Wisconsin Repubs are recruiting fake Dems to run in the recall elections
Six Wisc. Repub state senators (and three Dems) face possible recall elections in the aftermath of the tumultuous legislative session that featured the public employees collective bargaining changes. Now the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Republican Party officials are trying line up fake candidates to run as Democrats to complicate the Dems' chances.
"We need to make sure Democrat challengers face primaries to allow our Republicans time to mount a campaign," Dan Feyen, chairman of the 6th Congressional District Republican Party, wrote in a letter to "fellow conservatives" on Friday. "A Democratic primary," Feyen continued, "will push the general election back by one month, so that Senator Hopper can have more time to organize a campaign against his liberal challenger." [Sen. Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac is one of the Repubs facing a recall vote.]
The exact same sentence is in another letter, except that in that case the Repubs want a fake Dem to run in the district of state Sen. Luther Olson of Ripon.
Feyen, the party district chair confirmed that the letter was real and said the reason another letter in another district had identical wording was that state Repub Party organization was organizing the effort.
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Comments (13)
So, is 'fake Republican' a tautology?
It may be legal.
It’s certainly unethical.
The Wisconsin Republican Party has just forfeited any claim to credibility in a democratic election process. This is cheating, the sort of thing autocrats do, in foreign countries we don’t much care for. As an election tactic, it’s beyond despicable, a gross violation of everything the Constitution stands for, and if there’s any justice in the world, Republicans will be driven in shame from power and influence in Wisconsin for decades as a result.
Soldiers are losing their lives in the Middle East so that these sleaze merchants can cheat in an election…
Koch dollars here again ?
Sen Hopper has some unique personal issues that were revealed a few months back in the Wisconsin press that would warrant unique approaches by the Republicans to try and keep him in office.
I'll certainly agree with Ray #2 that it's unethical but I think that he goes a bit too far in his condemnation. In the special election that was just held in New York a long time Dem ran as a tea party candidate in order to confuse voters. Should the NY Democratic party fold up shop and 'be driven from power and influence'?
The remedy here is exactly what's happening. Sunlight and transparency.
Maybe it's the candidates that need to show IDs, not the voters.
Peder (#5): Davis was Republican for 50 years. He quit the party in late 2003, became a Democrat, and then founded the Save Jobs Party (2004-5). He rejoined the Republican Party in 2008, and in the March 2011 special election he got enough signatures to have "Tea Party" on the ballot line next to his name.
And yet you call him a "long-time Dem." Why did you do that? He was born in 1933, and was a self-described "Goldwater Republican" for 50 years. But for four or five years in the 2000s he was a Democrat. And then he switched back to the GOP. And then he became a Tea Partier.
That equals "long-time Dem" to you? Wow!
And here's the rub, eh? The NY Democratic Party DID NOT back the Davis candidacy. Davis obviously marches to the beat of his own drummer.
And yet you bring up Davis's obviously independent campaign -- really a "vanity" campaign -- that had NOT been endorsed or sanctioned by the NY Democratic Party at all. And you compare that with an orchestrated, party-sanctioned effort to run GOP operatives as Democrats in Wisconsin?
Really?
Wow!
Tim, my apologies, you're right that Davis isn't a good counter example. I didn't know enough about him and shouldn't have mentioned him.
Reasonable in his attempts to temper the rage and reasonable in his concession when challenged. Reasonable discussion in the comments is one of the reasons that I keep coming back here. Just hope people like Peder keep coming back.
All true, #9, but I get really tired of reading outrageous claims made by many of the right-wing commenters here that crumble after a simple 30-second Google search reveals the real facts.
And my frustrations certainly do show in some of my replies, which can be snarky sometimes (see #7, above).
Peder, yesterday, gave a mature and thoughtful reply. Good for him. It's not easy to say "my bad" in a public forum.
Too often, however, we have folks who simply refuse to reappear after their fact-challenged claims have been debunked.
Frustrating.
A commenter at the Washington Post blog 'Plumline' has noted that some of the WI Repubs facing recall actually don't want this 'help' from the party. One result of the tactic is the 'real' Dem will have an additional month of campaigning and building name recognition - making them a more formidable challenger to the incumbent.
It's also possible that, since the party strategy has become public, voters will be that much more motivated to vote the incumbents out.
Brian (#11), it may be more accurate to say that some of the Wisconsin GOPers facing recall SAY they don't want this help from the party.
Plausible deniability and all, you know.
Not just good for Peder being willing to concede a factual matter. Good for the commenters no jumping on him. Usually if you try to concede you missed a point, the wolves start tearing at you.