Gov. Scott Walker signs a sweeping package of Republican legislation Friday in Green Bay that restricts early voting and weakens the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general, brushing aside complaints that he is enabling a brazen power grab and ignoring the will of voters.
HALEY BEMILLER, APPLETON POST-CRESCENT
Gov. Scott Walker signed all three sweeping lame-duck bills into law in Green Bay on Friday, concluding an eleventh-hour effort by Republican legislators to roll back some of the next governor’s authority.
Walker, who has faced national scrutiny and calls from Democrats and some Republicans to reject the legislative package entirely, said during the bill signing he was approving the three bills in full, without line-item vetoes. Earlier this week, he said he was considering at least one line-item veto of the legislation.
During remarks Walker gave shortly before the signing, he dismissed criticism of the legislation as hype and hysteria, and outlined how he believes the bills improve stability, transparency and accountability to taxpayers and that Gov.-elect Tony Evers will continue to have some of the strongest powers of any state executive in the country.
“The overwhelming executive authority that I as governor have today will remain constant with the next governor,” Walker said in front of a faulty Venn diagram trying to show how Evers and Walker would continue to have the same powers to introduce budgets and veto bills, among other powers.
However, the diagram didn’t explain key changes included in the bills that limit Evers’ power over economic development, lawsuits and administrative rules.
Walker’s signature on the bills provides a victory to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, who championed…
