Scott Walker: I'm not taking ALL the power from the guy who beat me for governor

Sore loser Scott Walker is giving every indication that he will sign GOP-led legislation to strip powers from Wisconsin’s incoming governor and attorney general, both of whom are Democrats.

In a Facebook post, Walker defends the legislation as increasing “transparency” and “accountability.” Yet Walker never once called for diminishing his own power while he was governor; it’s only now, when a Democrat is about to take over, that Walker’s “concern” is suddenly piqued. And he’s lamely defending his position by saying the incoming governor will still have “some of the strongest powers of any governor in the nation.”

While Walker’s post claims to “set the record straight” on the controversial legislation, Politico notes that Walker did not address the most controversial parts of the legislation. Walker doesn’t address how preventing the governor and AG from withdrawing from a lawsuit without the permission of the legislature is related to transparency or accountability.

In fact, Gov.-elect Tony Evers and AG-elect Josh Kaul ran on a platform of withdrawing Wisconsin from a lawsuit seeking to rip away protections guaranteed in the Affordable Care Act. The best way to be accountable to voters is to listen to and respect their voices, not engage in a lame-duck power grab to thwart their will.

Walker doesn’t make any mention of how reducing the time period for early voting is good for Wisconsinites, either, probably because it just isn’t. If Walker and the GOP-led legislature truly respected the voices of the people of Wisconsin, they should want to make voting easier, not harder. Yet in a message about “transparency,” Walker is too weak and cowardly to even bring the issue up.

Even former Republican Gov. Scott McCallum said the legislation looked like a “power grab,” according to Politico. He lamented Walker’s cowardice in refusing to veto the measures, saying, “Every once in a while you have opportunities to start to change things — in this case, change it for the better with the tone. It’s a missed opportunity from that perspective.”

Even in setting the record straight, Scott Walker refused to be transparent with the people of Wisconsin. He won’t even hold himself accountable, showing once again that he cares more about himself and his political party than the people of Wisconsin.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.