Wisconsin gets its special elections:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued an executive order scheduling special elections to fill two vacant legislative seats Thursday…
It wasn’t shame, or a respect for the rule of law that drove the wholly owned Koch subsidiary to this decision. Rather these guys finally got a clue:
Senate Republicans abandoned their efforts to pass a bill blocking the contests amid intense criticism that the GOP was trying to avoid adding to string of losses.
That is: it finally was driven home to these would be junta conspirators that being so obviously terrified of the voters was not merely a bad look, it was destructive.
The decision followed a very rapid rejection of Walker’s appeal, which sought a delay in enforcing a lower court’s order to call the elections that would last long enough for the WI legislature to pass their anti-election bill. That court didn’t just say no:
“Representative government and the election of our representatives are never ‘unnecessary,’ never a ‘waste of taxpayer resources,’ and the calling of the special elections are … his ‘obligation,’” Presiding Judge Paul F. Reilly wrote.
Walker had one more appeal left, to the right-dominated WI Supreme Court, but chose not to pursue it. IANAL, and IAN a Wisconsin politics maven, but here’s my guess: this was such an obvious matter on the law that Walker didn’t care to have his entrails handed to him a third time, especially given that the partisan lean of the court would highlight how out of bounds he and the state Republicans have been.
Anyway, a relatively small process win with, I think and hope, a bit more impact than that. It’s easy to make the case that the GOP is only interested in democracy when it’s the North Korean version, no doubts at all about who wins.
That’s been true of the American right for a long time, no matter the party label of the day (3/5s of a person and all that). But what seems to be changing now, maybe just a bit, perhaps even just enough, is that the idea that Republicans are scared of voters is starting to stick to the Grotesque Old Party.
Here’s hoping!
This thread, it opens.
Image: Constantin Hansen, A Group of Danish Artists in Rome, 1837. I know it’s utterly unfair to lumber these 19th century hipsters with 21st century pipsqueak GOP shenanigans, but I couldn’t resist the image.
WereBear
Frat boys of their time, no doubt.
Villago Delenda Est
These motherfuckers will pay for this in November, too.
GOOD.
Roger Moore
To me, this has to be the main point. We hold elections because every citizen deserves the right to vote for their representatives, not because they’re convenient or efficient. And Walker’s decision to call a special legislative session to deal with the issue was a massive own goal because it showed exactly why the end of the regular legislative session is not a valid reason to skip a special election. You literally never know that a special legislative session will be unnecessary, so you always need to keep legislative seats filled.
schrodingers_cat
Yes! Victory Dance
schrodingers_cat
Can we has Tikka glaring at Scott Walker, like the bug Walker is?
Jeffro
Just like Roger Moore at #3, I LOVE the Reilly quote…let’s all be sure to let every RWNJ family member or friend who brings this up hear it, loud and clear:
Tom Levenson
@schrodingers_cat: Sure! Later today, when we need another thread.
The Moar You Know
Simply means that they’ve figured out how to rig it so they don’t lose.
These people don’t do the right thing for any reason and they’re not starting now.
LAO
If you’d rather read about a hero, Johan van Hulst, died last week at the age of 107.
Also, sad day in NY Baseball with the passing of the Le Grande Orange. RIP Rusty.
rikyrah
Trump shops for new hires from TV and small, familiar circle
Rachel Maddow looks at how Donald Trump’s recent hires have come from people he is immediately familiar with or has seen on Fox News, which is not a good strategy for putting together a legal team as Robert Mueller’s investigation appears to be heating up.
WereBear
@rikyrah: I’m subscribed to her podcast now, thanks! Looking forward.
WaterGirl
@The Moar You Know: I think it means that the judge said Walker had to announce Special Election dates by today, so he did what the court ordered him to do.
SFAW
One of the overlooked parts of the recent court decision was the statement, near the end, and unanimously co-signed by the justices, saying “And if you waste our time again, you banana-republic-wannabe, we will order the WI National Guard to drag you behind one of their transport vehicles. By your pecker, motherfucker.”
That might have given him pause.
Matt McIrvin
Cancelling elections needs to remain a really, really bad look. We don’t want them to get any ideas about cancelling or deferring a big one.
Tom Levenson
@Matt McIrvin: This.
Immanentize
@Matt McIrvin:
I really think Rudolf Giuliani’s (failed) attempt to cancel the NY Mayoral elections after 9/11 truly was the beginning of the end for him. Let’s hope the same is true for Walker.
