Here & Now

Courts Rule on Two Lame Duck Lawsuits

Frederica Freyberg:
Is it chaos at the capitol? That’s what both sides of the fight over lame duck legislation are blaming on the other. In tonight’s capitol insight, we are joined by Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Laurel White from the capitol. Laurel thanks a lot for joining us.

Laurel White:
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:
So how chaotic do these dueling court rulings make laws that were in place, then not in place, then back in place again?

Laurel White:
It is pretty complicated and I think it’s mostly because these rulings are happening so close together. The first one we got was just about this time last week. Then we’ve had two big decisions come down this week as well. They all sort of overlap and interact with each other. And even beyond that, we have the governor’s office and lawmakers disagreeing about what the rulings actually mean and what sort of effect they have. Particularly on several dozen appointments that Governor Walker made right before he left office.

Frederica Freyberg:
So what have you learned about these appointments? Because I know, as you say, this has certainly been a point of contention between the Republican Legislature and the Evers Administration.

Laurel White:
It absolutely has. I think the biggest point of contention arguably. So these appointments, there are 82 of them, most of them are to volunteer boards and commissions. So the sort of professional oversight organizations that serve as advisory boards and evaluative boards of things like dentistry and physical therapy. The two big ones that most people are talking about are an appointment to the UW System Board of Regents, which is also a volunteer position, and then a paid position to the State Public Service Commission. And that one’s gotten even more press because actually the Walker appointee tried to show up to work this week and was turned away.

Frederica Freyberg:
And so she goes to work and says, “Well, I’m here for work,” and a security guard, I understand, and HR turn her away?

Laurel White:
Mm-hmm.

Frederica Freyberg:
This, to me, sounds a lot like testing and taunting. What is the expectation that we’re going to see more of this? Because actually, the Senate majority leader also just sent a letter to the governor. What was that about?

Laurel White:
So the Senate majority leader’s letter said that he believes the appointments that the governor tried to make this week to a number of these positions were in error. So the governor tried to reappoint actually 67 of the Walker appointees, sent those appointments to the Senate’s office because of course they require Senate confirmation and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said this morning, certainly you didn’t mean to send me these appointments. Governor Walker’s appointments are still in place because of the appellate court ruling. So it’s a very high profile back and forth with these public letters being released, the Public Service Commissioner being turned away from her job. It’s a very kind of public battle over who has the power to make these appointments.

Frederica Freyberg:
And this is nowhere near concluded, right? What are we still waiting for?

Laurel White:
So we’re waiting on a number of things. The second Dane County decision that just came down this week. Republican lawmakers say they’re planning to appeal that one as well. We’re waiting to see what appellate court that goes to. If that court issues a stay, similar to the stay that was issued this week. Of course that’s going to have a huge effect on the other lame duck laws not being in place anymore. We’ll look forward to the arguments on that and obviously both of these cases will be appealed after the appeal. So these are all going to end up at the State Supreme Court at some point.

Frederica Freyberg:
And you know, just this, anything else happening at the capitol this week or is it all this, all lame duck, all court cases around that?

Laurel White:
I feel like it’s all lame duck all the time at the capitol this week. We’ve had so much action in terms of these appeals, these rulings, these stays and injunctions, action on these appointments. I think that’s taken up a lot of the oxygen here in the capitol this week.

Frederica Freyberg:
And meanwhile, there is like this important work to be done there around the state budget and the fashioning of that from both sides. How do you think this bodes toward both sides coming together to hash that out if this is what they’re doing right now over the lame duck legislation?

Laurel White:
Well, it certainly speaks to the level of bipartisan cooperation that’s happening right now in the state capitol, kind of these high profile clashes over these appointments. We are going to get testimony next week from agency officials on the state budget so we have an important step for the state budget next week. I think it will be interesting to see what sort of rapport Republican lawmakers have with those Evers Administration officials as they’re asking them questions about the budget. We know that Republican lawmakers aren’t particularly thrilled with the governor’s budget. They think it’s too big, it’s too expensive, and certainly this conflict over appointments and over this lame duck session probably hasn’t sweetened their feelings towards the governor’s office.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Laurel White, thanks very much for filling us in from the capitol.

Laurel White:
Absolutely.