It looks like Gov. Doyle is looking forward to retirement.
"Well, there are 400 of them so the odds are probably good that there's something in there," Doyle said with a laugh.
"There are some that just given the rush of business at the end and the amendments that flew back and forth one way or another I really want to make sure that I understand before I make that decision, but (on a broad policy basis) no." Doyle indicated he'll likely sign bills to curtail race-based school mascots and logos as well as legislation to legalize certain raw milk sales.
Although he expressed regret that the Clean Energy Jobs Act was not passed, he rejected the potential of a special session to address the bill. It seems pretty clear by now that legislature Dems don't want anything to do with the bill until after the election. The fact that the Senate Majority Leader is unwilling to support the bill seems to indicate a fair amount of reluctance to associate themselves with the policy.
Did Decker's calculation come from a fear of repercussions in November or the embarrassment of a publicly divided Democratic caucus? A genuine disagreement on policy comes in at a distant third.
He bailed on the Clean Energy Jobs Act. But he probably did it because he knew they were going to lose on it. So should Democrats be grateful to Decker for sparing them political humiliation, or angry that he didn't give the party an opportunity to send a strong message to the voters in favor of progressive agenda?
