Here we go again. Questions still remain about the violation of open meetings laws surrounding the state budget last year. But now with headlines describing secrecy oaths around the redistricting process and cancelling public hearings over the controversial mining bill, state legislative leaders are abusing their power and not listing to voters.
Groups around the state are reacting to last week’s decision by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to dissolve the special Senate Committee on Mining, thereby cancelling public hearings in Platteville and Ashland. Under the guise of job creation, Senate leadership has once again shown their disdain for a fair and open process of lawmaking where the voices of people affected by proposed laws are heard.
This action comes quickly on the heels of Thursday’s news that federal judges chastised Wisconsin Republican leaders for the secrecy surrounding their post-census redistricting plan. Until Wisconsin has a better plan for redistricting (such as a nonpartisan panel of experts creating district maps rather than elected officials), district maps will always be drawn in favor of those in power. But voters should have even less confidence in legislators who assert that something as important as the drawing of legislative maps is something that can be withheld from the public on the basis of an oath of confidentiality between Republican legislators and their attorneys.
We don’t know if that judge’s decision sent enough of a clear message that legislation should be developed in a transparent manner where public has a voice in the process. But Joint Finance Committee chair Rep. Robin Vos nearly cut off a JFC hearing at 5 p.m. on Friday in which people had traveled since well before dawn and waited all day to testify about how the mining bill would impact the environment in their local or tribal communities. After protestations from the crowd, Vos expedited the testimonies by lining up members of the public and allowing them their two minutes to speak.
Democracy lives beyond closed doors of private attorney’s offices and it exists outside of usual business hours. This news continues a second year of an abuse of power and people demand accountability.
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