FollowUp 15: Wisconsin Republican Dirty Tricks

The news from Wisconsin was thick with past, present and future shenanigans.  The past refers to a revelation, proof, seen on the Uppity Wisconsin blog, that Governor Scott Walker lied about his claim that he ran on a platform of ending collective bargaining.



The present is a vote today to amend the Wisconsin Constitution in the Wisconsin Assembly to limit the citizens' right to recall.  Here's the modification as reported by the Washington Post.

The measure, which still faces major hurdles before taking effect, would allow officeholders to be recalled only if they have been charged with a serious crime or if there is a finding of probable cause that they violated the state code of ethics.

While reasons have been cited to recall Governor Walker, reasons are not technically necessary at the moment.  The major hurdles are that the amendment needs to pass the Senate before the end of its session next week.  The amendment would then have to pass the Assembly and Senate a second time during either the 2013 or 2014 sessions and then must pass a statewide ballot.

The proposed amendment does not affect the recall of Governor Walker, but if it were already adopted then the Governor could not be recalled despite documented lies and the undermining of long-held traditions in Wisconsin.

I refer to amending the recall process as the present because I don't expect that it will become part of the Wisconsin Constitution.   The state is too evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans for this to make it through the multi-year process.

The future, as reported by Channel 3000, is a law that would reverse the current mandate that high schools offer voter registration.

The state Assembly is scheduled to vote on a bill that would remove a requirement in state law that voter registration be offered to students in high school.

The measure passed on a party line vote in the Senate last month, with all Republicans in support and all Democrats opposed.

So, the obvious way to get students involved in being responsible and registered voters is being removed.  Republicans claim that there are plenty of other opportunities for students to register to vote.  While that is true, it is also true that having the school encourage them to do so increases the likelihood that the students will do so.  But Wisconsin Republicans are more interested in disenfranchising young voters than encouraging democracy.

16 November 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
30 November 2011, FollowUp 1.
4 December 2011, FollowUp 2.
11 December 2011, FollowUp 3.
14 December 2011, FollowUp 4.
15 December 2011, FollowUp 5.
30 December 2011, FollowUp 6.
13 January 2012, FollowUp 7.
17 January 2012, FollowUp 8.
25 January 2012, FollowUp 9.
2 February 2012, FollowUp 10.
9 February 2012, FollowUp 11.
12 February 2012, FollowUp 12.
18 February 2012, FollowUp 13.
22 February 2012, FollowUp 14.

12 March 2012, FollowUp 16.
16 March 2012, FollowUp 17.
30 March 2012, FollowUp 18.
31 March 2012, FollowUp 19.
3 April 2012, FollowUp 20.
4 April 2012, FollowUp 21.
11 April 2012, FollowUp 22.
14 April 2012, FollowUp 23.
17 April 2012, FollowUp 24.
21 April 2012, FollowUp 25.
29 April 2012, FollowUp 26.
2 May 2012, FollowUp 27.
6 May 2012, FollowUp 28.
10 May 2012, FollowUp 29.
13 May 2012, FollowUp 30.
23 May 2012, FollowUp 31.
24 May 2012, FollowUp 32.
30 May 2012, FollowUp 33.
2 June 2012, FollowUp 34.
4 June 2012, FollowUp 35.
5 June 2012, FollowUp 36.