Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday sued the Republican-controlled Legislature, arguing that it is obstructing basic government functions, including signing off on pay raises for university employees that were previously approved.
....The Legislature included a 6% pay raise for UW employees over two years in the state budget it passed earlier this year that Evers signed. But pay raises also must then be approved by a GOP-controlled committee of legislative leaders. That panel on Oct. 17 approved pay raises for state workers, but not UW employees because [Assembly Speaker Robin Vos] opposes spending at the university for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and positions.
Am I wrong to think that governors don't generally sue their own legislature? Or does this happen more often than I'm aware of?
Anyway, as Evers says, this is bull----. Just more culture war grandstanding that hurts everyone, including the 99% of university workers who have nothing to do with DEI. I wonder: Is Wisconsin now the worst state in the country? I know the competition is stiff, but....
It's what happens when you have a purple state with a heavily gerrymandered legislature.
Yup. But I wouldn't say it is the worst. I'd rather live there than Alabama or Mississippi.
Yes, I too would MUCH rather live there......
Even with the lousy Wisconsin winters.
Not even close. He's suing in state court and the state court flipped sane this spring.
For politics, Florida, followed by Alaska.
I lived in Alaska for one year, 1982 to 1983. I have no idea what state politics are like there now, but at the time they weren't ugly, or even partisan. They were just... weird.
The hot button topic at the time was hunting and fishing rights -- not exactly the stuff of the Reagan Revolution. The important divide was not Republican vs. Democrat, but Anchorage vs. everywhere else. My representative in the state legislature was a Libertarian, apparently one of only two in the entire country at the time. All political ads I saw in the 1982 election focused almost exclusively on how "Alaskan" the candidate was -- literally every single ad I saw mentioned how long the candidate had lived in Alaska. In the governor's race, I saw only one TV ad that addressed an actual issue: the Republican candidate came out against crime. (He lost anyway.)
Apparently Alaskan politics continue to be weird. Heavily Republican Alaska elected, and re-elected, a Democratic representative, apparently because she is "pro-fish".
The gloss finally wore off Palin and Begich was just too damn creepy.
Alaska has now ranked-choice voting (Wikpedia calls it "Instant-runoff voting"), which is orders of magnitude better than the primaries in most states, and should be adapted as soon as possible in all states.
One of the essenital improvemnets that American politics needs.
Ranked-choice voting - which is only used in the final election - is separate from the open primary. Alaska has both.
Yes, that is true. It is is really the first-past-the-post in the final election that is the main thing needs to be replaced.
But open primaries are also an improvment.
In my experience, the open primary is actually more important.
The best thing about the ranked-choice system is that you don't have plurality-win any more.
What is this "experience"?
I've been living in Alaska since the Territory days and have voted in every single election for which I was eligible. I think that counts.
The best part about the open primary / ranked-choice counting system is that I no longer have to put up with sniping and snarking about voting for third-party candidates. I will point out that whichever party controls an area will be against RCV, which is the best argument for it.
https://alaskabeacon.com/2023/08/21/as-ranked-choice-voting-gains-momentum-parties-in-power-push-back/?fbclid=IwAR1zLHnBvyxsOtzKnyRhDhSB4WDqYSaWvhC0uU1aOWobV0Uz-uQMjG7AHVM
And to clarify, a "normal" primary is precisely where the party movers and shakers make damn sure "their" candidate moves forward and all the competition within their party is eliminated.
There is no hope for reform on the national level (eliminate Electoral College, enact RCV, etc), but I was still pretty pissed off when Debra Wasserman Schultz used the money I gave the DNC to topedo Bernie Sanders in 2016. Bloomberg did the same thing with his own money in 2020, long past the days when I would donate to the DNC.
WI resident and longtime UW employee here. The worst state? Not yet but we’re definitely trending in that direction. The damage the Republicans have inflicted on what was once an exemplar university system is nearly complete. I recently accepted an early retirement buyout offer to end any and all affiliation with the institution that is no longer serving students or taxpayers with any integrity.
UW Madison is still an incredibly good university. My niece goes there, loves it. Great engineering school. Lots of talented people
The WI trend I’m most concerned about are the struggling GB Packers. What the hell happened to us? I’m just too young to remember the bad Packer football of the 80s I think, but I’m hoping this dry spell doesn’t last too long
"Trending in that direction"? Seriously? With signs of progress and returning progressivism popping up, over and over? Did you not notice that the WISC has a Dem majority now? And this is where the Guv's case will end up? And by the way, the twice-elected Democratic governor, with more statewide elections going to Democrats?
