Take a look at two similar stories that oddly got two different kinds of reactions from our Republican overseers. It proves we're not a "republic" after all, because Republican don't represent their voters, they represent their party. That's not how the constitution set things up?
Talk about dragging its feet, Scott Walker's crony filled DNR has taken nearly 5 years to put newer EPA standards in place, still needing more time:
Nearly five years after the federal government set new standards designed to protect public health from short, sharp spikes in air pollution levels, Wisconsin hasn't made the rules mandatory for all polluters. “Despite finding sufficient time and resources to adopt numerous other regulations at the behest of polluters since 2011 that allow more pollution without regulations or oversight, the Department has not met its statutory obligation to promulgate standards ... consistent with the federal standard,” the Midwest Environmental Defense Center and Clean Wisconsin said in their suit.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “finding of failure” issued to the DNR in August for missing a 2012 deadline for new state rules on “incremental” increases in particles from smokestacks. Rewriting state rules ... should not have been complicated because it would require inserting new numbers into existing rules.
That's all? Sure, and that’s outrageous, right? Not to Republicans who say it's just too complicated.
But coincidentally a new audit of the GAB put Republicans in phony outrage mode over...delays, but this time prompting calls to throw the bums out. Huh?
The state’s nonpartisan elections board needs to improve its handling of campaign finance laws, complaints, lobbying and ethics laws … Staff members were late in conducting 16 reviews required by law to identify felons who may have voted illegally. Auditors said it wasn’t until summer 2014 that they had completed reviews from 16 elections between February 2010 and April 2014.
Republican leaders pounced on the news as evidence that major changes are needed. A spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker, for example, said the audit proves the agency is “ripe for reform.” “This audit proves what Republicans have been saying for years: The GAB isn’t doing its job,” said Sen. Alberta Darling.
In summary, cleaning up the environment to save lives and improve the health of state citizens takes lots of time, but turning the GAB into a right wing partisan rubber stamp for corrupting our elections? Fast tracked..
Dammit... if a felon has served his or her crime then he or she should have the right to vote. If not, that person will forever remain a second class citizen.
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