Scott Bauer
Dec. 3, 2018
Wisconsin Republicans moved quickly Monday with a rare lame-duck session that would change the 2020 presidential primary date to benefit a conservative Supreme Court justice and weaken the newly elected Democratic governor and attorney general.
The changes being sought would shift power to the GOP-controlled Legislature and allow outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker to make one last major mark on the state’s political landscape after he lost re-election in November.
Republicans forged ahead despite threats of lawsuits, claims by Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers and others that they were trying to invalidate results of the November election and howls of protest from hundreds of people who showed up for a public hearing.
The lame-duck maneuvering in Wisconsin is similar to what Republicans did in North Carolina two years ago and is being discussed in Michigan before a Democratic governor takes over there.
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Other measures would weaken the attorney general’s office by allowing Republican legislative leaders to intervene in cases and hire their own attorneys. A legislative committee, rather than the attorney general, would have to sign off on withdrawing from federal lawsuits. That would stop Evers and incoming Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul from fulfilling their campaign promises to withdraw Wisconsin from a multi-state lawsuit seeking repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
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Fitzgerald wouldn’t say whether there was enough support among Republicans for moving the 2020 presidential primary date, a change that would cost about $7 million and has drawn opposition from nearly every county election official.
Fitzgerald said last week that Republicans want to move the 2020 presidential primary, when Democratic turnout is expected to be high, so it won’t be on the same date as an April election where Walker-appointed Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly is on the ballot, thereby improving his chances of victory.
The state Elections Commission unanimously adopted a motion Monday declaring that the shift would be “extraordinarily difficult” and costly without additional funding. Commissioner Mark Thomsen, a Democratic appointee, called the plan “the biggest waste of money for a single person that I can think of” during discussion preceding the vote.
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Similar limitations on early voting were found unconstitutional by a federal judge in 2016 and Democrats have threatened legal action again.
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Evers decried the lame-duck session — the first in Wisconsin in eight years — as an embarrassment and an attempt to invalidate the results of the November election where Democrats won every constitutional office, including governor and attorney general.
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Republicans have had majorities in the state Senate and Assembly since 2011, and worked with Walker the past eight years to past a host of conservative priorities. Republicans will maintain their majorities in the Legislature next year when the Democratic Evers takes over.
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https://rewire.news/article/2018/11/19/wisconsin-democrats-won-more-votes-in-the-midterms-in-the-legislature-it-didnt-matter/
Wisconsin Democrats Won More Votes in the Midterms. In the Legislature, It Didn’t Matter.
Nov 19, 2018, 2:54pm Alys Brooks
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Democrats running for Wisconsin’s legislature in this month’s midterms won a greater percentage of the vote than they had in years, but you wouldn’t know that from the results.
Republicans will keep their massive house majority. Tallying unofficial results from county clerks shows Democratic house candidates won 54 percent votes cast in the November 6 midterms, while GOP candidates netted 44 percent.
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https://www.wpr.org/wisconsin-republicans-maintain-their-majority-state-senate
Wednesday, November 7, 2018, 2:25am
By The Associated Press
Republicans flipped a Democratic seat and held eight other key seats to maintain their majority in the state Senate.
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Republicans held their majority in the Assembly as well.
Tried to find out the exact numbers, spent a lot of time, this was the best I could do. I don't have time to keep looking. What we know is that even though a majority of voters voted for Democrats, the state legislator is still majority Republican.
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