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What They’re Saying: “Gov. Walker Wants to Change the Law So the GOP Can Avoid Losing a Special Election”

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On Friday, Governor Scott Walker announced that he wants to have a special session to change Wisconsin’s election law so he can avoid Republicans losing two state legislative seats in special elections.
Here’s what national observers are saying about his latest blatantly undemocratic power grab:
New York Magazine: Gov. Walker Wants to Change the Law So the GOP Can Avoid Losing a Special Election
 
“Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is nothing if not consistent. He refused to call two legislative special elections – to fill vacancies his own appointments created – because he didn’t want to risk the kind of embarrassing Democratic wins and near-wins that have been happening all over the country since Donald Trump took office. A state judge – one that Walker himself appointed, as it happens – told him the law required that he hold these elections because otherwise the citizens in the affected districts would be denied representation.”
So how are Walker and the state GOP responding? They’re trying to change the law on which the judge based her decision.”
“Unsurprisingly, Wisconsin Democrats are going ballistic over this maneuver, calling it (among other things) a “clear attack on democracy.” But Scott Walker has always been impervious to this sort of criticism, and like a hammerhead shark, determined to continue his course of action, no matter what. Only the voters can deter him.”

Esquire: Wisconsin Republicans Are Desperate to Not Hold an Election
 
“The Republicans in Wisconsin are notable for not taking Rule of Law for an answer. As we noted last week, a judge appointed by Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage this particular midwest subsidiary, whacked the governor for stalling a couple of special elections just because the Democrats might win them.
“Following the law is a waste of taxpayer money. Elections are a waste of taxpayer money. The devotion of the conservative order to the institutions of democracy remains almost unbearably touching. Walker, as is customary for him, is completely full of beans. Quite simply, he is employing the standard law-school definition of “chutzpah” in a different context.”

Salon: Fearing losses to Democrats, Wisconsin GOP looks to change special election laws
 
Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans have defied a court order, and will instead try to change the law
 
“Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker is desperately attempting to clean up a mess he brought upon himself, and it certainly seems as if he’s afraid of the so-called Democratic “blue wave” reaching his state.”
“If Wisconsin lawmakers change special election laws and push the two elections until November, as opposed to this spring, the winners would not be seated until January 2019. This means voters will have gone over an entire year without representation.
“Reynolds ruled Walker’s tactics to be “textbook voter disenfranchisement,” the AP noted. Ironically enough, Reynolds was appointed as a judge by none other than Walker.

“In the Trump era, it’s easy to see why Wisconsin’s lawmakers are nervous, as the Democrats have seized numerous special election victories since he entered the White House.”