Daniel Bice

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Scott Walker made it clear on Monday that he fully supports the lame-duck legislative session aimed at limiting the power of the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general.

"Members of the Legislature were elected not on a term that ended on election day —they were elected in a term that ends in January, just like my term ends in January," Walker said.

"And so we are going to look at things just like people expect us to serve a full four-year term."

But roll back the calendar eight years, and you'll find that Walker was much less generous about the lame-duck session overseen by the outgoing Democratic majorities in the Assembly and Senate.

That session was called in December 2010 to approve a series of state government employee contracts negotiated by then-Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat who didn't run for re-election.

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With hindsight, we now know those contracts would have delayed the impact of Act 10, Walker's signature piece of legislation approved in spring 2011 that limited collective bargaining for most public employees.

"Governor-elect Scott Walker is opposed to the lame duck Legislature approving public employee union contracts," says the statement still posted on Walker's state government page. "If approved, the contracts will tie the hands of the governor and the newly elected Legislature as they work to balance the state budget.”

But Walker didn't stop there.

He also sent a two-page note in November 2010 asking that Doyle refrain from taking a series of actions during the lame-duck period between the election and Inauguration Day. Among other things, Walker wanted Doyle to make no permanent appointments.

Of course, Walker — the outgoing, two-term governor — just named Administration Secretary Ellen Nowak to head the Public Service Commission and Attorney General Brad Schimel to serve as a Waukesha County judge.

Amy Hasenberg, a spokeswoman for Walker's office, said the Republican governor is simply dealing with unfinished business in this lame-duck session.

"Gov. Walker is serving out his term and finishing the items he outlined earlier this year, including coverage for pre-existing conditions and saving family-supporting jobs in the Fox Valley," Hasenberg said. "Both items have urgency and that necessitates immediate action."

Walker officials also argued that any of the measures in this lame-duck session can be reversed, unlike the employee contracts voted on by the Legislature in 2010.

Walker wasn't the only Republican to decry the lame-duck session eight years ago.

Then-GOP Assembly leader Jeff Fitzgerald expressed shock at what the Democrats were doing: "This is why people don't trust government."

Sen. Alberta Darling, now the co-chairwoman of the Joint Finance Committee, even made a not-so-veiled threat. "If that's how they're going to play, we might have to look at options that are much more radical," Darling said.

But, of course, that was unnecessary because Democrats, being Democrats, failed to approve the state employee contracts, despite having control of both legislative houses. Doyle left office without them being signed.

On March 11, 2011, Walker signed Act 10.

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Republicans aren't the only ones to have reversed course on lame-duck sessions.

Many Democrats are now decrying the actions of Walker and his legislative allies, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.

"They lost (in the November election), and they're throwing a fit," state Sen. Jon Erpenbach said this week, labeling the lame-duck session a "power grab."

But Erpenbach was one of 16 Democratic state senators to support the doomed employee contracts in the 2010 special session.

At a press conference on Monday, state Rep. Christine Sinicki, who also voted in favor of those failed contracts, argued that the 2018 special session was nothing like the one in 2010. She said the one in 2010 took up "unfinished business."

That's the same argument being made by Hasenberg in support of Walker's action.

But Erpenbach said there's no comparison between what happened in the two lame-duck sessions. The first dealt only with contracts, while the current one limits the power of the incoming governor and attorney general.

No question about it. It looks like Vos is trying to push through his entire legislative agenda before the next legislative session even begins.

This lame-duck session, Erpenbach added, also comes on the heels of an election in which Democrats won every statewide contest.

But Republicans could make the same argument. In 2010, they won every statewide contest, except the meaningless secretary of state's race.

The truth is, elections matter — as politicians like to say — except in lame-duck sessions.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.