Gov. Scott Walker calls special elections; Senate chief drops bill to sidestep court order

MADISON - After a three-month delay, a lightning-quick lawsuit and three orders from as many judges, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called two special elections Thursday and GOP senators dropped legislation to block the contests.

Republican efforts collapsed following a Wednesday ruling by an appellate judge ordering the governor to call the May primary and June general elections. In less than a day, Walker abandoned a state Supreme Court appeal to overturn the ruling and lawmakers in both the Senate and Assembly canceled plans to vote to leave the seats vacant.

"This is a victory for the citizens of Wisconsin who are without representation because of Governor Walker's refusal to do his job," said former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, whose national Democratic group brought the lawsuit against Walker on behalf of local voters. "Republicans in the Legislature should stop trying to find new ways to keep the people they're supposed to represent from voting."

Less than an hour after Walker called the special election, Door County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Caleb Frostman announced he would run as a Democrat in one of the open seats. The 1st Senate District includes Door and Kewaunee counties and parts of Brown, Manitowoc and Calumet counties.

Later in the day, two De Pere Republicans also announced runs for the seat — state Rep. Andre Jacque and Alex Renard, who helps manage a family factory, Renco Machine Co.

In the 42nd Assembly District in mainly Columbia and Dodge counties, three Democrats — Lodi city council member Ann Groves Lloyd, Tyler Raley of Rio and Air Force veteran George Ferriter of Doylestown — are running against small business owner and Town of Lodi board member Jon Plumer. So far, only Groves Lloyd has officially filed in the special election though the others still could.

Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke said his house was canceling an April 4 vote on the special elections bill and had "no further plans" to meet this year. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) also dropped the legislation Thursday.

"We could not move that bill forward at this point," Fitzgerald said on WTMJ-AM.

Republicans like Walker and U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir said Thursday that the courts had gotten it wrong.

"The court’s demand for an election now when both seats will also be on the November ballot is unnecessary and duplicative. Once again, all logical thought processes fail to exist, and the taxpayers are on the hook," Vukmir campaign spokesman Mattias Gugel said in a statement.

The Journal Sentinel has reported that among Senate GOP colleagues Vukmir privately criticized the bill to halt the special elections. Vukmir, who later voted in a committee to bring the legislation forward, has not responded to questions about her private comments.

Democrats point out that Walker could have called the special elections in December when Sen. Frank Lasee (R-De Pere) and Rep. Keith Ripp (R-Lodi) stepped down to take jobs in his administration. That would have avoided such a tight timeline and potentially saved money by allowing the general election to be held alongside Tuesday's spring election.

It cost $403,000 to hold a spring election in the two seats in 2017 and more than that to hold the 2016 presidential election, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Walker didn't call for special elections to fill those seats despite a law that requires them to be held promptly. Holder's group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, then filed a lawsuit and won last week in Dane County Circuit Court, prompting Walker's appeal.

A spokesman for the redistricting committee had no immediate comment on whether the group would seek to win payment of its undisclosed attorney's fees and other costs from the state.

Separately, GOP lawmakers sought to pass their legislation that would invalidate any court order or special election call from Walker and render the issue moot.

On Wednesday, District 2 Court of Appeals Judge Paul Reilly in Waukesha left in place the lower court order that the governor call the elections, rejecting Walker's arguments that he needed an extra eight days to let the Legislature change the law and eliminate the need for the elections.

Walker and attorneys in GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel's office told the state Supreme Court Wednesday that they were likely to file their second emergency appeal to the state's highest judicial panel. But hours later, they backed off and told the court they would not appeal, after all.

For his part, Fitzgerald said that holding the elections could make it difficult for roughly 100 soldiers and other overseas voters to cast ballots. But Fitzgerald said that canceling the election after Walker called it would be too much.

"We’re boxed in because you have a circuit court judge ordering the governor to call that election," he said.

Fitzgerald said that the Senate might still return to pass legislation to save two paper plants from closure if state officials reach a deal with Kimberly-Clark Corp., the owner of the factories.

For their part, Democrats have pointed out that Senate Republicans didn't push legislation to protect military voters until after the first judge's order on the special election. Fitzgerald has said he didn't do so before because the issue wasn't "on his radar screen."

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Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said that in a democracy "nothing is more fundamental" than the right to vote.

"Despite Governor Walker’s best attempts to block elections and deny 200,000 voters their constitutional right to representation, justice prevailed and the courts correctly ruled that Republicans can’t ignore the law,” she said in a statement.

Walker ordered the special elections for the First Senate District and 42nd Assembly District to be held June 12. Any primaries needed will be held May 15.

Circulation of nomination papers for candidates can begin immediately. Nomination papers must be filed no later than 5 p.m. April 17.