December 26, 2018

Moderating expectations.

"What can Tony Evers really do?" (Cap Times).
While Republicans have deprived [Wisconsin Governor-elect] Evers of his ability to do some things, he still has plenty of power.... He and his appointees will enact rules and policies that will be at odds with those of his predecessor, and with the GOP majorities in the state Legislature....

Republicans on the legislative budget committee will no doubt deep-six much of his agenda. But Evers gets the last say with one of the most powerful veto pens in the nation. And Republicans don’t have the votes to override a veto. “The governor does have a strong veto in Wisconsin,” said Burden. “So bills that come to him, he’ll have some ability to carve up and tailor to his interest.”

Republicans have signaled that they see divided government as hardball. But here are a few areas where Evers might be able to find common ground, and others where he can enact change whether Republicans like it or not....

25 comments:

mccullough said...

Evers should be more like Bill Clinton in 1995-2000. Find a few popular areas of agreement and put it through. Boring day to day doing the job is also a good idea.

Evers is older. Expectations are low. So he should do fine.

gilbar said...

have they scheduled the recall election yet?

MadisonMan said...

I saw that this morning. Thanks for reading it so I didn't have to. I figured it was something silly so that people wouldn't get PO'ed that Evers wasn't doing anything, and it's all Republicans' fault.

Hagar said...

Does not the word "enact" imply new statutes?
How does the governor do that without the legislature?

Tommy Duncan said...

Tony Evers has a "Joe Btfsplk" quality about him.

Ann Althouse said...

I consider this one of the most boring posts in the 15-year history of this blog.

But I like politics to be boring, so that tipped me into seeing this article as bloggable. Now that I'm looking at the post, however, I'm think, oh, why did I do that?!!!

Kevin said...

The rubes who voted for change must now be educated about how little change they’re going to get.

Otherwise they might be too disappointed to vote for change next time.

See also: the US House GOP.

Kevin said...

I consider this one of the most boring posts in the 15-year history of this blog.

And yet no boring tag?

Birkel said...

The good people of Wisconsin are going to suffer some unexpected results.

Hagar said...

We don't need no steenkin' laws; we got the governorship!

RK said...

Boring? Like Scott Walker, Tony Evers is Hitler.

gilbar said...

Hagar said... Does not the word "enact" imply new statutes?

in the olden days, the people needed 'laws' to help them, but in our Brave, New World...
Evers (like our deity O'Bama, will pick up his pen, and "He and his appointees will enact rules"

Laws are as outdated as the concept of a secret ballot; now, someone will knock on your door, hand you a blank ballot, and let you know that If you don't sign it: they will put you on the list.
Then, our beloved leader (and his appointees) will enact "rules" for you to live by

Wince said...

"What can Tony Evers really do?"

"What evers" will he do?

Que Sera Sera

"She picked up a book of her father's life and threw it on the fire... Mother said, 'Never mind you part is to be... what you'll be'."

Rick.T. said...

So basically the takeaway is that the chances are Evers will be tinkering around the edges?

JaimeRoberto said...

What's a "strong veto"?

MadisonMan said...

What if the Republican Legislature just decided not to pass any laws at all?

Then Evers can't run for re-election because he'll have no accomplishments at all! And it'll all be the fault of those mean Republicans!!

MadTownGuy said...

Ann Althouse said...
"I consider this one of the most boring posts in the 15-year history of this blog."

Boring is better than nothing. Nevertheless I think Tony Evers is likely to be Jim Doyle II.

walter said...

So..why isn't Elbow's piece on the opinion page?
Oh..that's right.

walter said...

Love the name though. Evers gets Elbowed.

Rabel said...

"What's a "strong veto"?"

"What most people outside Wisconsin don't know is that our governor wields a veto power on appropriations bills so strong as to be frankly comic. It's not just a line-item veto; Walker has the power to veto individual phrases and words (PDF) -- like "not" -- from sentences."

But there are limits:

"In approving an appropriation bill in part, the governor may not create a new word by rejecting individual letters in the words of the enrolled bill, and may not create a new sentence by combining parts of 2 or more sentences of the enrolled bill."

Howard said...

Evers proposes to tinker and take chances

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Tony Cadavers

MadTownGuy said...

Rabel said...
""In approving an appropriation bill in part, the governor may not create a new word by rejecting individual letters in the words of the enrolled bill, and may not create a new sentence by combining parts of 2 or more sentences of the enrolled bill." "

Left over from the Frankenstein veto.

David-2 said...

@MadTownGuy - thanks for the 'Frankenstein veto' link - the most interesting part of that article was the claim that extending by 3 days a tax holiday restricted to "school supplies" saved Wisconsin residents - there are only 5.5 million of them - from paying an extra $11.5 MILLION in TAXES!! How excessive are those taxes that ==> 3 DAYS <== of school supply sales in that mid-sized state could generate $11.5 MILLION?

Google tells me that in 2013 Wisconsin had ~900,000 school students.

(I'm actually not sure that 5.5 million residents total is commensurate with 900,000 school students, so the data may not be accurate.)

Rabel said...

"How excessive are those taxes that ==> 3 DAYS <== of school supply sales in that mid-sized state could generate $11.5 MILLION?"

Under the measure, sales taxes were waived on school supplies and pieces of clothing that each cost less than $75, on computers costing no more than $750 and on computer supplies that cost no more than $250.

The Wisconsin (WI) state sales tax rate is 5%.