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Governor Evers’ cabinet pulled into political fight over Lame Duck Session appointees

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The legal fight over political appointees has dragged Governor Evers’ cabinet into the mix. 

An appeals court in Wausau ruled on Tuesday that the Governor was entirely within his right to pull a raft of Walker appointees that were voted in during last year’s lame duck session after a Dane County judge struck down the session, but before the appeals court issued a stay on the ruling.

Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said the decision only reinforces the Governor’s position. “In their unconstitutional attempt to override the will of the people, Republicans hastily and recklessly confirmed 82 appointments with no hearing or public input. Wisconsin deserves better. As the governor has repeatedly said, he acted properly and within the law to withdraw those improper appointments and make his own valid appointments.”

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said earlier in the day on Tuesday that he won’t allow Evers cabinet to come up for confirmation until the legal process was over in the case. 

Communications between Evers and GOP leaders appear tenuous

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Governor Tony Evers

Are they or aren’t they communicating? Democratic Governor Tony Evers says, while he hasn’t actually met recently with Republican legislative leaders. “I know we have some, I think meetings planned in the future,” Evers told reporters in Madison this week. “I think it’s working as good as it can, but under no circumstances are we not communicating with them.”

Evers said his staff and the staffs of GOP leaders are communicating. The majority leader in the state Assembly said that’s not good enough.

And if any face-to-face meetings have been scheduled, Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steinke is unaware of them. “There’s nothing on the calender. They haven’t reached out that I’ve been made aware of to any of us, to set up any kind of meeting face-to-face with the governor.”

Rep. Jim Steineke

Evers and Republican leaders are essentially proposing competing two-year state budgets. Evers said communications between his office and legislative leaders are adequate, to get a state budget accomplished. “Absolutely. We gotta do it. Do I want it to be done by end of June? Yes, but we can’t put all these school districts and municipalities in the position of having to guess what the aid will be.”

It that’s going to happen, Steineke said they need to meet face-to-face. “In the absence of those meetings, we’re just going to forward and do what we think is right, and I guess let the chips fall where they may.”

Appeals Court stays one of two rulings against lame duck laws while appeals take place

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One of two Dane County judge’s rulings against last year’s lame duck laws is being stayed, for now.

An appeals court in Wausau has issued an emergency stay on a ruling that tossed out the entirety of the laws that limited Governor Evers’ powers because the legislature wasn’t officially in session when the laws were passed.

But a number of those laws remain unconstitutional, thanks to a second court ruling this week that said some of the laws broke the balance of powers between the executive and legislative branches. The judge in that case found that the specific laws changing the way Governor Evers was allowed to issue administrative rules and the changes to how the Attorney General was allowed to leave or settle lawsuits unfairly took power from the Governor’s office. 

Both sides will be taking their cases to the appeals courts in the near future.

State Appeals Court in Wausau responds to request for stay in lame duck laws case

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The state Court of Appeals has responded to a request to stay a ruling overturning last year’s Republican authored lame duck laws.

The Third District Court of Appeals says they’d like to hear from both Republicans and the groups filing the lawsuit challenging the lame duck laws.

The court reminded Republicans that they have to file for appeal with Dane County Court, and that they want to have briefs filed by Monday. The Court also allowed Attorney General Josh Kaul a say in the case, since the ruling involves Wisconsin laws being made unconstitutional.

Governor Evers, Republicans spar over lame duck laws

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Republicans are asking an appellate court to issue a stay on a judge’s ruling striking down last year’s lame duck laws.

Legislative Republican leaders want to keep laws stripping power from the Governor and Attorney General in place while appeals are being handled. That request was filed in the Third District, which is in Wausau, and the groups fighting laws say that the case should be heard in Madison, where the ruling was made.

Governor Evers is asking to be heard in court before a decision is made. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul also says he wants to be involved in that case. Since the laws are technically the laws of the state, he’s arguing that the Attorney General’s office is required to step in when laws are declared to be unconstitutional.

