Posted on 07/14/2015 1:14:44 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Madison— Secretary of State Doug La Follette sued Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday, arguing the budget he signed Sunday violates the state constitution by interfering with his ability to maintain state records.
The spending plan Walker approved cut La Follette's budget by about half,transferred some of his duties to Walker's Department of Administration and called for moving La Follette's office from rented space into smaller space in the basement of the state Capitol.
The lawsuit comes a day after the Republican governor launched his presidential campaign.La Follette is a Democrat.
The state constitution requires the secretary of state to"keep a fair record of the official acts of the legislative and executive department of the state." La Follette's lawsuit,filed in Dane County by attorney Roger Sage,contends Walker's budget impedes his ability to do that.
"The constitutional and statutory mandate of the office of the secretary of state requires that the office of the secretary of state be adequately funded and have sufficient staff and physical space to faithfully perform the duties required of the office,"Sage wrote in the lawsuit.
La Follette is asking Circuit Judge Rhonda Lanford to block implementation of the budget measures affecting him and ensure his office has adequate staffing,space and funding.
Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel will defend Walker in the case,according to Schimel spokeswoman Anne Schwartz.She said his office is reviewing La Follette's complaint.
La Follette has three aides and one temporary worker.Walker's budget reduces that to one aide and one temporary worker.
The space in the Statehouse basement the administration has designated for La Follette is about 900 square feet,according to the lawsuit.That's about a quarter of the size of La Follette's current office.
The budget provision is the latest attempt to weaken the powers of La Follette,who has been in office for 36 years and has seen his staff and duties repeatedly minimized.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
"The Wisconsin Idea, in United States History, also refers to a series of political reforms of the late 19th century and early 20th century whose strongest advocate was Robert M. La Follette, Sr., Wisconsin's governor (1901–1906) and senator (1906–1925). The Wisconsin Idea was created by the state's progressives to do away with monopolies, trusts, high cost of living, and predatory wealth, which they saw as the problem that must be solved or else "no advancement of human welfare or progress can take place". Reforms in labor rights were one of the major aspects of the Wisconsin Idea. The progressive worker's compensation program was first introduced by German immigrants, who were abundant in Wisconsin. The system was adopted from the existing system in Germany, which was based on the idea that the employer was obligated to take care of his employees and keep paying them as they grew old. Many of the reforms were based on traditions and customs brought to the state by German immigrants.
The emphasis on higher learning and well-funded universities stressed by the Wisconsin Idea was derived from the education system of Germany. Progressives also proposed the first state income taxes, as well as submitting the idea of a progressive tax. They also passed legislation prohibiting pollution and police brutality.
The Wisconsin Idea would go on to set an example for other states in the United States. The progressive politicians of the time sought to emulate and ultimately transcend the states of the east coast in regards to labor laws. Wisconsin progressives wished to make Wisconsin into a benchmark for other Midwestern states to strive towards. Although many of the reforms went through in 1911, conservative opponents of the progressive party took control of Wisconsin in 1914, thus minimizing the magnitude and effects of the reforms. The Wisconsin Idea would continue to be a revolutionary precedent for other universities, and its educational aspects are still relevant today. Robert La Follette, Sr. was the man who implemented much of this legislature, and he was among the earliest supporters of direct election of senators, which is now a national practice. These progressive politics also helped pass the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments to the American Constitution.
These proposed reforms, all of which were eventually adopted, included:
Primary elections, allowing the rank-and-file members of a political party to choose its nominees rather than caucuses usually dominated by political bosses.
Workers' compensation, allowing workers injured whilst working to receive a fixed payment in compensation for their injuries and related expenses rather than forcing them to go to court against their employers, which at the time was extremely difficult and had little realistic chance of success.
State regulation of railroads in addition to the federal regulation imposed by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Direct election of United States Senators as opposed to the original method of their selection by the state legislatures, eventually ratified as the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Progressive taxation, where the wealthier pay a higher rate of tax than the less-affluent, made possible on the federal level in part by the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Adoption of these reforms marked the high point of the Progressive Era.....
Well it wouldn’t be a Walker budget without a lunatic lefty lawsuit...
“....Pleasant. That’s even how Walker’s bitterest political foes describe him.
In the heat of the state’s showdown with its union four years ago, Rep. Peter Barca, the Wisconsin State Assembly’s top Democrat, publicly denounced the governor at protests across the state. “You know, Governor Walker, you have defiled our heritage,” Barca said at one rally. “You have disregarded our values.”
But Walker,who declined to be interviewed for this article,never took it personally. “I’d give a speech in front of 50,000 protesters saying,‘Walker’s got to go,’“ Barca says, “and you’d see him the next day and you’d think I just sent him a coffeecake or something.”
Barca is part of a small group of leaders who meet regularly with Walker during the legislative session,but Barca said those gatherings are almost never satisfying. “Generally,when you meet with him on the major issues,you don’t feel like it’s a dialogue,”he says. “We get along just fine. He is sort of chitchatty. He exchanges pleasantries,makes some jokes. But you just feel like that on the big issues he is just there to tell you, ‘Here’s what I am going to do.’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3311629/posts
Hey, Doug, we don’t even need a Secretary of State.
The position was eliminated in Florida after Bush v. Gore. Katherine Harris ran for Congress. Now, she and the job are footnotes in history.
Seems to me REPUBLICAN means Smaller Government! Glad to see someone implementing it. Kudos to Walker.
“fair record” not honest, not timely, not comprehensive, just fair. Bob say hello to the cellar and a yellow legal pad to keep a fair record.
I don't think that will work real well with the bunch in there now.
“.....Looking back, it’s clear that without the recall, there is no Scott Walker presidential announcement today. What the recall did was turn Walker into a conservative hero/martyr — the symbol of everything base GOPers hate about unions and, more broadly, the Democratic party. He went from someone no one knew to someone every conservative talk radio host (and their massive audiences) viewed as the tip of the spear in the fight against the creep of misguided Democratic priorities. He became someone who had the phone numbers of every major conservative donor at his fingertips. He became what he is today: The political David who threw a pebble and slew the mighty liberal Goliath.
It’s hard for me to imagine that if Democrats had never tried to recall Walker that he would be a) running for president in 2016 or b) solidly established as one of the three candidates regarded as most likely to be the nominee. Even if Walker had, as he did, won a second term as governor in Wisconsin in 2014, it’s much more likely he’d be grouped in with fellow governors like John Kasich and Chris Christie rather than, as he is now, with Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.”
HA!! That's good...
This is the way to do it.
Smile and then stick it to ‘em.
bookmark
I agree. Everybody loves an underdog. He was fighting a tornado and he won. A FIGHTER is what we need today instead of all these Politically Correct weak kneed politicians. Walker is still on my list. Time will tell.
The guy pledged to eliminate his own office if elected.
<>Direct election of United States Senators as opposed to the original method of their selection by the state legislatures, eventually ratified as the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.<>
And so began the rot . . .
The worst part was that Walker took La Follette’s red Swingline stapler.
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