Take some ink out of Governor’s powerful veto pen

Despite efforts to reduce the power of Wisconsin’s next Governor, Tony Evers will still have some of the strongest powers of any Governor in the nation. That is the claim of current Governor Scott Walker, who seems to be willing to sign into law the package of legislation lawmakers approved to limit Evers’ power when he takes over. Walker is right. Even with a diminished capacity to oversee the state’s job creation agency and to appoint people to state boards and commissions, Evers will still wield a powerful veto pen. If lawmakers want to restrict the power of future governors, they should reduce the power of that veto pen. Wisconsin is among 45 states where governors have line-item veto power, able to remove specific items from the budget lawmakers approve. But Wisconsin is unique in granting even more veto power to the Governor…the ability to remove individual words and numbers from spending bills. For example, last fall Governor Walker scratched out the word “not” from legislation that exempted the University of Wisconsin System from an audit of its books. The legislature said it shouldn’t be done.Walker removed the word “not” leading to an audit. A direct rebuke of what lawmakers approved. More recently, Walker removed the words “two-day” and “Saturday” out of a bill creating a sales tax holiday for back to school shoppers. Those extra days of lost sales tax cost an additional $3 million in lost tax revenue above what the legislature had approved. If lawmakers want to restrict the power of the next Governor, they should take some ink out of the Governor’s powerful veto pen.