workforce or contracting with another political subdivision for a local road or bridge project funded, in whole or in part, with state money. The provision also says local governments would have to bid out any local road or bridge project funded with state money.

But that piece of the bill was removed Tuesday as GOP Sen. Duey Stroebel, who authored the amendment, said the JFC change wasn’t meant to prohibit local governments from doing their own road work.

Oh NOOOO, WisGOP didn’t want to cut the need for local government employees and funnel more business to road construction contractors (and donors). NOOOOO, total coincidence!

That goes into the other reason this provision was jammed into the Lame Duck bills as opposed to the regular budget. Because it is an attempt to have more highway projects be funded entirely by state dollars, which allows contractors to avoid prevailing wages and other Federal work rules, making for another nice anti-worker provision to shove through before a Governor Evers could veto it.

The DOT budget request also reminds us that while the major highway projects are being cut, and new debt is projected to be cut, paying off all versions of previous DOT debt will cost the Transportation Fund $38 million more than the base amount going into 2019. And while there are reductions in the total borrowing, it's still over $133 million more that we'd put on the credit card, and that'll have to be paid back with interest at a later point as well.

So the the Walker Administration was planning to continue their spiral of more money for debt along with less money spent to fix the roads that have so many Scottholes in this state already. Fortunately, they won't be around to screw things up further, but it illustrates just what a mess that mentality has put us in, as the Evers Administration takes over in a month.

GOP is down the tubes, and past the point of negotiation

I was busy having a tremendous Dorf Haus Christmas experience and hanging with friends, so not much time to discuss today's (still ongoing) hearing about the Lame Duck bills. Instead I'll temporarily defer to the great Charlie Pierce, who notes that today's GOP has gone so far down the tubes, that total defeat is the only option left when it comes to dealing with these Confederates.

If the American democratic republic is to survive, the Republican Party as it is presently constituted has to go. It has to be ripped from the political landscape, root and branch, and burned to ashes, which then have to be scattered in the sea off Antarctica, of which there is a lot more these days because the Republican Party as it is presently constituted doesn't give a damn if the planet burns.

But that's for another post. Not until the Republican Party as it is presently constituted has been wiped from the memory of man can a sensible, reason-based, science-friendly center-right party rise in its place. The Republican Party as it is presently constituted exists solely to launder corporate money, and its primary national imperatives are bigotry, plutocracy, and ratfcking. It doesn't believe in constitutional norms any more than it believes in climate science. The prion disease has progressed beyond all recall. The Republican Party as it is presently constituted needs to be put out of its misery before we are put out of ours.

And after running through the many absurdities of the Lame Duck bills, Pierce ends it well.

I suppose Evers is lucky that they don't try to defund his office supplies.

This is very much a national story, and it is a national story because it illustrates perfectly how fully the prion disease has destroyed the higher functions of the Republican brain. The Republican Party as it is presently constituted is the greatest threat to the American republic since Appomattox. It needs to die, fast and hard, and the ground salted so that it does not rise again.

And that's why removing Scott Walker and the statewide elected Republicans is merely a small first step, and that we have to keep blasting. Because these guys (and a few gals) will not play fair, and will not work with us to improve the state and country that we care for. In fact, that is a threat to their agenda.

These thugs in the GOP know what they're doing is wrong, both in Madison and in Washington DC. But they don't care, because they don't believe in public service. Today's Republicans believe that politics and governing exist for one reason - to acquire as much power and money for themselves and their allies as possible, and they rig elections and laws to continue those acquisitions.

Despair is what they and their Koched-up puppetmasters want, so we give up and walk away from caring about politics. Instead, we should hit back harder, and never let up. Maybe enough of this garbage gets knocked down in the coming days, and not all of these absurdities get passed.

But the experience of the 2010s has told me that there are nearly no good Republican politicians. My theme instead is "Votes, not quotes", until proven otherwise. And that especially goes for "reasonable moderates" like Luther Olsen, Robert Cowles, and Howard ("I'm an Independentin My Ads" Marklein). You can stop the madness, and if you choose not to, then you're worse than lowlifes like Vos and Fitz.

More changes at the top in Wisconsin

I was saying during today's debacle that if the Packers were to somehow lose to the horrible 2-9 Cardinals, they should pull the plug on McCarthy as head coach tonight. Then they did....and they did.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this. But why waste everyone's time over the last 4 weeks? Or worse, get false hope with a 3-1 finish against bad competition. Just end this, send the message that a great NFL job with a Hall of Fame QB is open.

