The Scary Desperate Scott Walker Twitter Tantrum; What is it with Liberals and Blacks?

The juvenile Trump-like tweet storm spewing out from the fingertips of Gov. Scott Walker is the first truly honest look at who this career politician is behind those sleepy sociopathic eyes.

Walker's casual off-handed rejection of holding special elections for two vacant legislative seats because it was a "waste of taxpayer resources" flipped representative government on its head, and the judicial branch reacted quickly:

After a three-month delay, a lightning-quick lawsuit and three orders from as many judges, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called two special elections Thursday and GOP senators dropped legislation to block the contests.

The Divider and Conqueror Tantrum blames Liberals and Blacks: The lingering question; why did it take former AG Eric Holder to go to challenge Walker in court?

Having not learned anything about his legal obligations, a Walker tweetstorm started off by questioning all three of the court's independently reached decisions, using every dog whistle in his holster; "Obama" "Eric Holder," the fact they're both black, and "D.C. based special interests (that Republicans oddly don't have?):

That's fundraising gold right there, and Walker is on it! Especially when you pair that up with a wagging finger and the angry face below:

Reinforcing the idea that only conservatives work hard and have personal responsibility, send money now...:

...because those bad old liberal Democrats are now trying to use the law to raise campaign funds, nothing like the righteous Republican Party?

Unlike Republicans who took control in 2010 and gerrymandered safe voting majorities for the last 8 years, Democrats are scheming to do the impossible; "permanently change" districts! Ah, a little projection there maybe? Oh, and dog whistle "Nancy Pelosi?"

Here's hoping even Republican voters are seeing through this bizarre (hopefully) career ending and costly Walker fiasco, I know my conservative Trumpian friend in Milwaukee has:

Tone Deaf Republican Senate Candidate Leah Vukmir: After all the horrible nationwide press, voter anger and bad political optics, imagine a Republican candidate jumping onboard this titanic disaster. Yet it happened:

Democratic Challenger: Take a look at who is running for that senate seat:

Less than an hour after Walker called the special election, Door County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Caleb Frostman announced he would run as a Democrat in one of the open seats. The 1st Senate District includes Door and Kewaunee counties and parts of Brown, Manitowoc and Calumet counties.

"Frostman," really, up north there on the frozen tundra?

Compare his photo to De Pere Rep. Andre Jacque, who is such an ass***e not even many Republicans want to have anything to do with him:

Walker's special elections fiasco goes nationwide, now seeking favorable court!!! Oh, Citizenship question may makes states redder.

UPDATE: You won't believe what the court said:

"Representative government and the election of our representatives are never 'unnecessary,' never a 'waste of taxpayer resources,' and the calling of the special elections are, as the governor acknowledges, his 'obligation,'" the order reads.

AG Brad Schimel proved once and for all to voters, just before the election, that he's not defending the state or federal Constitution, he's defending his party leader Scott Walker.

Just prior to the decision....

Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican legislature are perfectly fine breaking our special election law. Reaching into their successful bag of tricks, they're now doubling down on their mistake by changing the law in defiance of a court order. Not even my conservative Trumpian friend is on board with this scheme. But if that's not crazy authoritarian enough, making "representation" optional...well?

Lawmakers are set to take comments on a bill that would eliminate requirements that the governor promptly call special elections to fill legislative vacancies. Current state law requires Walker to call special elections to fill vacancies that occur before early May of an election year but he has refused to schedule the contests.

Walker's AG lapdog Brad Schimel, who at one time was Waukesha County District Attorney in 2006, is going back home for a favorable ruling in front of a friendly court just like he always does:

The state Department of Justice on Wednesday asked the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Waukesha to give Walker until April 6 to call the elections. A Dane County judge on Tuesday rejected Walker's request for the delay. The Senate is returning on April 4 to vote on a bill that would prohibit any special legislative elections this year.

This fiasco has gotten major news coverage by every media outlet, mostly because of Walker's "bold" "unintimidated" balls to cancel elections at will, even before Republicans pass legislation that makes this outrageous action legal. Here's Ari Berman's take:



Republicans have been working on that "right to rule" idea for a long time, where it's now common knowledge that liberals and Democrats are second-class citizens akin to terrorists mucking things up for everyone else.

