Wisconsin Democrats have easily fended off a Republican ploy in the state Senate recalls, with the official Dem candidates in each of six races easily defeating Republican activists who also filed in the Democratic primaries. But Republicans have not failed to reap some advantages from the situation.
With the vast majority of the precincts now in, all six official Democrats have been projected as the winners by the Associated Press. Only one primary, for the 10th District (GOP Sen. Sheila Harsdorf), has turned out to be tight or seriously contested, with official Dem candidate Shelly Moore winning by a margin of 54%-46%.
The other Dem primaries are nowhere near that close: Nancy Nusbaum is winning the primary for the 2nd District (Sen. Robert Cowles) by 65%-35%; Sandy Pasch is winning the 8th District (Sen. Alberta Darling) by 67%-33%; Fred Clark is winning the 14th District (Sen. Luther Olsen) by 67%-33%; Jessica King is winning the 18th District (Sen. Randy Hopper) by 68%-32%; and Jennifer Shilling is winning the 32nd District (Sen. Dan Kapanke) by 70%-30%.
Soon after the recall elections were triggered, Republicans declared a strategy to plant fake candidates in the Democratic primaries -- which they have called "protest candidates" -- in order to delay the general elections from July to August, while the GOP incumbents ran unopposed. The candidates included a GOP activist in his 20s, and an octogenarian former GOP state representative, among others. As it turned out, the scheme would cost local governments throughout the state over $400,000.
Predictably, this led to some low-level dirty tricks and mischief-making, with conservatives being urged to vote in the Democratic primaries for the fake Dems. Despite the possibility of countering this, Democrats specifically rejected entreaties by labor to respond in kind and run fake Republicans, in order to keep Republican voters in their own primaries.
Top Republican justifies running fake Democrats in recall races
By Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel
The head of the state Republican Party today acknowledged that it is encouraging fake Democrats to run in recall elections this summer.
Stephan Thompson, executive director of the state party, issued a statement justifying the practice because Republican senators have been too busy in Madison to prepare for the recall elections.
"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," Thompson said in his statement.
The Journal Sentinel disclosed that the party is hoping to run "protest candidates" as Democrats in the recall elections for Republican Sens. Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac and Luther Olsen of Ripon. Hopper has said he had no knowledge of the matter.
If a primary is held for either party, that would push back the general election by a month, thereby giving the incumbent lawmakers more time to campaign.
UPDATE: Interestingly, it wasn't so long ago when top Republicans were offended by this tactic.
Last year, Thompson's predecessor, Mark Jefferson, complained that Democrats and the unions ran a fake Republican in the re-election contest for state Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer, an Independent from Manitowoc. Jefferson called it a "nasty, cynical ploy."
But in his lengthy statement, Thompson defends and justifies running spoiler candidates:
"The upcoming recall elections are unprecedented not only in Wisconsin, but in our nation's history. Unlike the Democratic Senators who deserted their constituents for a trip to Illinois, six Republican state Senators face recall not for misconduct, but for doing the job they were elected to do: taking a stance on a tough issue that came before the legislature.
"Now, these Republican senators are again busy doing their jobs crafting a fiscally responsible state budget that promotes economic growth, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage with many of their challengers who have had sufficient 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.
"The public deserves time to learn about the differences between the candidates and about the Republican plan to control government spending and boost economic growth vs. the Democrat alternative of job-killing tax hikes."
So, why are the Republicans panicking about the recalls?
Posted at 03:24 PM ET, 05/31/2011
Wisconsin Dems 6. Wisconsin Republicans 0.
By Greg Sargent
Conservatives and some political observers are making a big deal out of the fact that the Dem candidate in the closely watched state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin finally conceded defeat today, as had long been expected.
But surely it’s also a big deal that we now know for certain that six Wisconsin Republican state senators will officially face recall elections, while a grand total of zero Democrats may face the same?
Today the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board announced that they have now approved the signatures required for recall elections against the following six GOP senators: Rob Cowles, Alberta Darling, Sheila Harsdorf, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, and Luther Olsen. That means these six elections are definitely moving forward.
Meanwhile, the board has also announced that they are not prepared to approve the signatures gathered by Republicans for the recall of their three Democratic targets. Dems have alleged that the signature gathering by Republicans is fraudulent, and now the board has explicitly claimed that their reason for not approving the recall elections against Dems is that the signatures “have raised numerous factual and legal issues which need to be investigated and analyzed.”
Translation: The fraud allegations just may have something to them.
What this means: While Dems only need to net three recall elections to take back the state senate, it is now within the realm of possibility that even as twice that number of Republicans face recall elections, no Dems will. That’s a pretty sizable advantage for Dems.
Rachel Maddow does a piece on the happenings in Wisconsin:
The GOP is NOT interested in DEMOCRACY. They are interested it -AT ALL. They are about VOTER MANIPULATION AND VOTER SUPPRESSION. It's all they know what to do. LYING AND CHEATING is the name of the game for them.
Wis. GOPer: ‘Tons’ Of Govt. Workers In My District — And I Hope They’re Asleep On Recall Day
Wisconsin state Sen. Dan Kapanke, a Republican facing a recall election in the battle over Gov. Scott Walker's anti-public employee union legislation, might come to regret some of the language he used to fire up local Republicans in his western Wisconsin district.
As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, a secret audio recording of a talk that Kapanke gave on May 25 reveals Kapanke bemoaning the presence of a large number of public employees in his district -- and his tongue-in-cheek hopes that they'll be asleep on election day:
"So, we're going with our campaign, we're doing whatever we can. But we've got tons of government workers in my district -- tons, from La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We gotta hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th, or whenever the date is."
Sometimes, things just write themselves, don't they?
"The two parties have combined against us to nullify our power by a ‘gentleman's agreement' of non-recognition, no matter how we vote ... May God write us down as asses if ever again we are found putting our trust in either the Republican or the Democratic Parties." -- W.E.B. DuBois (1922)
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