Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin legislators have taken the first step to amend the state Constitution to make it harder to recall them, the governor, attorney general and other state officials.

The potential change follows a record 13 recall elections that targeted the governor, lieutenant governor and 11 state senators over a one-year period. Three Republican senators were recalled.

Read More: here

Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly took the first step toward preventing voters from forcing recall elections against elected officials not accused of any legal or ethical wrongdoing. While this move may appear self-serving — in 2011 and 2012, three Republican State Senators were removed from office and Gov. Scott Walker (R) had to face voters midway through his term — it raises questions about whether the current recall system several states have is beyond repair.” The Wisconsin Assembly has the right idea: mid-term recalls of public officials without cause hurt America’s republican democracy.

Recalling the governor and others from office in Wisconsin would be more difficult, in-person absentee voting hours would be restricted and photo identification would be required to cast a ballot under a flurry of divisive measures the state Assembly plans to pass Thursday.

The elections bills aren’t the only hot-button issues the Republican-controlled chamber plans to approve on its final session day of the year. Also slated for passage are proposals limiting the public’s access to a proposed iron ore site in northern Wisconsin and undoing the 124-year-old practice of having the most senior member of the state Supreme Court serve as chief justice.

A University of Wisconsin-Platteville student leader may have met the repercussions for expressing his freedom of speech when his anticipated placement on the UW Board of Regents was pulled by Governor Scott Walker.  As a freshman, Joshua Inglett had signed the petition to recall Gov. Walker.

“I felt like my character had been attacked,” Inglett said.

UW-Platteville had even announced Inglett’s appointment on their website. The governor offered no reason for withdrawing the appointment.

“We’ve got plenty of other good candidates and we’re not going to get into specifics about it,” said Walker. “We’ve made a decision to withdraw the name in our office and we’ll be submitting another name to the Board of Regents.”

A University of Wisconsin-Platteville engineering student anticipating a new seat on the UW System’s Board of Regents was renounced at the eleventh hour by Gov. Scott Walker, who withdrew the young man’s appointment after finding out he had signed a petition as an 18-year-old freshman calling for the governor’s recall.

Joshua Inglett, who finished his sophomore year last month, said an aide to Walker asked him Wednesday evening whether he had signed the recall petition. He told him he had, and within hours another Walker aide left him a voice mail that made it clear to Inglett he wouldn’t get the position.

A group of municipal officials pressed Wisconsin lawmakers Tuesday to make it harder to initiate recall elections at the local level, saying it’s currently too easy and that such campaigns often divide communities.

Town of Garfield board chairman Steve Dickinsen told the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections that a recall is usually the best way for people to call out officials they don’t agree with on issues, but it can be “divisive” if done too frequently.

There is talk of reforming Wisconsin’s recall election procedures and we believe it is time for such a change.

We heard of the proposed recall changes in a release from State Sen. Sheila Harsdorf who reintroduced recall reform legislation in the State Senate as Senate Joint Resolution 24 (SJR 24).

The proposal is intended to safeguard the ability of citizens to remove officials for misconduct or ethics violations, while ensuring that recalls would not be abused for political purposes.

What she says makes sense; however, some might consider her involvement as being a bit tainted since she was the target of a recall election. Harsdorf, of course, survived the recall election and the Republican probably is as knowledgeable as anyone regarding this subject.

An Ozaukee County judge lost his job Tuesday when voters sided with a challenger critical of the incumbent’s 2011 signature on a petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker.

Attorney Joe Voiland defeated Circuit Judge Tom Wolfgram, a three-term incumbent, by collecting more than 60% of the vote, according to complete, unofficial returns. He was elected to a six-year term.

Voiland criticized Wolfgram for forfeiting his impartiality by publicly supporting the recall.

Read more at The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

A Racine man has pleaded guilty to election fraud in a case in which he’s accused of forging seven signatures on recall petitions, the Journal Times of Racine reports.

The petitions were to recall then Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine).

Read More at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

The two Democrats who have publically announced they want to run in a recall election against Republican Gov. Scott Walker have raised almost no money so far.

Walker, on the other hand, has raised more than $12 million since last year and has $2.6 million on hand.


Former Democratic Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced earlier this month that she will run against Walker.

Read more at the Post Crescent.

The Marquette Law School poll of Wisconsin voters released Wednesday shows Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker holding a lead over all four of his potential Democratic opponents in the event of a recall election in Wisconsin.

Mr. Walker is currently awaiting the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board to complete its review of the signatures that were recently submitted by Walker recall activists.

Read more at The State Column.  

The review of signatures submitted seeking a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker will take longer than the 60 days originally planned.

The director of the Government Accountability Board which is charged with handling the review said Thursday that it’s not clear how long it will take, but it will be more than 60 days.

Read more at the Post Crecent.

A recall election to oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker from office could cost at least $9 million.

The state Government Accountability Board asked local clerks to estimate the costs of a possible recall election based on statewide elections in November 2010 and April 2011. All 72 county clerks reported back with a total estimate of $2.3 million. About 92 percent of municipal clerks responded with an estimate of $5.8 million. The GAB estimated its costs at $841,349.

Read more at FDL Reporter.

The citizens of Wisconsin are an angsty bunch eh?

It’s now official. Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan will face a recall election after over 4,400 petition signatures were verified by the city clerk:

Sheboygan’s mayor is now fighting to keep his job after the city clerk verified there are enough signatures on petitions to force a recall election. In a document prepared for the Common Council, City Clerk Susan Richards says there were 4,481 valid signatures. Recall organizers needed 4,121. Richards said 242 were rejected because they had invalid addresses, such as living outside the city limits, or were duplicates. Mayor Bob Ryan has come under fire after two public incidents involving alcohol. But he says those days are behind him, and talked about that with Action 2 News.

Read the story from WBAY 2