FollowUp 16: Wisconsin Republican Dirty Tricks

Wisconsin Senate President Scott Fitzgerald has failed in his attempt to avoid a recall election by claiming that redistricting invalidated petition signatures.  Reuters notes that all four of the Republican state senators facing recall drives will have to stand in recall elections.

The state agency that oversees elections agreed unanimously on Monday that enough valid signatures by voters were submitted to require all four senators to face recall votes.

The four lawmakers include Senate President Scott Fitzgerald, a chief architect of an anti-union law passed last year that sparked the recall movement.

Channel 3000 writes that the Senators, have not had time to challenge this decision.  The other three state senators being recalled are Van Wanggaard, Terry Moulton, and Pam Galloway.

The board rejected broad arguments made by all four senators challenging thousands of signatures.

"I do think the board got it wrong today, but whether or not we'll pursue anything legally is a decision for my clients," said Joseph Olson, an attorney for the Republican senators. "I haven't had a chance to speak with them about that yet."

Pending approval of the courts, the recall elections will be on 8 May 2012 for a primary elections and 5 June 2012 for the general elections.

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board has determined the number of signatures for recalling the Lt. Governor and the Governor.  In each case, 540,208 valid signatures are required for a recall election to be called.  842,860 signatures were turned in for the recall of Lt. Governor Kleefisch.  About 29,125 of those have been struck.  Approximately 930,000 signatures were turned in for the recall of Governor Walker.  About 26,000 of those have been struck.  So, it looks like six recall elections are imminent.  Wisconsin progressives and Democrats couldn't be happier and Wisconsin conservatives and Republicans are a bit upset.

16 November 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
30 November 2011, FollowUp 1.
4 December 2011, FollowUp 2.
11 December 2011, FollowUp 3.
14 December 2011, FollowUp 4.
15 December 2011, FollowUp 5.
30 December 2011, FollowUp 6.
13 January 2012, FollowUp 7.
17 January 2012, FollowUp 8.
25 January 2012, FollowUp 9.
2 February 2012, FollowUp 10.
9 February 2012, FollowUp 11.
12 February 2012, FollowUp 12.
18 February 2012, FollowUp 13.
22 February 2012, FollowUp 14.
6 March 2012, FollowUp 15.

16 March 2012, FollowUp 17.
30 March 2012, FollowUp 18.
31 March 2012, FollowUp 19.
3 April 2012, FollowUp 20.
4 April 2012, FollowUp 21.
11 April 2012, FollowUp 22.
14 April 2012, FollowUp 23.
17 April 2012, FollowUp 24.
21 April 2012, FollowUp 25.
29 April 2012, FollowUp 26.
2 May 2012, FollowUp 27.
6 May 2012, FollowUp 28.
10 May 2012, FollowUp 29.
13 May 2012, FollowUp 30.
23 May 2012, FollowUp 31.
24 May 2012, FollowUp 32.
30 May 2012, FollowUp 33.
2 June 2012, FollowUp 34.
4 June 2012, FollowUp 35.
5 June 2012, FollowUp 36.