Gov. Scott Walker calls special elections; Senate chief drops bill to sidestep court order
Source: milwaukee journal
March 29, 2018 | Updated 4:36 p.m. CT March 29, 2018
MADISON - After a three-month delay, a lightning-quick lawsuit and three orders from as many judges, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called two special elections Thursday and GOP senators dropped legislation to block the contests....
Republican efforts collapsed following a Wednesday ruling by an appellate judge ordering the governor to call the May primary and June general elections. In less than a day, Walker abandoned a state Supreme Court appeal to overturn the ruling and lawmakers in both the Senate and Assembly canceled plans to vote to leave the seats vacant.
"This is a victory for the citizens of Wisconsin who are without representation because of Governor Walker's refusal to do his job," said former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, whose national Democratic group brought the lawsuit against Walker on behalf of local voters. "Republicans in the Legislature should stop trying to find new ways to keep the people they're supposed to represent from voting."
Less than an hour after Walker called the special election, Door County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Caleb Frostman announced he would run as a Democrat in one of the open seats. The 1st Senate District includes Door and Kewaunee counties and parts of Brown, Manitowoc and Calumet counties. ..................................
Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/29/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-calls-special-elections-senate-leader-drops-bill/469000002/
I am actually surprised Walker and Republicans dropped the idea of changing the law==last night they were all set to have an emergency session and pass a new law.
Walker and Repugs constantly complained about the cost of special elections as a reason NOT to have them [despite what WI law clearly said]. BUT....
.....................Democrats point out that Walker could have called the special elections in December when Sen. Frank Lasee (R-De Pere) and Rep. Keith Ripp (R-Lodi) stepped down to take jobs in his administration. That would have avoided such a tight timeline and potentially saved money by allowing the general election to be held alongside Tuesday's spring election. .......................................
Link to tweet
LOST CAUSE
Scott Walker Lashes Out After Losing Bid to Prevent Special Elections
After months of battling against it, three court orders finally forced the Republican governor’s hand.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/scott-walker-lashes-out-after-losing-bid-to-prevent-special-elections
Gideon Resnick
03.29.18 12:36 PM ET
.............So on Thursday, Walker relented and ordered special elections for the First Senate District and the 42nd Assembly District for June 12.
The governor then lashed out on Twitter, saying: “Eric Holder and the other liberals from Washington, D.C. are using the situation in Wisconsin to raise money for their battles in the fall.”
He also said that Holder was using the opportunity to “win elections for governor with the hopes that they can use redistricting to permanently change the makeup of the U.S. House of Representatives and put Nancy Pelosi back in charge as speaker.”
Holder’s group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, had filed a lawsuit demanding that the elections take place.
The seats, which both went heavily for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, are potentially liable to flip given the nation's current climate and a stunning special election result in Wisconsin earlier this year. In that race, for Wisconsin's Senate District 10, Democrat Patty Schachtner won the seat which had been held by Republicans since 2000 and where Trump had won by 17 points. .....................
cott Walker
?Verified account @ScottWalker
10h10 hours ago
The members of the state Legislature will adjourn at the start of April and will not be back until a new Legislature is seated after the fall elections.
29 replies 18 retweets 36 likes
Scott Walker
?Verified account @ScottWalker
Eric Holder and the other liberals from Washington, D.C. are using the situation in Wisconsin to raise money for their battles in the fall.
Link to tweet
= new reply since forum marked as read
FUCK OFF Walker!
It is hard when your state gets hijacked and it's obvious yours was and here in PA, it has been a shocker that ours did too, as some GOP legislators here continue to push for impeachment of 4 of the 5 Democratic state Supreme Court justices (the court has a total of 7 justices) who overturned their garbage congressional map.
