Thursday, February 16, 2012

Three Judge Panel calls GOP Lawmakers "Shameful" over Redistricting. I hope their voters are proud...crickets...


The behind closed doors, sworn to secrecy Republican legislators, coached those who testified about redistricting. They also orchestrated political strategy along with legal advice, which in turn, gave up their right to keep the redistricting secret. 

The chaos and disjointed nature of state government is something we might have to get used too if Walker and the Fitzgerald keep getting their way. For whatever reason, conservative votes must like living off the tense edginess of their crippling agenda. 

The redistricting maps future is dimming, fast:
jsonline: A three-judge panel on Thursday told Republican lawmakers to turn over 84 documents to a group of Democrats in a blistering order that said Republicans had engaged in a "shameful" effort to keep its efforts hidden from the public.

The court promptly released the documents, which showed, among other things, that those who drew the maps orchestrated the testimony in favor of the maps for a public hearing that occurred just after they were made available publicly … the court said lawmakers had blurred the lines between legal advice and political advice, and in doing so had given up any right to keep them secret.

"Without a doubt, the Legislature made a conscious choice to involve private lawyers in what gives every appearance of an attempt -albeit poorly disguised - to cloak the private machinations of Wisconsin's Republican legislators in the shroud of attorney-client privilege. What could have - indeed should have - been accomplished publicly instead took place in private, in an all but shameful attempt to hide the redistricting process from public scrutiny."

The court panel of judges consists of J.P. Stadtmueller, appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan; Diane P. Wood, appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton; and Robert M. Dow Jr., appointed by Republican President George W. Bush.

The testimony in favor of the maps was largely orchestrated by those who drew the maps. They recruited people to testify and supplied them with talking points.

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