DownWithTyranny!: Worse Than Paul Ryan? Wisconsin Takes The Stage-- Far Off To The Right

A few weeks ago I made the case to Wisconsin state Senator Chris Larson about why he should run against Paul Ryan. Ever since the Wisconsin legislature gerrymandered WI-01 to make it safer for Ryan-- removing Democratic Beloit and putting in hopelessly red southern Waukesha County and, more to the point, the well-off bedroom community of Oak Creek south of Milwaukee-- Ryan and Larson have shared some constituents. Oak Creek is one of Ryan's strongest bases of support. It's also in southern end of Chris' senatorial district (and is represented in the Assembly by wingnut Mark Honadel). Chris didn't turn me down flat and he politely listened to my arguments. He promised to consider the matter closely. But I got the impression that, for as much a threat to this country he may recognize Ryan to be, his overwhelming concern is closer to home: the nightmare the Badger State has come to recognize as Scott Walker.

Chris was a member of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors when Walker was proving to be the worst County Executive anywhere in Wisconsin. They clashed then and they've continued to clash ever since Chris was elected to the state Senate and Walker managed to slip into the gubernatorial chair. A few weeks ago I was asking Alan Grayson if he planned to run for Congress again; he was noncommittal. But he started talking about how Florida voters deserve a real alternative to Rick Scott. I got the same kind of vibe from Chris Larson. He never said so but I have a suspicion he'd rather save Wisconsin from Scott Walker than save the rest of us from Paul Ryan.

And when it comes to worst governor in America, both Scott Walker and Rick Scott are contenders-- along with the likes of Jan Brewer (AZ), Rick Perry (TX), Rick Snyder (MI), Tom Corbett (PA), Paul LePage (ME), Chris Christie (NJ), Bob McDonnell (VA) and Nathan Deal (GA). Walker doesn't like being second worst to anyone and he's managed to borrow the worst ideas from some of his most loathsome colleagues.

Reports are surfacing that Scott Walker is now preparing his next assault on the democratic political process in the State of Wisconsin.
Following the lead of Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder, Walker is said to be preparing a plan that would allow him to force local governments to submit to a financial stress test with an eye towards permitting the governor to take over municipalities that fail to meet with Walker’s approval.

According to the reports, should a locality’s financial position come up short, the Walker legislation would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so.

Such a law would additionally give Walker unchallenged power to end municipal services of which he disapproves, including safety net assistance to those in need.

According to my sources, the plan is being written by the legal offices of Foley & Lardner, the largest law firm in the state, and is scheduled to be introduced to the legislature in May of this year.

...Should these reports prove accurate, Walker’s plan would resemble-if not directly mirror- the legislation signed into law by Gov. Snyder of Michigan which gives Snyder extraordinary powers to take over municipalities when he determines them to be in financial trouble, further permitting him to actually fire locally elected public officials when he deems it desirable.

Gov. Snyder’s extraordinary law became all too real this week when Emergency Financial Manager, Joseph Harris, appointed by the Governor to take charge of Benton Harbor, Michigan, issued an order which took away all powers of the city’s elected officials.

Yes, this has really happened right here in the United States of America.

Walker’s plans give further credence to the notion that the efforts of the GOP governors with Republican majorities in their state legislative bodies are part of a coordinated plan to enforce a right-wing agenda designed to not only destroy state, county and municipal employee unions, but to take control of local governments by replacing elected officials with appointees, both corporate and individual, of the state’s highest executive officer.