Wisconsin Republicans to vote on curbing newly elected Democrats' power

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By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin were preparing on Tuesday to vote on a raft of bills that would weaken the powers of the state governor and attorney general, weeks before newly elected Democrats take those posts.

The Republican majority called a rare post-election legislative session this week to consider the proposals. Democrats have criticized it as a last-minute power grab that undercuts the Nov. 6 elections, when Democrats broke years of total Republican control of state government in Wisconsin.

Protesters chanting “shame” swarmed the capitol building on Monday in Madison, where a legislative committee held a 10-hour hearing that was frequently disrupted by members of the public.

The move mirrored an effort underway in Michigan, where the Republican-controlled legislature is also weighing new laws that would hamstring incoming Democratic leaders who prevailed in last month’s elections.

In both states, the lame-duck sessions will give Republican governors one final chance to implement their priorities before leaving office in January.

Wisconsin Democrats railed against the proposals at Monday’s hearing. Katrina Shankland, a member of the Wisconsin state assembly, accused Republicans of acting like “sore losers.”

Republicans defended the measures, saying their goal is to keep a proper balance between the legislative and executive branches.

Outgoing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker described the proposals to reporters late Monday as a good-faith attempt to ensure that work done by Republicans over the last eight years is not reversed.

But Tony Evers, the Democrat who defeated Walker in November, has called the legislation an “embarrassment” and threatened legal action.

The proposals would give legislators power to intervene in litigation involving the state, a role normally reserved for the attorney general, and curtail the governor’s ability to issue rules that codify state laws.

The bills would also allow legislators to decide whether to withdraw the state from lawsuits, rather than the attorney general. That measure is intended to prevent Evers and the incoming Democratic attorney general, Josh Kaul, from following through on their campaign promise to end Wisconsin’s challenge to the federal Affordable Care Act.

In Michigan, Republicans want to end the secretary of state’s oversight of campaign finance laws and sidestep the attorney general in litigation.

The efforts are reminiscent of the lame-duck maneuvers that North Carolina Republicans took in 2016 to strip the incoming Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, of power.

Republicans in that state are rushing to pass a new voter identification law before they lose their veto-proof majority in January.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone)