Dismantling collective bargaining for public employees. Major changes in school funding and state health care programs. Voter ID. School voucher expansion. Telecom deregulation. Concealed carry. Disbanding RTAs, reshaping the DNR, the early release of some felons, removing the mandate to disinfect drinking water … and the list goes on.
Yes, Gov. Scott Walker and Madison Republicans are moving at record speed to pass significant legislation that approximately half the state disagrees with … in part because they may soon lose their ability to do it.
Check out this story from The Associated Press, which quotes Republican legislative leaders as saying that the looming Senate recalls are indeed driving some of this urgency. From it:
“Everything’s been accelerated,” said Republican Rep. Gary Tauchen, who is working on the photo ID bill. “We’ve got a lot of big bills we’re trying to get done.”
I don’t want to get in a policy debate over each and every one of these issues, although readers of this blog certainly know where I come down on most of them, and I’ll probably post individually on some of these issues in coming days and weeks.
My point is a bigger one, that these types of legislative sprints – ramming through key legislation with wide-ranging impacts simply because your time in power might be running out – are wrong on their face.
And they are wrong no matter which party is leading the effort. Democrats, Republicans – this has happened under both parties and on all levels of government – I don’t care. No political body should feel empowered to fast-track significant legislation with minimal debate (a day or two in some cases on some of these bills) in order to guarantee passage before the countdown clock hits zero.
It’s not democratic (small d). It’s not good government. It’s not right.
This reminds me of the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency or, better yet, the lame lameduck session in Madison last fall, when Democrats, knowing the hourglass had flipped, attempted to ram through wide-ranging legislation that included springing a lawmaker from jail to pass new state union contracts.
I disagreed with those attempts then, and I disagree with what the governor and Republicans are doing now.
The voters will speak this summer, either endorsing the Senate majority or not. Let them be heard … because in this desperate race against time, everyone loses.
South Milwaukee Blog 
The only reason it seems like things are getting rammed through is that Republicans were shut out of getting any legislation through for so long by Doyle and the Democrats. The Republicans are giving much more opportunity for public input than the Dems did with their last budget.
Randall: I agree that is part of what’s driving this, but I don’t agree that the Republicans are handling this better than the Democrats. Both parties share blame (equally) in sprinting to pass their respective agendas. It just so happens that Republicans are the ones at fault currently. I am all for change, even rapid change when required. But reasoned political discoure should rule.
In principle, I agree with you. But as you pointed out, one of the primary reasons for this current “cramming” is the recall. What I would like to see is the people that are complaining about the speed of the current legislation comment on the the current recall, being done solely because a certain vocal demographic does not like the way certain ELECTED legislators voted, even though those votes were fully in line with their stance on the issues and how they ran their campaigns. I think recalls should only be used in extreme cases such as a major reversal of promises (without a corresponding change of environment) or in cases of personal behavior that are egregious or unbecoming of elected officials (e.g., public drunkenness, not showing up for work, abusing privileges, etc.). Under no circumstances should someone be recalled simply because you didn’t like their vote. That is an abuse of democracy, a waste of money (for separate campaigns / elections) and a reduction in government efficiency (since now these politician need to waste taxpayer time to re-run their campaigns). Its almost like our votes didn’t count the first time.
SM Guy: I am torn on the recalls because I agree with you that they should be used in extreme circumstances only. For me, that is felonious conduct or other malfeasance, or, as you say, a major reversal of promises. I am not sure the upcoming recalls fit that bill, on both sides. Yes, I am strongly against what the Republicans did when it came to the removal of collective bargaining rights. But does that warrant a recall? My gut says yes, my head says no.
Yes, but whether people like the vote or not isn’t the issue. It was in line with the general politics of these legislators (and FDR!). Additionally, it was known that as County Executive, Walker ran into issues with the unions and it could reasonably be expected that, given more power as governor, he would try to “correct” what he would have seen as problems and that a Republican majority would probably go along. No surprise there. Popular disagreement should be addressed in the usual manner of normal elections. The “fleeing” is a different issue, since is a brand new tactic of arguable legality. I don’t think that the quorum rules were written to allow a minority party to completely shutdown the legislative process. Rather they are there to prevent a minority of getting together and passing legislation when nobody is around.
That said, given the divisiveness of this whole ordeal I think the recall efforts against the democrats should be dropped as well to get on with the business of the state…
Erik, you forgot to mention the best part of all, freezing property taxes for 2 years, and the strict limits thereafter.
As you know, I don’t consider this the “best part,” but, yes, that’s another major piece of legislation that is being fast-tracked by Madison Republicans. I continue to think it’s wrong for state legislators to on one hand slash state aid to municipalities while on the other take away our ability to recoup some of that revenue through even the most modest of tax increases. (The key word is modest, of course.) This will impact city services, and local elected officials will be the ones to hear complaints when it does — not the legislators who are thrusting this upon us from 90 miles away.
Hmmmm… what happened to being the party of local control? Pass laws at the state that affect the city.
Ms. Henry – Sounds like a valid suggestion to me. No State Interference in Local Control -> No State Money to Local Governments
Unfortunately, that’s not the situation.
True enough, but then state taxes would need to go down if they would elminate revenue sharing and municipalities could monitor their own property taxes
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