Wis. Republicans rushing bills affecting recalls
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Republicans don't have the 17 votes necessary to pass a bill being rushed through the process to make it more difficult to recall incumbent GOP lawmakers from office.
Republican Sen. Dale Schultz told The Associated Press on Monday that he does not support the measure and will not vote for it. Republicans have 17 seats in the Senate and need all 17 of those votes to pass the bill, assuming all 16 Democrats vote against it.
The bill was hastily introduced by Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, on Friday and scheduled for a hearing Monday afternoon before the Senate elections committee, which Lazich chairs. The bill would bring the new Republican-friendly legislative boundaries into effect immediately and for any recall elections that would take place next year.
Under current law, the new boundaries wouldn't take effect for the purpose of elections until the fall of 2012. However, state election officials say lawmakers are already representing people in the districts according to the new boundaries.
Republican backers of Lazich's bill say that creates confusion. To eliminate that, they argue the new boundaries should take effect now for purposes of elections. Republicans redrew district boundaries this summer, as is required following the release of new census data every decade.
The new boundaries generally favor Republican incumbents. Democrats say they intend to launch multiple recall efforts against Republicans, and those efforts would be much more difficult if the new boundaries are in effect.
This summer two Republican incumbents were ousted in recalls, which narrowed the GOP's control of the Senate to 17-16. That put more moderate Republicans like Schultz in a powerful position, since all it takes is one person disagreeing with a bill to doom its passage.
Schultz said he disliked Lazich's bill for numerous reasons.
"I'm not going to vote for it because the people who sent me to Madison are the ones who should decide whether I ought to be recalled or not," said Schultz, a 20-year veteran of the Senate from Richland Center.
Schultz said if the bill were to pass and the Republican friendly district boundaries were put in effect for any recalls, he could foresee negative campaign ads saying that Republican incumbents were more worried about protecting their own jobs than those of Wisconsin residents.
Democrats have been livid ever since news of the bill's introduced broke on Friday. They are also upset with another proposal introduced Friday and up for a hearing Monday that would require people who circulate petitions to submit notarized affidavits as a way to confirm their identity.
State party chairman Mike Tate sent a fundraising plea on Friday, saying Republicans were trying to steal the elections.