Archive for the ‘Wisconsin recall elections’ Category
Dave Hansen Retained; US Reps dither in DC
Folks, I have two things to discuss tonight.
First, in the “grand opening” recall election, Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) has easily defeated Republican challenger David Vanderleest. The Associated Press called the race with 47 of 72 precincts reporting; so far, Hansen has 13,675 votes to Vanderleest’s 6,191. Or, in other words, Hansen has 69% of the vote to Vanderleest’s 31%.
This recall election may or may not be a harbinger for the six Republicans who face recall on August 9, 2011 — remember, this was an election where the question was, “Do you wish to retain Dave Hansen, or not?” more so than, “How angry are you with Dave Hansen? Do you want him out?” And while the six Republicans certainly will have to face all three questions, too, my best guess is that the second two questions — i.e, “How angry are you with Alberta Darling? Do you want her out, or not?” (fill in the name of the other five Senators in place of Darling’s, here) — that will count far more in those elections.
Otherwise, I’ve been bemused for several days now watching the United States House of Representatives dither in Washington, DC. The Republicans there have proposed something called a “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan that would cap the amount of federal expenditures to 18% of the Gross Domestic Product (what used to be called Gross National Product), which sounds good until you realize they’re talking about doing this for political advantage rather than to do anything good for the country at all. And the fact that the US remains in, if not an actual, textbook definition recession, in very bad economic straits does not help anything.
See, sometimes if you cut programs that work during a recession (or in this case, in very bad economic straits — a “jobless recovery,” in short), that is counterproductive. It adds more strain to the economy when you don’t make any provisions for people who are hurting. And it adds more strain on the economy when people can’t find work — the case all over the country, but worse in some areas than others — or are working far below their capacity, either in hours, in pay, or in most cases, both.
All I know is, that “Cap, Cut and Balance” plan will never pass the US Senate. And the House Reps know this — which means all of this has been political posturing, not anything that will do any good in the long run.
I’d rather the US House of Reps, Rs and Ds alike, concentrated on the “art of the possible” rather than play these ridiculous games. And right now, what’s possible is this — raise taxes on the top 1%. Close loopholes in the tax rates so corporations pay some taxes — it’s absolutely absurd that a big company like General Electric pays less in taxes than I do, and some companies pay even less than GE! And continue the troop draw-downs in Iraq and Afghanistan, bring those troops back home, and station them instead on the border with Mexico to help out there. (This way, there aren’t a whole bunch of soldiers joining the ranks of the unemployed, and they’re doing something vital and necessary, to boot. But we get rid of a lot of expenses that come from having a bunch of our folks overseas in the bargain.)
If the Republicans do all of that — or even if they do some of it, as we’re talking about the “art of the possible,” here — then I agree that changes to the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs should be discussed, too. But at this time, the Rs have shown absolutely no willingness to raise revenue at all — not even by closing tax loopholes, which is the easiest thing in the world to do — which frustrates me greatly.
During a time of three separate wars — Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya — we need all the revenue we can in order to keep funding those wars (even if they do start immediate draw-downs as I believe would be best for the country in many senses). Why the Rs refuse to close the tax loopholes is beyond me, because that would be by far the easiest thing to do — then they can work on instituting additional taxes on the top 1% to bring them in line with the middle class in this country (note that I’m not asking for draconian increases; I simply want to see something that’s comparable to what the middle class are paying, that’s all).
So far, the Rs in Congress — especially in the House of Reps — have shown no willingness to compromise whatsoever. Which makes me wonder: why did they even go to DC at all, if they were going to refuse to work on issues that are best for the country?
Surely these Rs don’t believe that defaulting on our debt as of August 2, 2011, is really the best thing to do, right? So taking that as an axiom, why is it these Rs don’t want to deal with what they know will work — raising some revenue, even if it’s only by closing tax loopholes or eliminating corporate subsidies for oil companies (the wealthiest companies ever to exist on this Earth according to more than one economist), speed up the troop draw-downs, and then and only then talk about cuts to essential programs that many Americans use — and need — every day?
Update: Wisconsin state Senate Recalls, part 1.
Now, as for the recalls — first up was the primary election on 7/12/11 for the Democrats running against the six Republicans across the state. We had to have a primary because the Wisconsin Republican Party put up “fake Democrats” (what the Rs called “protest candidates”) to stall the Dems and give their own R Senators more time to raise money and fight the recall effort.
I’m pleased to report that the real Democratic candidates all won; most won easily, with Shelly Moore of River Falls having a relatively tough race against Isaac Weix of Menomonie due to the efforts of the St. Croix County Republican Party, which actively worked to get Republicans to vote in the open primary in an attempt to force Moore out. Moore won by the percentage of 54-46, with 17496 voting for Moore and 14990 voting for Weix with 97% of the vote counted in Senate district 10.
Here’s an overall look at the recall races from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, with the insightful title of, “6 fake Democrats fall, setting stage for GOP recalls.” A relevant quote from the article:
Six fake Democratic candidates put up by the Republican Party to buy time for Republican state senators subject to recalls accomplished that job Tuesday, but none of them did the unexpected and knocked off a real Democrat.
Candidates backed by the Democratic Party won all six Senate primary elections, all but one of them by substantial amounts. They’ll all go on to face the Republican incumbents on Aug. 9, in an attempt by Democrats to regain control of the state Senate and put the brakes on Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda.
That the primaries were held at all is a function of the twists and turns of political strategy played out in recent months as the state broke into warring camps over Walker’s attempt to restrict collective bargaining for public employees.
The Republican Party forced the primaries to give its six senators facing recall another four weeks before facing a Democratic challenger, in order to allow them to take their case to the voters and argue that their work on the budget was good for the state.
Take a look at that last sentence again. Do you all remember the mantra, “Wisconsin is broke, that’s why we have to do X, Y, and Z.” (With X being the elimination of collective bargaining rights for public employee unions, Y being cutting $800 out of the public education budget, and Z giving tax breaks to corporations?)
Well, isn’t it hypocritical for the Rs, who claim that Wisconsin is “broke,” to force these recall elections into primaries using “fake Dems” to extend the process?
I mean, here the GOP forced these recalls because of these “fake Dems,” which has caused the state of WI to have spent at least $450,000 more money than needed to be spent on recall elections. Which makes this the next relevant question: how broke can be Wisconsin be if the Wisconsin Republican Party is willing to play games like this?
At any rate, the six real Dems now will face the six sitting Rs on August 9, 2011, to see who will take control of the state Senate. There will be one election already in the books by that point — state Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) will run next week, July 19, 2011, to attempt to hold his seat, and it’s strongly believed he will win easily — with two more to come on August 16, 2011, for the remaining two Democratic state Senators, Jim Holperin (D-Conover) and Bob Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie — Pleasant Prairie is a suburb of Kenosha), to attempt to hold their seats. Providing all three Dems hold their seats, the six Democratic challengers will need to knock out at least three Senate Rs to take control of the state Senate.
Tonight was only the first step toward restoring a check on our currently all-Republican state government; we have more steps to come. Keep watching my blog for further updates, as I promise to “keep ’em coming” as long as there’s something to say on this topic.
Kenosha News Refuses to Print my Election Letter
The Kenosha News, in their infinite whatever, refused to print my election letter on the grounds that I’m not a Kenosha County resident, and that I’m not a subscriber to their paper. Yet as far as I know, their “Voice of the People” section (what most papers call the “letters to the editor”) does not contain anything that says you must be a Kenosha County resident or a subscriber in order to comment on current events or anything else — I’ve read the Kenosha News many times because I don’t live that far from the Kenosha County line and often pick it up at a local gas station.
At any rate, since the Kenosha News refused to print my election letter, I’m going to print it here, in its entirety; you see if you find it objectionable in any way, shape or form:
To the Editor:
Though I live in the city of Racine, I have a great appreciation for Senator Bob Wirch and wish he were my state Senator. Here’s why.
In 2006, Sen. Wirch discovered that Gateway Technical College (which had a $2.4 million budgetary shortfall at the time) had appropriated five million dollars of taxpayer money to create two private organizations. One of these was actually run for profit, but did the taxpayers of Wisconsin ever see a dime? No!
Without Sen. Wirch bringing this to light, we’d have likely had no idea about what had happened to that five million dollars.
At a time of unprecedented belt-tightening, we need Bob Wirch to stay in the Senate to make absolutely sure that our money is spent wisely; we can’t afford to waste a single penny.
During these unsettled times, where Republicans run “fake Democrats” in recall primaries to give themselves more time to raise money, and Gov. Walker told the “fake David Koch” that he’d seriously considered planting fake protestors in Madison to cause further unrest, we need Sen. Wirch more than ever. He’ll fight against bad budgetary decisions while continuing to fight for a transparent, honest and accountable government.
We need more people like Bob Wirch in the state Senate, which is why I urge you to please cast your vote for him on August 16, 2011.
Sincerely,
Barb Caffrey
Racine, WI
Now, what’s wrong with this letter? That I like Bob Wirch? (That’s what election letters are for — expressing your appreciation, or your disgust, for a candidate running for office.) That I think it’s great he’s been able to bring things to light that otherwise would’ve gone unknown and unheeded? That it’s under 250 words, which fits their guidelines? What?
Mind, if the Kenosha News had prominently said on their Opinion page that they do not, emphatically do not, accept letters from people who neither live in Kenosha County nor subscribe to their paper, then I’d not be as upset. I’d still not be happy about it, but I’d not be upset.
My letter to them in return after they said they were uninterested in my “voice” was something to the effect that I didn’t appreciate this, at all. And that as I live in Racine County — right up the road from Kenosha — it’s ridiculous to think I don’t know what’s going on in this election, especially as part of Bob Wirch’s district runs straight through Racine County.
I also sent a voice mail, which, while again polite and using no four-letter words, expressed my outrage over this. Emphatically.
So, now I know that at least one newspaper in this area doesn’t care what real people think about the important recall elections. And that’s not just bad, sad, or shameful — it means they’re unwilling to do their real job, which in part is to report on what real people in their area think about the issues at hand. Including this recall election.
Wisconsin State Journal’s editorial about recalls falls down on the job
Folks, I am livid after reading this extremely biased, slanted staff editorial by the Wisconsin State Journal, one of the best-known papers in the state. The WSJ has the nerve to say that recalls are bad because they extend the election cycle, and when, pray tell, will it end?
Well, I’ll tell you when it’ll end. When we finally have some responsible people in government who stop behaving like Wisconsin is their personal fiefdom and that the rule of law need not apply. As Grant Petty, writing for Madison’s alternative paper The Isthmus, wrote in his response to the WSJ editorial:
It was not simply that I disagreed with your position. I disagree with other publications’ positions all the time without necessarily feeling insulted by them. The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was that you had once again ignored or grossly oversimplified deep and important issues affecting Wisconsin while basing your position on superficial ones.
Petty goes on to say later on in the article that many things have caused the people of Wisconsin to recall their legislators (especially those of the Republican variety); these things include, but are not limited to:
- The lack of transparency in government, for the rule of law, and for the constitutionality of our courts by our elected officials.
- Creating new obstacles to voting in traditionally Democratic demographic groups (minorities, the poor, college students, elderly who don’t live in nursing homes)
- What Petty calls “blatant pay-to-play favors” for major campaign donors (including the one railroad exec. who pled guilty to an illegal campaign contribution of $49,000 to Scott Walker)
- A state Supreme Court that Petty calls a “rubber stamp” that was “bought and paid for by Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce,” a lobbying group that traditionally backs Republicans and conservative ideology. and
- Last, but not least, the overarching inaccuracies of the vote going back at least to 2004 in Waukesha County; Petty describes several troubling aspects of the vote in the 2011 judicial race between Justice David Prosser and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg that changed the outcome of the election, starting with Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus’s finding of 7500 votes over a day after the election had supposedly ended and continuing on with problems with the voting machines and electronic tape malfunctions that were never explored or explained (including one where the totals inexplicably read March 30, 2011, not April 5, 2011 as they should’ve; Barbara With, who observed the Waukesha County recount, explicitly made sure the Government Accountability Board knew about this and testified as to what she’d seen and heard and entered her picture of the faulty tape into evidence, yet the GAB, again inexplicably, refused to believe or accept this and left this testimony out of the official record).
Note that all of this — all — is why most people in Wisconsin, including a sizable minority of Walker’s own party, remains livid regarding the conduct of our current crop of public officials (mostly the recently-elected Walker and many of the Republican officeholders who are being recalled, including State Senator Alberta Darling). Petty said it extremely well, and I only wish that I’d have written this summation myself; this truly is why Wisconsin is upset and has recalled an unprecedented number of people (remember, before this year, only four people had ever been forced to run in recall elections, with two of them holding their seats while the other two, including my former Republican state Senator George Petak, R-Racine, lost).
As to why the WSJ decided to write a slanted, utterly biased editorial? Who knows? But I do know that whenever I read their paper online in the future, I will keep their partisan slant in mind and judge their reportage accordingly.
Other than that, I agree with Petty’s contention that we should be far more concerned with out-and-out election fraud in this state because we’ve apparently had problems now in Waukesha County since 2004 and nothing, but nothing, has been done about them and apparently nothing, but nothing, is going to be done about them because apparently the political powers who now run the state (all three branches of government are run by Republicans, remember, as I’ve stated before) like it the way it is even though most of the rest of us emphatically do not.
And that, my friends, is not only sad. It’s shameful, and should not be tolerated in what we so euphemistically call “a democratic state.”
John Nichols said it best: in WI, no checks, no balances, exist.
Folks, all week I’ve resisted the impulse to post anything after the recent “victory” by Scott Walker and his allies on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Please see this article from John Nichols at the Capital Times, who agrees with me that after this week’s decision, no effective checks or balances to the power of Gov. Scott Walker (R) may be seen to exist.
Then, see this extraordinary decision by the WI state Supreme Court, along with the incendiary dissents of Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and learned, scholarly judge N. Patrick Crooks.
Now, as for what I feel about all this?
After several days of reflection, I’m spitting mad. I believe that the four Rs on the court — including two who seem heavily tainted, Michael Gableman and the recently re-elected David Prosser — have not done the people’s business here. Further, they’ve made a mockery out of the whole “separation of powers” that is inherent in the United States Constitution and re-affirmed in the Wisconsin state Constitution — these four Justices appear to remember, always, that they are conservative Republicans first, and Supreme Court justices second. And, apparently, being a conservative R seems to trump everything else.
Justice N. Patrick Crooks, a renowned legal scholar, said on p. 11 of his dissent that:
The ready availability of a direct appeal by aggrieved parties makes this all the more puzzling. The majority does not really come to grips with the obvious fact that an appeal is an available remedy here. As many of the parties to these cases have argued, it would be a simple matter for an aggrieved party to intervene in this matter and file an ordinary appeal, which would proceed the usual way.
In other words, there was no need to create a precedent here, but the four Rs on the court did just that; they set aside Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi’s ruling in total, because they felt Sumi had overstepped her authority — yet her ruling was detailed, thorough, and took months to decide. Whereas the Supreme Court of the state of Wisconsin took only a few days.
