Michigan Republicans following
Wisconsin's lead in curbing Democrats' power
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[December 07, 2018]
By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) - A day after Wisconsin
Republicans approved a package of bills intended to restrict the powers
of incoming Democratic leaders, Republican lawmakers in Michigan
advanced a similar effort despite an outcry from Democrats.
The Michigan state Senate voted on Thursday to strip the power to
oversee campaign finance from the newly elected Democratic secretary of
state, Jocelyn Benson, instead handing the authority to a bipartisan
commission.
The vote came after the state House of Representatives on Wednesday
passed a bill that would allow lawmakers to sidestep the attorney
general in litigation involving the state.
Meanwhile, North Carolina's Republican-led state Senate approved a new
strict voter identification law on Thursday, after the state Assembly
did the same on Wednesday. Republicans have rushed to pass that bill
before January, when they will lose the legislative supermajority
allowing them to overturn Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto.
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In each case, Democrats have cried foul, arguing that the last-minute
maneuvering ignores the will of the voters. Republicans in both Michigan
and Wisconsin will see eight years of total control of state government
end in January, when Democrats take over the governor's mansions and
other top executive posts.
"This power grab is a deliberate attempt by legislative Republicans to
silence the voices of the 4.3 million Michiganders that made their
choice clear in the last election," Michigan Representative Christine
Greig, who will become the Democratic minority leader in the House in
January, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Republicans in Michigan and Wisconsin have defended the laws as
good-faith efforts to improve state government. In North Carolina, where
voters in November approved a voter ID constitutional amendment,
Republicans said they were simply implementing the people's will.
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The Michigan Capitol building is pictured in Lansing, Michigan, U.S.
on December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
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The measure comes as the state is investigating alleged mishandling
of absentee ballots by political operatives.
Wisconsin Republicans passed a raft of bills that would allow
lawmakers, rather than the attorney general, to decide whether to
withdraw the state from lawsuits. That measure is intended to stop
Governor-elect Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul, both
Democrats, from following through on campaign promises to end
Wisconsin's challenge to the federal healthcare law known as
Obamacare.
Republican Governor Scott Walker has indicated he will sign the
bills before leaving office at the end of December, though his
office said on Thursday he was reviewing the legislation. Democrats
expect to challenge some of the bills in court.
In Michigan, the Republican-led legislature on Wednesday hollowed
out minimum wage and sick leave laws, three months after it passed
those statutes as part of a political strategy to keep them from
appearing on the ballot as a voter referendum. That move in
September made it easier for Republicans to alter the laws after
November's election, though Democrats have vowed to sue.
The legislature is also expected to pass a law allowing it to
intervene in litigation involving the state, a power normally
reserved for the attorney general's office, which will be occupied
by a Democrat starting next month.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone and Tom Brown)
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