Call me a cynic, call me a realist, I don't care.
But I'm not convinced that the FitzWalkerVos 'Revenge of the little men' bill, as I've dubbed it, is the last dirty pool maneuver these elitist, special-interest bell-hopping Republicans had up their sleeves.
In the wee hours of the morning after Evers, Barnes and Kaul had tallied unbeatable victory margins, I posted a celebratory, congratulatory, almost giddy item.
Several hours later, I began to worry that Republicans weren't going to go quietly, especially since they had planned a special session purportedly to deal with the Kimberly-Clark subsidy, so I wrote:
I wrote that because I was remembering how Walker "dropped the [Act 10] bomb," so likes surprises.
And before that had inserted campaign operatives and equipment in his Milwaukee County Executive office suite during his run in 2010 against Tom Barrett, so likes stealth.
And how in his 2012 recall campaign he had directed a secret routing for third-party donations, so has a history playing the ends-justify-the-means game when it comes to taking and holding an advantage.
This is my point: They are still in full control for the next 18 days.
That's a lot of time to for Walker to issue executive orders, or for appointees to sign off on DNR permits, DOA annexations, WEDC grants, Workforce Development contracts, limited-term and full-time hires, consulting agreements, and so on.
You may be planning on going on vacation soon, but the lobbyists and PAC directors and trade association officials who get paid to fulfill their clients needs in and around the State Capitol will be earning their fees up to the swearing-in.
Later for the beach and the Magic Kingdom. Right now, it's go-time.
And it's impossible for all the agencies and boards and commissions and little low-profile fiefdoms and budgets and contingency funds and favors being call in to to be monitored.
And whatever illusions anyone had about honor systems or traditions or fair play got cued off the table with the little mens' deployment of rule-free dirty poll.
So it would not surprise me that when the Evers, Barnes and Kaul teams show up for work on November 7th, and are officially given the keys and passwords and secret handshakes they discover that on Christmas Eve or New Year's Day some more public money or authority somehow found their way into the world in a way that will be hard or costly to retrieve.
Just file this in your 'fool me once...' file.
But I'm not convinced that the FitzWalkerVos 'Revenge of the little men' bill, as I've dubbed it, is the last dirty pool maneuver these elitist, special-interest bell-hopping Republicans had up their sleeves.
In the wee hours of the morning after Evers, Barnes and Kaul had tallied unbeatable victory margins, I posted a celebratory, congratulatory, almost giddy item.
Several hours later, I began to worry that Republicans weren't going to go quietly, especially since they had planned a special session purportedly to deal with the Kimberly-Clark subsidy, so I wrote:
We'll see if WI legislative Republicans begin passing sour-grapes measures in special session (s) to hamstring the incoming Democratic Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General's institutional authorities.
Are Walker, Fitzgerald and Vos statesmen or spoilers?
Will they calm the waters, or roil them?Well, we got our answers.
I wrote that because I was remembering how Walker "dropped the [Act 10] bomb," so likes surprises.
And before that had inserted campaign operatives and equipment in his Milwaukee County Executive office suite during his run in 2010 against Tom Barrett, so likes stealth.
And how in his 2012 recall campaign he had directed a secret routing for third-party donations, so has a history playing the ends-justify-the-means game when it comes to taking and holding an advantage.
This is my point: They are still in full control for the next 18 days.
That's a lot of time to for Walker to issue executive orders, or for appointees to sign off on DNR permits, DOA annexations, WEDC grants, Workforce Development contracts, limited-term and full-time hires, consulting agreements, and so on.
You may be planning on going on vacation soon, but the lobbyists and PAC directors and trade association officials who get paid to fulfill their clients needs in and around the State Capitol will be earning their fees up to the swearing-in.
Later for the beach and the Magic Kingdom. Right now, it's go-time.
And it's impossible for all the agencies and boards and commissions and little low-profile fiefdoms and budgets and contingency funds and favors being call in to to be monitored.
And whatever illusions anyone had about honor systems or traditions or fair play got cued off the table with the little mens' deployment of rule-free dirty poll.
So it would not surprise me that when the Evers, Barnes and Kaul teams show up for work on November 7th, and are officially given the keys and passwords and secret handshakes they discover that on Christmas Eve or New Year's Day some more public money or authority somehow found their way into the world in a way that will be hard or costly to retrieve.
Just file this in your 'fool me once...' file.