Wisconsin Republican Legislature Approves 82 Scott Walker Appointees in One Day 

In the wake of the midterm elections, in which Democrat Tony Evers beat shitbag Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Republicans are doing everything they can to ensure that Evers will be unable to make any changes once he takes charge of the state. The Republican-led legislature has essentially total power to advance their agenda until Walker leaves office in January. Just this morning, they passed an outrageous bill which will undermine Evers power as governor when he enters office. Then, they spent the rest of the day speeding through dozens of Walker appointees, robbing Evers of another major venue for change, HuffPost reports.

From HuffPost:

The appointees include two members of the board that oversees the state’s public universities. One of those positions has been vacant for more than a year, but Walker just nominated his choice this week. He also made one of his top aides, Ellen Nowak, who is currently Department of Administration secretary, the new head of the state Public Service Commission.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the full list of new appointees.

Incoming Governor Evers sent a letter to Walker today asking that he withdraw the names. According to Carrie Lynch, Evers’ spokesperson, at least 30 of the appointees had no public hearing.

“These appointments should be fully vetted in the next legislative biennium,” Evers wrote. “Many of them have had no public hearing and some have not filed a statement of economic interest. Given the rushed timing and the fact that many of these appointments have gone unfilled for extended periods of time, I must request that you withdraw this slate of names to allow ample time for full review, not only for the State Senate, but for the people of Wisconsin, too.”

Walker responded by saying that most of the appointees had already been chosen:

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said 78 of the 82 appointments were sent to the Senate for confirmation “months ago.” Of the others, “3 of the 4 appointees sent to the Senate last week were due to vacancies created by recent resignations. The fourth, the student regent…was selected months ago but was not forwarded to the Senate for confirmation because it was in recess.”

Walker didn’t always believe in rushing through appointments. In 2010, he told former Democratic Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle to not “finalize any permanent civil service personnel” during his final two months in office.

“Wisconsin Republicans intent on invalidating the results of the 2018 election and undermining the orderly transfer of power rushed through a slate of political appointees to reward cronies with jobs and stop our incoming governor from being able to put his team in place, like Scott Walker was able to do,” Mike Browne, the deputy director of the progressive advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, told HuffPost.