2011 Wisconsin Senate recall elections

Background

Act 10

In the 2010 elections, Republicans won a trifecta for the first time since 1994. Using this newly-gained trifecta, Republicans began enacting a series of highly controversial pieces of legislation, with the chief among them being Wisconsin Act 10. Act 10, also known as the "Budget Repair Bill," sought to eliminate the collective bargaining rights of certain public-sector unions–with exemptions for certain public safety unions such as police, fire fighters, and sheriffs deputies being established. Supporters of the law claimed that the law would help balance the state's budget. The law also made it more difficult to certify and maintain a public employee union and made it more difficult for unions to collect dues from their members.

The law sparked strong backlash from public employees, especially teachers and students, who staged protests of the legislation across the state.

Legislative walkout

To prevent passage of the bill, all 14 Democratic members of the Wisconsin State Senate left the state of Wisconsin and traveled to Illinois in order to delay a vote on the bill.

In addition, 14 Democratic members of the Wisconsin Senate staged a walkout to Illinois to deprive the chamber of a quorum to prevent the passage of the bill. Republicans managed to pass the bill anyway the next month, but the fallout from the bill's passage led to the attempted recall of governor Scott Walker and the successful recall of multiple members of the Senate in 2011 and 2012.

Due to concerns that Republicans had been attempting to pass the Budget Repair bill without scheduling enough time for public review and debate, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in fleeing the state to prevent the quorum necessary for a vote on the bill.

Voters attempted to put 16 state senators up for recall, eight Democrats and eight Republicans, because of the budget bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker and circumstances surrounding it. Republicans targeted Democrats for leaving the state for three weeks to prevent the bill from receiving a vote, while Democrats targeted Republicans for voting to significantly limit public employee collective bargaining. Scholars could cite only three times in American history when more than one state legislator has been recalled at roughly the same time over the same issue.

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) certified six recall petitions filed against Republican senators and three recall petitions filed against Democratic senators. Democrats needed a net gain of three seats to take control of the Senate. Republicans needed a net gain of one seat to gain a quorum-proof supermajority on fiscal spending. Of the nine recall elections, Democrats retained all three of their challenged seats; Republicans saw two of their six challenged seats recalled thus they retained their majority in and control of the State Senate, albeit by a slightly narrower margin.

More than $35 million was spent on the recall races. The spending on the nine races compares to $19.3 million spent in 2010's 115 legislative races, and approached the $37.4 million spent in the race for governor.

Campaign

Recall petitions

'Placeholder' candidates

In all six Democratic-led recall attempts against Republican Senators, the Republican Party organized and supported the nominations of 'placeholder' candidates in the Democratic primaries (called "Fake Democrats" by some). According to the Republican Party of Wisconsin, the purpose of the placeholder candidates was to force Democratic primaries and delay the general election, allowing their incumbent Senators to have additional time to campaign. Robocalls were sent out to 20,000 conservative voters for candidate Isaac Weix in an effort to get Republicans to cross over and vote in the primary. All the placeholder candidates were defeated.

The cost to the state was estimated to be more than $475,000.

Recall controversies

Later that month, Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group, began sending absentee ballots to Democratic voters in all districts undergoing recall elections, with instructions to return the ballots to the city clerk before August 11 even though the recall election itself is being held August 9 in those districts. In addition, the voters were instructed to return the ballots to what was claimed to be "the absentee ballot processing center", but was actually a mailing address for conservative group Wisconsin Family Action.

On July 29, the Government Accountability Board criticized a Republican-allied voter ID advocacy group We're Watching Wisconsin Elections, for publishing reference guides for election observers that featured "numerous significant and factual errors." For example, the reference guides stated that student voters using their college ID must present "a tuition receipt with their name and address on it dated within the last 9 months". Wisconsin voter ID law does not actually require such a receipt.

Aftermath

The first general recall election also took place in that month, with Democratic Senator Dave Hansen retaining his seat. Six general elections took place on August 9 resulting in four Republican senators retaining their seats and two being defeated with Republicans keeping a majority in the Wisconsin Senate. Two Democratic incumbents (Wirch, Holperin) prevailed in their own recall races on August 16, which left Republicans with a net one-vote majority in the Wisconsin Senate.

