Governor and Lt. Governor Out of the State. Who is Running Wisconsin?
The state of Wisconsin had an interesting catharsis on its hands this week, as both Governor Doyle and Lt. Governor Lawton were out of commission. Governor Doyle decided to take a ten-day trip to Italy and Tunisia but failed to alert Lt. Governor Lawton that he was going to be out of the country. Moreover, Lawton was in Washington, D.C., for several days attending a Lt. Governor’s conference. Such incompetence should not surprise anyone, as it has been Doyle’s style for the last eight years. For the first time in state history, both the Governor and Lt. Governor have been out of commission, leaving many to ask who is in charge.
It appears from reading the state constitution that Secretary of State Douglas Lafollette is to assume the duties of the Governor when he and the Lt. Governor are out of commission. The comical irony here is that Lafollette was unaware that both Doyle and Lawton were absent. Governor Doyle left last week, Lawton left on Monday, and Lafollette reports that he did not know that both of them were absent until Friday when he received this information from Wisconsin Public Radio. As aforementioned, this action should not be surprising coming from the Governor as his priorities over the past year and a half have been on his own personal well-being not the growth of the state. The Governor and Lt. Governor should at least alert the Secretary of State and others that they will be absent so the appropriate planning can be worked out. Statutorily, Lafollette is in charge, but he claims that due to email and cell phones that Governor Doyle is still able to communicate with legislators, his staff and the state; thus Lafollette claims Doyle is still running the state…simply from afar.
Jim Doyle is very concerned with his legacy, much like most politicians. What is ironic, however, is that for someone as legacy-driven as Doyle, he has done very little in the past two years to portray himself in a positive light. Doyle’s follies include purchasing railcars for a cross-state railway that was never approved by the state legislature, property tax increases, consumption tax increases, the much daunted income tax increases, spending the state into oblivion during a time of economic hardship, failing to sign a comprehensive economic recovery or job creation bill into law, attending the global climate change summit in Geneva earlier this year for no particular reason, and now his most recent folly: abandoning the state for an Italian vacation.
Governor Doyle’s popularity is rapidly diminishing. A recent Rasmussen poll indicates that Doyle’s approval rating is 25% and slipping. This poll proves that Wisconsinites are ready for real change in the statehouse. That same Rasmussen poll shows that both Mark Neumann and Scott Walker are leading Democrat Tom Barrett in the 2010 gubernatorial race. Barrett, a longtime Doyle ally, has been trying to distance himself from the governor for the last several months, but to no avail. His Republican opponents have made his connections to Doyle and his tax and spending record known to the voters of Wisconsin.
Doyle’s decision to leave the state for a leisurely vacation, at the same time that his Lt. Governor was at a conference, greatly tarnishes his image and will leave a lasting impression on the minds of voters in 2010. How can the state function when its Governor and Lt. Governor are away, and the Secretary of State does not realize until several days later that he is in charge? What happened to Doyle’s 2006 campaign pledge of accountability in state government? Doyle threw this pledge out the window shortly after getting elected to a second term it would appear. Instead of uniting Wisconsinites behind a plan for economic reform, prosperity, and bipartisanship, Doyle’s tenure as governor has been one of the most divisive and least successful in state history. Thankfully for everyone in this great state, Governor Doyle’s term ends in ten months. At that time a new governor will assume the reigns and bring prosperity, job growth and innovation back to America’s Dairyland.
The state of Wisconsin had an interesting catharsis on its hands this week, as both Governor Doyle and Lt. Governor Lawton were out of commission. Governor Doyle decided to take a ten-day trip to Italy and Tunisia but failed to alert Lt. Governor Lawton that he was going to be out of the country. Moreover, Lawton was in Washington, D.C., for several days attending a Lt. Governor’s conference. Such incompetence should not surprise anyone, as it has been Doyle’s style for the last eight years. For the first time in state history, both the Governor and Lt. Governor have been out of commission, leaving many to ask who is in charge.
It appears from reading the state constitution that Secretary of State Douglas Lafollette is to assume the duties of the Governor when he and the Lt. Governor are out of commission. The comical irony here is that Lafollette was unaware that both Doyle and Lawton were absent. Governor Doyle left last week, Lawton left on Monday, and Lafollette reports that he did not know that both of them were absent until Friday when he received this information from Wisconsin Public Radio. As aforementioned, this action should not be surprising coming from the Governor as his priorities over the past year and a half have been on his own personal well-being not the growth of the state. The Governor and Lt. Governor should at least alert the Secretary of State and others that they will be absent so the appropriate planning can be worked out. Statutorily, Lafollette is in charge, but he claims that due to email and cell phones that Governor Doyle is still able to communicate with legislators, his staff and the state; thus Lafollette claims Doyle is still running the state…simply from afar.
Jim Doyle is very concerned with his legacy, much like most politicians. What is ironic, however, is that for someone as legacy-driven as Doyle, he has done very little in the past two years to portray himself in a positive light. Doyle’s follies include purchasing railcars for a cross-state railway that was never approved by the state legislature, property tax increases, consumption tax increases, the much daunted income tax increases, spending the state into oblivion during a time of economic hardship, failing to sign a comprehensive economic recovery or job creation bill into law, attending the global climate change summit in Geneva earlier this year for no particular reason, and now his most recent folly: abandoning the state for an Italian vacation.
Governor Doyle’s popularity is rapidly diminishing. A recent Rasmussen poll indicates that Doyle’s approval rating is 25% and slipping. This poll proves that Wisconsinites are ready for real change in the statehouse. That same Rasmussen poll shows that both Mark Neumann and Scott Walker are leading Democrat Tom Barrett in the 2010 gubernatorial race. Barrett, a longtime Doyle ally, has been trying to distance himself from the governor for the last several months, but to no avail. His Republican opponents have made his connections to Doyle and his tax and spending record known to the voters of Wisconsin.
Doyle’s decision to leave the state for a leisurely vacation, at the same time that his Lt. Governor was at a conference, greatly tarnishes his image and will leave a lasting impression on the minds of voters in 2010. How can the state function when its Governor and Lt. Governor are away, and the Secretary of State does not realize until several days later that he is in charge? What happened to Doyle’s 2006 campaign pledge of accountability in state government? Doyle threw this pledge out the window shortly after getting elected to a second term it would appear. Instead of uniting Wisconsinites behind a plan for economic reform, prosperity, and bipartisanship, Doyle’s tenure as governor has been one of the most divisive and least successful in state history. Thankfully for everyone in this great state, Governor Doyle’s term ends in ten months. At that time a new governor will assume the reigns and bring prosperity, job growth and innovation back to America’s Dairyland.
