In modern times, have the democrats done any kind of power grab like the GOP are doing in WI, NC, MI

[Wesley_Clark]

@Mr_Smashy

Quite a few times

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/politics-ideas/wisconsin-coup-wasnt/

What happened in NC in the 70s and 80s was done by southern whites, and they are republicans now. 150 years ago the democratic party was the party of the KKK and the republicans were the party of civil rights. But times change and voters realign.

Again, I’m not shocked that southern whites, as a group, don’t value democracy too much. That is part of their heritage, and if they are democrats then I expect the democratic party to act like that, when they’re republican I expect the republicans to act like this.

But has the modern democratic party (the party rejected by southern whites and rural whites) engaged in these power grabs? There is the issue in MA in 2004. IL in 2014 would count too.

[kenobi_65]

@Wesley_Clark

IL in 2014 would count too.

I’m going to repost what I’d posted in the thread about the Wisconsin stuff, in response to Mr Smashy posting the same link there. Short version: it was probably not the most awesome move, but I don’t see it as being a “power grab” in any way close to the scale of what has just happened in Wisconsin, and there were extenuating circumstances (which, if you’re a Republican who sees this as your ox being gored, may not mean much to you).

@kenobi 65

Let’s just say that this is accurate, but not the whole story.

As the above suggests, Comptroller is a statewide office in Illinois, is a four-year term, and is an elected office.

In November, 2014, Republican Bruce Rauner defeated Democrat incumbent Pat Quinn in the governor’s race. In that same election, the incumbent Comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka (also a Republican), won re-election for her second term in the office. A month after the election (during the lame-duck session), Topinka died suddenly, from a stroke.

Quinn appointed a Democrat (Jerry Stermer) to serve in the office for the remaining few weeks of Topinka’s term, and then Rauner’s appointee (Leslie Munger) became comptroller in January of 2015, and (due to the rule change noted above) served the first two years of Topinka’s second term, before having to run for election for the office in November of 2016 (where she lost to Democrat Susana Mendoza).

I absolutely can see the concern about changing the rules during the lame-duck session. But, had the rule not been changed, Munger would have been able to serve an entire four-year term in an elected office, without having ever stood for election for that office. Had the Democrats really wanted to throw their weight around in a lame-duck session, they could have undoubtedly made the new rule even more disadvantageous to Rauner, or shortened the length of an emergency appointee’s term even further. And, it was only Topinka’s sudden passing, immediately before embarking on a four-year elected term, which led to the rule change, at all.

(Disclosure: though I don’t agree with her politically, Leslie Munger and I have been friends for decades.)