More Goose Stepping in Fitzwalkerstan

The National Socialist Republic of Fitzwalkerstan broke new ground yesterday in defining the extreme to which Republicans will go to destroy their opposition in the hope of establishing a 1,000 year Republican Regime of one party rule.  You already know that they ignored the law by lying that their union busting law was a budgetary measure, admitting that it wasn’t just long enough illegally ram it through the state Senate without proper notice, and ignoring the Wisconsin Constitution that guarantees the right to bargain collectively.  Fortunately, a judge stayed implementation.  Now they are defying the court and implementing it anyway.  Furthermore, they are trying to implement a Koch funded buy-a-Justice program to pack their Supreme Court.

A law to limit collective bargaining rights for public workers in Wisconsin was unexpectedly published by a state agency on Friday despite a temporary restraining order barring publication, sparking confusion and more animosity among legislators who have fiercely debated the issue for weeks.

State officials disagreed over whether publication of the law — a procedural requirement — would allow it to be in force on Saturday. The state’s Legislative Reference Bureau said it is required to publish all laws within 10 days after they are enacted. Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, signed the bill on March 11, but a county judge issued an order last week blocking the secretary of state from publishing it. The order did not bar the legislative bureau from publishing the law.

Democrats argued on Friday that the law would not go into effect on Saturday because it still required official publication by the secretary of state.

“This bill has been under a cloud of suspicion since Day 1,” Peter Barca, a Democrat and minority leader of the General Assembly, said in a statement. “Today’s actions and statements are only perpetuating the problem.”

But Republicans said they believed the law would take effect on Saturday. Senator Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican and the majority leader, said publishing the law was the right thing to do and the Legislature could now focus on the budget.

“I believe, as of this afternoon, it’s published, it’s law, and we can move forward,” Mr. Fitzgerald said in an interview.

Governor Walker’s administration said it had been notified that the agency published the bill as required by law. “The administration will carry out the law as required,” the administration said in a statement… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

The court’s intent to block the implementation of an illegal law is clear, but the Walker Regime does not care.  They are goose stepping into a plan for those pesky courts, anyway!

Last year, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and Gov. Scott Walker ally David Prosser cast the key vote in favor of a “justice-for-sale”ethics rule written by two corporate lobbying groups. Thanks to Justice Prosser, his colleagues are not required to recuse themselves from cases involving one of their major campaign donors. Now, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), one of the lobbying groups that wrote the rule Prosser made into law, is rewarding him by raising “unlimited and undisclosed” funds to keep Prosser on the state supreme court:

Dear Wisconsin Business Leader,

The government worker unions are openly attempting to overturn the November elections, buying an activist majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and grinding our democracy to a halt because Governor Scott Walker has refused to raise taxes to balance the budget. […]

Click here to make a generous corporate contribution to counter their efforts. Donations are unlimited and undisclosed. […]

WMC IMC will mount a statewide TV ad campaign to educate the public about Justice Prosser’s common sense approach. And, we will educate the public about Kloppenburg’s radical agenda, and how the union bosses want her to stand in the way of reform.

Please, give today. Our business climate is at stake.

WMC, whose board of directors [corporate pigs delinked] includes a high ranking executive with a Koch Industries company [Crotch company delinked], has a record of spending exorbitant sums of money to ensure that the state supreme court is friendly to powerful corporate interest groups… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

The Republican Party consider themselves above the law  For that reason, every Republican in office is one Republican too many.