GOP advances power shift from Wisconsin’s governor
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Republicans moved quickly Monday to change the 2020 presidential primary date at a cost of millions of dollars to benefit a conservative state Supreme Court justice, part of a lame-duck session that includes proposals to weaken the power of the newly elected Democratic governor and attorney general.
The changes being sought would shift power to the GOP-controlled Legislature after Republican Gov. Scott Walker lost his re-election campaign in November.
Opponents filled the hallways of the Wisconsin Capitol, and the hearing room, banging on the doors and chanting “Respect our votes!” and “Shame!”
Republicans forged ahead despite threats of lawsuits, claims by Democratic Gov.elect Tony Evers and others that they were trying to invalidate results of the November election, and howls of protest from hundreds of people who showed up for a public hearing.
The lame-duck maneuvering in Wisconsin is similar to what Republicans did in North Carolina two years ago. Such a move is also being discussed in Michigan before a Democratic governor takes over there.
In addition to moving the primary date, the proposals would weaken the governor’s ability to put in place rules that enact state laws and would shield the state jobs agency from his control.
Other measures would weaken the attorney general’s office by allowing Republican legislative leaders to intervene in cases and hire their own attorneys. A legislative committee, rather than the attorney general, would have to sign off on withdrawing from federal lawsuits. That would stop Evers and incoming Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul from fulfilling their campaign promises to withdraw Wisconsin from a multistate lawsuit seeking repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican, downplayed concerns about what was being considered in the lame-duck session, saying, “I don’t think it’s outrageous at all.”
“But, listen, I’m concerned,” he said. “I think that Gov.-elect Evers is going to bring a liberal agenda to Wisconsin.”
Walker signaled support for the package.
“All the talk about reining in power, it really doesn’t,” he told reporters Monday afternoon at the executive mansion.
Fitzgerald said Walker and his chief of staff had been deeply involved in crafting the measures.
Fitzgerald wouldn’t say whether there was enough support among Republicans for moving the 2020 presidential primary date, a change that would cost about $7 million and has drawn opposition from many county election officials.
Fitzgerald said last week that Republicans want to move the 2020 presidential primary, when Democratic turnout is expected to be high, so it won’t be on the same date as an April election in which Walker-appointed Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly is on the ballot.
The state Elections Commission unanimously adopted a motion Monday declaring that the shift would be “extraordinarily difficult” and costly. Commissioner Mark Thomsen, a Democratic appointee, called the plan “the biggest waste of money for a single person that I can think of.”
Fitzgerald and other Republican leaders said changes to that proposal, and others including limiting early voting to two weeks before an election, were being considered and could be offered during floor debate today.
Similar limitations on early voting were found unconstitutional by a federal judge in 2016, and Democrats have threatened legal action again.
A Republican-controlled legislative committee planned to hold a public hearing for eight hours Monday, before taking votes late in the night to set up final approval in the Senate and Assembly today.
The votes to pass the sweeping package of bills would come about a month before Evers is to take office.
Evers decried the lameduck session — the first in Wisconsin in eight years — as an embarrassment and an attempt to invalidate the results of the November election in which Democrats won every constitutional office, including governor and attorney general.
He vowed to fight back, saying lawsuits were being explored, and he called on the people of Wisconsin to contact their legislators even as the bills were speeding through. The proposals were made public late Friday.
The executive director of One Wisconsin Now, which filed the lawsuit challenging the previous attempt to limit early voting, said the Republicans’ latest effort shows they “refuse to accept the results of the 2018 elections” and are worried about large voter turnout.
About 565,000 people voted early in the November elections.
Democratic lawmakers who sit on the committee holding the hearing Monday said the scope of the lame-duck session was unprecedented and a reaction to Democrats winning all statewide races in November.
“It’s a power grab,” said Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach. “They lost, and they’re throwing a fit.”
Information for this article was contributed by Todd Richmond and Ivan Moreno of The Associated Press.