I don’t think this is catastrophic or anything, but it is a set-back and a huge pain in the ass for state election officials:
A judge in Wisconsin threw a curveball Thursday evening into the recall campaign targeting Republican Gov. Scott Walker, ruling that state election officials must make a greater effort to screen out fake or duplicate petition signatures — rather than abide by the pre-existing rules, which have placed more of the burden on the Walker campaign.
The Wisconsin GOP released a victorious statement from executive director Stephan Thompson.“The Waukesha County court’s ruling today that the Government Accountability Board must take affirmative steps to identify and strike fraudulent signatures from recall petitions was a victory for the millions of Wisconsin electors who were at risk of being disenfranchised amidst the recall effort,” Thompson said. “The Republican Party of Wisconsin is committed to working with the GAB in its efforts to preserve the integrity of the recall process, ensuring that all individuals are treated equally, and any fictitious names or duplicate signatures are removed from petitions.”
Last week, Davis ruled against a motion by the Democrats and other recall organizers, to intervene and become parties in the case. This meant that the litigation was conducted exclusively between the state GOP and the election board’s attorney, without the Dems themselves being able to participate and present legal arguments.
When asked for comment on Davis’s decision last night, the recall committee’s attorney Jeremy Levinson gave a scathing statement to TPM: “The case was political theater. Scott Walker wanted the agency to do the work at taxpayer expense that campaigns have always done. He also wanted to smear the referee before the game began. And Judge Davis obliged. The reality is this doesn’t change the fact that despite Walker’s attempt to escape the judgment of voters is a dead letter. There will be an election no matter how many lawsuits the Walker litigation machine dreams up.”
After Issue Two in Ohio, some Democrats here said that Walker in Wisconsin would back off. That hasn’t happened, obviously. There were three arrests yesterday in “Walkergate” and yet the state GOP issued a crowing, gloating statement after this court win. They’re not backing off.
My biggest concern with Wisconsin is (still) the voter suppression law. In Ohio, we were able to stay the latest version of a voter suppression law by putting it to a ballot referendum in 2012.
In Wisconsin, they’re going to have to deal with a brand new voter suppression law, while conducting a recall, and preparing for the 2012 elections. That’s just an enormous amount of work for people on the ground.
(Thanks to commenter The Ancient Randonneur)
Bubblegum Tate
Not trying to threadjack, but this is pretty cool: The NFL Players Association puts out a statement against Indiana’s “right to work” agenda.
Back on topic, Walker is a pathetic sleazeball.
burnspbesq
If the state appeals, the Dems can file an amicus brief, but how likely is it that the state will appeal?
Quincy
This might intensify the PR fallout from those three arrests just a bit.
Edit: I see it’s already included in your link. Should have clicked through first.
feebog
While this may be viewed as a setback, it is a very minor one. The signatures were going to get reviewed, one way or another. Frankly, I feel better that the GAB will have to review the signatures, rather than the Walker campaign. Either way, some of the signatures are going to be challenged. This may take a little more time initially, but it should keep Walker from completely ratfucking the entire process.
The latter point you bring up Kay, is much more important. One tell on how this election will go is just how many signatures were collected. Remember, the threshold is 25% of the vote count in the last election. If Democrats turn in numbers approaching 40%, that is very bad news for Walker.
kay
Bubblegum Tate thanks so much for the NFL news/ Indiana.
I may have to start watching sports.
No, I won’t, honestly, no matter what they say, but still.
Brian R.
Off topic, but brilliant.
Paul in KY
I’m hoping this case where 3 of Walker’s minions were arrested will be another straw on the back of the Wisconsin electorate. I think we might get to watch his slow-motion demolition in the coming year.
Yeeha!
sublime33
In some ways this might be a blessing, as it will remind voters why it is important to vote and to not vote in Republicans at any level. Democrats focus too much on the top office and not enough on building up a crop of candidates at the local and legislative level. Bill Clinton is Exhibit A.
PeakVT
Here’s TPM’s report on the judge’s exclusion of the recall organizers (and the click-through to the click-through if you have time to kill).
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
Isn’t life lovely when you have friends in high courts…I mean places?
Dustin
@Paul in KY: I wish I could say the same, but for the last week the airwaves have been absolutely swamped with pro-walker ads.
They have the balls to claim that he “balanced the budget without raising taxes” while also claiming that he “kept thousands of teachers, police officers, and firefighters employed”. It’s going to get real ugly.
Dustin
Also, is anyone else sick and tired of hearing about Waukesha county ratfucking the rest of the state?
Roger Moore
@Bubblegum Tate:
People need to start calling “right to work” what it really is “right to freeload”. One group of people does the work of negotiating and spends its time and money defending the rights of workers, while another group takes advantage of their work without contributing anything. Only a twisted mind thinks it’s more important to protect the moochers than the people they’re mooching off.
Paul in KY
@Dustin: The Democratic Party in Wisc has to tie those dudes around his neck. Especially the one they arrested for ‘child enticement’. Also the one who stole from the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Kids & vets are supposed to be constituencies that your God fearing Repubs cherish. Show what a hypocrite Walker & his goons are. Mention it all the effing time.
I have sent them money & will send some more. But they have to use it wisely.
Southern Beale
Today in racism! A round-up of delightful faux-pas and outright slurs with a racist bent to them. Or not, as in the case of a hockey player.
You be the judge.
Tony J
Forget about it, Kay. It’s Waukesha.
