On the last day of the fall legislative session, the
Republican-dominated Wisconsin State Assembly spent more than 12 hours
passing a spate of socially regressive laws that roll back voting
rights, public access to land surrounding a proposed mining site, and
authorize the state to fundraise for an anti-abortion group by issuing
“Choose Life” license plates.
Lawmakers also passed two constitutional amendments: One that makes
it more difficult to recall elected officials and another that changes
the State Supreme Court’s process around how the chief justice is
selected.
Before the Assembly took up the agenda, a group of Democratic Party
freshmen moved to suspend the rules and take up a measure that would
change the legislative redistricting process. The effort comes in the
wake of an extremely contentious, partially illegal redistricting
process in 2011 where lawyers for Republicans drew up redistricting maps
in secret and required legislators to sign secrecy oaths about the
contours of the maps.
That process and the resulting maps have been challenged in court.
During the proceedings Republicans and their lawyers refused to produce
relevant documents until they were
ordered to do so by the court. In that process, it was discovered that hundreds of thousands of
files were deleted from the computers in question.
Rep. Stephen Smith (D-Shell Lake) summed up the group’s view on the
gerrymandered districts saying that democracy no longer exists “when
politicians pick their voters rather than voters picking their
representatives.” The bill was tabled on a party line vote.
On the constitutional amendment to further restrict Wisconsin’s
already tough standards for recalling state elected officials, Rep.
Chris Taylor (D-Madison) pushed back hard. “If you don’t want to be
recalled, represent your constituents!” she said. “I can understand why
you’re concerned about recalls given your records. It must be horrible
to realize that you can only win elections when people don’t vote.”
Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) pointed out that
historically, constitutions are amended to enhance and protect people’s
rights, not to restrict or remove them.
Rep. Gary Hebl (D-Sun Prairie) called the constitutional amendment to
change the way a chief justice is selected for the Wisconsin Supreme
Court from seniority to an election every 2 years by the seven justices a
potentially unconstitutional abuse of power. “You’re trying to take
control of the judiciary,” he said. Both measures have to be passed by
both houses of the legislature in two consecutive sessions, and then
they are put to a statewide referendum.
Republicans defended what Democrats called voter suppression bills by
raising the spectre of “voter fraud,” even though there have only been a
handful of documented cases in the state. This is the second time
around for a voter id bill after the first one was
ruled unconstitutional
earlier this year. The bill’s authors hope that tweaks to avoid
questions about the id requirement amounting to a poll tax will allow
this version to pass constitutional muster.
Proposals to curtail absentee voting hours, to restrict how people in
extended care facilities can vote, and to allow more invasive “poll
watching” practices all passed on party-line votes.
Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) pointed out that the effect of these
measures would have a disproportionate impact on poor people and people
of color who live in urban areas, calling the collection of bills “Jim
Crow for the 21st century.” And Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) asked,
“why aren’t Republicans trying to persuade people to vote for them with
their policies? Why are they trying to suppress the vote?” The bills
were messaged to the state Senate, where their future is uncertain.
The Assembly also passed a bill that allows Gogebic Taconite to
close off public access land without paying the approximately $800,000 in penalties for
removing it from Managed Forest Law.
The bill was modified by the Senate to allow the company to restrict
access from 600 feet on either side of the access road that leads to
their proposed bulk sampling sites.
Opponents of what is proposed to be the largest open pit taconite
iron mine in the world located on the shores of Lake Superior believe
that the law is designed to intimidate and discourage independent
scientists from conducting independent analyses of the rocks and
wetlands in the area. Already geologists have
confirmed the presence of an abundance of grunerite,
which contains a particularly nasty form of asbestos fiber. GTac
lobbyist Bob Seitz has either denied or downplayed the significance of
the finding.
GTac lobbyist Bob Seitz, CEO Bill Williams and Engineer Tim Myers. Photo: Rebecca Kemble.
Proponents of the bill insist that the measure has nothing to do with
restricting public access, but that it is required for worker safety.
To make this point, Rep. Michael Schraa (R-Oshkosh) performed a dramatic
reading of a complaint lodged against a group of people who confronted
GTac contract workers at a sample drilling site last summer who climbed
on equipment, threw tools and yelled at the workers. During this
recitation he managed to use the word “terrorist” or “eco-terrorist” at
least five times.
Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Ft. Atkinson) pointed out that there were no
co-sponsors of the bill in the Assembly and wondered who was there to
answer questions about it. He suggested that the extra desk on the
Assembly floor be given to “the representative from GTac” so they can
answer questions directly. Republican leaders have openly admitted that
lawyers from the company wrote the massive mining deregulation bill that
was the first law to be passed this year.
Others decried the giveaway of power and taxpayer money to GTac that
the bill represents. Referring to Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) who
has championed this and other mining-related bills, Rep. Chris Danou
said, “GTac doesn't want to pay penalties to remove land from MFL so
they get Taconite Tommy to write them another bill."
While the bill now heads to Governor Walker for signing, GTac’s
momentum seems to be stalled by local ordinances involving asbestos,
blasting and bulk sampling activities, and their own failure to answer
questions that regulators at the Department of Natural Resources asked
them three months ago about their bulk sampling plan. The project cannot
move forward without permits related to the plan, and the permits can’t
be granted until all the DNR’s questions are answered.
After the mining bill was passed at around 10:30 p.m., the already
stretched-too-thin veneer of collegiality in the chamber began to break
down. Democrats tried to advance a resolution commemorating the victims
of the Sandy Hook shootings – a measure that had been passed unanimously
in the Senate in September - but Republican leaders tabled the
resolution, wanting to get on with the 15 more bills ahead of them on
the agenda.
Majority Leader Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) then announced that they
would be taking up the “Choose Life” license plate bill, even though
there was a bipartisan agreement to not take it up at that time. Kramer
said his decision was spurred by a comment one of the Democratic
representatives made on Twitter, and his frustration that Democrats were
wasting time with frivolous motions.
Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber (D-Appleton) had worked hard on the
compromise that had been abandoned. “It is truly worrisome to me that we
have people in this body that act as if they’re in middle school and
high school and that they can change the rules whenever they want,” she
said to Kramer. “This is childish, stupid, asinine… We have spent a long
time on this compromise, and I know that I can’t trust any word that I
hear from Republican leadership. That is a problem. “
At issue with the bill is the fact that the brand new “Choose Life
Wisconsin,” which would receive $15 for every license plate, has
connections with organizations identified as hate groups by the Southern
Poverty Law Center. They have also not been able to produce
documentation proving they are an independent 501(c)3 non-profit
organization.
Reps. Terese Berceau (D-Madison) and Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee)
called out Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Burlington) and Kramer for
abandoning their promises of bipartisanship on the issue.
Assembly
Speaker Robin Vos sits stone-faced as he is called out by Democrats for
reneging on a negotiated compromise. Photo: Rebecca Kemble.
Zepnick said, "I'll call out Robin Vos, Bill Kramer and whomever I
damn well please! Stand up and do your job!" before he was called out of
order and his microphone was turned off.
The bill passed and is available for scheduling in the Senate next year.
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Featured photo: Flickr user David Berkowitz, creative commons licensed.
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