First Walker and now McCarthy are gone? In less than a month? Things really are moving forward in this state, arent they?

Lame duck madness pt. 3 - More micromanaging, more paperwork

The next part about the GOP Legislature's lame duck bills (click here for a review) that I want to go over is how these bills go even further than you know in trying to direct how Gov-elect Tony Evers and other elected Dems should do their jobs, and trying to prevent any plans to level the social playing field.

The first comes as a method of controlling labor standards on Wisconsin DOT projects, and in ordering the Wisconsin DOT how they should spend money that they receive from the US DOT.

1. Limitation on the Use of Federal Funds on State Highway Project Types. For those projects on which the Department expends federal moneys, require DOT to expend federal moneys on not less than 70% of the aggregate project components eligible for federal funding each fiscal year for the following project types: (a) southeast Wisconsin freeway megaprojects; (b) major highway development projects; and (c) state highway rehabilitation (SHR) projects with a total cost of less than $10 million. This provision would limit the use of federal funds for these project types to not less than 70% of the aggregate federally eligible project components.
Specify that if the Department determines that it cannot meet this requirement or if it could make more effective and efficient use of federal moneys, DOT would be able to submit a proposed alternate funding plan to the Joint Committee on Finance. Provide that if the Co-Chairs of the Committee do not notify the Department within 14 working days after the date of DOT's submittal that the Committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the proposed plan, the Department would be able to expend moneys as proposed in the plan. Specify that if within 14 working days after the date of the submittal, the Co-Chairs of the Committee notify the Department that the Committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the proposed plan, DOT would be able to expend moneys as proposed in the plan only upon approval of the Committee....

2. DOT Oversight of Local Projects. Require DOT to notify the political subdivision of whether any aid provided to these subdivisions includes federal moneys and which project components must be paid for with federal moneys, if any.

Provide that for any local project meeting both of the following criteria, DOT could not require a local government to comply with any portion of the Department's facilities development manual other than design standards: (a) the project proposal is reviewed and approved by a professional engineer or by the highway commissioner for the county in which the project will be located; and (b) the project is conducted by a political subdivision with no expenditure of federal money.

While some of this may sound good, as a method of giving greater oversight of these block grants and letting local governments know where their funds are coming from, there is a more nefarious reason for these provisions. It allows for certain projects to be entirely funded with state and local money, which exempts them from prevailing wage requirements and other federal labor rules, and these parts also try to reduce flexibility for the Evers Administration and the Wisconsin DOT in using block grant funds...which GOPs used to favor because of their flexibility.

Hey GOPs, you guys fear this guy might do something right, don't you?

Several provisions require more paperwork and other micromanaging of state agencies, and this next one grabbed my attention as especially petty and egregious.

1. Pardon and Release Report. Require the Department of Corrections, at the request of the Legislature, to post on its website and submit to the Chief Clerk of each house of the Legislature a report regarding individuals who, since the previous report was submitted or during a date range specified in the request, were pardoned or released from prison without completing the imprisonment portion of their sentence. The report must identify the individual's name, the crime for which he or she was convicted, and the name of the person who pardoned the individual or authorized the release of the individual before the individual completed his or her sentence. In addition, if an individual appears on a report required under the provision is convicted of a crime, the report must identify the individual's name and the crime. "Completing his or her sentence" is not defined in the provision or under current law.

While I'm generally a fan of more data being used to guide policy effectiveness, this is not what this provision is about. This is clearly intended to lead into race-based "soft on crime" talking points, as Evers has mentioned that he wants to reduce the state's prison population (and related costs) via earlier releases of certain inmates.

And unlike prior practice, the GOP Legislature now wants veto power over Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul if the State of Wisconsin is part of any kind of court settlement or similar type of ruling.

Require that, if an action is for injunctive relief or there is a proposed consent decree, the Attorney General must submit the settlement or compromise plan to the Joint Committee on Finance for passive review. If the Committee does not schedule a meeting to review the plan within 14 days, the Attorney General may proceed, but, if the Committee does schedule a meeting, the Attorney General may proceed only with the approval of the Committee. Further, provide that the Attorney General may not submit a proposed settlement plan to the Committee in which the plan concedes the unconstitutionality or other invalidity of a statute or concedes that a statute violates or is preempted by federal law without the approval of JCLO.

There's a related provision later on that also tries to tell what AG-elect Kaul has to do with the money his office generates.