Abrahamson’s dissent (most relevant parts quoted in Nichols’s article) is stinging, but Crooks’s dissent is even worse in a scholarly, non-argumentative way. Crooks seems completely dismayed with what’s occurred here; he doesn’t get it, and if people as knowledgeable about the court as Abrahamson, Crooks, and Justice Ann Walsh Bradley don’t get it, I suppose it’s not too surprising that I don’t get it, either. (Nor does Nichols seem to understand why the four Rs did this, except for purely political, rather than legal, reasons. While I hope that isn’t the case, it surely doesn’t look good at this time for those four conservative Justices.)
* * * * *
UPDATE: Blogger Rick Ungar of conservative Forbes magazine agrees with Nichols, and me, that this ruling is seriously messed up.
Relevant (unfortunately rather lengthy) quote:
While the State of Wisconsin has a lot on its plate in the recall department, I’m afraid they now have little choice but to consider taking a look at some of their Supreme Court Justices for similar action.
Not because the court handed down a ruling that will make people unhappy – but because the people of Wisconsin now have every reason to believe that their Supreme Court has been corrupted and their opinions subject to invalidation.
Make no mistake. This is not about a judicial philosophy with which I might disagree. Reasonable, learned judges can – and often do – apply the law to a fact situation and come up with different opinions and they do so in the utmost of good faith and their best understanding of the law.
However, the minority opinion issued yesterday in the Wisconsin Supreme Court did not charge mistaken application of law. The opinion charged perversion of the facts and the law to meet a desired result.
If this is true, this is court corruption at its absolute worst and the people of Wisconsin cannot permit this to stand.
Amen, brother!
* * * * * end update * * * * (Now, back to our regularly scheduled posting.)
Really, there was no need to create a precedent here; the Supreme Court should’ve taken its time and decided this case solely on the narrow merits — did the Fitzgerald Brothers (Jeff in the Assembly, Scott in the Senate) break the Open Meetings Law, or not? Justice Sumi said they did; the three Supreme Court dissenters appeared to believe Sumi had done her job thoroughly and that more time needed to be given, by them, to figure out whether or not Sumi’s judgment was inherently flawed. But those four Rs apparently believed there was no need for deliberation; Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald said the case needed to be decided by Tuesday night, and thus, perhaps not so coincidentally, those Justices decided that case by Tuesday night.
This is why the recall elections are so important. Right now the Court (judicial branch) is in the hands of the Republican Party, the Governorship (the executive branch) is in the hands of the Republicans, and the Legislature (legislative branch) is also in the hands of the Republicans. This is too much power for any given party, and it must not be allowed to stand.
That some Republican Senators, like Alberta Darling (who will face a recall election on July 12, 2011) and my own R Senator Van Wanggaard, seem to think this was a good result and have said so, quite loudly and vociferously, just shows how out of touch they are. And how badly they need to be recalled, because they just aren’t listening to their own constituents, the people of the state of Wisconsin.
We know that times are tough. There would have been hard choices to make, economically, this year for any Governor, and any Legislature. But the choices being made thus far have disproportionately affected the low-income folks, the disabled, children, senior citizens, and the unemployed. This is no way to run a government, and it is not the Wisconsin way to throw people out just because right now they are ill, or injured, or have no money, or can’t give you a campaign donation.
Whoever our elected representatives are, regardless of their respective offices, they should be trying to do the best they can for all the people of Wisconsin. Writing a budget that cuts $800 million from the public schools and gives tax breaks to rich people so they can send their kids to private schools is plain, flat wrong — yet people like Darling and Wanggaard believe that’s the right way to go.
The only thing we can do, as voters, is educate ourselves as to what our representatives are doing. And then, if we disagree with them, as we have the power to recall our duly elected representatives in Wisconsin if we feel they are failing to do their jobs by listening to us and acknowledging our concerns in some way — then, it’s time to first recall them, then vote them out.
