FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2018
Phone: (608) 256-0827
Contact: Erin Grunze, Executive Director
608-256-0827; [email protected]
Statement on the Governor’s Signing of Extraordinary Session Bills
MADISON, WI –The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin has long held that the legislature
must be responsible to the citizens. Its leaders, committees, and members should represent the
state as a whole as well as their own districts. Legislators should not act in their own interest for
partisan gains and to retain power.
The sweeping bills Governor Walker signed today were introduced late on a Friday afternoon.
The authors of the legislation, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott
Fitzgerald, did not attend the public hearing the following Monday to answer questions about the
proposal, which were passed by both houses of the legislature in the wee hours of Wednesday
morning that same week.
Good legislation does not result from a rushed, secretive process with little opportunity for input
from the public. Such a process results in sloppy errors and wasted tax dollars. Moreover, it
reeks of a partisan power grab. Passing legislation shouldn’t be inside baseball. It should be an
open and accountable process when those in power are acting on behalf of the people they are
representing.
Wisconsinites across the political spectrum value fairness and upholding democratic
procedures. These bill and how they've been introduced and passed fly in the face of these
values.
We are disappointed that Governor Walker signed these mean-spirited bills which will not afford
his newly elected successor, Governor-elect Tony Evers, the same authority that he has
exercised for eight years, including one he exercised within this past week to solidify the
Kimberly Clark deal.
The people of Wisconsin are not well served by partisan shenanigans. We expect our state
leaders to work together to serve the people of Wisconsin. It is time to put aside partisanship
and start governing.
Steve is a web designer and recently retired from running the hosting and development company Cruiskeen Consulting LLC. Eye On Dunn County is now published by Eye On Dunn County LLC, and publication of this site continues after his retirement.
Steve is a member of LION Publishers , the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Local Media Consortium, is active in Health Dunn Right, and is vice-president of the League of Women Voters of the Greater Chippewa Valley
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