Here & Now

Extraordinary Session: Dem Take

Zac Schultz:
For the Democratic response, we turn to Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, who joins us from La Crosse. Senator Shilling, thanks for your time today.

Jennifer Shilling:
Thank you.

Zac Schultz:
Now, I was at the Capitol this week and in talking with legislators and protestors, it felt a little bit like an Act 10 reprise, a quieter book end to the Scott Walker era.

Jennifer Shilling:
It did have some of those same elements and brought back those memories from that experience.

Zac Schultz:
Now, Republicans are calling this a rebalance of power or oversight, but it almost feels like a legislative veto power over the governor. Do you agree and will that lead to gridlock in the next session?

Jennifer Shilling:
Really we were expected to be in special session, in extraordinary session, to take up tax incentive, economic development package for Kimberly-Clark. That was the reason we were called back into extraordinary session. That never happened. On the Friday night before we were supposed to convene on Tuesday, the majority party dropped a 141-page bill with many changes to the current oversight and exchange of powers within the three branches. So it certainly was a bait and switch that the Republicans lost the November election, for the governor’s and attorney general’s office and on the way out the door, they want to undermine the incoming Democratic administration.

Zac Schultz:
Now, Democrats obviously hope to retake the state Senate one day. Perhaps there will be a Republican governor at that time. If you were to be a majority leader in the Senate, would you like some of these oversight powers?

Jennifer Shilling:
I think we need to make sure that we keep the will of the people here in the heart of this discussion. And we talk about the cordial transfer of power between administrations and what Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald and Republicans are doing at the 11th hour are stripping away powers from an incoming Democratic administration and attorney general and consolidating powers into the legislature, which they still control. And so I think it is — it’s blatant power grab. It is something that was rejected on November 6 in the election. And that the people of Wisconsin want us to work together. They voted for a new direction and new administration with Governor-elect Tony Evers. And what Republicans are doing are undermining the incoming governor’s ability to follow through on some of the campaign ideas he talked about and are again consolidating power within the legislature and the Joint Finance Committee in the future.

Zac Schultz:
But if you were Senate majority leader one day, wouldn’t you like to use some of these powers? Or if you had been Senate majority leader when Scott Walker was governor, could you imagine using some of these powers to hold him in check?

Jennifer Shilling:
Again, we’ve talked about that they are in denial and a defiant act as really the outgoing Republican administration has a few weeks left. And, again, talking about the validating the elections, we would never be doing this had Scott Walker and Brad Schimel been re-elected. I find it hard to believe that in the eight years that they had worked with Governor Walker that now at the 11th hour, they think, ‘Oh, this would be a good idea that we should move forward in the next spring to work with him to talk about the oversight and feeling that there’s an over-reach of the executive branch.’

Zac Schultz:
This last year, Democrats picked up two seats in the Senate through special elections. Even though Caleb Frostman lost in November, he was on the floor this week. How important was his vote, especially considering one of these bills only passed by one. If he had not been there, do you think there would have been more of the original proposals that made it through the Senate?

Jennifer Shilling:
I think it was very important that Senator Caleb Frostman was there on the floor. Earlier this year, the Republicans and the governor did not want to call for a special election. We had to go to court to have that special election happen. And in fact, we argued that the people of the First Senate District should be represented throughout the year. Had that not happened, they would have gone over a year without representation. So it was important that Senator Caleb Frostman — he listened to his constituents. He represented them, came down to Madison, spoke on the floor about his concern about this bill as it is really undermining an incoming administration of a different political party.

Zac Schultz:
The Senate failed to pass the two bills, one being the Kimberly-Clark tax credits you mentioned. Another that would have dealt with pre-existing conditions in the Affordable Care Act. Both of those failed because Republicans didn’t have enough votes to pass them on their own. If those bills come back with Tony Evers as governor, would you imagine the Senate Democrats being around to negotiate a better version of them?

Jennifer Shilling:
Well, it is true, come January 7, that Democrats will have additional leverage with a Democratic governor and the veto pen, the power of the veto pen. So it really does force Democrats and Republicans to work together. I have spoken about we now find ourselves in an arranged marriage in the legislature, that both parties won. Democrats control the governor’s office. Republicans retain control of the legislature. We both need each other in order to get things done. Republicans need Democratic support in order for the governor to sign legislation. And Democrats need Republican support in order for our bills to get through the legislature and ultimately to the governor’s desk.

Zac Schultz:
All right. Senator Shilling in La Crosse, thanks for your time today.

Jennifer Shilling:
Thank you.