The legal drama playing out in Madison over the future of collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin is beginning to look like an early spring training baseball game scorecard.
It’s cluttered and confusing, with many players, some of whom are playing multiple positions.
Let’s look at the lineup and try to sort out where this is going.
Gov. Scott Walker led off this fracas with his proposed budget repair bill to close a $3.6 billion deficit by revoking the collective bargaining rights for thousands of public employees in the state.
Walker’s Republican comrades in the legislature batted next, carving out the collective bargaining rights issue into a separate resolution that was approved with less than two hours notice by a conference committee and then adopted by both houses, bypassing the 14 Senate Democrats who had fled to Illinois.
Wisconsin Secretary of State Douglas La Follette, a Democrat, batted next, opting to wait the maximum 10 business days before publishing Walker’s bill
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, a Democrat, stepped up to the plate and filed a complaint against the bill, alleging the Republicans had violated the state’s open meetings act.
Dane County Circuit Court Maryann Sumi (who was appointed to the bench by former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson), then granted a temporary restraining order against the bill.
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican, countered by filing for an injunction against the restraining order. Ironically, Van Hollen’s petition is filed legally on behalf of La Follette – against La Follette’s will.
La Follette urged all parties to "work together and talk to each other to come up with a solution to the current situation that serves the public trust in our institutions of government."
Van Hollen claims that Sumi has no jurisdiction intervening in the state legislative process.
Next up was the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, which ordered Ozanne to submit a memorandum regarding “the authority of the judiciary to enjoin the secretary of state from publishing an act.” The court is asking for additional responses to be filed by Ozanne by Wednesday at 4 p.m.
The Court of Appeals consists of five justices, three of whom were randomly assigned to hear this case. The three justices hearing the case are: Judge Paul Higginbotham, a former Dane County judge who is widely regarded as left-leaning; Judge Paul Lundsten, a former assistant attorney general who is widely regarded as a conservative; and Judge Brian Blanchard, a former Dane County district attorney whom sources say may “lean to the left,” but whom is widely regarded as a pragmatic judge who does not let his politics supersede his interpretations of the law.
In other words, Blanchard is the wild card who could decide this case on the appellate level.
However, no matter the appellate decision, with so much at stake, this case will certainly go to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
That means that the electorate ultimately will decide this case in the April 5 election. In effect, a vote for conservative David Prosser will be a vote for affirming Walker’s bill to revoke the collective bargaining rights of public employees. A vote for left-learning Joanne Kloppenburg will be a vote against Walker’s bill and for affirming those collective bargaining rights.
And with so much at state, both sides will be bombarding the broadcast airwaves with nasty commercials, fueled on one side by groups such as the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the Club for Growth Wisconsin and Americans for Prosperity and fueled on the other side by the labor unions and the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund.
So, what’s it going to be, Wisconsin?
Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes Milwaukee.