Race summary

Detailed results

District 2

District 8

On July 12, exit poll workers outside voting locations in Menomonee Falls and Butler were handing out what appeared to look like voting ballots to those who had voted. Handing out such pieces of paper is illegal within 100 feet of a polling location. Others were accused of blocking polling locations. Menomonee Falls and Butler are within Alberta Darling's 8th Senate district.

On August 1, the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Board accusing Sandy Pasch's campaign of possible collusion with the group Citizen Action of Wisconsin, of which Pasch is a member of the board of directors. Pasch claimed she had had no contact with anyone at Citizen Action regarding any political activities. Gillian Morris, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action both stated that there was no coordination whatsoever between Pasch in the recall election, and Citizen Action. An open records request revealed a receipt of a talking points memo from Citizen Action during the Budget Repair battle to Rep. Pasch’s office. That same day, the liberal group Wisconsin Jobs Now offered free food and offered rides to vote. State election authorities questioned whether it was a violation of election law. Offering rewards in exchange for voting is illegal. The Milwaukee District Attorney later dismissed the complaint, after a staff member of the self-described conservative organization Media Trackers who made the charge recanted. On August 3, the anti-abortion groups Wisconsin Right to Life and Family Action allegedly offered gift cards and other rewards to volunteers, according to messages obtained by local press. A Milwaukee County prosecutor is reviewing the issue.

District 10

During the course of signature collection, it was alleged that pro-union protesters in River Falls, Wisconsin, attempting to recall Senator Harsdorf (R-10th District) had their petitions snatched by a local man who drove away in a car before dropping them into a puddle.

District 12

Pro-Walker protesters in Merrill, Wisconsin, attempting to recall Senator Holperin (D-12th District) claimed to be intimidated by a crowd of Holperin supporters, one of whom reportedly ripped up some of their recall petitions.

District 14

District 18

On May 3, Professor Stephen Richards of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh was reprimanded for encouraging students to sign a recall petition against Republican State Senator Randy Hopper.

District 22

District 30

On March 17, one Republican petitioner collecting signatures to recall Senator Hansen allegedly stole several personal belongings from a couple. The man in question was found to be from Colorado and had a felony record; he had come to Wisconsin with other out-of-state petitioners. On the evening of April 14, an apparent break-in occurred at an office building owned by supporters of the recall of Senator Hansen. The burglar allegedly made off with petitions, a computer, and T-shirts, worth $1,000 in total.

Republican candidate John Nygren, a State Representative from House District 89 in Marinette, was removed from the ballot in the July 19 recall election for Democratic Senator Dave Hansen of Green Bay. The state Government Accountability Board voted unanimously on June 27 that Nygren had received only 398 of the required 400 valid signatures on his nominating papers. This only left Recall Organizer David VanderLeest as the only certified candidate against Senator Hansen. The board had initially found that Nygren had submitted 424 qualifying voter signatures, but 39 signatures were challenged by Democrats as not being from Hansen's district, and 26 of the challenged signatures were determined to be invalid. Nygren filed a lawsuit in Dane County Court seeking to overturn the board's decision, but was unsuccessful.

District 32

References

References

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31. "E-mails Raise Questions About Truthfulness of Pasch Denial". Mediatrackers.org.
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33. (2011-08-03). "DA probes anti-abortion group's rewards for signing recall voters". Jsonline.com.
34. Bailey, David. (March 24, 2011). "Wisconsin man snatches petitions aimed at Republican senator".
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36. (March 15, 2011). "Recall Disagreements". WJFW.com.
37. (May 3, 2011). "UWO Professor Recorded Encouraging Students to Sign Recall Petition". WBAY.com.
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41. Stein, Jason. (June 27, 2011). "Rep. Nygren knocked off ballot in Sen. Hansen recall election". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
42. Antlfinger, Carrie. (June 27, 2011). "GAB disqualifies Republican recall candidate for not having enough valid signatures". Madison State Journal.
43. (June 29, 2011). "Some recall uncertainty remains as lawmaker sues to get on ballot". Wisconsin State Journal.
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