Republican Rep. Robin Vos makes that clear below, treating voters in Dane County as somehow removed from reality, living in a liberal fantasy bubble that runs counter to what real Americans in rural Wisconsin want. Vos is appalled at the idea that a special election will put someone who's never had "a single day on the floor, never cast a single vote in the legislature"...of course, that doesn't make any sense, but got past Mike Gousha's question anyway.

From interpreting the Constitution to judges, voting, the environment, energy, food, and air quality, the Democrats always and responsibly spend way too much of our "hard-earned money" regulating everything:



Oh, and Scot Ross at One Wisconsin Now pointed out this jaw-dropping fact:

Gov. Scott Walker was himself elected in special elections to two of the three offices he has held during his nearly 25 years in elected office. 

“Scott Walker’s been in office for so long he seems to have forgotten it was a special election for the state legislature that got him into the government hammock 25 years ago,” said Ross ... it was nearly 25 years ago that Scott Walker’s first electoral win was in a special election for the Wisconsin State Assembly. In 2002, Scott Walker was elected in a special election as Milwaukee County Executive, the elected office he held until being elected governor in 2010. 

One Wisconsin Now’s research department has confirmed it has been 9,038 days since Walker was seated in the state Assembly following his first special election win.

Winning with Tricks, Not Ideas: Republicans have another trick up their sleeve if gerrymandering hits some kind of roadblock in the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration is adding a citizenship question to the census. Here’s why that’s bad for Democrats.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross wrote, “I have determined that reinstatement of a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census is necessary to provide complete and accurate data in response to the DOJ request.”

Although this may seem like the arcane workings of the federal bureaucracy, it is a decision that carries potentially major political ramifications — most notably for Republicans' ability to gerrymander Democrats into the minority for years to come.

Census Citizenship Question another Republican Con: Here's the Washington Post's video that explains the GOP next big assault on representative government and voter suppression:

It would hand Republicans a new tool in redrawing districts even more in their favor! Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to take up a case called Evenwel v. Abbott … the Supreme Court did not prohibit states from drawing state legislative districts according to the voting-eligible population, and Justice Samuel Alito suggested that would be a future question for the court to decide. At issue is only whether state legislative districts could be drawn by voting-eligible population.

Alito's question was still in the realm of the hypothetical because it has been impossible to use that voting-eligible method, given that there has been no accurate census block data that included citizenship. Which is where the new Commerce Department decision comes in. With this question added, it can supply that data and open the door for states to actually draw districts according to who is and who is not eligible to vote. That could mean a significant reddening of the state legislative map — which, in turn, could help Republicans stave off Democratic control and keep redrawing all the maps.

Terri Ann Lowenthal, who has worked for many years as a leading census expert in the House of Representatives. “Between evidence that the administration is manipulating the census for political gain, and fear that the administration will use the census to harm immigrants, confidence in the integrity of the count could plummet. And the census is only as good as the public’s willingness to participate.”

Republicans free Walker from ever filling vacant legislative seats, obeying courts if he wants!

UPDATE -Tuesday  6:30 pm: Walker did not get a delay on his delay to hold special elections...yes, he had the balls to even ask:

A Dane County judge Tuesday told Gov. Scott Walker he must quickly order special elections to fill two legislative seats that have been vacant since December. Circuit Judge Richard Niess noted the legislation to avoid the elections is slated to be taken up without voters from those districts having representation in the Senate and Assembly.

"They have no say in that bill at all." 

"No court that I’m aware of is at liberty to ignore the law in order to facilitate the Legislature’s consideration of bills that might become law. When and if a legislative bill becomes the law, it can be brought to the court and at that time the arguments can be made as to what the effect of that law is on an already pending (litigation)."

From both WISC and WKOW TV:

Reporter: "Governor Walker is also making history being the only governor to go this long by not calling a special session (election)...from 1971 no governor has left a seat in a legislature this long, and for more than a year. To date, this is the longest any county has gone without representation without representation."

Let me see if we have this right:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker might be able to ignore a judge's order and stall special elections for the Legislature, under a bill GOP leaders hope to rush through the statehouse ... The legislation says it would overrule any election order from either Walker or a court.

