Outgoing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed controversial legislation that significantly restricts the incoming Democratic governor's authority, empowers the Republican-controlled legislature, and curtails voting rights. Critics denounce the move as a 'legislative coup' and an attempt to overturn the results of the midterm elections.
Completing what critics have denounced as a legislative coup, Wisconsin 's outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker on Friday signed into law a series of bills that will dramatically weaken the authority of the newly elected Democratic governor and attorney general, enhance the power of the Republican-dominated state legislature, and significantly roll back voting rights. 'This is the kind of thing autocrats do,' Mother Jones journalist Ari Berman declared on Twitter.
'A very dark day for democracy in Wisconsin.' 'Today, Governor Walker chose to ignore and override the will of the people of Wisconsin. This will no doubt be his legacy,' Democratic governor-elect Tony Evers said in a statement. 'The people demanded a change on November 6th, and they asked us to solve problems, not pick petty, political fights. The people of Wisconsin expect more from our government than what has happened in our state over the past few weeks.' Walker's decision to sign the GOP's lame-duck power grab into law came after Wisconsinites engulfed the state capitol building to denounce the raft of legislation as an overt attempt to overturn the midterm election results. ''The GOP (and Kochs) use the state as a petri dish for terrible hard-right ideas. If this works, it'll spread elsewhere.' --Ben Wikler, MoveOn.org While Walker attempted to justify his decision to sign the legislation by calling protests against it 'hysteria' and presenting a Venn diagram suggesting that Democratic governor-elect Tony Evers will not lose any powers, the details of the bills--compiled by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel--show that Wisconsinites have called the measures a 'naked power grab' for a reason. Among other sweeping changes, the legislation would drastically roll back Evers' power to implement new rules and transfer significant power over the state's legal affairs from the attorney-general's office to the Republican legislatur
Wisconsin Scott Walker Lame-Duck Legislation Electoral Interference Republican Party
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