It's true Wisconsin has fallen a long distance from its position as a beacon of progressivism and leader in democracy. But its current trend is upwards.
I'm faculty at a non-Madison UW campus and I've long assumed that at best I'll be here until 55 and then I'll get the early retirement treatment. I've been considering entering the private sector, but the healthcare and retirement are still good, so I'm sticking around for a bit to see how it shakes out.
But my daughter is at UW Madison and that's still a quite good university.
I have some hope for a progressive turn - maybe we can finally break the gerrymander.
Naw, not as long as Texas and Florida are still part of the Union, not to mention at least half of the rest of the Confederacy.
I wouldn't be surprised if the WI legislature voted to declare their state to be south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Sounds about right. "'Facts'? Don't talk to me about 'facts'! Gawd is watching!"
There used to be a wonderful bar in "The Fan" in Richmond VA called The Texas/Wisconsin Border Cafe. They had an excellent kitchen that put out some really good Tex-Mex and German food. Sadly, they are no longer with us. But maybe the WI Legislature could appropriate the "Texas/Wisconsin Border" name for something they cook up.
I haven't set foot in Richmond in more than 30 years, but I remember that place. Such a great graphic, too.
There are several steps where the governor probably would sue the legislature if the legislature ever did anything good, but that remains hypothetical.
"99% of university workers who have nothing to do with DEI. I wonder"
It isn't nearly as high as 99%. DEI is all over the U o Wisconsin and all professors and TAs must sign a DEI loyalty oath.
Nonsense.
oh the horrors!!!!!
https://diversity.wisc.edu/
And if they fail to adhere to it in the judgment of even ONE student (other than a White male, of course), they are FLOGGED by an angry drag queen and FORCED to commit their children for MANDATORY SEX REASSIGNMENT! It's true! I read all about it on Facebook!!
Isn't that "loboto"?
Sources?
I'm a professor in the UW System and I have never signed any such document. No idea what you're talking about.
I have a friend at another campus who complains about the DEI people and they do seem genuinely annoying. They don't bother me much.
All professors in state universities sign DEI loyalty oaths. How are you an exception? Sure they click through the Marxist silliness and computer sign at the end, but they sign.
"All professors in state universities sign DEI loyalty oaths."
That made me laugh. Good one.
OK. Maybe I clicked through something. Can you show me what that was? Do you have some evidence or your claim?
If he sues and wins what happens? Does the legislature pay a fine?
No, they impeach the judges that voted against them.
Wisconsin's Assembly has been particularly annoying to the governor. First they stripped the governor of powers as soon as he (a Democrat) was elected. Then they refused to approve his nominations for just about anything and everything. Then they tried to boot out his election head. Then they wanted to impeach the new supreme court justice before she took her seat.
I have a feeling this will ultimately result in a catastrophe for the WI GOP. If the gerrymandering gets overturned (a real possibility now), or the state's population shifts enough to make the gerrymandering not enough to maintain GOP dominance (could happen in a dozen years or so), there could be a wipeout election where the GOP loses not just all the statewide offices, but also the Assembly. If the WI Dems are smart, they'll be as aggressive in their dominance as the MN Dems have been over the last couple of years.
The last gasps of a gerrymandered legislature that will soon be de-gerrymandered.
“Ron, is there any conspiracy you don’t believe in?”
- Mitt Romney addressing conspiracy-spouting climate change-denying anti-vaxer Trump disciple Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. Mittens defends Johnson as being sincerely crazy, as opposed to most Republicans who are merely faking being crazy as a dishonest corrupt effort to pander to their crazy Republican base.
‘Sincerely crazy’ 😂 Ron Johnson is an inspiration to whackos everywhere.
Worst state? If the criteria are based upon the gap between the ideals of the Purple State population and the gerrymandered state government, then yes, WI is close to the worst. In absolute terms, you've got your Floridas, your Alabamas, and what not. But those have State Governments that reflect the desires of the actual populations. (My wife comes from Florida -- she's made it very clear that she's never, ever going back.)
But man, the poor folks of WI have a long road to undo the damage that gerrymandering, and super-legislatures stripping the governor of powers, and what until very recently was a conservative state Supreme Court, have done in that state.
No. Worst state in the country is a perennial competition between Mississippi and Idaho.