Josie
@Matt McIrvin: This is a really good point. I had not thought of that aspect. I have been very nervous about what they might have in store for us going forward. Thanks FSM for the courts.
SFAW
@LAO:
Shit. I also miss that other Expos expat, Gary Carter.
Shit.
SFAW
@rikyrah:
I can hear it now:
“What about that Perry Mason guy? Or Matlock? They seem to know what to do. Or Roy Cohen? What? ‘Cohn’? Cohn, Cohen, what’s the diff? I want a Jew lawyer. See if they’ll work on contingency.”
The Other Chuck
That “3/5s of a person” thing bugs the shit out of me. The proper number would have been ZERO. Because they couldn’t VOTE.
Ok, it’s a proxy for a different and quite legit grievance. But I think most people who throw out that fraction just didn’t learn history.
Roger Moore
@SFAW:
Jack McCoy. He seems to win all his cases, even the impossible ones.
Ridnik Chrome
Some appropriate music for this thread: “It’s raining today…”
Immanentize
@SFAW:
Not sure how that would work — you get paid in cigarettes if Trump goes to prison?
Immanentize
@The Other Chuck:
This is one of the great arguments people have not yet made — It is clear that the census always counted non-citizens robustly. Slaves were in no sense citizens.
ETA I am looking into another argument — will collecting census data regarding citizenship violate the legal requirement that no identifying information be released. If you identify non-citizens by locale, are you not asking for enforcement activities, thereby also identifying non-citizens?
SiubhanDuinne
Such good news, this.
And Tom, please don’t think your clever, subtle thread title went unnoticed.
Bobby Thomson
The Wisconsin Supremes are so nakedly corrupt I’m surprised he didn’t take a shot.
japa21
I think the date is 6/12. When do the colleges let out?
Cermet
@rikyrah: You think? (lol) But for the mouth breathers, it makes perfect sense as long as a democrat doesn’t try to pul that shit – then those low life’s would howl like no tomorrow.
Immanentize
@japa21: Before that date, although I am not sure if any colleges are in the districts that lack reps right now.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: Not to mention, the ostensible reasoning for not holding the specials was the amount of money they’d cost. How much does it cost to drag the legislature into a special session?
germy
Re, A Group of Danish Artists in Rome, how does one light a pipe so long? I imagine they have to light each other’s pipes, which explains the large gathering.
So Koch told him “Stand down!” ?
Cermet
@The Other Chuck: What? People throw that number out for the reason explained – it gave slave owners more power but since slaves couldn’t vote, it made sure only the elite could be in office (as selected by said slave owners.) Lost by your statement.
Immanentize
@Cermet:
This is why I have been greatly heartened by the Maryland case that was just argued in the US Sup. Ct. In that case, it was Republican plaintiffs complaining about an unconstitutional Democratic gerrymander. The fact that the Sups took the case tells me they are working on a anti-political based gerrymandering remedy and need to have a “both sides’ set of cases to apply it to.
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
First of all, he was a prosecutor, right. Second of all, since he’s now married to Jed Bartlet, that might be a conflict of interest.
@Immanentize:
Although I’m certainly hoping for that, my attempted point was that he was trying to cheap-out, yet again, and didn’t understand what “contingency” would mean (or not mean) for a defendant.
Major Major Major Major
Open thread?
So close to finishing the beta draft of my novel. I’m polishing the ‘villain confessional’ scene today, and then all that’s left is the denouement chapter and drawing a map. Great start to the morning!
Now for a day of mostly unnecessary work.
Bobby Thomson
@Cermet: the point is that if slaves had been counted at five-fifths the slaveholding south would have had even more power. Had Fox News existed back then the non-slave states would have been derided as the real racists for the 3/5 compromise.
LAO
@SFAW:
Possibly, just possibly my all time favorite BJ comment. I’m going to have to think about this.
Raoul
If he had moved ahead with the special session, I was already figuring out how many days I could spend in Madison helping to make a ruckus. It’s only a 4 hr drive and I have friends with couches.
It does seem that Walker seriously misplayed the game with the special session threat. I would think that several WI state legislators of the GOP persuasion were starting to smell whiffs of burning torches and hear the thudding clinks of pitchforks over this blatant anti-democracy shizzle.
gvg
@Immanentize: Yes, what the 3/5ths compromise really meant was that a white man’s vote in the slave south counted for more than a white man’s vote in the free north. The slave was always no one that counted. That also explains some of the racism of the north. Because they weren’t just fighting to free the slaves, they were fighting for the value of their own vote. I don’t recall that being well taught in school. thanks Other Chuck for verbalizing something that helped me clarify that history. Hopefully I will have occasions to spread that insight further. Sometimes the things we learn really early, we don’t get around to thinking about again as adults. I see that phrase frequently in political discussions these days but hadn’t really thought about what it actually means.
