Our neighbor to the east, Wisconsin, is home to a certain Governor Walker, the once-to-be-celebrated Presidential contender, who more or less fell on his sword during his short campaign. Scampering back down-eared to Wisconsin, he hired a couple of State legislators for his Administration, and then refused to hold special elections to replace them.
But his dubious strategy for avoiding electoral embarrassment, based on results from, well, all over the country, has come to a stop, as a judge he himself appointed just told him to do his job. From the Journal-Sentinel:
Dealing a setback to Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans, a judge ruled Thursday the governor must call special elections to fill two vacant seats in the Legislature.
Walker declined to call those elections after two GOP lawmakers stepped down to join his administration in December.
His plan would have left the seats vacant for more than a year. Voters in those areas took him to court with the help of a group headed by Eric Holder, the first attorney general under Democratic President Barack Obama.
Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds — whom Walker appointed to the bench in 2014 — determined Walker had a duty under state law to hold special elections so voters could have representation in the Legislature. She said failing to hold special elections infringed on the voting rights of people who lived in the two districts.
It’s the sort of ruling a child could get right, and yet the Republicans seem to think they’re above the rules:
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) ripped the judge as an “activist Dane County judge” who had injected her “own personal opinion into how we conduct elections.”
He said he wasn’t aware Walker had appointed the judge but said her approach was endemic to judges in liberal Madison.
“It’s something about the water in Dane County,” Vos said. “That’s why I try to stay here as little as I can.”
An absurd remark, yet not surprising for the Republicans, who would happily find any loophole to repress the non-Republicans – the Republicans currently have a majority in both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature, as well as holding the governorship. It appears anything to keep power goes.
The sad thing is, I could see the Democrats playing the same damn game.
