Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) has not held special elections in two legislative districts for months now, but a judge he appointed just gave him the middle finger. Walker knows the blue wave is about to hit so he declined to call those elections after two Republican lawmakers stepped down to join his administration in December. Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds ruled Thursday that Walker must call special elections to fill two vacant seats in the Legislature.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Walker’s plan would have left the seats vacant for more than a year but voters in those areas took the Governor to court with the help of a group headed by Eric Holder, the first attorney general under former President Barack Obama.
Reynolds determined that Walker had a duty under state law to hold special elections so voters could be represented in the Legislature.
“To state the obvious, if the plaintiffs have a right to vote for their representatives, they must have an election to do so,” Reynolds said.
After Walker claimed he didn’t have to hold the elections, the judge took a shot at the Republican Governor.
“I cannot reconcile the incongruity between Gov. Walker’s administration’s very vocal and consistent policy advocating for strict constructionism and the position taken by the attorney general in this case involving the most basic constitutional guarantee,” Reynolds said.
Before issuing her ruling, Judge Josann Reynolds said @GovWalker had a “plain and positive duty” under the law to call special elections for these seats and that the governor’s interpretation of the law was “absurd in its application.”
— Shawn Johnson (@SJohnsonWPR) March 22, 2018
Judge Reynolds: “I cannot reconcile the incongruity between Gov. Walker’s administration’s very vocal and consistent policy advocating for strict constructionism and the position taken by the attorney general in this case involving the most basic constitutional guarantee.”
— Shawn Johnson (@SJohnsonWPR) March 22, 2018
Speaker Robin Vos apparently doesn’t know that Walker appointed the judge.
.@SpeakerVos reacts: “A Dane County judge decides to inject their own personal opinion into how we conduct elections.”
— Jason Stein (@jasonmdstein) March 22, 2018
Republicans are desperately trying to stop this.
DEMS WIN – the judge rules Walker must call special elections.
Lawyers for AG @BradSchimel immediately raise the possibility of seeking a stay to prevent the elections.
— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) March 22, 2018
State law requires Walker to call for an election to fill a vacancy that occurs before the second Tuesday in May of an election year.
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.