It also is relevant to how the GOP doesn’t want non citizens counted in the census that is used for allocating Congressmen and political power. They are trying to prevent more democratic leaning districts.
germy
Nicole
@Immanentize:
God, I was so proud of my city about that. The wreckage was still smoldering, Rudy was the darling of the media, thought he’d play on fear and Middle America’s adoration for him, and we NYC’ers responded with a hearty, “Geddafukouddaheah.”
LAO
@Nicole: I vomit in my mouth every time some calls that shitbag, “America’s Mayor.”
Major Major Major Major
@SFAW: my parents tell me that we used to live in the same building as the actor for Perry Mason, and I would have ‘debates’ with him in the elevator. One woman occasionally rode with us just to watch.
@LAO: I can’t remember the last time I heard that.
Kylroy
i really pray we bounce Walker this year, because Wisconsin is a knife’s-edge purple state that *never* holds it’s governor’s race the same year as a presidential election. This is our best shot at getting a Dem governor for at least a decade.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Chibouks, much longer than the better-known churchwarden pipes. Yes, I would imagine they would have had to light each other’s pipes. How sociable!
germy
Walker
@The Other Chuck:
We have had the same problem for years with prisons. The census counts them (for representation purposes) where they are incarcerated. But they cannot vote. So these rural, conservative towns with prisons in them get outsized power.
Mandalay
@germy: …yet Shulkin still had the nerve to play the victim:
Roger Moore
@gvg:
They were also fighting for the value of their own labor. This is a point that people seem to miss a lot. One of the reasons the South’s determination to push slavery into formerly free areas was so destructive was because it gave Northerners who might have been willing to ignore slavery a reason to hate it. Many Northern racists were fine with slavery as long as all the slaves were a long way away and not competing with them for work. But the threat to expand slavery to where they were more or less forced them to oppose it.
Ladyraxterinok
Tom – Many thanks for the picture. I wrote my dissertation (1970) on Wilhelm von Humboldt’s philosophy of language. Humboldt was Prussia’s representative in Rome 1797 to 1806, where he and his wife got to know many artists and writers, including some from Denmark. The picture brought back memories of all I learned about his life in Rome.
germy
At least one advertiser is pulling its sponsorship of Laura Ingraham’s program after the Fox News host attacked a survivor of the Parkland school shooting.
? Martin
I bet there was a poll that said this would backfire. Tom’s guess here assumes the GOP has some measure of civic virtue, which they clearly do not. There is winning and not winning and that’s the entire calculus. There must have been a poll that signaled that the electoral cost of fighting this would be higher than the cost of just running the elections.
Ladyraxterinok
@Tom Levenson: (Please see my, slightly earlier in this thread, thanks for picture.)
Tom Levenson
@? Martin: I assume no GOP civic virtue. The observation I was trying to express (not well, apparently) is that Walker decided to cut his losses. An SC defeat would compound the harm already done, reinforcing the already obvious interpretation that he and his cronies were anti-democratic cowards. No moral reasoning there, just a (probably accurate, IMHO) political calculation.
Tom Levenson
@Ladyraxterinok: Cool! Glad it brings this back home, and nice to see a reference to Alexander’s less peripatetic but equally remarkable brother!
SFAW
@LAO:
I luvs ya, kid — not the least of which because you’re in Queens — and am certainly honored, but there are (conservatively) at least 10,000 BJuice comments better than that one.
randy khan
@LAO:
Ah, Rusty. One of the great figures of baseball (and a mensch, by all accounts). One of the obits describes Keith Hernandez as “tearful,” and if you know anything about Hernandez, that’s an incredible testament to the kind of guy that Staub was.
Ladyraxterinok
@Tom Levenson: IIRC (1970 is a disconcertingly long time ago) Wilhelm learned about No and So American native languages from Alexander and used them as well as many others in his language studies.
LAO
@randy khan: It was pretty moving. Here’s a link for you (even includes a classic Keith malapropism).
Jeffro
Would just like to point out that Walker is – as is to be expected – trying to tie this to both Obama (gasp!) AND Pelosi (the horror!!)
He tweeted:
Holder is having none of it, and good for him:
Remember, Dems, the hardest GOP-puncher wins the nomination in 2020, so get out there and follow Holder’s example!
