Outgoing Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker on Friday signed legislation that strips the incoming Democratic administration of its powers and restricts early voting, The New York Times reports.
Walker signed the bill 24 days before leaving office.
“There’s a lot of hype and hysteria, particularly in the national media, implying this is a power shift,” Walker said before signing the measures during an event at a state office building in Green Bay. “It’s not.”
The bills limit gubernatorial appointments to an economic development board, restrict early in-person voting to two weeks before an election, block Gov.-elect Tony Evers from withdrawing Wisconsin from lawsuits like the one challenging the Affordable Care Act and scrapping the state’s Medicaid work requirements.
The measures also allow lawmakers to intervene in lawsuits.
Democrats accused the GOP of a power grab.
“The last eight years have been very much characterized by the view of, ‘We’ve got the power, we’re going to do what we want and anybody else, that’s too bad,’” James E. Doyle, Mr. Walker’s Democratic predecessor as Wisconsin’s governor, told the Times.
Evers ripped into Walker for signing the lame-duck legislation, and said the people asked politicians on Election Day to solve problems, not “pick petty, political fights.”
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