GOP Senate leader looks at elections changes
MADISON—Incoming Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says the nonpartisan board that oversees elections in Wisconsin favors Democrats and ought to be reconstituted to include more appointees from the Legislature.
Fitzgerald said Monday that the Legislature may look at reconstituting the makeup of the Government Accountability Board, which consists of six retired judges. He says that would create a more balanced board.
Currently, all seven judges on the board are appointed by the governor.
Fitzgerald says he believes the board has become a “rubber stamp” for staff recommendations that he says favor Democrats. He says that was particularly evident during last year’s recall elections.
The board was created in 2008 under a bipartisan proposal. Republicans currently control the Legislature.
Dec 6, 2012 at 7:15 p.m.
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More proof the GOP is WAY OUT OF TOUCH. These quotes are way funny.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EI5logZ8...
Dec 6, 2012 at 7:07 p.m.
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mooshoo...you mean like this?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuzTEV0El...
Dec 4, 2012 at 11 a.m.
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OH NOES PEOPLES ARE VOTING WHAT SHALL WE DO
Dec 4, 2012 at 10:33 a.m.
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Wislady - Better stop by headquarters for a couple more bottles of whine. The repubs already fixed the assembly elections, what kind of fraud do the want to perpetrate on us next?
Dec 4, 2012 at 8:33 a.m.
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Wisconsin Deserves Better Election Watchdogs
"Senator Scott Fitzgerald is onto something with his desire to reform the pathetically biased and secretive Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.
Need proof that the GAB needs reform? Look no further than the reaction from Democrats who fear their sure thing panel of holier than thou retired judges may be on the chopping block.
Former Democratic Senate Leader Mark Miller, who led the fleebag 14 to Illinois last year in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart the Act 10 public employee labor reforms, invoked none other than Josef Stalin.
Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca proclaimed that an effort to bring more certainty, transparency and accountability to the GAB was ‘anti democracy.’
In the coming days look for the blowhard spokesclown of the state Democratic party and the self righteous lefties at One Wisconsin Now to offer similar breathless indignation.
The Wisconsin GAB, whose symbol bears and uncanny resemblance to that of the anarchists, has a brief and soiled history.
Why would Republicans say that the GAB has turned out to not be the impartial arbiter they hoped it would be when they teamed with the Democrats in 2007 to create the panel?
Consider the following:
The GAB originally had no intention of scrutinizing and flagging and omitting obviously fake names from the recall petitions last year. Signatures from Adolph Hitler and Mickey mouse would be deemed valid and only stricken if challenged.
Similarly, they had no intention, originally, of creating an online database of those who foisted upon taxpayers the most expensive temper tantrum in state’s history. Had two Tea Party organizations not produced iverifytherecall.com, no one in the state would have had confidence that the recallers brought forward enough valid signatures.
Staff which oversaw the recall had obvious partisan leanings. When one was caught mocking the GOP on twitter, he quickly moved to erase the evidence. But the Internet is forever.
This year, when presented with evidence of gross incompetence during the administration of the election in Racine, the GAB moved to crack down on…election observers."
More....
http://www.redstate.com/brianfraley/2012...
Dec 4, 2012 at 7:04 a.m.
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Typing error, 200,000 less votes.
Dec 4, 2012 at 5:54 a.m.
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Any time I need a good whine, I stop by repub headquarters and pick up a couple bottles. They did do a good job of Gerrymandering the state, so the assembly repubs got about 200,00 less votes than the Democrats but still retained control. RAF - Still seeing voter fraud with no convictions,everywhere? I hear they have some really good evidence of an alien spaceship crashing in New Mexico, that you might want to look into.
Dec 4, 2012 at 4:14 a.m.
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"A recall should be used for removing politicians who listen to their corporate donor instead of their constituents not just for misconduct of office."
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Obviously walker was listening to his constituents, considering the fact that they voted him in at a higher margin the second time when compared to the first!
Dec 4, 2012 at 1:40 a.m.
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What about their union donor, actblue, or other PAC's?
Dec 3, 2012 at 10:59 p.m.
Dec 3, 2012 at 10:56 p.m.
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No baegucb, the GAB also didn't have anything to say about the Kenosha County union leader, also a govt employee, using govt e-mail for political purposes. Sadly the county DA wanted nothing to do with it either.
