The co-chair of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee is very confident an appeals court will overturn a judge’s temporary order halting publication of the budget repair law.
State Representative Robin Vos says the court decision is the result of “liberal activist” judges in Dane County, granting the order to an agenda-driven district attorney.
Judge Maryann Sumi on Friday granted a temporary restraining order sought by Dane County District Attorney Ishmael Ozanne which claimed the budget fix bill, with its union restrictions, was amended by a committee that violated the open meetings law.
Since Sumi’s decision Friday, it has come to light that her son is an organizer for the AFL-CIO which Vos says is troubling, “I think the bias is so clear its really disappointing to me that someone who is supposed to uphold the law is willing to bend it, break it, reshape it to satisfy their own personal philosophy.”
Vos says the appeal has precedent to rely on, from the 1940s and 1983, which state the legislature has its own rules and process that cannot be interfered with by the circuit courts.
“All it (circuit court) can do is once the law is published, it takes it up on the constitutional merit,” says the Racine County Republican.
He expects the appellate court to determine that Sumi “overstepped her bounds.”
Tom Karkow-WRJN