A quick question on the rush to redistricting

GOP should consider stalling redistricting process

• Following the election of now-Gov. Scott Walker, then-Gov. Jim Doyle put on hold the plans to begin a high-speed rail project between Madison and Milwaukee, as well as plans to repair the rail line between Chicago and Milwaukee. Doyle cited Walker's plans to halt the project once he became governor as reason to stop before his own term expired, even though it went against his own preferences.

• In December before the new legislative term was set to begin, two Democratic legislators halted a vote that would extend the contracts of state government workers. Citing that "one of the worst things you can do is poke a sharp stick in the eye of a new employer," then-Sen. Majority Leader Russ Decker, a Democrat, voted against the bill (alongside fellow Democrat Jeff Plale and the entire Republican Senate caucus) because he felt union contracts would be best negotiated with the new governor rather than rushing it through the last weeks of a lame duck session.

Fast forward to the present: Gov. Walker and his legislative Republican majorities are set to vote on state redistricting plans, rushing them through passage, before a set of recall elections could potentially change party control within the state Senate (thus making it impossible to pass any more of their "ambitious" agenda). Whether or not the recall elections will be successful is unknown at this point -- Republicans could continue to hold majorities in both houses following the elections.

Still, this question requires serious consideration: should Republicans pay Democrats the same courtesy, respecting the eventual outcomes of the recall elections rather than rushing through legislation that the people themselves may not support? It would seem to be the proper thing to do. Then again, being "proper" seems to be the antithesis of the Republican Party these days.