Again.
A portion of a law giving Gov. Scott Walker veto powers over rules written by the state schools superintendent was struck down Tuesday by a Dane County judge, the latest in a series of legal skirmishes between the GOP governor and public employee unions.
In the case, parents of students and members of the Wisconsin Education Association Council and Madison Teachers Inc. challenged the law approved last year giving Walker the power to veto administrative rules written by any state agency.
In the decision issued Tuesday, Circuit Judge Amy Smith ruled that the law violated the state constitution by giving Walker that power over the state Department of Public Instruction, which is headed by state schools Superintendent Tony Evers.
The constitution says that "the supervision of public instruction shall be vested in a state superintendent and such other officers as the Legislature shall direct." In a 1996 decision referred to by Smith and the unions, the state Supreme Court held that lawmakers and the governor cannot give "equal or superior authority" over public education to any other official.
That 1996 Supreme Court decision was the result of a case brought against then Governor Tommy Thompson (yeah, him) when he tried to dissolve the Department of Public Instruction and move its function into a new Department of Education which he would control. Fail!
The measure, which Walker signed in May 2011, allows the governor to reject proposed administrative rules used to implement state laws.
Previously, the administrative rules were written by state agencies and reviewed by the Legislature before they could take effect. Under the new law - put forward as part of a special legislative session on jobs that Walker called in January 2011 - the governor signs off on rules before sending them to the lawmakers.
So, you might ask, why is this a big deal and why would groups of parents and teachers bring a lawsuit? While most of the state government is in the Governors control through his power to appoint their directors and management, there are a few, like the Government Accountability Board (which controls elections and handles state ethics), the Department of Justice, and the Department of Public Instruction that aren't. The heads of the DOJ and DPI are elected independently from the Governor.
Of course, Walkers spokesperson has stated that he is "confident" he would win an appeal.
Walker keeps losing in court. A lot.
He and the Republicans rammed through an immense amount of extremist legislation in 2011 only to see challenges, legal rulings, and court decisions against them. Their ALEC inspired Voter ID Law has pretty much gone down in flames (appeal pending), major portions of Act 10 that stripped public employees throughout Wisconsin of their unions similarly were declared Unconstitutional (appeal also pending), their Republican gerrymandering done secretly and rammed through resulted in serious fines and a very public scolding by a 3 judge panel on their contempt for our judicial system as well as a continuing scandal involving information being withheld by GOP legislators and their law firm despite several court orders, and now this.
In other news, 5 Republican legislators have settled a lawsuit over the release of personal emails involving ALEC. The legislators attempted to avoid state-mandated archiving and open records requests by using their own personal email accounts for communication with the corporate-sponsored legislative group. They have agreed to pay court costs, legal fees for the plaintiff groups and release the emails.
Five Republican legislators this week settled an open records lawsuit by two liberal groups by agreeing to turn over emails from their personal accounts to and from a conservative organization that works with corporations to draft legislation.
As part of the settlement, the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison and the national group Common Cause will receive $2,520 in attorney's fees and costs from the state and the lawmakers will turn over any records from their email accounts that fit the groups' open records request.
"Defendants recognize that public records may be located in personal email accounts and acknowledge that they have a legal responsibility as elected officials to provide public records to a requester," the settlement reads.
The suit was originally brought because the 5 legislators were evasive in responding to the request for ALEC communications.
Brendan Fischer, staff counsel at the Center for Media and Democracy, said the groups were pleased that they would receive the records but disappointed that it took a lawsuit to make that happen.
"We hope it sends a signal to other legislators that they do have a duty to comply with the open records law," Fischer said.
Aides to Strachota and Knodl referred questions to the Department of Justice, which represented the lawmakers. Department of Justice spokeswoman Dana Brueck also had no comment.
August said he wouldn't have to turn over any additional records to the two groups since he didn't have any such emails in his personal account. He said that he had complied with the groups' original open records request and as a result "was never worried" about the open records request.
Common Cause and the Center for Media and Democracy have focused attention on the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that works with corporations and conservatives to write model legislation that can be introduced in state legislatures across the country.
ALEC has been outed and the threads will continue to be pulled until all the secrets have been revealed.
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My apologies for not being around much. I've been busy with GOTV, etc. On Halloween (tomorrow) I'll be participating in a frightful and costumed MediScare bus tour to point out which party wants to give you a coupon instead of Medicare. I'm even bringing my own patient.