If The Law Says Scott Walker Has To Call Early Elections, The GOP Will Rewrite It

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Huffington Post

03/23/2018 06:21 pm ET

Wisconsin Republicans announce they’ll call a special legislative session to avoid special elections.

By Sam Levine

A day after a judge said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was violating state law by refusing to call special elections for two vacant seats in the state legislature, the Republican leader of the state Senate said he would explore changing the law so that Walker did not have to call the elections.

A seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly and another in the state Senate have been vacant since December when two GOP lawmakers resigned to take jobs in Walker’s administration. They have remained empty despite a state law requiring that special elections be called as promptly as possible when a seat becomes vacant before the second Tuesday in May in a regularly scheduled election year.

Walker decided instead to let the new legislators be chosen in November ― because he said it would save the state money and the legislature wouldn’t be in session in any case. His lawyers also said that he didn’t have to call special elections sooner because the vacancies occurred in late 2017 and not in 2018, the year of the next regularly scheduled elections. Democrats accuse Walker of not letting the voters weigh in earlier out of concern that Republicans will lose the seats. They sued him in February.

On Thursday, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Josann Reynolds, a Walker appointee, agreed with the Democrats and gave the governor until March 29 to call the special elections.

Read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scott-walker-special-elections-special-legislative-session_us_5ab55df7e4b008c9e5f73366

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Just declare war on the country, same thing. You (Walker, GOP) HATE this country and our democracy.

[rzemanfl]

2. He will just end up in court again and lose. In the meantime the seats stay empty. n/t

[AJT]

3. WI Supreme Court is majority far rightwing, they will reverse the

lower courts ruling. There will be no special elections. Then the GOP in the WI assembly and Senate will change the law.

[rzemanfl]

8. If the fix is in then why are they bothering with this now? n/t

[AJT]

9. They were sued and the lower court said that the elections need to happen.

They will appeal the decision to the state supreme court and will not have to have the elections.

[rzemanfl]

10. Then why call a special session of the legislature instead of just appealing and

counting on the right-wing Supremes?

[Honeycombe8]

4. I hope the Dems in that state sue over that.

Is it legal to change a law after the fact, and make it retroactive, just to get out of his court order? I bet not.

Because then they could just change it back, if a Dem Governor wins next time.

If they could do that, they'd just change the law back and forth, to suit whatever outcome they want. The law isn't supposed to work that way.

[TranssexualKaren]

5. Is there any better way to motivate someone to do something....

Than to tell them they can’t do it?

[TranssexualKaren]

6. Theyre digging their own graves.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Why Does Scott Walker Hate Democracy?

Sometimes that phrase can be hyperbole, but it really seems accurate here. It'd do as a campaign slogan. Add the whole Wisconsin GOP if they try to change the law.

[BootinUp]

11. He'll have to get back to you. nt

[FakeNoose]

12. We learned something important in the PA gerrymandering case

We learned that rightwing Republican judges (especially Supreme Court judges) do not take marching orders from rightwing Republican executives and legislators. They will hear cases and weigh both sides as fairly as they can. Whining and sniveling will have no bearing on the final outcome and neither will time-wasting political maneuvers. In the long-run the judges' party affiliation will have little or no bearing on their rulings. Give them your trust and make sure you have great lawyers handling the case.

Good luck Wisconsin Democrats!

[strangedaysindeed]

13. They have created a fascist state

they believe they run everything, and it's all going to be run Their way.

They don't know how many of us are laughing ourselves silly over the little tin gods.