If the best they could get out of a friendly judge was a ruling to enforce stringent defences against a problem that doesn’t really exist, then all crowing aside, they didn’t win a thing.
Redshift
Plus they have the gall to call making it harder to have a recall “disenfranchising” the buyer’s-remorse voters who put them in office. Assholes.
Redshift
@Dustin:
“Look at all the people we haven’t fired!” Rather reminiscent of Herman Cain’s “for every woman who has accused me of harassment, there are thousands who haven’t!”
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Southern Beale:
To be fair, that banana crack is an extremely offensive stereotype against Vaudevillians.
The Moar You Know
Magical thinking. They’re neglecting to take into account that Walker is doing what he’s been paid to do.
The Kochs aren’t dumping money into his offshore account to have him sit back and govern the state of Wisconsin, for God’s sake.
Nora
So I’m still trying to understand the thinking of the court. If Walker has to make sure that the signatures are valid, this is going to disenfranchise voters? I genuinely do not understand how anyone could say that. Even if all the signatures are invalid (unlikely), even if there are enough invalid signatures to make the recall invalid (also unlikely), there will be an election and everybody who feels such great support for Walker will have his or her chance to vote. The ones who are busy trying to disenfranchise millions of voters are Walker and his minions. Projection, thy name is GOP.
merrinc
@Brian R.:
So much awesome! “I won’t even be president! I’ll be Uncle Ron!”
agrippa
Why is this a problem?
The SAB validates the signatures, and the process plays out.
AA+ Bonds
Keep at it, Wisconsin usually sees justice done by the end of the day
gene108
Read the Pierick (sp?) indictment. That’s some perverted stuff.
I wonder how that indictment is going down in Wisconsin? I’m guessing it should be disgusting everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike.
trollhattan
O/T but this is pretty interesting.
washingtonpost.com/politics/courts-law/amid-ongoing-tensions-with-tehran-us-navy-rescues-iranian-fis…
Anything that takes the Iran situation down a notch would be welcome.
Gravenstone
@Dustin: I’m open to the suggestion of airstrikes.
Valdivia
@Brian R.:
funny but the ending about Obama was weird, half dressed like a seducer?
kay
Agrippa, I don’t think it’s a problem, really.
I do think it’s one more complication for the recall folks, and it ratchets up the ugly on both sides.
I am genuinely worried about voter suppression.
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, specifically, has been on the voter suppression target list for at least 10 years.
Chuck Butcher
Since I live in a state where petitions are validated by the office of Sec State I don’t see this as a problem. I do find it odd that the Sec State is talking about big delays since the models exist in so many states.
Voter suppression is always a problem whenever and where ever it happens.
The Ancient Randonneur
Thanks Kay! And I agree that the voter suppression law is probably more pressing and will ultimately have a more deleterious effect on the political process over the long run.
kideni
It seems to me that the judge pretty much just ruled that the GAB needs to do what the GAB would have done anyway: the GAB’s practice has always been to flag suspicious and repeated names for the incumbent to review. This is all just a waste of time and taxpayer money, but it gives the Republicans a chance to crow about a victory.
As for the arrests, it’s hard to say right now how it’ll play out in public opinion. One of Walker’s people drew the DA’s attention to the financial shenanigans to begin with, so that’s what a lot of people are focusing on and arguing that this is the end of it all. However, the fact that they waited several years to make their concerns known doesn’t put them in that great a light, and there are still a lot of things in the John Doe investigation that haven’t been resolved. Milwaukee blogger Chris Liebenthal at Cognitive Dissidence is the best source for all things Walkergate (he has a long entry on the arrests today).
VidaLoca
Yes. People here are worried about it too. However, one interesting point to be made about Judge Davis’ decision is that we guesstimate that it will extend the timetable for the GAB to review the petition signatures by a couple of months (at least) beyond the automatic one month allotted to the review process. That means that the actual election for governor won’t be declared until the middle of spring and won’t be held until the middle of summer at the earliest. That will give us an extra two-month lead time (at least) to organize around the issue of voter suppression.
Gaddez
Every day that wisconsin isn’t in open revolt and the distended piece of rectum that is it’s governor isn’t tarred and feathered is a day I am amazed at the patience of humanity.
moderateindy
I don’t see how this merits a post. It actually makes perfect sense. If you run for office, you pay to verify the signatures on your petition. If someone else mounts a campaign to get you kicked out of office, then you shouldn’t be responsible for the cash outlay to verify those signatures. You can’t ask the people mounting the recall to pay for it, because then only people with cash could mount a recall campaign. Thus, it lies with the taxpayers to certify the signatures. How can anybody argue that this is an unreasonable ruling? Is this going to change anything about how the vetting of the signatures will get done? Or does it just change who pays to have it done.
I find the left slowly lurching more, and more, towards the tactics of the right. With ginning up false outrage over inconsequential incidents being a fave of the right. Just giving fodder for the both sides do it argument.
Henrietta
In previous recalls elections in Wisconsin, the incumbent, that is the elected official being targeted in the recall pays for the challenging of signatures. They also get to collect unlimited funds.
This does change how the signatures will get vetted. Now the GAB has to hire more people and taxpayers have to pay for what would normally be the incumbent’s job.
There is no false outrage over this. The Republicans picked a judge who would rule their way, so no one is surprised. The taxpayers will end up paying, which isn’t fair or moderate, because, for example, when Walker was originally elected in a recall election, it was not done that way.