Those of you who have a Republican Senator, if you disagree with him or her, kick your Senator to the curb. And if you have a Democratic Senator who is up for recall, and you don’t agree with him — then you also have the right to vote him out. But I’d rather you concentrated on the folks who have proven they aren’t listening — the Republicans, who control all three branches of Wisconsin state government at this time — and re-install the checks and balances we depend upon by voting in someone new in those races against the six Republican Senators.
Voting the Rs out is the only way — the only way — to guarantee that your representatives, Dem or R, will start to listen. Because if the people of Wisconsin send a message by voting out those who aren’t listening, that should finally make the others listen, or be voted out in turn. (And yes, Van Wanggaard, I’m looking squarely at you.)
Hot, humid weather here — WI Republicans Try to Cheat
While trying to survive the extremely hot, humid weather here in Southeastern Wisconsin (high today is expected to be near 100), I’ve been looking on with bemusement at the Wisconsin Republican Party’s latest bunch of dirty tricks.
How about this headline? “Wisconsin Republicans Want Allies to Run as Democratic Protest Candidates in Recall Election Primaries.” And they’re not even denying that they’re doing it! Here’s a link — now here’s a quote:
Stephan Thompson, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement Monday that Republican state senators face recalls for doing their jobs, unlike Democratic senators who he says deserted their constituents for Illinois.
Thompson said the Republican senators are busy crafting a state budget, which puts them at a disadvantage to challengers to have time to campaign.
“Because of this disadvantage, and the outrageous nature of elected officials facing recall for standing up for a balanced budget, the Republican Party of Wisconsin has advocated that protest candidates run in Democratic primaries to ensure that Republican legislators have ample time to communicate with voters throughout their districts after the state budget is approved,” he said in the statement.
By doing this, Republicans would force the Democratic challengers to spend money on a primary instead of saving it for the general election. Spoiler candidates could also launch negative attacks on the Democrats while the Republican incumbents stay out of the fray.
So, the head of the Rs thinks it’s perfectly fine to do this. Hmm.
Next, here’s the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (aka WisDems) response, from the same article:
The Democratic Party called on Republicans to stop their “Nixonion dirty tricks” and scheduled a news conference Monday afternoon with Democratic Senate Leader Mark Miller.
And now, today’s news from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, where Scott Fitzgerald, the Senate Majority Leader (R-Juneau), admits he was behind this idea all the way:
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald fully endorsed the idea Tuesday of fielding fake Democrats in recall elections against Republicans in an effort to delay the general elections.
“It gives us another month to campaign,” said the Republican from Juneau.
Recall elections for six Republican senators are scheduled for July 12. If there are multiple candidates from the same party in any of those elections, the July 12 election becomes a primary election and a general recall election will be scheduled for Aug. 9.
Now, here’s the “money quote” (or in this case, the “money area”) of this article, which is a follow-up to Daniel Bice’s yesterday MJS article:
Fitzgerald said Republicans would be recruited to run as Democrats — likely in all six races — so that the elections would be pushed back a month. He said he was persuaded by campaign staff that it was a good idea and consulted with state election officials to make sure it was allowed.
And what, pray tell, is Fitzgerald’s motivation for this? Supposedly, it’s to get back at the Dems because they supposedly ran a “fake R” in the 2010 election against one of the Rs. Going on:
Fitzgerald said the idea was developed in response to a fake Republican running last year against Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer of Manitowoc. Ziegelbauer was a Democrat who long voted with Republicans; he quit the Democratic Party last year and ran for re-election as an independent.
A fake Republican ran in an attempt to split the vote between him and Ziegelbauer, giving the Democrat a chance to take the seat. The move didn’t work, and Ziegelbauer kept his seat.
Mark Jefferson, the state Republican Party executive director at the time, called that move a “nasty, cynical ploy.”
Of course, the Dems deny this.
Going on, Fitzgerald says that:
“Recalling senators for taking a tough vote is just wrong.”
He also said holding the recall elections were costly for taxpayers. By forcing primaries with fake candidates, those costs will only climb.
