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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, speaks to reporters in Madison in February. Walker reluctantly issued an executive order on Thursday scheduling special elections to fill two vacant legislative seats, as Senate Republicans abandoned their attempts to block the contests and amid Democratic criticism that the GOP is afraid of losing more seats. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued an executive order on Thursday scheduling special elections to fill two vacant legislative seats, as Senate Republicans abandoned their attempt to pass a bill blocking the contests amid intense criticism that the GOP was trying to avoid adding to its string of losses.
The seats have been vacant since December, when Walker appointed two Republican legislators to his administration. Walker has said the special elections would be a waste of taxpayer money, especially since the seats would be coming up for election in the fall.
Democrats have argued that Walker wants to avoid losing the seats to their party in a year that appears to favor Democrats.
A judge last week ordered Walker to call the elections by noon on Thursday.
Walker responded by asking the 2nd District Court of Appeals on Wednesday to consider killing the order and rule immediately that he has until April 6 to call the elections, which would give the Legislature time to pass the bill. The appeals court quickly denied the request.
“Representative government and the election of our representatives are never ‘unnecessary,’ never a ‘waste of taxpayer resources,’ and the calling of the special elections are … his ‘obligation,'” Presiding Judge Paul F. Reilly wrote.
State lawyers had planned to ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservative justices, to set a deadline of April 6 by noon Thursday. But Wisconsin Solicitor General Misha Tseytlin filed a letter late on Wednesday afternoon saying Walker had decided now not to seek relief from the Supreme Court. No reason was given.
Walker’s order scheduled elections in both legislative districts for June 12; primaries, if needed, have been scheduled for May 15. His office announced the order in a news release with no additional comments.
State law requires Walker to call special elections to fill legislative vacancies that occur before May in regular election years such as this one. The court orders prompted Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to introduce a bill that would prohibit special elections after the spring election in a regular election year. If adopted, the proposal would ensure that the two vacant seats wouldn’t be filled until January.
Fitzgerald told the Senate elections committee during a hearing on Wednesday that forcing Walker to schedule special elections now would have candidates campaigning in both the special elections and the regular elections in November at essentially the same time, confusing voters and wasting tax dollars.
“It couldn’t be more transparent what’s happening here,” Kathleen Finnerty, chairwoman of the Door County Democratic Party, told the committee. “The governor is afraid of having a Democrat elected into this position. … Do you know how surreal it is to sit in front of you without representation? It’s demoralizing and unethical on your part.”
Fitzgerald told WTMJ-AM minutes after Walker scheduled the elections that he had decided, because of the judge’s order, to drop his attempt to pass the bill banning special elections in the spring of years with normal fall elections.
“The governor was boxed in. He couldn’t go beyond noon today or the threat of contempt was hanging out there. We don’t know what it would look like, but it’s certainly not a good place to be.”
Passing a bill to effectively cancel the elections would throw a “monkey wrench” into the process, Fitzgerald said, and would raise the prospect of having “another judge slapping us down.”
Republicans have lost more than 30 legislative seats nationwide since President Donald Trump took office. One of them was in Wisconsin, where Democrat Patty Schachtner won an open state Senate seat in January in a usually Republican district. Walker branded her win a wake-up call for the GOP. And earlier this month, Democrat Conor Lamb, captured what had been a reliably Republican congressional seat in Pennsylvania.
If Ripp and Lasee’s open seats were filled in November, the winners wouldn’t have been sworn in until January, leaving Ripp and Lasee’s constituents unrepresented for more than a year.