Everns has also withdrawn over 80 appointments that were made during the extraordinary session. In a statement, an Evers spokeswoman says “These seats are now considered vacant, but we are committed to working as quickly as possible to fill them and minimize the disruption to the important work done by these boards, committees, and councils.”

AG Kaul also says he’ll be defending the state in a series of filings from Planned Parenthood, which is challenging state laws that restrict access to abortion drugs and which prevent nurses from carrying out abortions.  

Under the laws that were struck down this week, Republicans were allowed to hire their own attorneys to represent them in cases, and they still plan to do so. They say Kaul can’t be impartial, because he received money from Planned Parenthood during his campaign.

Dane County judge blocks Republican lame duck bills limiting Governor’s powers

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A Dane County judge has struck down a set of laws limiting the power of the Governor passed during the extraordinary session last year.

Dane County judge Richard Niess has issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the laws that restrict the powers of the governor and the attorney general. Niess agreed with Democrats that the there was no justification to hold an extraordinary session.

Those laws included measures that prevent the Governor or A G from withdrawing from lawsuits against the state without the permission of the legislature, or from changing the makeup of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Judge Niess also rejected a request to stay his order pending more litigation.

Republican legislative leaders Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald declined interviews today, and released a statement saying that extraordinary sessions are common, and that “[today’s] ruling only creates chaos and will surely raise questions about items passed during previous extraordinary sessions, including stronger laws against child sexual predators and drunk drivers. We will appeal this ruling.”

State budget battles start at Building Commission hearing

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The legislative fight over the budget is now underway at the Capitol.

The state’s Building Commission failed to pass any recommendations about projects that are included in Governor Evers’ proposed capital budget.

The commission’s votes all came on party lines, which ended up in ties with no clear decision. Republicans are concerned over the roughly two point five billion dollars worth of bonding in the budget.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald admit that many of the projects in the budget are needed, but that the price tag is too much for one budget cycle. They say that they’d like to vet all of the plans in the Joint Finance Committee.

State’s largest business lobby has safety concerns with Evers’ marijuana plans

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The state’s largest business lobby has concerns about workplace safety if marijuana is decriminalized.

In a statement Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce president Kurt Bauer says that Evers’ stance on decriminalization puts the state at odds with federal law, and will make the workplace unsafe.

“The safety of our workers in this state should be of utmost concern for the governor and legislators.”  

He says there’s not enough research to show if pot can be used safely, and that there is research that shows it makes people unable to safely use heavy equipment.

Evers wants to ease access to marijauna

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Governor Tony Evers announces he’ll use his proposed state budget to to legalize medical marijuana and decriminalize possession of small amounts (less than 25 grams) of the drug.

At the Capitol on Monday, the Democratic governor indicating he thinks there’s bipartisan support for the changes.

“I believe that there are Republicans out there that think this is something that’s important, not only around the issue of medical marijuana, but also decriminalizing small amounts,” Evers said.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos released a statement in which he said Evers proposals “appear to go too far,” by making access to recreational marijuana easier, and providing a pathway to full legalization, which Vos doesn’t support.

“Governor Evers did not really run on decriminalization, so it is kind of new to us,” Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke said. “It is going to more about the language that he produces, so we will have to see.”

Evers proposal would also allow for those convicted of having small amounts of marijuana to get their criminal records expunged.

 

Legislators seek to end special sales tax for Miller Park

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A group of state legislators want to get rid of the Five County sales tax for Miller Park.

State Senator Van Wanggaard says the people of southeast Wisconsin have paid enough for upkeep at the stadium and he’d like to see it all ended by the end of the year.

“I’ve had so many constituents come to me and say ‘when is this going to be over?’ Well this bill that we’ve introduced that we’re putting forward will end that by December 31st of this year.”

Wanggaard says residents have paid out more than half a billion dollars in taxes since the tax went into effect 22 years ago.