So, the recalls against Rs are bad, but the three pending recalls against Dems for doing their jobs by leaving the state to deny a quorum are good? How is this logical?
Then, Fitzgerald says that “recalls are expensive,” then turns around and says that they should force primaries with silly, stupid “fake Dem” candidates to cause an even greater expense? How does this possibly make sense, even in an alternate universe?
I’m sorry, Mr. Fitzgerald. You do not get to “have your cake and eat it, too.” You can either be for the recalls, as your party might get a few of the Dems out — or you can be against the recalls, as your party will probably lose a number of seats. But you cannot be both, and you certainly cannot say that “recalls are expensive” while doing your level best to lengthen the process and make it even more expensive, because that does not fly.
This just goes to show you that the Republican Party in Wisconsin cannot be trusted if they’re willing to admit to these types of “dirty tricks” — and no matter how hot and humid it is, there’s no excuse whatsoever for the latest bunch of horrible behavior.
And to Mr. Fitzgerald, personally, I will say only this — I hope every single last Republican who voted for Gov. Walker’s “budget-repair” bill gets recalled as soon as legally permissible (for most, it’s next January). Including you.
Mandatory Recount Starts Tomorrow — and Kathy Nickolaus Recuses Herself in Waukesha County
Folks, the biggest thing to hit Wisconsin politics in twenty-two years starts tomorrow — the mandatory recount for the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court between challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg and incumbent Justice David Prosser. Prosser, as you might recall from my previous blog posts, is a former Republican Speaker of the Assembly, and though judges are officially non-partisan, JoAnne Kloppenburg was seen as an independent or perhaps as a left-leaning potential jurist (though truly none of us know what she’ll do, she seems honest and fair-minded, and potentially a very good judge).
Though I should have more to say on this tomorrow, right now I have one piece of news to report and it’s unexpected — it’s that Kathy Nickolaus, the under-fire County Clerk of Waukesha County, has recused herself from the upcoming proceedings. Nickolaus gained national fame (or infamy, take your pick) when she realized, a day and a half late, that she hadn’t properly counted Brookfield’s 14,000 votes, throwing the race to Prosser by 7,000 votes due to the pattern of votes in Brookfield. Nickolaus claimed she’d “not hit the save button” and blamed her failure to count Brookfield on “human error,” yet there have been multitudinous errors in Waukesha County for years (please see previous blogs on the subject, especially this one: https://elfyverse.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/recount-necessary-for-one-waukesha-county-voting-irregularities-go-back-to-2004/) and Nickolaus has always blamed “human error.”
Here’s the story from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/120739214.html
And a quote:
Nickolaus took herself out of the recount process, Nowak said, to avoid the appearance of conflict or to give the candidates the ability to raise objections about her performance.
Nickolaus sent out communications to local clerks who had to provide additional materials for the recount, which starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Nickolaus will still be present for the recount as the county clerk, Nowak said. She will not serve on the Canvass Board, which includes Democrat Ramona Kitzinger and Republican Pat Karcher.
As a result of Nickolaus’ election-night reporting error, the Government Accountability Board investigated her canvass and her business practices. Last week, the board said that despite some anomalies, the canvass was consistent with results reported by local municipal clerks.
Note that instead of Nickolaus, two others will be observing the mandatory recount in Waukesha county, these being retired Circuit Court Judge Robert Mawdsley and a retired state elections official, Barb Hansen from the Town of Delafield, who should be able to assist Mawdsley during the recount proceedings.
I am glad the recount is proceeding and look forward to more updates as the week progresses.
Oh, and one other update — the Committee to Recall sitting Republican state Senator Robert Cowles (from Green Bay) has announced they have enough signatures to force a recall election, but will turn in their signatures to the Government Accountability Board on Thursday (I’m assuming this is due to the mandatory recount for the judicial race) in Madison. Here’s a link:
So the recall efforts continue to progress as well.
