Wisconsin Lawmakers Pass Limits on Incoming Dems

“The voters have spoken,” Erpenbach continued, “and the only thing the voters are going to remember about tonight is that their vote does not matter in the eyes of the majority.”

On the Assembly floor, Speaker Robin Vos, R- Rochester, co-architect of the lame-duck session bills along with Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R- Juneau, downplayed “exaggerating” by Democrats and compared state politics to a game of euchre, in which the governor “starts out with a much better hand.”

Vos argued the measures taken in the lame-duck session were only intended to level the playing field for Republicans and ensure co-equal branches of government, a notion echoed by Republican colleagues like Representative John Nygren, R- Marinette.

Higher profile names weighed in on the drama in Madison as well.

Prominent Milwaukee venture capitalist and philanthropist Sheldon Lubar, a longtime supporter of Walker, voiced opposition to what he considered the damage being done by the extraordinary session in a statement released Tuesday.

Eric Holder, a former attorney general under President Barack Obama, warned that Walker’s legacy would be stained by this week’s session and it would “have a negative impact on his ability to seek office in the future.”

Perhaps the marquee piece of legislation that did not make it past deliberation would have put into state law a provision protecting coverage for pre-existing conditions.

Senators Chris Kapenga, R- Delafield, and David Craig, R- Big Bend, joined Democrats in opposing the measure, which they argued did not go far enough to protect people with pre-existing conditions, in part because it allowed for lifetime caps.

Governor Walker, who has been vocal in his derision of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, had promised to protect pre-existing conditions on the campaign trail.

But Senator Mark Miller, D- Monona, criticized the “fig leaf” coverage of the bill, saying that although the legislation uses all the right terms politically, it fails when it comes down to actual coverage.

Another provision that ended up on the cutting room floor was one that would have given the Legislature the ability to go around the state attorney general and hire private attorneys to represent the state in lawsuits, at the expense of taxpayers.

But the approved legislation does require a legislative committee to sign off on withdrawing Wisconsin from federal lawsuits. That will likely stop Governor-elect Evers and Attorney General-elect Kaul from fulfilling campaign promises to leave a multi-state conservative effort to kill Obamacare.

Also approved were 82 last-minute appointments made by Governor Walker, including two appointees to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. One of them will replace Bryan Steil, who recently was elected to replace retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan in Congress. Another notable appointment is that of Ellen Nowak, Walker’s former Department of Administration secretary, to head the state’s Public Service Commission.

On the Senate floor, many Democrats voiced concerns that none of the appointees had undergone a proper vetting process or had submitted statements of economic interest, with 30 of them having bypassed public hearings. Evers penned a letter earlier Tuesday asking Walker to reconsider the appointments, to no avail.

Other business that did not survive the extraordinary session was a hotly debated proposal to move the 2020 presidential primary from April to March, seen by opponents as a way to ensure the re-election of Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly, a Walker appointee, by separating his ticket from the larger presidential primary when Democratic turnout is expected to be strong.

A proposal to provide tax incentives and preserve jobs at Kimberly-Clark, a paper company based in Wisconsin’s Fox Valley, was never even discussed despite it being a considerable sticking point for Governor Walker. Transportation-related legislation aiming to concentrate federal dollars into a smaller number of infrastructure projects passed along party lines.

The passed legislation will now go to Walker’s desk, and he has indicated he plans to sign off on it before Evers and Kaul are sworn in on Jan. 7.

Legal challenges over the bills are almost certain, particularly over the limits on early voting. A similar provision was struck down in 2016 by a federal judge who deemed it racially discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Follow @cnsjkelly

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit