Wrestlin' in Wisconsin

The U.S. Congress is not subject to the civil service, equal opportunity or other labor laws it has passed.

The state Division of Motor Vehicles unveiled details of a major expansion of services Thursday, tweaking a preliminary proposal that had created a controversy among some lawmakers.
Department of Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb said the expansion leaves all current offices open, increases the total number of offices across the state from 88 to 92 and drastically expands the hours of operation for some 40 counties.

The change, expected to cost about $6 million the first year and $4 million every year going forward, was called for by Gov. Scott Walker's 2011-13 budget and was meant to address an increase in demand for photo IDs in the wake of the state's new law requiring voters to show ID at the polls.
"This is going to make it much easier for people," Gottlieb said. "It is a massive expansion of services to the public."

The plan announced Thursday differed markedly from the one first unveiled last month, which called for closing as many as 16 offices while expanding office hours elsewhere. That proposal was immediately panned by some as unfairly targeting Democratic areas.
State Rep. Andy Jorgensen, D-Fort Atki

he chart below shows the 2008 and 2010 results for all six districts being contested Tuesday. The columns under the heading “GOP advantage” show the difference between Republican performance at the district level and Republican performance statewide. For example, the GOP vote for governor last year was 5.9 points higher in Sheila Harsdorf's district than it was statewide; the GOP vote for president in '08 was 5.6 points higher in her district than it was statewide:


See chart at link


The numbers show that one of the six districts (the 32nd, represented by Dan Kapanke) voted less Republican than the state as a whole in 2008 and 2010. Kapanke is widely seen as the GOP incumbent most likely to be knocked off Tuesday.

The other five voted more Republican than the state as a whole. (Of the five, all but Harsdorf's district were also carried by conservative Justice David Prosser in the ultra-close April 5 Supreme Court race).

In short, five of the six districts in play Tuesday are clearly GOP-leaning in their makeup. That’s no surprise. These are all Senate seats held by Republicans in a terrible GOP year (2008). The GOP advantage isn’t huge. It’s not big enough to make these districts “safe” for Republicans. But it’s real.

It’s also one reason why these hugely anticipated recall races have been so hard to handicap. Democrats have certain things going for them in the recall fight: they’ve been intensely mobilized in opposition to Gov. Walker; they benefit from the organizational strength of labor; and Walker’s polling numbers have been weak. But Democrats are running “uphill” in five of the six elections Tuesday, trying to capture districts that are more Republican than the state as a whole in their partisan makeup. In order to overcome that disadvantage, they have to win the turnout battle, carry independents or both.

So not only are the recall elections ugly and unnecessary, they're expensive - and offer even more reason for campaign finance reform that requires transparency from all groups. In fact, these recalls may offer the best argument for holding such elections only in the cases of exceptionally egregious behavior by a politician.

To reiterate a point we made earlier: The Journal Sentinel is not making any recommendations in the recalls that will be held the next two Tuesdays.

Recalls over policy arguments are unwarranted. Such arguments are best resolved on the floors of legislative bodies or at the ballot box during regular elections. Recalls should be used to punish gross malfeasance or corruption - something that cannot wait for the normal election cycle - not to overturn the results of an election or to dispute policy differences.

To reiterate another: These campaigns have been particularly ugly, with ads on each side making over-the-top claims and portraying the opposition candidate as the enemy of virtually all that is good. Intelligent debate on the issues has been sadly lacking. Here's hoping - and we admit that it's a feeble hope - that the next time around the almost apocalyptic tone of elections will be toned down.

And it turns out these ads have been financed by an extraordinary amount of money from third-party groups, a fact that should surprise no one. A Journal Sentinel article last week noted that a coalition of unions has collected $9.7 million to help Democrats in the recalls, nearly $4.8 million of it in July alone.

That's more than the total collected by all 12 candidates in the Aug. 9 election, who have collected a little more than $5 million. The four candidates in two Aug. 16 elections haven't reported their most recent spending.

Conservative groups also have been spending a ton of money - but no one knows exactly how much. Which shows what's wrong with the system. State law doesn't require such reporting if the ads are "issue ads" that don't directly urge a vote for or against a particular candidate, even if the ad criticizes the candidate.

The union groups such as We Are Wisconsin are registered with the state and thus report their spending and sources of income. Other groups that have been active such as Club for Growth Wisconsin and Americans for Prosperity are not registered and have not reported such information.

We Are Wisconsin called on those groups to do so. We agree. Citizens deserve to know where the money comes and how much is being spent. They deserve to know which interests are aligned with each candidate and why.

A survey of television spending at four Milwaukee network affiliates last week found conservative groups with more spending than liberal groups, though in the same ballpark. Both types of groups far exceeded the spending by the campaigns of Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and her Democratic opponent, Rep. Sandy Pasch of Whitefish Bay.

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks campaign spending and other election issues, told the Journal Sentinel that his group estimated expenditures of $12 million to $13 million statewide by outside groups, registered and unregistered.

Spending in the Darling-Pasch race already exceeds the state record of $3 million for a single state Senate race set in 2000. That's extraordinary, especially when one considers that the recall is over Darling's support for Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill and budget. Certainly, some of the criticism over Walker's measures is warranted. It may well have gone too far, too fast.

But it didn't warrant a recall election or the expenditure of this much money to distort the records of two good legislators.

At the very least, give voters the transparency to know who is spending all that money and how much is being spent.

Conservative groups should disclose the information voluntarily. But legislators need to rethink the current system and require the transparency that voters deserve.

Wisconsins head to the polls today in six recall votes that both political parties stress have implications not just for the Badger state but the entire country.

Outside groups on both sides have poured in millions of dollars for television advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. Democrats hope to take three of the seats to flip the state Senate from Republican to Democratic control, and also set the stage for similar collective bargaining and budget fights in other states.

Six Republican state senators are facing recall votes today in mostly tight races that will depend on voter turnout in an unusual summer election, when much of the electorate are thinking more about vacations than going to the polls.

Joe Heim, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, said Democrats appear to have more enthusiasm but it's a tossup at this point.

"It looks right now like two seats are leaning Democratic and two are in the tossup category," he said. "Two of the races were leaning Republican up until this week, which seems to be picking up a trend that the Democrats may do better than expected."

In total, GOP leads 52-48 among all votes counted so far tonight in Wisconsin. Walker won those districts 56-43, Obama won them 53-46.

If the Republicans hold the Senate, I think they can see that as a ratification of the policies they adopted,” said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor