Holy time warp, Batman! Scott Walker is STILL governor of Wisconsin? Wasn’t he elected same time as Dubya or something? How long has he been in office? 20, 30 years? Jeeze… The guy is the Putin of the Midwest!
PS: Yeah, I could just check Wikipedia… but that might deflate my nutso “Governor-For-Life” theory so, nope. Not gonna check! 
That can’t be right. That would mean he was elected[del] before he was born[/del] even before his parents met. As I said upthread, he’s a child.
Seriously, though, he came in in 2010, with the TEA Party wave.
When he was three years old, apparently.
They’re just getting started. The GOP knows that they’re increasingly falling out of favor and the plutocrats who keep them employed insist on having power, even if it means using extra-democratic means.
Just wait until the elections in November when they coordinate with Russia to sabotage the entire congressional mid-term elections process.
Enhanced democracy. New and improved!
Alternative democracy. It’s like democracy for people who don’t want to deal with legal strictures designed to protect democratic norms.
Stranger
I’m surprised that Bricker hasn’t popped in to point to his favorite “Democrats do it too” example. Especially since in this case it actually seems comparable. The main difference appears to be that Walker is doing it in response to a court order, while the Dems in New Jersey did it preemptively as soon as Christie came to power.
That of course doesn’t excuse Walker. It was slimy when the Dems did it back in 2004 and 2009 and its slimy now.
PS: Anyone know what happened to Bricker? He hasn’t posted in over a month. I hope its just that he got tired of defending the indefensible in the age of Trump rather than something unfortunate happening to him.
“Democratic norms” is “the rabble getting up on their hind legs and trying to tell their betters what to do”, so apparently screw that noise. :mad:
I read the article. Am I right in thinking that Walker doesn’t call special elections, the seats will be filled in the general election in November? I thought his rationale was that it was mostly a waste of money to have elections a few weeks before the regular elections.
Or maybe it is a thinly disguised coup and Walker is setting himself up as Governor-for-Life.
Regards,
Shodan
It’s all of a piece with the Republicans in Pennsylvania trying to impeach all of the Supreme Court justices who overruled their gerrymandering, and North Carolina trying to ignore court rulings to keep gerrymandered districts.
If it’s a waste of money to have a special election a few weeks before the regular election, then that was a good argument not to wait that long.
Besides which, that’s at best a reason to change the law, not to violate it.
Exactly right, on both accounts.
It’s also a waste of money to have a Senate hearing to confirm or deny the Gorsuch nomination for Supreme Court, because the appointment is only for life and Gorsuch was already almost fifty years old, thus half is life was already over.
You know, if we are applying Shodan’s “alt-logic” to the issue.
Stranger
His rationale matters naught.
Whether or not Walker has believed and still believes that there has been no need to call a special election from December '17 when the seat opened on since there is going to be an election in just a mere eleven months from then, and whether or not you or I think that is a good argument or not, or which side would or would not gain any partisan advantage, is completely immaterial.
The court has ruled what the law requires and his constitutional obligation as governor is to execute that ruling whether he or you or I agree with the ruling or not. The ruling could be completely idiotic (it is not) and that would not change.
Our entire system of government rests on the parties involved respecting these processes especially when they disagree with them.
I don’t recognize any logic in this, let alone my own.
That assumes that this court ruling is the final word, and that remains to be seen.
Regards,
Shodan
There is a strategy used by several state governments, of imposing undemocratic rules for filling elected positions, getting struck down by the courts, and then dragging feet to resist court rulings until the rulings are essentially moot.
This is a bullshit strategy and should be resisted by courts strenuously. Hopefully the final ruling on this will come quickly, and a legal principle that allows for no delays in resolving such issues should predominate.
The process at play is that there is a law.
The executive branch acted in a manner that at best one can state that perhaps they thought was consistent with the law (they have not called for a special election as the law specifies they have been obligated to do).
A party with standing brought the case and the judicial branch ruled that indeed the law has obligated the calling of a special election. The executive branch has been and is acting in violation of the law.
From here the judicial branch is the final word for this case and the only word more final than this judge’s is a higher court issuing a stay. Some countries have “legislative override” as an option for what they consider egregious rulings that they feel are incompatible with the will of the electorate. This country is not one of them. In the United States of America the courts are (at least in theory) an independent check on the other two branches.
The process requires that we accept and live by rulings that we do not agree with and think are stupid. (Gore and Bush anyone?) We do not threaten to impeach judges who do not rule in our favor. We do not ignore the rulings.
The legislature can write a new law to apply in the future but that law does not apply retroactively, does not reverse the ruling that exists and stands until and unless a new one is issued, and does not allow them to ignore the ruling.
Even Trump, despot wannabe, gets this and has deferred to court rulings that have put a hold on various of his executive orders pending higher court review.
Trump hasn’t really had a choice because while he might be mad on the Twitter feed he is terrified to actually confront small women with powerful attitudes. The poor man lives in fear of the day that he actually has to come face to face with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He’s even more terrified of her than is his of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Stranger
Hahaha I’d pay blood to see that meeting… 
Not a law. The Wisconsin Constitution.
The seats have been empty since last year. We’re not talking a matter of weeks, we’re talking ~14 months that some districts will go entirely without representation.
Do you see what I see?