Post by Admin on Nov 13, 2023 1:14:04 GMT
Meagan Wolfe Impeachment Effort Shows Power of MAGA Republicans
A 2022 primary challenge and an unprecedented impeachment challenge are signs of far-right control of GOP.
Recently readers of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have encountered a full-page ad that demanded that readers tell Assembly Speaker Robin Vos “to let the Assembly vote to impeach Election head Meagan Wolfe or be prepared to be replaced.” The ad, which is shown below, ran for at least three days.
The assembly shall have the power of impeaching all civil officers of this state for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors …
The Constitution does not go further in defining the terms it uses, such as what constitutes “corrupt conduct” or “crimes and misdemeanors” or who is a “civil officer.” A recent report from the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau found that the 1853 impeachment of Judge Levi Hubbell is the sole instance in state history of the legislature impeaching a public officer. Thus, there is a substantial lack of precedent about impeachment in Wisconsin.
That said, even if one disagrees with the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s decisions, common sense suggests that this disagreement does not rise to the level of corrupt conduct or crimes and misdemeanors. Whatever one thinks about such issues as drop boxes, grants to cities to improve election management or allowing the voter’s friends and family to deliver an absentee ballot to the poll, these and other disagreements are far from meeting the Constitution’s requirements.
The people behind the ad seem to tacitly agree. Assembly Resolution 18 to impeach Wolfe does not use any of the three words used by the Constitution. Instead, it repeatedly (26) accuses Wolfe of “maladministration.”
A Journal Sentinel article puts spending on the ads at six figures. It is unclear where that money is coming from.
Leading the group are Adam Steen and Harry Wait, two conservative activists in Racine County. This is not the first time they have been in the news.
Steen ran against Vos in the 2022 Republican primary and came surprisingly close, as shown in the chart below, to beating the speaker. He lost by only 260 votes out of almost 10,000 votes cast. In the general election, Vos did much better, as shown by the right-hand group of columns.
Assembly District 63 is in the western, more conservative, part of Racine County. In the 2010 gerrymander, the eastern, more urban and Democratic, voters were removed from the district. This made the district safer for Republicans. As shown below, however, it shifted the decision from the general election to the Republican primary, making the incumbent vulnerable to a challenge from the right.
In the 2022 election, while winning the governorship, Tony Evers lost AD 63 by a vote of 15,902 to 11,153.
A 2022 primary challenge and an unprecedented impeachment challenge are signs of far-right control of GOP.
Recently readers of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have encountered a full-page ad that demanded that readers tell Assembly Speaker Robin Vos “to let the Assembly vote to impeach Election head Meagan Wolfe or be prepared to be replaced.” The ad, which is shown below, ran for at least three days.
The assembly shall have the power of impeaching all civil officers of this state for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors …
The Constitution does not go further in defining the terms it uses, such as what constitutes “corrupt conduct” or “crimes and misdemeanors” or who is a “civil officer.” A recent report from the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau found that the 1853 impeachment of Judge Levi Hubbell is the sole instance in state history of the legislature impeaching a public officer. Thus, there is a substantial lack of precedent about impeachment in Wisconsin.
That said, even if one disagrees with the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s decisions, common sense suggests that this disagreement does not rise to the level of corrupt conduct or crimes and misdemeanors. Whatever one thinks about such issues as drop boxes, grants to cities to improve election management or allowing the voter’s friends and family to deliver an absentee ballot to the poll, these and other disagreements are far from meeting the Constitution’s requirements.
The people behind the ad seem to tacitly agree. Assembly Resolution 18 to impeach Wolfe does not use any of the three words used by the Constitution. Instead, it repeatedly (26) accuses Wolfe of “maladministration.”
A Journal Sentinel article puts spending on the ads at six figures. It is unclear where that money is coming from.
Leading the group are Adam Steen and Harry Wait, two conservative activists in Racine County. This is not the first time they have been in the news.
Steen ran against Vos in the 2022 Republican primary and came surprisingly close, as shown in the chart below, to beating the speaker. He lost by only 260 votes out of almost 10,000 votes cast. In the general election, Vos did much better, as shown by the right-hand group of columns.
Assembly District 63 is in the western, more conservative, part of Racine County. In the 2010 gerrymander, the eastern, more urban and Democratic, voters were removed from the district. This made the district safer for Republicans. As shown below, however, it shifted the decision from the general election to the Republican primary, making the incumbent vulnerable to a challenge from the right.
In the 2022 election, while winning the governorship, Tony Evers lost AD 63 by a vote of 15,902 to 11,153.