Kloppenburg Concedes, GAB Okays 3 Recall Elections

    In news today, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg has officially conceded the Wisconsin Supreme Court election to Incumbent David Prosser at a Madison news conference.  A statewide recount showed her losing the election by 7,006 votes.  She also stated that she would not challenge the election in court, noting: "It would serve no purpose to bring a suit with insufficient legal basis. That is not the kind of lawyer that I am."
     In another part of Madison, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board was approved recall elections against three senators, while delaying a decision on three others.  Sens, Rob Cowles (R-Allouez), Alberta Darling (R- River Hills), and Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls) will face recall elections on July 12, 2011.  If there are multiple entrants, then the July 12th date will become the primary with the general election on August 9.  Working over the Memorial Day weekend, the GAB was able to dismiss concerns and complaints against the three petitions in time for their meeting today.
     The same was not true in the case of the petitions agains Sens. Bob Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie), Jim Holperin (D-Conover), and Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay).  The GAB stated that their recall petitions were challenged under different grounds and that they just didn't have the manpower to adequately dismiss all the claims against the petitions.  The GAB is working under a court-ordered extension to set the dates for all recall elections by this coming Friday, June 3, 2011.  They plan to return to the court to ask for more time.  Their proposed timetable for elections for any of the three whose dates haven't been set would be a July 19th primary and August 16th general election.  Once the recall election dates are certified, the offical who is being recalled has seven days to appeal to the courts.  It is unclear at this time if any of the senators facing recalls will do so.

Judge Strikes Down Collective Bargaining Law

   In a decision rendered earlier today, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi declared that there was "clear and convincing evidence" that the meeting at which Wisconsin Act 10 was passed did not meet with open meeting law requirement, and as such the law is void.  She then went on to issue a permanent injunction against it.  There are several more legal battles being fought regarding the law, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing arguments as to whether it should take up the case on June 6, 2011.  This development dows not change any of the contract agreements that were ratified by the union membership on Monday May 23, as once a tentative agreement is ratified it is binding, and Wisconsin Act 10 does not mandate an employee contribution to the retirement fund.  Please stay tuned for more information as we have it.

Tentative Agreement Ratified

At a meeting earlier today, Vilas County Local 474 ratified the tentative agreement on an employment contract that was struck last week.  It was ratified by a unanimous vote of those members present.  The term of the contract is six months beginning July 1, 2011, and all aspects of the existing contract remain the same except the following changes:

- 2% pay raise effective July 1, 2011

- Employees will contribute 5.8% to their retirement fund

- Yearly prescription drug co-pays maximums are removed

-  Doctor's Office Visit and Critical Care Visit co-pays increase to $15

-  Emergency Room Visits co-pay increases to $100.

-  If multiple members of one family are employed by Vilas County, only one Family Plan may be utilized.

This contract will be presented to the Vilas County Board of Supervisors on June 10, 2011 for their ratification.  If ratified by the full County Board the contract will take effect on July 1, 2011.  All vacation, sick time, and other benefits remain the same.

Politifact Wisconsin Rates Simac's Statement "True"

Politifact Wisconsin, an unbiased group that rates statements and promises made by political figures, has looked into a statement made by Kim Simac that Sen. Jim Holperin hired an outside telemarketing firm to make harassing phone calls to people who signed his recall petition and has rated it true.  You can get all the details here.

Recount Completed

The recount in the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice has wrapped up, with the final, officially certified totals showing incumbent David Prosser winning by 7,006 votes out of nearly 1.5 million cast. He is the winner right now, although many believe that there will still be more legal challenges of the results in the court system.  Stay tuned for more updates as we have them.

Tentative Agreement and Ratification Meeting

   At a mediation session today, Vilas County Local 474 reached a tentative agreement with Vilas County on an employment contract to begin July 1, 2011 and end December 31, 2011.  Detailed terms of the agreement will be presented to the membership for review and ratification at a special meeting to be held on Monday, May 23, 2010 at 4:05 pm in the Courthouse Conference Rooms.  This is your opportunity to give your opinion and allow your vote to be heard.

Jim Holpering Campaign Website

Senator Jim Holperin has a campaign website that is located at http://www.holperinforsenate.com/.  Please make sure to make your vote heard in this summer's upcoming recall election!

