Republican State Legislators Forward Their Budget Veto Requests to the Governor

If there's any talk about WiscNet, it's under the radar.  But then most of the offending language was already removed.  As noted in the Journal-Sentinel article, however, even with the prohibition of the so-called Frankenstein veto, Walker can still wield "considerable power". 

In addition, Republican lawmakers have shown no inclination to request that the maintenance of effort requirement for public library system membership be restored.  Leadership, Robin Vos  (Joint Committee on Finance co-chair) in particular, was never on board with this issue.  In so many words, his response to constituents was a consistent "not gonna happen".

 
Walker fields at least 15 GOP requests for budget vetoes. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 6/22/2011)

Excerpt:  Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said the GOP governor was pleased with the overall budget but intends to make "a number of minor changes." On Wednesday afternoon, Werwie said Walker had received 15 to 20 veto requests on a number of issues from GOP lawmakers, from the craft brewer provision to another to ensure that a property tax exemption remains in place for a private student housing facility in Madison.

"Governor Walker has listened to the legislators' requests. He intends to make decisions related to vetoes and sign the overall budget before June 30," Werwie said in an email.

In budget bills, Walker's partial veto powers allow him to strike out whole provisions or crucial parts of individual sentences, such as the word "not." In 2008, voters approved a constitutional change that prohibited governors from combining parts of different sentences to create a new sentence, but that still left governors such as Walker with considerable power.