Legislature

Now that statehouse Republicans have voted to end (not entirely, but effectively) local government residency requirements for hired public employees, what's next? Well, logically, why wouldn 't the GOP next decide to end the requirement that elected officials actually reside within the districts they represent? (Not that they all now do, all the time, by the way).

After all, the residency requirement for lawmakers was designed expressly to encourage our chosen representatives to be more responsive to and understand the issues of their constituencies. By effectively ending local residency rules for non-elected public workers, the GOP has now argued that police, firefighters and other public employees don't need to "live among 'em" in order to well understand the needs of the citizens they are hired to serve.

This may be a little distracted.  I am following the mining hearing in Madison on Wiseye, and at the same time trying to keep a little bit of an eye on the Bengazi testimony, and write this at the same time.

The mining hearing is quite a drama.   You really should watch if you're not there.  This is one of the better reality shows I've seen, and carries a lot of real tension. It's a case study in how to railroad a hearing. Let's just say it's pretty clear that the chairs have their favorites in the crowd, and that the clock seems to be more than a little capricious. 

Anyway -- what can you do?

If you are not in Madison testifying today at the hearing, you can email your comments on the bill to the chairs of the committee:  Representative Mary Williams at Rep [dot] WilliamsMlegis [dot] wisconsin [dot] gov and Senator Tom Tiffany at Sen [dot] Tiffanylegis [dot] wi [dot] gov.  Please make sure you ask that your comments be made part of the testimony on the bill.  You must do this by 9 PM today to have it included!

 “Sure the economy is a concern,” said the woman at the door. “But what I want is for all of you to get along. Can’t you learn how to compromise?”

Over and again I hear people asking politicians to get along and get things done.

In the world of politics there is a culture of competition where winning at all cost is what’s most important.

While this might work for the NFL, it’s not an effective way to run state government.

There is a price to pay in a culture where winner takes all. Sometimes the vanquished becomes the victor and the tables are turned.

Despite bloviating from mass media and the political right about how the recall of Scott Walker and four Republican state senators is single-issue politics (namely, the union-busting bill), the truth is that nearly two million recall petition signers had a lot of beefs. And one of the biggest was the Walker GOP assault on Wisconsin's tradition of strong conservation policies. 

So it's important to let friends and families know why we can't afford to keep these reckless, feckless clowns in office one day longer than necessary.

See, now here's where the whole idea of concealed carry escapes me.

The main Republican argument for enacting a law allowing Wisconsin residents to pack hidden heat was that criminals would be more uncertain of their chances of getting away with crime. Now comes Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha, Of Course), who told the Associated Press he carries a concealed, loaded semi-automatic Glock pistol during floor sessions.

Kramer is the guy who runs the show for the GOP majority, and occasionally wields the gavel. Let's hope he doesn't reach for the gun by accident when he's ruling someone out of order or telling Capitol Police to eject yet another aggrieved citizen from the gallery.

For Immediate Release:                                            Contact:  Sen. Kathleen Vinehout

September 22, 2011                                                                             (608) 266-8546

Sen. Vinehout and Rep. Richards propose requiring the Legislature to immediately comply with the open meetings law

Lawmakers also pursuing constitutional amendment to make proposed rules permanent

Madison--Sen. Kathleen Vinehout and Rep. Jon Richards proposed changing the legislative rules to immediately close a legal loophole that allows the Legislature to do as it pleases when it comes to open meetings.

“Government works best when we all get involved,” Sen. Vinehout said announcing the introduction of the bill.

“Legislation is like fish,” she continued.  “We’ve got to set it on the table, let the sunlight shine on it and see if it stinks.  If the doors and windows are closed, the sunlight is not going to get in.”

Class warfareJohn Nichols, journalist with The Capital Times and The Nation magazine, said something in a column the other day that gets far too little attention:

National conservative groups and their Republican allies announced early on that they would go after the Democratic senators who had left the state to try to block Walker’s plan.

Unions and their Democratic allies then moved to recall Republican senators who had sided with Walker.

That's right. Despite comments by Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and edtorial writers that use of Wisconsin Constitution-based recalls ought to be scaled back, and despite historical revisionism about this year's recalls being an entirely Democratic Party confection, it was the Republicans and their allies who kick-started the Wisconsin recall elections.

There may be another "extraordinary session" of the Wisconsin Legislature on tap, perhaps as early as next week, to ram a still-secret reapportionment bill through, WisPolitics.com says in its report to subscribers.

The State Senate GOP held a "super closed" caucus -- excluding even staffers -- to discuss the maps, WisPol says.

This would be the second extraordinary session of the legislature in three weeks.  The first was called to pass the state budget.  First thing you know, they won't be  extraordinary.  (Before Fitzwalkerstan, there had only been nine in state history.)

What makes them extraordinary, of course, is that the usual rules don't apply -- and Republicans hate rules (or laws, for that matter) which cramp