11/18/2010
GOP Control
By Marlin Schneider
The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
James Madison, Father of our Constitution, once wrote: “The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
Based on that, President Madison would really be worried about our new Republican state government.
Now, understand that I’m writing today not out of bitterness, but out of grave concern for our future. To be sure, I’m sad to have my career of over 40 years ended the way it was this month and to see many other great public servants lose as well. Books will be written about the deceit, the financial power and the ignorance that twisted the facts of the last two years and beyond to produce this election’s results. But it is not a defeated legislator’s place to tell that story. We live in a democracy, and so we move on.
It is time to look at the years to come, and I am more concerned for them now than ever. The job of fighting for the best interests of Wisconsin residents has been an honor and a duty that I shall miss greatly. But what, in January, will no longer be my job remains on some level my responsibility—and all of ours—by sheer dint of citizenship. And since old habits die hard, well, maybe this is partly just habit too. After all, speaking truth to power is what I’ve done for 40 years.
We will now have a Republican governor, Attorney General, State Treasurer and Republican control of both houses of the legislature The Supreme Court is technically nonpartisan, but Republicans hold a clear majority of it as well.
And the concentration of power is not merely within one party, but within familial hands as well. Not only is the new lieutenant governor married to a member of Assembly, but the new Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the Assembly—the top leadership positions in each house, wielding tremendous power—are brothers Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald. One family now has control over committee assignments, campaign budgets, and budget conference committees.
When the new legislature two years ago faced a record budget deficit before even taking office, I was disgusted to hear Representative Fitzgerald declare it was “the Democrats’ problem” and that his party wouldn’t help fix it. Now it is, inescapably, a Republican problem. They will try to blame us for everything, but it’s not going to wash, for they’ve already controlled the Assembly for all but two of the last sixteen years.
Unlike those Republicans, Democrats won’t abandon their duty when in the minority. But I am sure their attempts at bipartisanship will be shunned. Building broad support has never really mattered to Republicans. Democrats are the big-tent party with diverse perspectives who take on the hard work of solving complex problems, not just saying no. They, by contrast, excel at shutting out outside thinking to pursue their ruling cabal’s agenda, which they now intend to ram down our throats unopposed or even unnoticed. That means two years of gutting aid for health, education and the environment, squandering opportunities to upgrade our infrastructure and safeguard our future, abandoning working families’, women’s rights and gay rights and ballooning our deficit to cut taxes for wealthy corporations.
It also means abusing the redistricting process. After the 2010 Census results come out, Republicans will get to completely redraw state and Congressional districts as they see fit. Redistricting usually ends in compromises or court solutions because the law-making powers are split. But for the first time in generations, Wisconsin will be one of the several states with no check on the Republicans’ declared plans to shape maps not for fairness but to maximize their wins for the next decade. Justice Prosser, the former Republican Speaker, will draw the lines.
Redistricting is something that makes government with shared power a good thing sometimes. But we don’t have that in Wisconsin anymore. Republicans have all the levers of power. So keep a close eye on what they do these next two years. Citizen vigilance is the only check on their power that remains.
--Schneider, a Democrat, is a state Representative from Wisconsin Rapids. First elected in 1970, Schneider lost to Republican Scott Krug in this year's election.
GOP Control
By Marlin Schneider
The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
James Madison, Father of our Constitution, once wrote: “The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
Based on that, President Madison would really be worried about our new Republican state government.
Now, understand that I’m writing today not out of bitterness, but out of grave concern for our future. To be sure, I’m sad to have my career of over 40 years ended the way it was this month and to see many other great public servants lose as well. Books will be written about the deceit, the financial power and the ignorance that twisted the facts of the last two years and beyond to produce this election’s results. But it is not a defeated legislator’s place to tell that story. We live in a democracy, and so we move on.
It is time to look at the years to come, and I am more concerned for them now than ever. The job of fighting for the best interests of Wisconsin residents has been an honor and a duty that I shall miss greatly. But what, in January, will no longer be my job remains on some level my responsibility—and all of ours—by sheer dint of citizenship. And since old habits die hard, well, maybe this is partly just habit too. After all, speaking truth to power is what I’ve done for 40 years.
We will now have a Republican governor, Attorney General, State Treasurer and Republican control of both houses of the legislature The Supreme Court is technically nonpartisan, but Republicans hold a clear majority of it as well.
And the concentration of power is not merely within one party, but within familial hands as well. Not only is the new lieutenant governor married to a member of Assembly, but the new Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the Assembly—the top leadership positions in each house, wielding tremendous power—are brothers Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald. One family now has control over committee assignments, campaign budgets, and budget conference committees.
When the new legislature two years ago faced a record budget deficit before even taking office, I was disgusted to hear Representative Fitzgerald declare it was “the Democrats’ problem” and that his party wouldn’t help fix it. Now it is, inescapably, a Republican problem. They will try to blame us for everything, but it’s not going to wash, for they’ve already controlled the Assembly for all but two of the last sixteen years.
Unlike those Republicans, Democrats won’t abandon their duty when in the minority. But I am sure their attempts at bipartisanship will be shunned. Building broad support has never really mattered to Republicans. Democrats are the big-tent party with diverse perspectives who take on the hard work of solving complex problems, not just saying no. They, by contrast, excel at shutting out outside thinking to pursue their ruling cabal’s agenda, which they now intend to ram down our throats unopposed or even unnoticed. That means two years of gutting aid for health, education and the environment, squandering opportunities to upgrade our infrastructure and safeguard our future, abandoning working families’, women’s rights and gay rights and ballooning our deficit to cut taxes for wealthy corporations.
It also means abusing the redistricting process. After the 2010 Census results come out, Republicans will get to completely redraw state and Congressional districts as they see fit. Redistricting usually ends in compromises or court solutions because the law-making powers are split. But for the first time in generations, Wisconsin will be one of the several states with no check on the Republicans’ declared plans to shape maps not for fairness but to maximize their wins for the next decade. Justice Prosser, the former Republican Speaker, will draw the lines.
Redistricting is something that makes government with shared power a good thing sometimes. But we don’t have that in Wisconsin anymore. Republicans have all the levers of power. So keep a close eye on what they do these next two years. Citizen vigilance is the only check on their power that remains.
--Schneider, a Democrat, is a state Representative from Wisconsin Rapids. First elected in 1970, Schneider lost to Republican Scott Krug in this year's election.