For many of us in Wisconsin, our first reaction to the sudden collapse of Scott Walker’s presidential campaign was relief that Walker would no longer be a threat to wreak the same havoc upon the nation he’s inflicted upon our state.
The morning after, however, we woke up to the chilling possibility of three more years of Walker as governor, totally unchecked.
Republicans not only control the Legislature, but also a corrupt majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court that has forbidden prosecutors from gathering evidence into suspected criminal activity by Walker and his allies.
Always optimistic about positive political change in a democracy, I maintain the future may not be as grim as many fear.
First of all, there’s no reason to believe Walker will actually serve out his term as governor just because he promises he will. Given what we all know about Walker’s truthfulness, that’s a pretty good indication he’s out of here.
He’s probably right, though, that he won’t be in the cabinet of the next president. Hillary won’t even consider him.
But even if Walker ends up with the longest lame duck term in history, why should anyone take him seriously?
Walker clearly doesn’t want the job. As soon as he was re-elected, he quit showing up for work. He started running for president on election night and that was the last we saw of him. He stopped by the state a couple of times to turn in travel expenses for Britain and once for Canada, which apparently he was sizing up for a massive public works project.
Walker mailed in his state budget, which continued vital Republican programs such as destroying the state’s education system and cutting wages and jobs for working people.
Republican leaders were left to pass as much of his terrible budget agenda as possible. They also took the political heat when voters discovered hidden gems such as attempting to end public access to government records to cover up sleazy actions by Walker’s administration.
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Walker’s near-total absence from the state, the embarrassment he brought to Wisconsin on a national stage and continuing damage to the state economy from his right-wing agenda all have combined to reduce his approval rating to 39%, the lowest since a Marquette University Law School poll began tracking it.
There’s no reason to think it won’t go lower. Walker is returning badly damaged to the state he tried to flee after one of the most precipitous falls from grace in U.S. political history.
Voters Still Have Power
Walker’s divisive attack on workers’ wages and rights in Wisconsin already had nearly half the state bitterly opposed to him. In his national campaign, he began alienating strong Republican allies as well.
Pretending to be a courageous hero defeating the awesome power of Wisconsin unions, Walker told an outrageous lie about overcoming strong opposition within his own party from establishment Republicans who lacked his steely eyed resolve.
Anti-union Republican majorities in both houses of the Legislature were eager to destroy union rights for public employees. The only thing that slowed them down was Democratic senators leaving the state to prevent a quorum. Eventually, Republicans simply violated legislative rules and passed it.
As a result of dishonest Republican gerrymandering, Republicans can still pass any ugly legislation they want. But with Walker weakened, no one knows what kind of nasty internecine battles will break out among Republicans themselves jockeying to succeed him.
Besides, during regular legislative sessions, unlike budget sessions, Walker and Republicans are required to hold public hearings on the heinous bills they propose. They can’t just slip them into the budget under cover of darkness.
That allows decent people, possibly even including some Republicans who want honest government, opportunities to oppose bills Republicans have in the works to facilitate further corruption of Wisconsin’s government.
Bills are already being written to destroy independent, nonpartisan watchdogs such as the Government Accountability Board, established to oversee fair elections and government standards, and the Legislative Audit Bureau, which investigates illegal and unethical practices within state agencies.
After a John Doe investigation convicted six Walker staff members and political associates and another threatened to prosecute illegal campaign activity involving millions of dollars raised by outside special-interest groups, Republicans want to limit criminal investigations into politicians.
And, oh yeah, they want to destroy the century-old civil service system that requires government to hire and promote public employees based on tested ability and merit instead of party affiliation.
But voters really do have the power to stop their elected officials from such brazen dismantling of good government practices in a democracy.
Hey, it just happened on the national level. Politically engaged citizens saw through a shallow, dishonest presidential candidate, his public support dropped to a mere fraction above zero and he was sent packing.
There’s absolutely no reason why Wisconsin couldn’t do the same to any unscrupulous politician who tried to pull something like that around here.