Jeffro
Btw, please tell me this issue wasn’t created SOLELY for PR purposes; specifically, to run it on Fox News and pretend like a) Republicans are cutting spending and b) that the Obamas’ recent portraits were somehow commissioned at taxpayer expense.
Trump Signs Bill Barring the Federal Government from Paying For Oil Paintings of Government Officials
(whew, the savings from this alone will probably pay for that $1.5T tax cut for the rich that they just passed)
In fact, I’m so sure of it…I’ll bet anyone & everyone here a nickel* that if it isn’t already, this will become yet another RWNJ meme within the next 48 hours.
(*two bucks I can ill-afford to lose, btw…but I think I’m safe here…;)
LAO
@Jeffro: It’s definitely about the Obamas. I can’t even, anymore.
ruemara
@The Moar You Know: No, it means that they’ve realized the only way to survive is to give in. They don’t have to do much but wait for the much lazier other side to lax in about 2 years, since that’s our track record.
@Nicole: I’ve detested that man since he riled up the cops to riot during Dinkins’ tenure. Fuck that ghoul-faced dirtball.
Jeffro
@LAO: That and the pretense of cutting government spending. Hey if they can find three. million. more. cuts just like it, why they will have paid for that $1.5T tax giveaway to the rich and big corporations!
Think about it: they will have addressed 1/3,000,000th of the cut they just gave away to the rich, and the “ROI” is going to be enormous at least in terms of what their voters think. “AINTGONNABEPAYINFORNOMOREOILPORTRAITSOF’THEM’PEOPLENOMORE,THATSFORSURE!!” The eternal sunshine of the vacant wingnut mind.
satby
@SFAW:
Well played!
FlipYrWhig
@Jeffro: Shyeah, if anyone has cred to complain about expensive oil paintings it’s DEFINITELY Donald Trump.
Mnemosyne
Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers:
1. Sleep Number
2. ATT
3. Nutrish
4. Allstate & esurance
5. Bayer
6. Rocket Mortgage
7. Liberty Mutual
8. Arby’s
9. TripAdvisor
10. Nestle
11. hulu
12. Wayfair
If you are a customer of any of the above, make sure to contact them and ask them to remove their advertising from Ingraham’s show because of her comments about the Parkland kids.
catclub
@rikyrah: Trump has no imagination. Cannot imagine someone he does not already know and approve of could do any job.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: @catclub: Catherine Rampell was tweeting yesterday that it’s like he doesn’t appear to be aware of anyone more than 20 feet away from him or not on the TV. Maybe those are the only folks he thinks are real?
More likely, friendless vermin this dumb don’t know anyone, don’t trust anyone outside their small circle of loyalists (that’s why we keep seeing the same folks being shunted from job to job/taking on multiple roles), and are too vain to reach out for expert advice.
I think I saw something over on TPM how Trumpov is being told he doesn’t really need a chief of staff or communications director?? Well, whoever’s telling him that, PLEASE CONTINUE. We need our Ubermench Trumpov to do EVERY job until he disintegrates right before our eyes on live TV. It’s the least he could do to repay us for 17 months of stress.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major:
You mean Raymond Burr?
Just One More Canuck
@LAO: He was a huge star up here in Canada – he made the Expos worth watching in their first few years
? Martin
@Jeffro:
Actually, no, because they don’t even spend $500K. That was the big ballpark number that some analyst without looking was sure they don’t exceed. It’s probably quite a bit below that. Whereas the $1.5T is the CBO number that was carefully calculated.
Gelfling 545
@japa21: before that date.
? Martin
@catclub:
He doesn’t care if they can do the job. He only cares if they are loyal to him. He’s paranoid. He’s assuming that his own people are leaking to Mueller. Why do you think he employs his children? Trump has always had this 2nd life that he reveals when it benefits him, otherwise it’s to be kept secret, and who can he trust to keep those secrets?
Jeffro
@? Martin: Um ok. Six. million. more. cuts just like it. :)
Vheidi
@randy khan: tearful, hell, he was sobbing. Very affecting.
Let’s Go Mets!
ETA I see LAO got there first
john b
@Mnemosyne: Wayfair, TripAdvisor, and Nutrish have pulled their ads. And Ingraham has now apologized.
Edited to add news link
LAO
@john b:
I laughed and laughed.
john b
@LAO: To be clear: It was a non-apology apology:
“Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how “poised” he was given the tragedy. As always, he’s welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion.”
LAO
@john b: I understood — it was the best a RWNJ could do. Which, of course, is also funny. (She’s got about 2 hours before she begins tweeting about her 1st Amendment rights be infringed.)
