My apologies for how slapdash this will be, and for my own ragged understanding of Wisconsin state law, but everything's just happened.
2011 Wisconsin Act 10 -- the infamous collective-bargaining bill passed illegally in Wisconsin two weeks ago -- has just been published by the Legislative Reference Bureau. The PDF of that publication is here.
Yes, there was a temporary restraining order last week issued by Sudge Maryann Sumi, at the request of Dane County DA Ismael Ozanne, blocking this act's publication. The Legislative Reference Bureau wasn't a named party enjoined in that motion, and has apparently been convinced to publish the thing anyway, in the waning minutes before the end of the work week.
A footnote in Act 10's publication even acknowledges that order. Here's what it says:
† Pursuant to section 35.095 (3) (b), Wis. Stats., the secretary of state designated March 25, 2011, as the date of publication for this act. On March 18, 2011, the Dane County Circuit Court enjoined the secretary of state from publishing 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 until further order of the court. Section 35.095 (3) (a), Wis. Stats., requires the Legislative Reference Bureau to publish every act within 10 working days after its date of enactment.
Nothing there about the intent of the temporary restraining order. Nothing either about Sec. of State Doug LaFollette having rescinded the March 25 publication date in a
letter to the LRB a week ago.
It's not clear yet whether the LRB's action is or is not in accordance with the law, or carries the force of law. To me, anyway. I'm not a lawyer. Were the LRB just blindly trying to follow the 10-day rule, and could their action be deemed insufficient for the kind of publication that would put Act 10 into law? Or did Ozanne just forget to sue the LRB? And now what happens to the TRO and the appeal against it?
Whatever it means, what's increasingly clear is that Wisconsin's state government has a full-blown crisis of legitimacy. If the people in control of government have no intention of respecting the clear letter and intent of state law, it's hard to imagine state law even existing anymore.
I'll try to edit this diary as more and better information comes in. There has been some heartening news: Minority Leader Peter Barca has struck back with a records request of his own.
Many props here to Illusory Tenant, particularly same's Twitter feed.
ETA: See also jazmen8's and Black Brant's prior diaries, and now Jud Lounsbury's repurposed recommended diary.
Quick update 18:30 CDT: Word's coming in, apparently quoting WMTV-15 in Madison and Sen. Jon Erpenbach, that Sen. "Eff" Scott Fitzgerald himself ordered the LRB to publish Act 10. There's other word saying that if that is fact the case (even beyond the slimy optics of it all), then that would be material to whatever the courts would ultimately decide about whether the LRB's action was sufficient to put Act 10 into law -- namely, if Sen. Fitzgerald was found to have acted capriciously. I'll add actual links when I can find confirmation.
Update 19:00 CDT: The aforementioned Illusory Tenant has now posted, with something to say about that footnote posted above. Noting that the quoted statute [§35.095(3)(a)] is in a subchapter devoted to "Class 1 Printing", and quoting from the decision in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel v. Department of Administration (2009), this blogger (I don't know who he or she is) makes the case that "publishing" isn't really publishing here.
Again, who the hell knows. According to this AP story, the LRB's own director Steve Miller doesn't even think Act 10 is law, but Gov. Walker, Sen. Fitzgerald, the DoJ, and the rest of the administration have said that they consider Act 10 to be law and will act on that presumption going forward.
They appear, in other words, to seek to push Act 10 into de facto law through a sheer act of will. This becomes a lot more worrisome when you factor in evidence of Gov. Walker's ambitions for national office, and the agencies within the national GOP who are no doubt encouraging them. If Walker's continued pattern of lawless action is put to the Republican base and to the general public as a selling point, as resolve to be admired, then that would have the effect of selling said base and said public on the virtues of that kind of lawlessness itself, and encourage its emulation in other states and at the national level. If such an idea were to gain any traction, the entire country -- and the entire world -- would be in serious trouble.