The legal wrangling over Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) new law curtailing public employee unions continues, with Secretary of Administration Mike Huebsch now expressing confusion over whether the law is in effect — a day after a Dane County judge enjoined its implementation for a second time.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
Wednesday Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said that he was “confused” about the judge’s ruling and the legal controversy over whether the law is in effect. Asked whether the state would move forward, Huebsch said he couldn’t say.
“It’s up to the judge,” Huebsch said.
A week and a half ago, Judge Maryann Sumi blocked the law on procedural grounds, ruling that a key conference committee used to advance the bill — and to get around the state Senate Dems’ walkout from the state — had violated the state open-meetings law by failing to give proper 24-hours notice. The judge’s order “restrain[ed] and enjoin[ed] the further implementation” of the law, including the prevention of Secretary of State Doug LaFollette (D) from publishing the act in the Wisconsin State Journal. The Journal acts as the state’s official newspaper for the purpose of giving the public official notice of new laws — the final step for the law to take effect. That decision is now going through an appeals process, which remains up in the air.
This past Friday, however, state Republicans had the bill published by a different state agency — the Legislative Reference Bureau, which handles drafting and research for the legislature — according to the LRB’s statutory requirement to publish legislation within ten days of enactment. Notably, the LRB itself has said that this publication does not constitute action that would put the law into effect. But state Republican leaders, including Walker’s office and the state Attorney General, say that the law is now in effect.
And Monday, Huebsch announced that he was now carrying out the law, with government employees’ paychecks starting on April 21 to contain deductions for contributions to their health care and pensions — and to no longer deduct union dues.
Then on Tuesday, Sumi issued another order to block the law — and Assistant Attorney General Steven Means, who worked for Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, said the law would still hold:
“Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored, but what I said was the further implementation of Act 10 was enjoined. That is what I now want to make crystal clear,” she said.
But minutes later, outside the court room, Assistant Attorney General Steven Means said the legislation “absolutely” is still in effect.
Also, as the Journal Sentinel reports, the state DOJ went further later, laying out its position that the lawsuit and injunction only applied to the Secretary of State, and not the rest of the government:
In a later statement, Department of Justice spokesman Bill Cosh said: “We don’t believe that the court can enjoin non-parties. Whether the Department of Administration or other state officers choose to comply with any direction issued by Judge Sumi is up to them.”
This is all starting to sound like some classic dialogue from The Simpsons:
Chief Wiggum: You’re all under arrest for the murder of Seymour Skinner!
Fat Tony: What’s a murder?
Chief Wiggum: Don’t play dumb with me!