3. Gifts and Grants Appropriations. Convert the Department of Justice gifts and grants appropriations under law enforcement and administrative service programs from continuing appropriations to annual, all monies received appropriations.

In other words, this turns that money (much of which involves law enforcement grants from the US DOJ and FBI) from into "use it or lose it" instead of allowing Kaul and DOJ to keep the money and use it at a later point. It also allows for the Legislature to lapse any of that money back to the General Fund to use in other ways, if they want.

I don't necessarily mind that there be notification of a plan of how to use any settlement or grant money, so we don't get situations like we saw under current AG Brad Schimel, where the state got $4 million to test rape kits and Schimel sat on those funds for more than a year without testing thousands of kits. But again, we know that's not what this is about.

What it is about is to try to neuter the AG-elect and Gov-elect from doing things that hurt the fee-fees of the gerrymandered Legislature. And it's a method of chilling them from trying to go after the ALEC crew's donors that pollute or prevent certain types of disparities in outcomes or human rights that the GOPs are more than comfortable with.

These items may not fire up the emotions like messing around with voting rights and election days, but it might be worse when it comes to everyday operations of government in Wisconsin. Which of course, is the cynical goal of the ALEC crew that's in charge of the gerrymandered Legislature.

Lame-duck madness pt.2 - More GOP election-rigging

Now onto the real scumminess with WisGOP's "lame duck" bills - their latest attempts to mess with Wisconsin elections. The item that's gotten the most attention is the proposal to move the 2020 presidential primary to March instead of its current scheduled date of April, and GOP Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald didn't even try to disguise the reason.

Fitzgerald, speaking to reporters after Senate Republicans met privately Tuesday, acknowledged there are political ramifications to the debate on moving the state’s upcoming presidential primary, now slated for April 7, 2020. That’s also when Justice Daniel Kelly, a Walker appointee, could stand for election to a 10-year term on the high court...

Moving the presidential vote could help Kelly because Democrats are expected to have a wide-open fight for their party’s presidential nomination — and high turnout among their supporters — in 2020, while Republicans would have a quiet primary if President Donald Trump is renominated without serious challenge.

“Certainly there’s many people that think that Justice Kelly would have a better chance if there’s not really this competitive Democrat primary for president,” Fitzgerald said.

That's DemocratIC primary to you, fat man.

At least you're an honest sleazeball

And does the lame-duck bill have any money that will help local communities pay for such a move? OF COURSE NOT. This adds yet another burden to local Wisconsin governments that are so broke that they've added numerous wheel taxes in recent years, and many held referenda this November to maintain police, fire and social services. So now each community has to come up with enough money in 2020 to hold FIVE statewide elections (3 in Spring, August primary, and November presidential election) because of this GOP BS?

In addition, the GOP wants to lessen the ability of Wisconsinites to vote early, after Madison and Milwaukee had several weeks and sites for early voting in this November's election, which assisted in the high turnout that helped beat Scott Walker and Brad Schimel. Even the Legislative Fiscal Bureau admits that this GOP plan is likely to be found illegal...again.

2. In-Person Application Dates for Absentee Ballots. Modify the dates during which a qualified elector may apply for an absentee ballot in-person such that applications may be made no earlier than the third Saturday preceding the election and no later than the Friday preceding the election. Modify the days during which an application may be received such that an application may only be received Monday to Saturday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Under current law, a qualified elector may apply for an absentee ballot in-person no earlier than the third Monday preceding the election and no later than the Friday preceding the election. Currently under statute, applications may be received Monday to Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. However, it should be noted that in One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that the state-imposed limits on days and times for in-person absentee voting are unconstitutional, with the exception of the prohibition applicable to the Monday before Election Day.

At the same time, the WisGOP plan removes burdens on military voters, and gives them a benefit of the doubt that other Wisconsinites don't get.

3. Voting Procedures for Military and Overseas Electors. Modify current law to specify that an individual signing the witness certification for an absentee ballot cast by a military elector or overseas elector need not be a United States citizen. Provide that all overseas electors may receive absentee ballots electronically, regardless of whether such electors are considered permanently or temporarily overseas. The bill would modify current law so that it complies with the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. This provision is identical to 2017 Assembly Bill 947, as introduced.

By the way, I think this is a good provision, but I can't help but ask why WisGOP doesn't think it isn't good enough for the rest of us.

As Craig Gilbert noted yesterday in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, it's the higher-population, higher-educated areas in Wisconsin that have turned away from the GOP in the last 2 elections.

