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On June 1, when it was first revealed that Wisconsin Republicans were plotting to run fake Democratic candidates in an attempt to delay the recall elections, the Republican caught promoting the idea refused to comment:

On the recording obtained by the Tribune, party vice chairman Julian Bradley says he just spoke with Mark Jefferson, executive director of the state GOP, and “we are actively keeping our ears to the ground and if anybody knows anybody for a candidate that would be interested on the Democratic side in running in the primary against Jennifer Shilling…. So if anybody knows any Democrats who would be interested, please let us know.”(...) Bradley, a former candidate for state Assembly and the La Crosse Common Council, did not return multiple voice and email messages Tuesday and Wednesday.

A couple of days later, when local press finally tracked down Bradley, he passed the buck to higher-ups in the Republican Wisconsin Republican Party. Those higher-ups could not be reached for comment:

La Crosse County Republican Party Vice Chairman Julian Bradley responds, "Yes, but this is a wish that comes from the RPW's political director, Mark Jefferson." Jefferson is the former executive director of the state Republican Party who recently left to take a post with the national GOP. He could not be reached for comment.

A couple of days after that, when a different local GOP official was caught distributing letters actively promoting one of the fake Democrats, he also kicked the matter up to officials in the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Once again, those officials could not be reached for comment:

Feyen confirmed that he sent his letter trying to get a "protest candidate" on the ballot in the Hopper race. What's more, he said there's a good explanation for why his letter and the one written by local Republican officials in Olsen's district were virtually the same. "It's something being coordinated by the RPW," he said, referring to the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Officials with the state party could not be reached for comment.

The next day, after avoiding questions for a week, the Republican Party decided to finally start talking:

The head of the state Republican Party today acknowledged that it is encouraging fake Democrats to run in recall elections this summer. Stephan Thompson, executive director of the state party, issued a statement justifying the practice because Republican senators have been too busy in Madison to prepare for the recall elections. "The Republican Party of Wisconsin has advocated that protest candidates run in Democratic primaries to ensure that Republican legislators have ample time to communicate with voters throughout their districts after the state budget is approved," Thompson said in his statement

Yeah, whatever Wisconsin GOP. If you really believed this was above board, then it wouldn't have taken you five days—and being caught red-handed—to be reached for comment.

Republicans are desperate in Wisconsin right now, and they are trying to do anything they can to buy themselves more time. Or, more accurately, they are trying to buy more time so that their corporate, Koch-fueled buddies can buy the recall elections with galactic amounts of negative ads against the Democratic candidates.

We can't let that happen. Please, click here to donate $7 to the real Democratic recall candidates on Orange to Blue