We should get rid of the partial veto…eventually
"Just because one party does it, doesn’t make it right when the other party follows suit—no matter how much we support the end result. Without guardrails, eventually, the tool gets used as a weapon."
The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time NINETEEN-TIME Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media.
Do the means justify the ends? It’s a question I’ve been wrestling with a lot in recent months, especially as MAGA Republicans gleefully push our country into full-blown authoritarianism.
What methods do we have at our disposal to fight back against those attacks? Clearly, the mainstream centrist tactic of relying solely on election cycles and misguided gentlemen’s agreements on “how things have always been done” aren’t cutting it. I believe those who want to live in a free, democratic society have to take off the kidgloves and start taking meaningful, direct action.
But how far is too far? And what tactics that we use now could come back to haunt us in the future?
For instance, let’s talk about Gov. Tony Evers’ use of Wisconsin’s unique partial veto power, most recently to enshrine increases in funding for public school students over the next 400 years.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority just upheld that power. Those of us who want to see robust state support for our public schools and are sick of Republican foot-dragging and obstruction cheered the decision. Assembly Leader Robin Vos and many of his GOP friends, of course, wailed and gnashed their teeth over it: How dare a Democratic governor use the same constitutionally granted power as previous Republican governors to do something we don’t like!
That’s how it goes, though. The gerrymandered Republican majorities in the state legislature weren’t thinking about the future when they took full advantage of those powers (and created still others), only what they could do in the moment to bolster their position. They bent over backwards to boost the Executive Branch under Gov. Scott Walker, never seeming to realize that those same powers might go to a future Democratic office holder, or that their grip on power could be undermined by an eventual ruling that the maps they’d created to give them an unfair advantage could someday be ruled unconstitional. Walker also used the partial veto with wild abandon during his term and we never heard a peep of complaint from his fellow Republicans about it.
So I can imagine it must be a special kind of galling to see Evers wielding the veto pen now to do something as radical as …*checks notes*... restoring state funding to public schools that had been largely cut under Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature, and ensuring that it will continue (long) into the future.
I am in favor of making sure our public schools have the funding they need to provide a quality education for all students in Wisconsin. And I’m not alone. Wisconsinites passed a record number of school funding referendums in November 2024, authorizing $4.4 billion in new funding. Republicans have ignored that desire, however, opting instead to create tax cuts that have almost entirely benefited the already wealthy and advocating for shunting money into problematic school voucher programs.
But I still can’t help thinking that no one should have the kind of power to fundamentally alter the content and intent of legislation currently available to Wisconsin governors. Just like no party should have the ability to fix the district maps to lock in a superficial majority. While we’re at it, perhaps it doesn’t make sense to elect judges, or at very least, to allow for outside spending in their races. I could go on….
Just because one party does it, doesn’t make it right when the other party follows suit — no matter how much we support the end result. Without guardrails, eventually, the tool gets used as a weapon.
Then again, maybe facing down the rise of fascist-leaning authoritarianism isn’t the time for my high-minded ideals. I have frequently wished for a greater willingness by those on the left to get down and dirty in the fight when our fundamental rights and well-being are at stake. Now definitely feels like the time to use the means at our disposal to fight for what’s right.
Still, I hope we don’t lose sight of the big picture. I hope we look at those times in the past when Democrats enjoyed full control of the legislature and governor’s office and failed to repeal the state’s outdated abortion law or pass any number of other progressive reforms that might have helped shore up our rights — and instead elect people who will take the project of democracy more seriously.
Someday, when we’re not in the middle of an actual national emergency, that’ll have to mean amending the constitution to kill the partial veto.
Emily Mills is a longtime freelance writer/reporter based in Madison. They previously served as Editor of Our Lives, Wisconsin's only LGBTQ+ media outlet, and as an opinion columnist in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You can currently find Emily's work at tonemadison.com and at their own Substack newsletter, @Grist From the Mills (emilymills.substack.com)
Subscribe to The Recombobulation newsletter here and follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @ therecombobulationarea.
Already subscribe? Get a gift subscription for a friend.
Part of a group who might want to subscribe together? Get a group subscription for 30% off!
Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer and at BlueSky at @danshafer.bsky.social.
 | A guest post by
|
I completely agree that the partial veto should be eliminated permanently. I also believe Evers was justified in using it.
I'd love to see a compromise where a bipartisan bill amends the State Constitution such that the partial veto is eliminated while a fair and common sense approach to redistricting is enshrined.