April 18, 2008

 

Voters Slay “Frankenstein” Veto

When Wisconsinites went to the polls on April 1st, 71% of them voted to end the so-called Frankenstein Veto.  Until Wisconsin’s voters wisely took it away from him, the Governor had overly-broad partial veto authority which allowed him to cut words and numbers out of the budget and then stitch the remaining fragments together into new sentences never intended by the legislature.

In the 2005 budget bill, the Governor used this monstrous authority to turn a 752-word section into 20 words that raided the state’s transportation fund of $427 million, a move the legislature never approved.  In this latest 2007 budget bill, his Frankenstein Veto created a new sentence that nearly doubled the allowable limits on property tax levy increases.

When voters approved the Frankenstein Veto ban, they completed the last step in the lengthy process of making an amendment to the Wisconsin constitution.  Since  a resolution to amend the constitution must pass in two consecutive legislatures before it goes to the people in a statewide referendum, the process started back in the 2005 legislative session.

The Governor’s partial veto authority was never intended to allow a governor to enact laws not passed by the legislature.  In fact, gubernatorial candidate Jim Doyle made a point of saying, “I don’t think you should be able to go in and take a word out there and a word out here and create a whole new sentence.”  But he said that in 2002, before he gained that power as governor.

No governor, whether Democrat or Republican, should have the power to “veto” into law completely new sentences cobbled together from unrelated pieces of the budget.  Wisconsin voters have now ensured the current and all future governors must only use the partial veto as originally intended.