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeffro:
When I saw the acronym — Eliminating Government-Funded Oil-Painting (EGO) Act — I was convinced it was an early April Fool’s Day hoax. But it appears to be an actual thing.
Which immediately prompts the question: what about official portraits created in other media? Pastel, acrylic, charcoal, watercolor, decoupage, Crayola, mosaic, tempera, stained glass, huh? So weird to limit it just to oils.
Just One More Canuck
@LAO: Not a lawyer or even an American, but where do people get the idea that freedom of speech only applies to them, and that no one gets to call them out when they say something stupid. Isn’t the fact that sponsors are pulling their ads in response to market forces exactly how capitalism is supposed to work?
mad citizen
But acrylics, watercolors and mixed media portraits are still OK, I hope.
Gravenstone
@Jeffro: To Walker: Yo, Cowardly Lyin’, those special elections are required by WI state law – of which, you were reminded by two levels of the judiciary. Bonus points, those seats would not have come open were not for your own actions in poaching those legislators from their seats. So siddown and shaddup! Quit trying to blame others for your own mistakes.
LAO
@Just One More Canuck:
In my legal opinion — it is because these people are, in fact, stupid.
Waynski
@Roger Moore:
Also a large reason for the NYC draft riots. Recently arrived (mostly) Irish immigrants had no reason to fight and die to free people in a country they’d just arrived in to flea poverty. They knew freed slaves would greatly expand the labor force, so that their already subsistence-level wages could be further suppressed. They blamed the abolitionists and any AA person they could find. Their actions were horrific and racist but largely based on economics.
Rick
I am from the same city Governor Walker used to call home, Wauwatosa. This guy is out of touch with even the same judges he APPOINTED. He’s heading for a long term disappointment, and it’s VERY late.
Mnemosyne
@Just One More Canuck:
White supremacy. For a good 150 years, only white people had freedom of speech, and most of that time it was only white men.
White people are pissed that they’re no longer allowed to pontificate about Those People without having Those People directly respond to them.
Mnemosyne
@john b:
You gotta love this part:
“You can’t attack me! I’m a Christian! Jesus forgives me, why can’t you?”
She probably should have paid attention when the Pope specifically addressed the anti-gun protesters in his Palm Sunday sermon and told them to keep going because they were doing the Lord’s work, not the adults trying to stop them.
Chip Daniels
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, but he turned gay now and is living with Martin Sheen.
Chip Daniels
@Mnemosyne:
They got into a pissing match with adolescents, which as we all know is one of the classic blunders of all time, even more than getting involved in a land war in Asia.
Mnemosyne
@Chip Daniels:
Laura is used to the fact that she can scream at her own kids and force them to shut up. She has no idea how to deal with kids who are not under her direct control.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
Well, Cassidy was going to call it the “Unfunded Pictures, Portraits, Images? Thanks Yobama” but didn’t want to make it too obvious.
satby
@SFAW: you’re on fire today.
Jeffro
@SiubhanDuinne:
They just needed a quick culture war/Obama slam/let’s-pretend-we’re-cutting-spending moment to lie about on Fox, is all.
@SFAW: win
Boris, Rasputin's Evil Twin
@SFAW: The man’s a prick, but does he have a pecker? Never mind; we ought not to think about these things.
jl
@SiubhanDuinne: I can see Trump wanting his portrait in stained glass, with appropriate inspirational back lighting.
Just one more canuck
@LAO: you’re right – the simplest answer is usually the best
cs
Republicans and North Korea do have some things in common. Both embrace “Military First” policies inflating defense spending at the expense of everything else. And then there’s “Juche”. Win at life via self-determination. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and then serve the Party. The GOP and Korean Workers Party seem to enjoy supporting unsustainable practices mixed with undying loyalty to the guy at top, no matter how stupid that guy is. They should stop quarreling and start making out.
LurkerNoLonger
Is Scott Walker governor for life? How many fucking terms has this guy had and is there a term limit in Wisconsin?
Dice
@Immanentize: Senate district 1 is essentially Door County, the thumb of the Wisconsin mitten; Assembly 12 is just west of the City of Milwaukee, rich suburbs.
Dice
@Immanentize: Senate dist. 1 is Door County, the thumb of the Wisconsin mitten; assembly 12 is just west of Milwaukee. No major colleges or universities in either district.
SFAW
@Boris, Rasputin’s Evil Twin:
I have to confess, that possibility was not something on which I long pondered, thanks be to Jeebus.