Mediation Upcoming

     Way back, in the days before Scott Walker, the Union and Vilas County actually began negotiating the next contract for Union workers.  Since no compromise was made between the two sides it was decided to go to mediation, and since the long-standing bargaining laws have yet to be swept away, the County still must bargain with the Union in "good faith."  All that being said, a mediation session is scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, 2011.  It is not open to the public or Union membership at large, but the Executive Council will be meeting with Personnel in the closed session with the mediator.  We will give you more updates as they are available.

State Budget Defecit Eases

    The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau announced yesterday that it has revised its tax revenue estimates for the upcoming budget period and expects the state to take in $636 million more than it had originally expected.  The governor's office gave no detailed plans for the extra income but said that it should be used to pay off debt.  The Governor, at a news conference, also noted that some of it may be used to lessen cuts.  However, he was quick to note that it would not affect his plans to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers.

Transition Committee Meeting

Just a reminder to everyone, there is a Transition Committee meeting tonight, May 10, 2011 at 4:30 pm in the Courthouse Conference Rooms.  You can view the agenda here.

Recount Changes Little

With 71 of 72 counties finished with their recounts in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg has only picked up 355 extra votes against incumbent Justice David Prosser.  This means that she would have to gain 6,962 votes in heavily Republican Waukesha County - the only county left to finish their recounting.  Of the approximately 30% of Waukesha County votes recounted so far, Prosser has actually picked up 18 votes, so it appears exceedingly unlikely that the recount will change any election results.

Challenges to Recall Petitions



Recall petitions are checked by the GAB.

     The Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) has filed a challenge to the recall petitions against Sens. Dave Hansen, Jim Holperin, and Robert Wirch.  The DPW has approximately 200 sworn statements from voters who report irregularities with the recall petitions.  These include people who claim they never signed the petitions, people who were told they were signing petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker, support local education, support local parks, or recall Republican Senators.  "Thousands of Wisconsin citizens fell victim to lies and misinfomation spread by the circulators, and the papers submitted [by the signature collectors] contain a river of omissions and wrong informations," said Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona).  Attorney for the DPW, Jeremy Levinson, went on to say that it appeared that many names on the petitions appeared to have been copied from the phone book, including the deceases father of Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison).     Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Mark Jefferson responded by calling the challenge "an expensive waste of time, couched in hyperbole and hot air" and predicted that even if the challenges of the signatures were upheld they would fall far short of the numbers needed to invalidate the petition.  All three petitions contained thousands of signatures more than required for force a recall election.
     Kennedy Enterprises of Colorado Springs, CO was paid $92,000 to circulate petitions against Democratic senators, and Democrats have also claimes that circulators from Florida, Colorado, and New York claimed to live at invalid addresses.  No one was available at Kennedy Enterprises when the Wisconsin State Journal attempted to contact them for comment.  It is not clear at this time how these challenges will effect the recall election scheduled for July 12, 2011.

Kim Simac to Run in Recall Election

According to the Lakeland Times, Northwoods Patriots President Kim Simac will be challenging Senator Jim Holperin in the upcoming recall election.  She plans to kick off her campaign today at 10:00 am at her campaign headquarters in Rhinelander.  In response to her announcement, Senator Holperin said "It's clear that Kim Simac, beacause she ran the recall operation, is mad at me, and it's pretty clear that she's angry at government, yet now she wants to be a part of it."  The election has been set for July 12, 2011 but could be delayed by legal challenges of the signatures on the petitions.  We will bring you more information when we have it.

State Employee Day

Governor Walker has proclaimed Wednesday, May 4, 2011 as "State Employee Recognition Day," praising state workers for cutting costs in tough economic times and noting their "outstanding conduct in serving the people of Wisconsin." This comes months after he pushed a bill to strip most of those workers of their collective bargaining rights and cause them to pay more towards their retirement and insurance costs.

Recall Petition Information

It is Monday morning information time, everyone.  We hope you had a wonderful weekend are the ready to get back to work.  If you would like a little light reading, you can see a list of the 16 Wisconsin senators who are targets of recall petitions if you click here.  If you want to see specific information about the recall efforts by a particular committee to recall someone, click on their name.  You can access the information regarding Senator Holperin, including the petitions themselves, if you click here.  And the best part is that the information comes directly from the Government Accountability Board, so it is at least unbiased.  Have a great week everyone!