A Frankenstein veto occurs when an American state
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
selectively deletes words from a bill, stitching together the remainder (''à la''
Victor Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character and the main protagonist and title character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''.. He is an Italian-Swiss scientist (born in Naples, Italy) who, after studyin ...
) to form a new bill different from that passed by the
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
.
In 2008, the state Constitution of Wisconsin was amended to place certain restrictions on the Frankenstein veto.
[Steven Walters.]
Voters drive stake into Frankenstein veto: governor may not cut and stitch words
. ''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel'', April 2, 2008. See als
/ref> With those changes, the governor of Wisconsin still has far greater veto powers than any other governor in the United States of America.
Overview
The practice requires that a Governor have (or has successfully claimed) the power to veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...
individual words in a bill passed by the legislature rather than the bill '' in toto''. It became particularly prominent in Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, where it was used by Governors of both parties "to create spending or to redirect tax funds in ways never approved by the Legislature"[Steven Walters.]
Doyle's veto of committee might have been unconstitutional
. ''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel'', June 30, 2009.[Governor says so-called Frankenstein veto slip-up fixable]
. WKOW
WKOW (channel 27) is a television station in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Allen Media Broadcasting. The station's studios are located on Tokay Boulevard on Madison's west side, and its transmitter is locate ...
-Madison, Wisconsin. For instance, Governor Jim Doyle
James Edward Doyle, Jr., (born November 23, 1945) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Wisconsin, serving from January 6, 2003 to January 3, 2011. In his first election to the governorship, he defeated incum ...
used selective deletion to transform "a 272-word section of the Legislature's budget into a 20-word sentence that took $427 million from the transportation budget and gave it to public schools."[Patrick Marley, Steven Walters, and Stacy Forster.]
Governor gets last word(s): Expansive veto authority enables Doyle to raise limit on local property tax levies
. ''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel'', October 27, 2007.
The ''Wisconsin State Journal
The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of September ...
'', in response, stated that "no Governor should be allowed to veto all but a couple dozen words and figures across reams of text in state budgets to unilaterally create law from scratch." ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called the practice "a legislative twist on the game of Mad Libs
Mad Libs is a phrasal template word game created by Leonard Stern and Roger Price. It consists of one player prompting others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story before reading aloud. The game is frequently played as a par ...
."
Example
WISN-TV
WISN-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, it is the second-oldest television station to remain with the company in all of its various iterations behind f ...
provided a satirical example of how the Frankenstein veto works. Start with Governor Doyle's press release on the retirement of Brett Favre
Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 201 ...
:
The Frankenstein veto allows that statement to be transformed into this one: "Governor Jim Doyle will be suiting up in the green and gold next season as quarterback of the Packers." The trick is in selective deletion:
{{quote, Governor Jim Doyle released the following statement today regarding the retirement of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre:
"Like all Packer fans, I was disappointed to hear Brett Favre will not be suiting up in the green and gold next season. It has been a privilege for all of us in Wisconsin to have been able to watch one of the all-time great quarterbacks, one of the greatest all-time athletes, year after year, take the field and lead the Pack. For 16 years, Brett Favre brought fun and excitement to Lambeau Field. His talent, energy and enthusiasm for the game will be missed.
"I want to thank Brett Favre on behalf of Packer fans everywhere for his commitment to the Packers, Green Bay, and all of Wisconsin."
With this tool, and sufficient audacity, "Governors could basically 'veto' into law just about anything they wanted."
Curtailing
Wisconsin had previously eliminated an even more extreme version—dubbed the " Vanna White veto"—in 1990 "when they prohibited state leaders from deleting individual alphabetic letters and numerical characters in a bill to change the intent of the legislation"[Daniel Vock.]
Govs enjoy quirky veto power
. ''Stateline'', April 24, 2007. in response to its controversial use by then-Governor Tommy Thompson
Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941) is an American Republican politician who most recently served as interim president of the University of Wisconsin System from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served a ...
.[Steve Schultze.]
Walker won't play Frankenstein
. ''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel'', November 6, 2007. An illustration of the outer limits of the Vanna White veto can be see
here
An amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution passed in 2008 sought to curb the practice even further,
. Associated Press, April 2, 2008. This loophole has allowed the practice to continue, albeit less frequently.
See also
*
Governor of Wisconsin
*
Line item veto
The line-item veto, also called the partial veto, is a special form of veto power that authorizes a chief executive to reject particular provisions of a bill enacted by a legislature without vetoing the entire bill. Many countries have different ...
References
Governor of Wisconsin
Wisconsin law
Veto