Wait, ah, run that by us again...

The bill they released Monday would eliminate the requirement that Walker call such elections promptly and give the governor wide latitude to decide whether and when to do so.

So thanks to the juvenile act of Walker's pouty legislative leaders, the governor doesn't really have to do anything...like his job? 

Sounds to me like the next Democratic governor could leave as many Republicans seats open as long as he/she wanted, the entire term basically, or never fill them. 

Summing this up perfectly:

"This is outrageous and as crooked as a bag of snakes," Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) said in a statement. "The governor had every opportunity to call for a special that could have aligned with the spring 2018 election, so this is not about saving money."

Here's the whole story

Remember, this has nothing to do with saving money or that former Attorney General Eric Holder helped bring the case, it's about representation and angry voters losing that:

Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) said his constituents think special elections should be held for two legislative seats that have sat open since December. One of the two vacant seats is an Assembly district that lies within Olsen's Senate seat. "Let's just say I've been getting a lot of calls and emails from my constituents," Olsen said.

Walker, Fitzgerald "victims," order judicial branch activism and change to law they violated. Tough break voters.

A Special Note: My conservative Trumpian friend in Milwaukee called and trashed Walker and Fitzgerald. There's a possibility that this isn't going as well as the scheming Republicans think it is.

When Scott Walker and the Republican lawbreakers ignore laws and get caught, they change the law. It's their "privilege. And that's what's happening with the special election law:

Gov. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers are moving quickly to change when special elections must be held in the wake of a court order requiring special elections for two vacant legislative seats.

Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds — who was appointed to the bench by Walker in 2014 and elected to a six-year term the following year — blistered the governor Thursday for refusing to call the special elections and ordered him to do so within a week.

Walker bashed the actual group representing Wisconsin voters in court because that group, headed up by former AG Eric Holder, was from D.C. Yes, it's an oddly insulting argument to make when you've got no real point to make. Crash and burn time just before the election?

Walker — even before the formal legislation had been made public — said that he would sign the bill. “A D.C.-based political group wants to force Wisconsin taxpayers to waste money on special elections at a time when our Legislature is ready to adjourn for the year,” Walker said.

And the irony?

If that wasn't bad enough, Fitzgerald made it clear who the judicial branch is supposed to serve under a Republican authority:

Fitzgerald criticized the tone of Reynolds’ ruling in which she questioned why Walker didn’t call for special elections to fill the vacancies as required by law. On Thursday, Vos criticized Reynolds as an “activist Dane County judge,” which prompted Fifth Judicial District Chief Judge William Hanrahan to demand an apology.

Yet judicial criticism is not tolerated by our all-knowing overseers, who continue to play the role of victim despite being in complete control of the legislature for the last 7 years. 

In one of the most bizarre statements yet, offering a revealing look at just how power corrupts, Fitzgerald wants the Chief Justice to punish the lower court judges. You read that right:

Fitzgerald said Reynolds’ and Hanrahan’s public statements were “way out of line” and reflected a larger problem with Dane County judges being hostile to conservatives and Republicans.

He called the Fifth Judicial District a “laughing stock” in the state and said he would talk with Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Pat Roggensack about the situation.

“All of those comments about the governor were just way out of bounds,” Fitzgerald said. “I would hope that Justice Roggensack would police that.”

I can't wait to see what Roggensack does with this hot potato. Standing up for voters in Dane County and elsewhere, Hanrahan's public statement didn't hold back...

Hanrahan: “You took the low road. With a broad brush, you have not only needlessly besmirched my reputation and that of my colleagues, you have also gratuitously denigrated the good citizens of Dane County. And frankly, in the process, you have also sullied your own reputation, diminishing any hopes of being taken seriously as a statesman.”

But even more interesting; Hanrahan appears to be an old-fashioned apolitical judge like they're supposed to be. Well, how about that...

Hanrahan, a former state assistant attorney general who heads the state’s Fifth Judicial District wrote, that he is neither liberal nor conservative, but a “non-partisan member of the Third Branch of state government.”

Walker's own appointed Judge ruled he must call special elections...Rep. Vos called her an "activist?"