This map compares the election results by county in Wisconsin with the 2000 and 2004 presidential races, then,compared it to the votes in the 2016 presidential race and 2018 governor's race. All of these races were decided by less than 30,000 votes, but Gilbert notes there was a major difference in how many places in Wisconsin voted in the late 2010s vs the early 2000s,

This doesnt seem like a sustainable situation for WISGOP, because the areas that are turning bluer are higher-educated areas with growing populations, while the reddest areas are generally places where people are leaving and dying.

It's so telling to me that WisGOP's reaction to being defeated in all 5 statewide races this November isn't to question why people chose Democrats instead of them, and possibly change their policies or approach. Instead, they double down on the scummy tactics that have turned so many educated people away from them in the first place, and this type of Thunderdome BS is something that decent people are not going to forget.

Especially because it reiterates that there ARE NO DECENT REPUBLICANS. Not if they shove through this garbage in a post-election lame-duck session.

Lame-duck madness pt. 1 - Ignoring voters by tying Evers and Kaul's hands

I've had an evening to digest the numerous provisions in the Wisconsin GOP's power-grab during this lame duck session, which they're trying to jam through in a matter of 4 days. There's so much crap here that it has to be split up into a few subjects, so let's start with a discussion about how these thugs are planning to handcuff Gov-elect Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul.

In going over the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's summary of the lame duck bills, let me begin with this simple one-paragraph part, which underscores a continual theme of these bills - to allow the Legislature to micro-manage state agencies that are now going to be run by Evers and Kaul.

Rule-Making Authority for Federal Compliance Plans. Provide that a plan that is submitted to the federal government for the purpose of complying with a requirement of federal law does not confer rule-making authority and cannot be used by an agency as authority to promulgate rules. Further, provide that no agency may agree to promulgate a rule as a component of a compliance plan unless the agency has explicit statutory authority to promulgate the rule at the time the compliance plan is submitted.

In other words, if state has federal money and has to put together a plan that follows the law that the feds have to sign off (a relatively common thing across a lot of agencies), the Legislature says they get to be the ones to decide what gets sent to DC. This is absurd, and likely illegal, because most of these grants go to "Wisconsin Department of _____" and not the state itself. The transparent reason for this is to prevent the Evers Administration from doing something with its programs that might be different than the cruelty and/or corruption that the Walker Administration and WisGOP planned when the program was set up.

A similar provision allows for a legislative committee (which will be dominated by members of the gerrymandered GOP Legislature) to hold up new rules that the Evers Administration might make for new laws and policies. This is also a common part of day-to-day governance, because after a bill gets passed into law, the various agencies have to figure out how to implement those laws.

Under the lame duck bills, the Legislature is allowed to hold up these new rules as long as they want.

Joint Committee on Administrative Rules Suspension of Rules. Provide that the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCRAR) may suspend a rule multiple times.

Under current law, administrative rules that are in effect may be temporarily suspended by JCRAR. If JCRAR suspends a rule, JCRAR must introduce bills in each house of the Legislature to make the suspension permanent. If neither bill to support the suspension is ultimately enacted, the rule may remain in effect and JCRAR may not suspend the rule again.

The JCRAR wouldn't even have to come up with a reason. They could just say "Nope, come back with something else" as many times as they want. This has the goal of making these programs ineffective and confusing, and then the GOPs can blame the resulting dysfunction on the Evers Administration.

These lame duck bills try to do the same type of micromanagement to Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul. Especially this part, which basically says the gerrymandered GOP Legislature could choose a different lawyer to represent the state instead of the elected AG.

a. Notice to Legislature of Claims Relating to Constitutionality of Statutes; Legislative Intervention. Require a party that alleges that a statute is unconstitutional, or in violation of or preempted by federal law, to serve the Speaker of the Assembly, the President of the Senate, and the Senate Majority Leader with a copy of the proceeding. Also require that, in such cases, the Assembly, the Senate, and the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization (JCLO) are entitled to be heard, representing the Legislature and the state....

Provide that when a party challenges the constitutionality of a statute, facially or as applied, or challenges a statute as violating or preempted by federal law, as part of a claim or affirmative defense, the Assembly, the Senate, and JCLO have the right to intervene and participate in the action and may also retain legal counsel other than the Department of Justice (DOJ). Allow the following committees to intervene in the action, as well as obtain legal counsel, at any time: (a) Committee on Assembly Organization on behalf of the Assembly; (b) the Committee on Senate Organization on behalf of the Senate; and (c) JCLO on behalf of the state. If JCLO determines that the interests of the state will be best represented by special counsel appointed by the Legislature, JCLO must appoint special counsel to represent the state defendants and act instead of the Attorney General. Specify that under this circumstance the Attorney General may not participate in the action. In these circumstances, special counsel has the powers of the Attorney General with respect to the litigation to which special counsel has been appointed.