Updates: More pending recalls (Dems and Rs), etc.
Before we get to the latest folks being recalled, the first update has to do with the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. The two sides (Prosser and Kloppenburg) have come to an agreement about the recount, and it will start next Monday. Please see this story for further details, which gives details about how this particular state-wide recount (the first in twenty-two years) will take place:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/120518594.html
Now, as for the newest pending recalls — the drive to recall the Republican 8 continues, as the committee to recall Republican Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) turned in 30,000 signatures — significantly more than the 20,043 signatures required by law (1/4 of the last election) — to see her recalled.
However, we now have three Democrats — Jim Holperin (D-Conover), Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha) and Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) — who have had recall petitions filed against them. The signatures needed for Holperin was 15,960, with over 23,000 turned in; the signatures needed for Wirch was 13,537, with over 18,000 turned in, and the signatures for Hansen was 13,852 with nearly 19,000 turned in.
See this link for further details:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/120430074.html
The main difference between the Dems and the Rs at this point is that two of these three Dems appear to be in “safe,” heavily Democratic districts — Hansen and Wirch both have districts that went for Kloppenburg in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election, while Holperin’s district is the only one I’d really tend to be worried about — while all five of the Rs with recalls pending could easily lose and lose big.
Here’s a quote from the rally to recall Alberta Darling held on Thursday, April 21, 2011, courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article of the same date (link posted above):
Kristopher Rowe of Shorewood, a Darling recall leader who created the Facebook page that sparked the campaign, told several hundred people at the Kletzsch Park rally that they weren’t done until Darling was voted out of office.
“We’re going to finish, and we’re going to finish strong,” he said.
Now, you might be wondering why, in particular, recall groups have focused on getting rid of Alberta Darling. It’s because she was co-chair of the committee that allowed Gov. Scott Walker (R)’s “budget-repair bill” into the whole Senate; she had all the power in the world to stop that bill from ever coming to light unless/until some of the worst problems with it were fixed, yet she refused to use it.
Further from the Journal-Sentinel article:
Darling is the fifth Republican state senator against whom petitions have been filed.
Darling, a co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, is a central figure in the budget battles that spawned recall efforts against eight Republican and eight Democratic senators. Her opponents clearly will try to hang the budget on her, as did one rally speaker, who referred to the proposed budget as “both immoral and bad economics.”
As I’ve said before, the other four Republicans with recalls pending are: Luther Olson (R-Ripon), Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse), Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) and Sheila Harsdorf (R-Hudson/River Falls).
And finally, it is confirmed that both Sheldon Wasserman (former Rep., who nearly beat Darling in 2008, losing by about 1000 votes) and Sandy Pasch (the current Rep., D-Whitefish Bay) are seriously thinking about challenging Darling in the pending recall election. (Note that the Journal-Sentinel had a PolitiFact article today saying it’s wrong to say any of these Senators have been recalled; all we can say is “recalls pending,” as I’ve been saying, or that the “recall petitions have been filed.”) Both are strong candidates, and the Journal-Sentinel rates this race as “the most competitive race . . . in the Milwaukee area” (there are five Senators, both R and Dem., who will have to run in recall elections providing the signatures hold up).
Because of the pending recount in the Kloppenburg-Prosser judicial race, it’s possible the recall petitions will take longer to “‘vet” than usual; the Government Accountability Board has been quite busy this year, with no signs of letting up, and it’s the GAB that must oversee both things.
Finally, in personal news, I have one good thing to report. I wrote 2000 words into part 47 of AN ELFY ABROAD last night, breaking a log-jam that had lasted three weeks after first talking with a friend about the story, then hearing from a different one why I should just give it up already. (Obviously I disagreed with my second friend.)
Otherwise, I just hit the six year and seven month observance in my personal “grief journey” . . . I tried hard to distract myself and even succeeded for a while, but then I wondered, “What the Hell am I doing?”
Barb Caffrey's Blog 