‘We highly doubt a Dane County judge has the authority to tell the Legislature how to carry out its constitutional duty’
- Joint statement from Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald
That’s funny. A Dane County judge did just that. Obviously, Ma Fitzgerald failed to teach her boys (they’re brothers) to accurately interpret events.
This was one of two recent instances in which elected officeholders in Florida and Wisconsin - who take an oath to uphold the law - had no qualms about violating the law.
The Wisconsin flap, the better known of the two episodes, focused on how the Republican-controlled Senate provided two hours notice before meeting on Wednesday, March 9, 2011, to vote for the infamous bill to cripple union bargaining rights. The Assembly approved the bill on Thursday and GOP Gov. Scott Walker signed it into law on Friday.
Dane County District Attorney Ismail Ozanne subsequently filed a lawsuit alleging that a special legislative committee meeting to amend its anti-collective bargaining bill was held without providing 24 hours notice, a violation of the state open meetings law, according to the Associated Press. Madison, the state capital, is located in Dane County.
Attorneys for the state claimed that under Senate rules notice posted on a bulletin board two hours prior to the committee session was adequate,
Dane County District Judge Maryann Sumi did not buy the state’s argument and on Friday, March 18, proceeded “to tell the Legislature how to carry out its constitutional duty.”
She ruled in favor of a temporary restraining order, saying, as quoted in The New York Times, “It’s (openness) not a minor detail. We here in Wisconsin own our government.”
The Fitzgeralds said the state will appeal Sumi’s order, adding, “We fully expect an appeals court will find that the Legislature followed the law perfectly and likely find that today’s ruling was a significant overreach,” according to AP.
Republicans still have the alternative of undergoing the process again by providing 24 hours notice.
Southward, Gov. Rick Scott irked fellow Florida Republicans by going his own way on some issues. Scott may have violated the law by selling two state jets without legislative permission, which violates the state constitution, the Times reports.
Scott could well have experience violating the law. He headed Columbia/HCA, the nation’s largest hospital chain. An FBI’s inquiry resulted in $1.7 billion in criminal and civil penalties for Medicare fraud. He resigned in the middle of this in 1997.
Scott sold the jets because he uses his own plane and wanted to conclude the sale quickly, the Times reported.
The sale of the jets sounds as if Scott acted in a good cause, to save Florida money. However, he still should have followed the law.
Wisconsin’s Republican senators were not acting in a good cause. They sought to severely limit collective bargaining and proceeded in a manner to limit public participation.
Of course, many political figures have broken the law in far more blatant ways. Both Democrats and Republicans have been prosecuted for bribery and related crimes. Both Obama and the most recent President Bush undertook military actions against foreign countries where they were not authorized by Congress to do so. The military under Bush bombed Syria near the Iraq border and under Obama attacked Pakistan. Richard Nixon was pardoned by Gerald Ford without ever being charged with a crime.
They all set a horrible example for the rest of us when they skirt the law. In Florida and Wisconsin, should we anticipate worse from them?
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