This is clearly intended to keep AG-elect Kaul from following through on his promise of withdrawing from the lawsuit current AG Brad Schimel helped lead in an attempt to abolish the Affordable Care Act, and in challenging any potentially unconstitutional and/or damaging acts the Trump Administration might try to pull in the future.

It is a lawsuit waiting to happen, which will take time that could be better spent with the AG's office busting CAFOs or protecting Wisconsinites from predatory business practices. Which probably also is a side benefit in WisGOP World.

No. 1 and No. 2 in the Assembly. Small crooked men.

There are also a lot of other attempts to prevent Evers from appointing people to state jobs that the GOP-run State Senate may not like, or even having those individuals serve in the positions short-term while a replacement appointee is found.

Advice and Consent of the Senate for Appointments. Require that any individual nominated by the Governor or another state officer or agency, and with the advice and consent of the Senate appointed, to any office or position may not hold the office or position, be nominated again for the office or position, or perform any duties of the office or position during the legislative session biennium if the individual’s confirmation for the office or position is rejected by the Senate.

Yet these guys never said "Boo" to the unqualified hacks Walker appointed for 8 years.

And this culminates in the WisGOP lame-duck bills attempts to stop Evers from having much effect on the decisions made by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

Composition of WEDC Board. Under current law, WEDC has a 14-member Board, of which 12 are voting members. The Board includes six members nominated by the Governor who are appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate to serve at the pleasure of the Governor and serve staggered four-year terms. The Board also includes three members appointed by the Assembly Speaker and three members appointed by the Senate Majority Leader, each consisting of one majority member, one minority member, and one person employed in the private sector, each of whom serve at the pleasure of the Assembly Speaker and Senate Majority Leader, respectively. The Secretary of the Department of Administration (DOA) and the Secretary of the Department of Revenue (DOR) serve as nonvoting members of the Board. The Board must elect a chairperson from among its nonlegislative members.

The bill would change the composition of the Board, such that the Assembly Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader would each appoint three individuals to staggered four-year terms. The Assembly Minority Leader and the Senate Minority Leader would each appoint one member to a serve four-year term. The legislative appointees could be legislators or private citizens. The Governor would appoint four members to the Board. As a result, there would continue to be 12 voting members of the Board. A vacancy on the Board would be filled in the same manner as the original appointment to the Board, for the remainder of the unexpired term.

So this means that 6 votes on the WEDC Board are controlled by the WisGOP Legislature, and only 4 are controlled by the Dem Governor. In addition, the CEO of WEDC won't be appointed by the Governor anymore under this bill, but by the WEDC Board, which is controlled by these right-wingers.

And if you had any doubt why Robbin' Vos (who "represents" western Racine County) and Scott Fitzgerald might want to change who oversees WEDC, this next part should erase them.

Supervision of Economic Development Liaison Position. Specify that the WEDC Board would have the power to appoint and supervise the economic development liaison position that serves as the state's primary point of contact for any matters regarding Foxconn. Under 2017 Act 58, 1.00 unclassified GPR project position was provided to DOA's supervision and management general program operations appropriation for economic development liaison activities under an agreement with WEDC through December 31, 2022. Under the bill, that position would be appointed and supervised by the WEDC Board, rather than DOA.

And that person gets to "supervise" Foxconn would be appointed by right-wingers who have enough votes to control the WEDC Board. Which means it's much less likely that this person will want to draw attention to any violations of contract by Foxconn, nor will they want to claw back the incentives against Foxconn, because it'll make the GOP crooks who voted for the Fox-con look bad.

And I haven't even gotten to the costly and likely illegal election-rigging, nor am I mentioning a number of budget handcuffs put on Evers and Kaul that WISGOP was more than happy to let slide under Walker - things that would make Walker a gutless, petty hypocrite if he signed them (which means he will).

Not that I didn't think today's Wisconsin GOP was filled with arrogant small-timers who care more about extracting money and power than caring about the voters WHO PAY THEIR SALARIES AND BENEFITS, but these lame-duck bills, and the secretive, hurried way they're trying to do it, is low even by their pathetic standards.