Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne is asking judge to void Walker's anti-union bill that was "passed" last week in violation of the State's open meeting law. Walker signed the bill last Friday, but there is one more step before the law can take effect, and this complaint seeks to prevent this step of publishing the legislation, as well as voiding the measure and financial penalties of $300 forfeiture plus court costs and attorney's fees as well as a declaration that they violated two state constitutional provisions. The defendants are: "Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon; Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau; Senate president Michael Ellis, R-Neenah; Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford; and La Follette," a Democrat.
DA Ozanne filed a civil complaint in court today that alleges:
a joint Assembly-Senate conference committee met without providing the required 24 hours' notice, and that notice of the meeting did not give the public enough information about what would be discussed.
Ozanne also alleges that the space for the meeting, the Senate Parlor, was not large enough to accommodate members of the public and that people who wanted to attend the meeting were barred from entering the Capitol, also in violation of state law.
(snip)
Last week, Senate Chief Clerk Rob Marchant argued that the committee was not required under Senate rules to give advance notice of meetings other than posting notice on a legislative bulletin board. However, the DA stated in the complaint that a different set of legislative rules apply, the joint rules, because the committee consisted of lawmakers from the Senate and Assembly and "there is no joint rule — the rules that govern joint Assembly-Senate operations such as conference committees — providing an exception to the Open Meetings Law. And that law requires 24 hours' notice 'unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical.'" If good cause is shown, then the law requires 2-hour notice, but the GOP did not meet that standard either.
A hearing
is scheduled tomorrow.A hearing is scheduled for Thursday before Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi.
The same judge has a case filed by Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and others attempting to block the new law because of the alleged open meetings violation and because, they argue, the Senate did not have sufficient members present for the vote. Hearings are set in that case for Thursday and Friday.
Republicans created the conference committee late March 9, and the committee convened for a few minutes less than two hours later. The four Republicans on the committee voted for it as the lone Democrat at the meeting, Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha), screamed at them to halt the meeting because he believed it violated the open meetings law.
Daily Kos Crossing fingers!
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