Dec 3, 2012 at 10:10 p.m.
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RetiredAirFarce: Kenosha shenanigans forgotten?
Dec 3, 2012 at 8:28 p.m.
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A recall should be used for misconduct of office, not just for a "do over".
Dec 3, 2012 at 8:14 p.m.
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The refusal of the GAB to do anything about the problems discovered in Racine county during the recall election shows the last thing the current board wants is open and honest elections.
Dec 3, 2012 at 7:43 p.m.
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Just what we need, more political appointees! More of the laser-like focus on jobs, I see.
Dec 3, 2012 at 7:31 p.m.
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mouse
what are you talking about....people were still voting in Florida at 1AM in several areas.
Yes, voting is hard. Knowing who you are and what your address is, is hard. Why do democrats assume voters are stupid?
Dec 3, 2012 at 5:44 p.m.
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When you can't win by playing by the rules, you try stacking the deck.
Dec 3, 2012 at 5:32 p.m.
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Bloggers, is it really fair to insinuate that Mr. Fitzgerald is a cancer on the rump of Wisconsin's political life? Does he really come even close to resembling Joe McCarthy?
Dec 3, 2012 at 4:12 p.m.
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and Wisconsin continues to destroy itself
Dec 3, 2012 at 3:56 p.m.
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Badgerboy,
oh yeah!
Dec 3, 2012 at 3:56 p.m.
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Funny fact: all those politicians voted for the GAB, except two Democrats no longer in office. I think even the Fitz brothers voted for it.
Dec 3, 2012 at 3:27 p.m.
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So he wants to create a board favoring Republicans.
Dec 3, 2012 at 3:26 p.m.
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And I don't care if I am mixing metaphors. It was peaceful on the boards for a while and apparently that's all over.
Dec 3, 2012 at 3:25 p.m.
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Fitzgerald is 100% correct. the board is biased toward the libs/dems/socialists/uaw puppets.
Dec 3, 2012 at 3:25 p.m.
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Mouse, she answered MY question...which was the first comment posted. Apparently you don't read the entire string to see how the comments got to where they were. I see you've taken a deep breath and finally plunged back in to shoot from the hip as usual.
Wislady, thanks for the information; I'll take a look.
Dec 3, 2012 at 2:51 p.m.
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Good......A little off topic, but I'm sure you feel the same way regarding Obama......no? I couldn't believe it myself when he requested sole power to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling at any time. A move like that would put him right at home in Cuba or Iran!
Dec 3, 2012 at 2:07 p.m.
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Mouse
I was responding to a question.
Dec 3, 2012 at 2:04 p.m.
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marge123, I think you're on to something. Maybe Walker plans on appointing 250,000 of his supporters to the GAB, paying them $1 per year and calling them jobs. Two missions accomplished -- fulfills his jobs promise and loads the dice.
Dec 3, 2012 at 1:59 p.m.
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Cynical eye: Is that the same thing you would say if the Democrats were in charge. Just Curious.
Dec 3, 2012 at 1:50 p.m.
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JoyM
"The Government Accountability Board is comprised of six former judges who serve staggered, six-year terms. Board members are appointed by the Governor, and serve part time, receiving per diems of $445.15 per meeting."
http://gab.wi.gov/about/members
From the chart on this page, you can see the date the term of each judge expires. This year, Judge Thomas Cane will be finishing his term. A new judge will be nominated by Governor Walker, and confirmed by the state Senate.
Dec 3, 2012 at 12:43 p.m.
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All those promised jobs must have magically appeared since we have time for all this stuff--yeah for the great state of fitzwalkerstan!
Dec 3, 2012 at 12:28 p.m.
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I think Fitzgerald is confused. They're not rubberstamping things, they're just not going for the stupid Republican crap anymore.
People are fed up, and the republican party is in shambles.
Dec 3, 2012 at 11:57 a.m.
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Here we go. Republicans trying to subvert the process of free and open elections.
Dec 3, 2012 at 11:56 a.m.
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Here we go. Republicans trying to subvert the process of free and open elections.
Dec 3, 2012 at 11:47 a.m.
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Are they appointed for life like the Supreme Court? Can our current governor remove them and replace them? Need to understand this better.
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