King's crackpot complaint
Madison Alderman Austin King either has a great sense of humor or a bizarre view of how the political world works.
I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt and conclude that his complaint to Atty. Gen. Peg Lautenschlager about alleged "logrolling" on the minimum wage was intended to generate a story in The Onion.
But if that's the case, why would he write so much? His complaint is novella length, so he must be serious. If you have way too much time on your hands, you can read it here.
King apparently believes that compromise is a Class I felony in Wisconsin.
It happens rarely in the current partisan atmosphere of the State Capitol, but I never guessed that's because it's a felony.
Two things have happened on minimum wage. The Doyle administration has issued an emergency rule to raise the rate, which it appears will take effect without the legislature objecting. The legislature has passed a bill pre-empting local minimum wage ordinances; Doyle has not signed it into law but presumably will.
Is there a connection or an understanding of some sort? In all likelihood. Is that a felony? Of course not.
King's complaint asks the AG to approach the matter "with its deserved gravity." Let's hope she does just that, files it under "Crackpot Complaints" and doesn't spend any taxpayer money on an investigation.
posted by xoff @ 8:22 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Are you some Doyle lackey or something?
The law is pretty clear:
13.06 Executive favor. Any member of the legislature who gives, offers or promises to give his or her vote or influence in favor of or against any measure or proposition pending or proposed to be introduced in the legislature, or that has already been passed by either house of the legislature, in consideration of or on condition that the governor approve, disapprove, veto or sign, or agree to approve, disapprove, veto or sign, any other measure or proposition pending or proposed to be introduced in the legislature or that has already been passed by the legislature, or either house thereof, or in consideration or upon condition that the governor nominate for appointment or appoint or remove any person to or from any office or position under the laws of this state, is guilty of a Class I felony.
Do you doubt that this sort of quid pro quo arrangement is exactly what happened? It looks to me like the Gov , Gard, and the rest clearly violated the statutes by trading on preemption for the minimum wage.
You might think that the deal was a good one; you are certainly entitled to your opinion even though you're agreeing with WMC and disagreeing with labor. But you can't deny that there was a deal, and that it violated the law!
I agree with the caller to the Cap Times today who in the Sound Off! section:
"Madison Ald. Austin King is a true hero for exposing the possible logrolling between Gov. Jim Doyle and the state Legislature. Doyle's plan to give up home rule on the minimum wage for a paltry one-time increase is an insult to every worker in the state, as is the GOP's hard-hearted witholding of a livable wage. The Young alder King has a lot more courage than Doyle ever will. Austin King for Governor!"
Well, I agree with all of it but the last sentence. Austin King has no business running for Governor, but I'm happy he's taking on the big dogs and calling a spade a spade. Everyone knows the deal was cut, everyone knows it broke the law, it just took someone courageous to speak up and speak the truth.
The comments above are just silly. If you take Austin's complaint at face value, it would no longer be legal for various political factions in government to negotiate amongst one another. This is just more Madison elitism at work. If you listen to the Madison Greens, you might think it's more important for the kids of rich Milwaukee and Chicago suburbanites who work at State Street jobs to get a big raise, but it is apparently not important for minimum wage single mothers in Shawano and Janesville and Bloomer to get a raise. The Madison elitist liberal position would take thousands of dollars out of the mouths of over 100,000 families across the state who are not fortunate enough to live in a big city that passed an increase.
The 'Madison elitist liberal' postition is apparently the 'organized labor' position. As contrasted with Doyle's support for the WMC position.
Check out today's Cap Times, and you'll see some hard truths from labor:
Labor leader rips Doyle for wage deal
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=42009
Quote:
In his most stinging criticism of Doyle, Cavanaugh suggested the first-term Democratic governor's role model "seems to be Tony Earl," the last Democrat to serve as governor before Republicans held the office for 16 years.
"Tony Earl made some mistakes in terms of ignoring his base, and Doyle seems to be doing the same thing," Cavanaugh said, adding that he believes Earl was a one-term governor because of those mistakes.
Just curious... why is everone rushing to King's aide posting under the guise of anonimity?
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