Vos is off base with impeachment threats

By Editorial Board

Issac Newton’s first law of motion states that an object at rest, stays at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force.

While Newton was referring to actual physical movement, he might as well have talked about political inertia, where those in power seek to stay in power, until forced from power.

An example of this can be seen going on in Wisconsin politics, as Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is attempting to cling to his power in the state legislature, to the point of threatening impeachment of newly sworn-in state supreme court justice Janet Protasiewicz, if she doesn’t keep her mouth shut and sit quietly in the back of the room, on an anti-gerrymandering case likely to come before the court.

In the color-coded world of political gamesmanship, Wisconsin is a very purple state, with the voting population split down the center, when it comes to favoring Republicans or Democrats.

You wouldn’t be able to tell this by looking at the make-up of the Wisconsin State Legislature, which is skewed heavily toward Republicans. This is largely because of the fact that back in 2010, the Republicans held the majority in the legislature and were in charge of drawing the district maps to create more “safe” districts, such as here in the 87th Assembly District, which is overwhelmingly Republican in make-up.

Had the Democrats been in charge at the time, it is a sure bet they would have done exactly the same thing and worked to create as many safe seats for their party as possible, while weakening the Republican vote.

The current system is fundamentally broken. In Wisconsin, it has routinely come to the courts to be the neutral arbiters and try to look out for the voters.

Vos had little trouble with this when there was a conservative majority on the bench. He could trust them to keep his purely partisan political interests in mind, when making rulings.

Things got shaken up this spring, with the election of Protasiewicz and the shift to a liberal majority on the court. Now, the fear is that this liberal majority will hand down rulings that could threaten Vos’ power base and could create legislative district maps where any candidate, regardless of party affiliation, could have a fair chance. Imagine the horror of a system where voters pick the best candidate, rather than where entrenched legislators pick their constituents.

Vos has called on Protasiewicz to recuse herself from any cases on redistricting and raised the threat of impeachment hearings in the legislature.

The Wisconsin Constitution allows lawmakers to remove state officials “for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors.”

To Vos, Protasiewicz’s great crime is stating, prior to the election, that she feels the current maps are wrong, stating at the time, and since, that she can’t say what she would do for any particular case. That is an important point to make.

Judges routinely must make rulings on cases based on the law and not what they feel the law should be. Separating your personal politics from the legal decision to be decided, is a fundamental job of every judge at every level.

Recognizing that there is something wrong with the current gerrymandering system is akin to recognizing that the sky is blue or that winters in Wisconsin are cold, with snow. None of which rises to the level of an elected justice needing to recuse themselves from ruling on any case, regardless of what Robin Vos might feel.

The speaker’s threat to use the club of impeachment to beat Protasiewicz into line, is an overreach of his power and makes a mockery both of the legal system, and of the legislative process in Wisconsin.

Members of the Courier Sentinel editorial board include publisher Carol O’Leary, general manager Kris O’Leary and Star News editor Brian Wilson.