Earlier this year, the WI State Legislature passed Act 21 giving Walker the power to override rules made by government agencies as he sees fit.
http://host.madison.com/....
I'm sure there are many ways this will come in handy for Walker, but maybe the handiest is that now Governor Fox gets to shape the rules governing his own recall.
Tuesday, the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules held a sesssion (posted just 24 hours and 14 minutes in advance, in the smallest room available, as per usual). The topic was GAB policy about 2 things: date stickers on college IDs that would allow college students to vote under the new voter ID law, and a policy (used currently for candidate nominations) that would allow someone to download a recall petition, sign it, and also sign as the person certifying the petition. (Also the ability to download a recall form with the address prepopulated, as is done now for absentee ballots, but this doesn’t seem to me like it would have as big an impact on recalls.)
Obviously, if people all around the state can download their own recall petitions, sign them, and mail them in, that will streamline the recall process. And college students on the whole are not a Walker constituency, and suppressing their vote has been part of the plan all along.
So, how is the GOP trying to undermine the right to recall and the right to vote now? The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules is asking the GAB to formally promulgate "rules" (rather than just policy) on these issues. And then Walker will be in the position to change those rules as he sees fit.
From http://www.progressive.org/...
Vukmir then backpedaled saying, “No one is taking away anyone’s right to vote today. We are hearing testimony from the Government Accountability Board.” She further clarified, “It is our duty to oversee when agencies are putting forth specific parts of the law. If they haven’t done policy through promulgation of a rule it is our job to point that out to them... This is not about the people, this is about the GAB.”
(bolding mine)
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Cutting to the chase, Sen. Taylor pushed the Legislative Council staffer to clarify the new procedures around rule promulgation. Referring specifically to the recall petition situation, Taylor likened it to putting a fox in charge of the chicken coop. “I wanted to make sure that we let the law speak. With all due respect, you may fool some people, but you can’t fool all people and you can’t fool me. You gave this governor the authority to accept or reject administrative rules. By you choosing to take this from the GAB to have them shift this from policy to a rule, you give the governor authority to decide on this.” (bolding mine)
The meeting ended without a conclusion, and the Chair, Vuikmir, said the issues raised would be decided in the next few days. So stay tuned.