Governor-Elect Tony Evers won't be sworn in until Monday, but he is already promising to violate both the Wisconsin Constitution and his oath of office by refusing to follow laws passed by the State Legislature in extraordinary session last month.
“I’m anticipating most of the provisions will be challenged and I’m guessing I will be a defendant rather than a plaintiff,” Evers told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, suggesting to reporter Patrick Marley "that GOP lawmakers or their supporters would have to sue him over the issue."
Such a refusal to enforce laws with which the governor disagrees is in direct violation of Article V, Section 4 of the State Constitution, which provides in no uncertain terms that governors "shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed."
Moreover, Evers' promise to ignore duly passed legislation would render his oath of office meaningless, as he is saying that he will not "support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Wisconsin, and...faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of governor to the best of [his] ability."
Strangely enough, though, the incoming governor isn't being called a tyrant-in-waiting who will shred Wisconsin's Constitution to fit his agenda. Weird how that happens when the incoming governor has a "D" after his name.