Legislative battles – Progressives Everywhere

The Republican Party has now fully entered the next phase of its all-out war on American democracy — not only are they cheating in an effort to win elections, they’ll now disregard the will of voters when they lose. After giving it a test run in 2016, when the GOP-controlled North Carolina legislature tried to strip Democratic Governor-elect Roy Cooper of many of his powers, Republicans are going all-in on the strategy in key states across the country.

The scheme played out this past week in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and once again in North Carolina, where Republicans have become the nation’s leaders in abject and blatant cheating. It’s hard to keep up with all the corruption, as so many of the most insidious clauses and maneuvers are nestled into giant bills that were kept secret from the public up until now. To help catch you up, here’s a running list of state GOP’s anti-democratic lame-duck treachery.

Wisconsin:

In a marathon Tuesday night session that stretched into the next morning’s rush hour commute, the GOP-held legislature passed a number of bills that will hamstring Democratic Governor-elect Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul. The state is already gerrymandered beyond belief, which allowed Republicans to keep their legislative majority despite Democrats earning a majority of statewide votes this November. You’d think that would send a message to GOP legislators, but that assumes that modern Republicans have consciences or even self-awareness.

Awaiting outgoing GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s signature are a number of bills that will significantly weaken the executive branch and hurt voters and working people. They will:

Curtail early voting, reducing it from six to two weeks before the election;
Double down on new Medicaid work requirements
Stripping the Attorney General of the ability to remove the state from lawsuits, including the suit against the Affordable Care Act
Takes away Evers power to control or disband a key economic development council
Require legislative approval for some decisions made by the Governor

Continue reading “The wreckage from a week of Republican power-grabs”

You have heard — and have been amply outraged by — the naked partisan power-grabbing being done by sore loser Republicans in Michigan and Wisconsin. In brief, both states saw Democrats swept statewide elections and will have Democrats entering their Governor’s Mansions in January. So before that happens, the lamest lame ducks are working to restrict the power of the executive — power they were happy to have Republican governors to wield — through tricky legislation that clearly subverts the will of the voters.

In Michigan, the GOP is also gutting the minimum wage increase it passed as a cynical way of avoiding its overwhelming — and binding — victory in a ballot initiative. The GOP is also trying to gut essential parts of the pro-voting and marijuana legalization ballot initiatives that did pass in November.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, the GOP legislature proposed a series of bills that would limit the power of incoming Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, curtail early voting, keep the state enmeshed in the lawsuit against Obamacare, and keep far-right judges in office. They are holding a SINGLE hearing today and plan on voting on it on Tuesday. It’s unclear if they have the votes, but Madison is once again becoming a war zone.

Continue reading “Republicans hate democracy: GOP power grabs happening in Ohio and North Carolina now, too”