This Is Not What Democracy Looks Like
In 2011, I was deployed to Green Bay by the public employee union AFSCME. They sent me to fight against then-new Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s now infamous attack on unions. Coincidentally, I found myself at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison on a clear, chilly December night, eight years later. Although the hour was late, a lame duck session was hurriedly preparing a slew of bills for just-ousted Governor Walker to sign. The goal: to thwart the will of Wisconsin’s voters by eviscerating the powers of the offices of Governor and Attorney General.
It was eerily quiet as I walked the dark sidewalk surrounding the flood-lit capitol dome with its holiday- decorated lamp posts and commemorative Civil War statue. Dozens of state troopers and press waited near their idling SUVs. Staff could be seen through the illuminated windows — but most of the doors to the “People’s House” were locked. Though there had been crowds of protesters the day before, at this hour no civilians remained outside. In my head I could hear a rewritten version of the old rallying chant: This is not what democracy looks like.
Governor-elect Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul campaigned on promises to pull Wisconsin out of the multi-state lawsuit against Obamacare, undoing the efforts of those they will soon be sworn in to replace. The lame duck legislation underway as most of the state slept will revoke this authority, redirecting it on these, and other significant legal matters, to the Republican-controlled legislature. Who needs a Governor to have executive authority and an Attorney General to be the people’s lawyer?
Gov. Scott Walker now gets to diminish the power of the office he will hold for a few more weeks. As a parting gift to the voters who chose not to return him to his job, he will make it impossible for his replacement to eliminate wasteful programs. He will also attempt voter suppression in the form of limiting early voting to a period of two weeks. Taking it all in, people would consider these guys very sore losers.
In statewide races, the 2018 midterms saw Wisconsin voters reject Republican rule. Instead, they elected a clean slate of Democratic constitutional officers. US Senator Tammy Baldwin easily won re-election. However, the midterms brought no change to the Congressional delegation and little change to the partisan composition of the Wisconsin state legislature. Republicans gained one seat in the State Senate and increased their majority to 19–14. In the State Assembly, Democrats gained a seat and barely narrowed their minority status to 63–36. Why the disparity?
Elections do matter. But partisan gerrymandering has made it possible for Republicans to retain power in the State Legislature. It has led to a failure in governing and representative democracy. Gerrymandering creates safe, non-competitive districts where the partisanship of “take no prisoners” politics reigns. And, while some of my friends and co-workers may hate to hear me say it, it’s not good when Democrats do it either.
Moderation, compromise and basic respect for governing institutions are gone. It’s no wonder the public disapproves of our legislative bodies.
As we approach the decennial redistricting elections in 2022, Jimi Hendrix’s lyrics sound prescient “There must be some way outta here, said the joker to the thief.” There is. Twenty-one states have some form of non-partisan or bi-partisan re-districting process, Wisconsin is not one of them.
Just one state line away, there’s a model for Wisconsin and the 28 other states to follow. It’s in Republican-controlled Iowa. There, non-partisan legislative staff recommend congressional and state legislative districts. The drawn districts are presented to the legislature for a straight up and down vote. If the proposed boundaries are rejected, it’s back to the drawing board. After three strikes, the Iowa Supreme Court steps in.
Iowa’s map-makers don’t look at where incumbents live. They look at populations of cities, towns and counties. They depend on those squares formed by county roads that dominate rural areas. They use skills learned in pre-school to draw districts that look like blocks — squares and rectangles. How hard is that?
Iowans elected a Republican Governor in a close election and flipped two Congressional seats from Republican to Democrat. Iowa’s four Congressional districts look like simple quadrants. Wow, what a concept!
In Iowa’s Republican-controlled state legislature, Republicans gained 3 Senate seats, leaving Republicans up 32–18. Meanwhile Democrats gained 5 in the House, narrowing the gap to 54–46.
A deeper look at the Iowa House races shows many were extraordinarily close. A Republican beat an incumbent Democrat in the House by 37 votes. A Democrat beat an incumbent Republican by 1% point. A third race is still too close to call with the Republican, as I write this, up 9 votes.
Fairly drawn, competitive districts are simply good for democracy. Voters benefit when politicians listen because their jobs depend on it. Politicians learn to respect the institutions they are sworn to uphold. Activists who put in their volunteer time and money have a cause they can support and believe in.
Even campaign staff and political consultants have increased opportunities to put their skill sets and expertise to work in non-gerrymandered districts. There are more campaigns to join. Competition makes candidates and elected officials more responsive to the voters.
The self-righteous Republican legislators in Wisconsin say they are “protecting the taxpayers of this state” from the Democrats. But they may have outsmarted themselves in the long run. The Republican incumbents have little experience running in contested elections. They won’t know what to do when redistricting is not controlled by one party — theirs. They’ll have to work with the incoming Governor on new districts for the 2022 elections.
Voters have long memories. They expect elected officials to hear their concerns, and they know when “protection” is really “condescension” or, perhaps worse, bad sportsmanship. Wisconsin voters will have only a few years to wait for their chance remind these guys what they really think happened in The People’s House in December 2018.
Scott Adams is the Executive Creative Director at Pollie Award-Winning Green Alley Strategies: www.greenalleystrategies.com
