Wisconsin’s Senators Avoid Bipartisanship

New tone?

First, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner lost his post as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee at the same time that Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

Then, the Menomonee Falls Republican watched his party lose the White House. Now, he says, Wisconsin’s senators are ignoring him when it comes to nominating federal judges and prosecutors.

The two Democratic senators are under no obligation to consult with Sensenbrenner now that a Democrat is president. But Sensenbrenner, who as Wisconsin’s senior Republican worked with the senators on nominations in the Bush administration, says Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold lost an opportunity at bipartisanship when they failed to involve him in the process.

“They had a chance to be bipartisan,” he says. “They played the partisan card.”

Kohl’s and Feingold’s offices declined to comment.

In other words, Sensenbrenner consulted the Senators about judges and such when Bush was in office, but they won’t return his calls now that a Democrat is in office.  So much for reaching across the aisle.