It's Time for the Wisconsin GOP to Take Off the Gloves

Here's more from the AP:

The 4-3 ruling from the liberal-controlled court affirms the partial veto power of Wisconsin governors, which is the broadest of any state and has been used by both Republicans and Democrats to reshape spending bills passed by the Legislature.

Wisconsin is the only state where governors can partially veto spending bills by striking words, numbers and punctuation to create new meaning or spending amounts. In most states, governors can only eliminate or reduce spending amounts.

Gov. Tony Evers in 2023 issued a partial veto that increased how much revenue K-12 public schools can raise per student by $325 a year until 2425. Evers took language that originally applied the $325 increase for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years and instead vetoed the “20” and the hyphen to make the end date 2425, more than four centuries from now.

For the next four centuries, we're supposed to believe Wisconsin voters are forever bound to the will of the present governor of the state?

So much for defending democracy.

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 In 2023, Evers changed the text of the bill to fund public schools for 400 years:

But Wisconsin takes a unique approach to vetoes. Since 1930, the Wisconsin Constitution has permitted the governor to approve appropriations bills “in whole or in part” — a significant deviation from the traditional line-item veto. In 2023, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers used his partial veto to rewrite a bill that increased school funding limits “for the 2023–24 school year and the 2024–25 school year” to increase the limits “for 2023–2425” (emphasis added).

That is, by crossing out words, digits, and punctuation, Evers transformed a two-year increase into one that lasts for four centuries. Two taxpayers, with the assistance of a conservative manufacturing and commerce group, have filed an original action in the Wisconsin Supreme Court challenging the veto under the state constitution. The petitioners argue Evers’ veto exceeds his powers to approve appropriation bills “in whole or in part” and violates the constitutional prohibition on “creat[ing] a new word by rejecting individual letters.”

Evers’s veto is part of a dubious Wisconsin tradition. In 1975, Gov. Patrick Lucey struck the word “not” from the phrase “not less than,” reversing its meaning. In the 1980s, Govs. Tony Earl and Tommy Thompson crossed out individual letters to create entirely new words. And in 2005, Gov. Jim Doyle reappropriated over $400 million from its intended use by striking all but 20 words from a 752-word passage, creating a new sentence bearing no resemblance to the language approved by the legislature.

Wisconsin has twice amended its constitution to rein in these practices. In 1990, it added language commanding that “the governor may not create a new word by rejecting individual letters." In 2008, it extended this prohibition to “creat[ing] a new sentence by combining parts of 2 or more sentences.”

I am livid.

Evers is a worm, and with this Leftist SCOWI in his pocket, it spells trouble for the Dairy State.

That being said, where's the Wisconsin GOP?

Because it's time to start playing politics.

The first thing that needs to go is the line-item veto. It has been abused by Evers, as well as former Republican governor Tommy Thompson. It may have worked in a time when political parties weren't so polarized. But it is, and the voters of Wisconsin should not be held hostage to the will of a governor who can override the legislature. 

Doing so will require a Constitutional amendment, but as they've amended the line-item veto in the past, this can -- and should -- be done.

The next target should be the upcoming biennial budget. The GOP should create, advertise, and pass a budget that doesn't give Tony Evers one dime for his agenda. Make Evers go on record as vetoing that bill. Do not negotiate. Do not compromise.

Then start passing other legislation dealing with the issues Democrats keep losing on. I'll even list the agenda for you:

1. Pass a law prohibiting boys from girls' sports (again -- Evers vetoed the last one)
2. Pass legislation preventing the mutilation of children under the guise of 'gender-affirming' care (Evers vetoed that, too). 
3. Pass a bill that defines what a 'woman' and 'mother' are, because Evers wants to call women and mothers 'inseminated persons' so as not to offend delusional men and his Leftist base. 
4. Pass legislation forcing local law enforcement to comply with federal immigration law and ICE, because the Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barnett has said he won't do that.
5. Pass universal school choice that frees Milwaukee students to use their education dollars at any school, not just in those in the same geographic area as the failed Milwaukee Public School District.

Pass each of these bills separately. These are issues where voters -- even in Wisconsin -- are split 80-20. In April, only two counties (Dane and Milwaukee) voted against the state's new voter ID amendment. Donald Trump won by less than a percentage point.

Public sentiment is on your side.

Make Tony Evers veto each one. And raise holy hell each time he does. You can talk to the girls in Westosha who were forced to change in front of a boy in their locker room. Or the woman and children who were stabbed by an illegal immigrant in Abbotsford. Talk to Black parents in Milwaukee, where their children are dead last in the nation in test scores (or parents of the 31% of students who can't read on grade-level).

You don't need local media to get your message out; you've got X, TikTok, and Facebook to take the issues directly to voters. Generate enough online discussion, and local media will have no choice but to cover the stories.

And each story will make Evers look worse than the last.

Evers is up for reelection in 2026, by the way. Who is the GOP running to replace him? I like to think of myself as pretty involved with local politics, and no names come to mind. Probably smart to get someone out there now, perhaps leading the charge to pass these legislative items and then challenge Evers when he vetoes them.

It's time to take the gloves off. Because the Wisconsin Democrats aren't going to pull their punches.