Senator's delay on 'Frankenstein' veto draws newspaper's wrath
(Published Wednesday, May 9, 2007 10:09:31 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Ryan J. Foley Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - The president of the state Senate is stalling a plan he has long supported to limit the governor's powerful veto - and that has enraged the state's second largest newspaper.
Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, has often fought to curtail Wisconsin governors' ability to create policy by crossing out words to create new sentences in spending bills.
But these days, he says he's in no rush to limit the nation's most powerful veto despite a campaign by the Wisconsin State Journal to get him to act.
The Madison newspaper has published an editorial denouncing Risser and the power derisively dubbed the "Frankenstein Veto" every day - 35 and counting - that he has blocked a proposed constitutional amendment from moving forward.
The paper also publishes a cartoon of Frankenstein with a running tally of days on his forehead and says it will continue counting "Frankentime" until Risser calls a public hearing on the measure.
"Sen. Risser, we ask you once again: Put the public good ahead of partisan advantage," Tuesday's editorial pleaded.
But the campaign hasn't fazed Risser, elected in 1956 and the nation's longest serving state lawmaker. He says he gets more calls asking him to seek President Bush's impeachment than to act on the governor's veto.
"If I lost sleep on news stories," said Risser, 80, "I would have been out of this business a long time ago."
The newspaper's editorial board decided to make a stand because the power is indefensible, editorial page editor Scott Milfred said.
"I know it's not the biggest issue under the sun, but it is a very basic issue to how our government is organized and to making sure that one person does not have too much power," he said. "Everybody realizes this is something bad, and we are a whisker away from actually doing something about it."
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle hasn't been afraid to wield the power granted by a constitutional amendment in 1930 and repeatedly upheld by the state Supreme Court. In the last state budget, passed two years ago, he made 139 vetoes to increase spending on schools by $400 million.
In his most controversial veto, Doyle deleted 750 words from several budget provisions to create one new sentence allowing his administration to transfer $427 million from the transportation fund to the general budget. He came up with the figure by taking individual digits from five sets of numbers.
In response, the Republican-controlled Legislature approved a constitutional amendment last year banning the practice. Risser voted for it.
But such amendments need approval from the Legislature in two consecutive sessions and then from a majority of voters in a statewide referendum to take effect.
The Republican-controlled Assembly passed the measure a second time in February in time to get it on last month's statewide ballot for municipal elections.
But Democrats, who took control of the Senate in November and made Risser president, decided to delay rather than curtail the Doyle's power to remake the budget now being debated by lawmakers.
Risser said he supports the resolution but didn't want to rush it through his chamber. He said he plans to hold a public hearing this summer or fall. That's plenty of time, he says, to get it to voters in April or November of 2008.
"I think it's unnecessary," he said of the editorials, "since I already told them what I was going to do. But they have the ink. I don't."
And the ink has been used creatively.
The newspaper recently gave Risser a chance to defend himself in a guest column - and then illustrated the veto power by crossing out words to change his piece to read: "I am working with the governor rather than in an open manner that best serves the public interest."
Milfred said the editorials would continue until Risser acted. But he said the newspaper also has a secret "Plan B" if Risser holds out too long.
Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls and the resolution's sponsor, said the newspaper has helped build support for ending "a shocking use of the veto pen for anyone who has seen it."
Both parties have changed stances on the issue. Some Democrats who now support the power fought to ban it when Republican Govs. Tommy Thompson and Scott McCallum had the authority. Republicans who defended the power then now say it should be outlawed.
Risser helped lead the campaign against the "Vanna White" veto, which allowed governors to cross out letters to create new words. Voters banned that in 1990.
The latest resolution would still protect "Frankenstein Junior" - the governor's ability to cross out words in the same sentence. Risser said that means a governor could change "Thou shalt not commit adultery" to "Thou shalt commit adultery."
