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Walker signs bills curbing successor's powers

Wisconsin governor signs bills from controversial lame-duck session

MINNEAPOLIS — There was strong reaction in Wisconsin and around the nation Friday to the latest political drama in Madison.

Republican Governor Scott Walker, who lost his bid for a third term in November's election, signed several bills that will limit the powers of the new governor and Attorney General, who are both Democrats.

One of the bills will keep Governor-elect Tony Evers and Atty General-elect Josh Kaul from pulling Wisconsin of a multi-state lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, even though they both campaigned on that issue.

It will transfer that authority to the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly and Senate, which solidly backs the lawsuit.

Another bill from what Walker dubbed "the extraordinary session" will limit early voting to two weeks before elections statewide, rather than letting local counties and cities set their own early voting schedules.

"What they consider fairness really isn’t fairness, because they’re taking away local control," Danielle Johnson, co-chairperson of the St. Croix County Democrats, told KARE.

"And really what it is, is voter suppression."

The lame-duck session drew sharp protests from Democrats, who had called Walker to veto at least parts of the bills.

"The fact that they’re stripping power from Tony Evers and Josh Kaul is very distressing, because our voices are not being honored," Tammy Moothedan, the other co-chair of the St. Croix County Democrats, told KARE.

"The Affordable Care Act and protecting coverage for preexisting conditions is one of the things they campaigned on, and now they don’t have the power to keep their promises to the people of Wisconsin."

John Kraft, who heads the St. Croix County Republicans, said that Walker and Republican legislators were merely trying to preserve the work they had done for the past eight years.

"From a Republican perspective we’re collectively deadest against the government controlling health care, and every agrees the ACA needs to be fixed," Kraft remarked.

"The bottom line is that Wisconsin had previously joined this lawsuit and it was one of the crowning achievements, many people believe, of the Walker administration during that time."

Kraft also defended the idea of creating a statewide standard when it comes to early voting.

"Previously we had a hodgepodge of mismatched dates," he said.

Kraft asserted Evers won a statewide race on the power of heavy turnout in Milwaukee, but that voters across Wisconsin have placed their trust in Republicans to make the laws there.

His Democratic counterpart, Danielle Johnson, said Republicans have drawn legislative maps to maintain their power.

"Wisconsin is a very gerrymandered state, which means to us the Republicans are over represented in the Assembly and the Senate," Johnson said.

 

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