Wisconsin's unprecedented recall elections could soon get even more complicated.

A coalition of union groups active in state Senate recalls now advocates that Democrats field fake Republican candidates to run in primary elections against GOP state senators - just as Republicans are fielding fake Democrats to run against those who challenging GOP incumbents.

Friday evening, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin issued a statement that neither endorsed nor ruled out the idea, saying the party will "review the options available."

The proposal from We Are Wisconsin, described in an email from Kelly Steele, communications director, was sent earlier Friday. The email argued that it was necessary to keep Republicans from hijacking the election process, and called on interested Democrats to contact the state Democratic Party and volunteer to run as Republicans in the districts of six GOP senators subject to recall elections.

Steele says he hadn't coordinated the We Are Wisconsin statement with the Democratic Party.

The push for fake GOP candidates comes after Republicans began fielding fake Democratic candidates in those same districts.

Democrats would have to work fast to collect signatures for their fake Republican candidates, if they decide to do that. Tuesday is the filing deadline for those recall elections.

Stephan Thompson, executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, said he wasn't surprised by the We Are Wisconsin proposal.

"You'd love to call this hypocrisy, but they've done this before," Thompson said of the Democrats.

Republicans have said that a fake Republican ran last year against independent candidate Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer of Manitowoc in an attempt to split the vote and help a Democrat win. Democrats have denied recruiting the candidate.

Thompson said: "Our goal is the same, making sure at the end of this process, by election day, voters have a choice, do they want to move the state backward to the policies of Jim Doyle or do they want to continue moving the state forward with a fiscally responsible budget and job creation."

He added the GOP has been up front about its strategy "since the beginning."

For his part, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Mike Tate said: "Our goal remains the same - to hold the elections that have been called for by tens of thousands of Wisconsinites, and to be free of the blatant and unprecedented Republican exploitation of the recall process."

Flip-flop

Adopting the fake-Republican strategy might be difficult for Democrats to explain.

Just Thursday, the party sent a statement from Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) attacking Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) over the fact that a fake Democrat, Gladys Huber, had surfaced to run against Pasch in a Democratic primary July 12, potentially forcing an Aug. 9 general recall election.

"We deserve better than dirty tricks that would make Nixon proud," Pasch was quoted as saying. "Given how much taxpayer money will be wasted on this cynical ploy, Sen. Darling's hypocrisy is stunning."

But the email from We Are Wisconsin describes advantages Republicans would have in the recall elections if Democrats don't adopt the bogus-candidate strategy.

Most significantly, if there's a Democratic primary but no GOP primary in Republican districts, Republicans and their backers could spend millions of dollars beating up on the "legitimate" Democratic challengers in the attempt to keep them out of the general election, and the incumbent targeted for recall could just sit out the primary.

The push to field fake Republicans as well as fake Democrats raises the possibility of extreme confusion in the voting booth.

Voters can choose at the polling place which party primary to vote in, so they might be faced with deciding whether to support the real candidate in their party or the fake candidate in the opposing party.

The We Are Wisconsin statement says in part:

"Given the situation, Republicans have so despicably concocted to manipulate these recall elections, it is the opinion of We Are Wisconsin that it would be in the interest of Democrats to run candidates in the Republican primaries to ensure the dates of the general election are predictably on August 9th, and that Republicans are forced to win a primary election instead of diverting their unlimited resources to back their 'fake' candidates against 'legitimate' Democrats."

Recall elections have been ordered for nine state senators - three Democrats and six Republicans. The recall campaigns were mounted during the fighting in Madison this winter over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget initiatives.

Republicans control the state Senate 19-14. If the Democrats gained three seats through the recall process, they'd take control of that body and serve as a counterbalance to Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled Assembly.

The state Government Accountability Board on Friday certified elections for the three Democrats; it ordered elections for the Republicans last week.

Republicans subject to recall are Robert Cowles of Allouez, Darling, Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls, Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac, Dan Kapanke of La Crosse and Luther Olsen of Ripon.

Democrats facing recall: Dave Hansen of Green Bay, Jim Holperin of Conover and Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie.

Asked about the newest development, state Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney said there's no state election law preventing candidates from entering either party primary, because the state has a history of open primaries, set up in the early 1900s "to take the political nominating process out of the hands of the parties and railroad and lumber barons."

"That means that if someone wishes to run as a Republican or a Democrat or a Libertarian, he or she doesn't have to go get the blessing of the party. And the voters get to decide. Wisconsin was the first state in the nation to do this. As a result of our open system, where the public decides, the system is open to people who want to use the rules for political advantage in one way or another."

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What's next

The nine Senate recalls could change control of that house, where the GOP has a 19-14 advantage.

Tuesday: Filing deadline for recalls against Republicans

June 21: Filing deadline for recalls against Democrats

July 12: Election in the Republican recalls (primaries if necessary)

July 19: Election in the Democratic recalls (primaries if necessary)

Aug. 9: General election if needed in Republican recalls

Aug. 16: General election if needed in Democratic recalls

NOTE: Pending legal challenges could alter this schedule