October 2009Governor Walker is asking the state legislature to give him the rule-making powers over all state departments, but Walker’s quest for more authority has constitutional problems. Three departments have their officers constitutionally elected: the State School Superintendent, Attorney General and the Secretary of State. The State Supreme Court has already ruled on the constitutional independence of the DPI Superintendent so the independent rule-making of the other two offices are probably protected as well. School Superintendent Tony Evers has already let it be known he is not about to submit his rules to the governor.
In 1995, Governor Tommy Thompson tried to take over Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction by moving virtually all powers to a department controlled by the Governor, leaving then State School Superintendent John Benson with a skeleton staff and not much to do. The State Supreme Court took little time in deciding the matter ruling that the legislation violated the state constitution. Powers were given back to the DPI Superintendent, and Thompson’s short-lived education department was dissolved. Why Governor Walker would want to go down this road again is clearly a mystery.
It’s not that Wisconsin’s governor lack much rule-making power. Consider the governor’s bizarre line-item veto power. Until 1990, governors could create whole new words just by vetoing parts of words and stringing letters into new words. Even Republicans thought that Republican Governor Thompson had overused this creative veto and supported a constitutional amendment to stop these “Frankenstein” vetoes, but they still left the governor power to veto individual words and sections enough to change the whole direction of any legislation.
Republicans didn’t want to go further in restricting the governor’s veto powers as long as a Republican held the governor’s office. They didn’t support further restrictions on the veto power until Democrat Jim Doyle took the governor’s chair. That doesn’t mean the Democrats were purists on the issue either wishing to curtail the governor’s veto power only when a Republican held the seat.
The present concept of an imperial governor appears to be in fashion among Republican governors. In Michigan, the governor has the power to takeover school districts, cities and towns without much justification.
Democrats haven’t always supported local control either. Not long ago Superintendent Evers and Milwaukee Mayor Barrett proposed the takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools. I warned Evers that his actions could open the door to attacks on his office and said so in an article I wrote for The Bay View Compass in October 2009.
“State Superintendent Tony Evers is well advised to remember how quickly taking control of a local school district only makes it easier for others in state and federal offices to control his position as well.”
Rule by the elite goes back to our founding fathers. Those guys who signed the Declaration of Independence didn’t always believe that “all men are created equal.” In the early days of the republic, many states allowed only property owners to vote. State legislatures selected U.S. senators, and the Electoral College didn’t have to follow the will of the people in selecting a president.
While our government has become more democratic over the last two hundred years, too often the rich and the powerful are in control with the mindset that we need a paternalist leader to watch over us. The elite don’t think the common folk, especially the poor, have the knowledge or intelligence to rule themselves. Welcome to the imperial governorship of Scott Walker.