It hurts just trying to figure this out; Republicans are quick to remind everyone that we're a "republic," not a democracy. And yet, not a peep from these proud angry conservative radio talk hosts and their deep red district voters when Walker left two legislative seats empty. Crickets.

Oh, it didn't serve their purpose or wasn't a part of their strategy of winning a sure thing? Seriously. Here's audio from WPR' Shawn Johnson:

Dealing a setback to Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans, (Dane County) Judge Josann Reynolds - whom Walker appointed to the bench in 2014 - ruled Thursday the governor must call special elections to fill two vacant seats in the Legislature.

Showing just how crooked and wacky the con-game-of-resentment works, Republican Rep. Robin Vos embarrassed himself and his district when he quickly and without hesitation...

...ripped the judge as an "activist Dane County judge" who had injected her "own personal opinion into how we conduct elections." He said he wasn't aware Walker had appointed the judge, but said her approach was endemic to judges in liberal Madison. "It’s something about the water in Dane County," Vos said. "That’s why I try to stay here as little as I can."

It's a Mistake when a Judge rules Against Republicans? Vos is pretty much saying Republicans are "smarter than the rest of the state," above the law, and that the judicial branch is only there to support their agenda. This is so arrogant, ya gotta think something is terribly wrong with these guys. Seriously, who says this...?

Vos: "One thing I've always learned about appointments, you don't always get it right...sometimes even Governor Walker might have appointed somebody who's decided to be an activist judge. Something about the water in Dane County, which is why I try to stay here as little as I can. Ah, makes people feel like they are smarter than the rest of the state. This judge is certainly not."

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, on behalf of the constituents in those cheated districts, went to court:

Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds —  determined Walker had a duty under state law to hold special elections ... failing to hold special elections infringed on the voting rights of people who lived in the two districts. "To state the obvious, if the plaintiffs have a right to vote for their representatives, they must have an election to do so," said Reynolds.

Oh and do I love the judges next comment, centering on the GOP's demand for a strict constructionist interpretation of the Constitution, which Reynolds firmly believes in:

The judge took a shot at Walker for contending he didn't have to hold the election when the statutes are clear and he so often talks about the need for judges and others to follow the plain meaning of laws. 

"I cannot reconcile the incongruity between Gov. Walker's administration's very vocal and consistent policy advocating for strict constructionism and the position taken by the attorney general in this case involving the most basic constitutional guarantee."

I can't wait to see Judge Reynolds Schimel takedown repeated in AG candidate Josh Kaul's campaign ads.

Walker aides contended Walker didn't need to hold special elections because the vacancies occurred not in 2018 — the election year — but in 2017. 

The judge called that interpretation absurd because a seat that becomes vacant in 2017 remains empty longer than one that begins in 2018.

Reynolds noted lawmakers could come in for a special session in the coming months, particularly if the U.S. Supreme Court sides with a panel of three federal judges that new congressional and legislative maps must be drawn.

Walker leaves voters cold, no political representation, fearing loss of GOP seats!!!

Where's the legal challenge?

Scott Walker is refusing to fill two legislative seats, despite being required to by law. As casual about breaking the law as anyone could be, Walker just wanted to make things simple. WSAW:



The news media has once again taken the neutral, we're not sure position, writing "Some believe." It's more obvious than that.

Some believe the governor may be violating a state statute. The statute referred states the following: "Any vacancy in the office of state senator or representative to the assembly occurring before the 2nd Tuesday in May in the year in which a regular election is held to fill that seat shall be filled as promptly as possible by special election. However, any vacancy in the office of state senator or representative to the assembly occurring after the close of the last regular floor period of the legislature held during his or her term shall be filled only if a special session or extraordinary floor period of the legislature is called or a veto review period is scheduled during the remainder of the term. The special election to fill the vacancy shall be ordered, if possible, so the new member may participate in the special session or floor period."

Supporting to the idea we have a lawbreaking governor on our hands:

"The statute mentions May. And it says if the seat becomes vacant after May then he can leave them open until the next election," UW Stevens Point Political Science Professor Ed Miller said. "Well, this is before May. And it's been a while now. And therefore he may clearly be in violation of the statute." Miller said if Walker were to be challenged on this matter, it would have to happen in court. It's unclear if a legal challenge will occur.