(C) Wisconsin Watch

(C) Wisconsin Watch
This story was originally published by Wisconsin Watch and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .

Robin Vos recall effort heads to court [1]

['Jack Kelly', 'Wisconsin Watch', 'More Jack Kelly']

Date: 2024-04-08 16:00:00+00:00

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The effort to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos heads to court this morning — a hearing that could make an already messy situation messier.

A Dane County judge is hearing oral arguments about whether to allow organizers of the recall push additional time to respond to a challenge to the effort filed by Vos.

In their petition, recall organizers said there was “good cause for an extension” to respond to Vos because they were awaiting clarity from the Wisconsin Supreme Court about what district boundaries should be used in the recall effort.

The high court complicated that argument last week, when it unanimously rejected a request to determine which district boundaries should be used for recall elections, saying it is the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s responsibility to administer elections, not the court.

In a filing submitted to the Dane County court before the state Supreme Court’s order, attorneys for Vos argued there’s no need for an extension because organizers did not obtain the needed valid signatures “under either potential legislative district map.”

Vos’ attorneys also argued an extension “would be unduly prejudicial to Vos, as it effectively allows the (recall organizers) additional time to cure deficiencies in the Recall petition.”

Neither an attorney for the recall organizers, Kevin Scott, nor attorneys for Vos responded to questions about how they plan to proceed in light of the high court ruling.

WEC is working against an April 11 deadline to determine whether there were sufficient signatures to trigger a recall election.

The saga commenced in January when Matthew Snorek, a Burlington resident, began circulating a recall petition against Vos, the powerful Republican leader of the Assembly and longest-serving speaker in state history. Snorek is seeking to recall Vos over the speaker’s opposition to impeaching Meagan Wolfe, the nonpartisan administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and earlier pledges to stop Donald Trump from being the GOP presidential nominee. Vos reversed course last month and endorsed Trump.

In March, Snorek said he submitted almost 11,000 signatures to WEC, several thousand more than the 6,850 signatures required to trigger a recall election.

Related Story Trump backers submit signatures to force recall election of Wisconsin Assembly leader Robin Vos Supporters of former President Donald Trump submitted petitions seeking to force a recall election targeting Wisconsin’s top elected Republican, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

However, an initial review from WEC staff found that recall organizers were short of the necessary signatures from residents in Vos’ district.

The signatures submitted by Snorek were also plagued with claims of fraud. Marie Mutter, who lives in Dover, told Wisconsin Watch in an interview that she and her husband never signed the petition to recall Vos, despite both of their names appearing on the documents submitted by Snorek.

“Honestly, it made me sick to my stomach,” Mutter said of discovering her name had apparently been forged on the petition. “It felt like a punch to the gut.”

The Racine County district attorney is investigating 30 complaints from residents who said their signatures were forged by recall signature collectors.

Vos filed a challenge to the recall petition, arguing that a preliminary WEC review found only 5,905 valid signatures in his old 63rd Assembly District and others that were “plagued with fraud and criminality.”

The speaker also argued that a December Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that the state’s legislative maps were unconstitutional prevents a recall election from occurring in his old district. Vos was moved into the 33rd district under maps drawn by Gov. Tony Evers and approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature.

Vos’ challenge, filed last month, triggered a five-day rebuttal window for recall organizers — a deadline that passed March 26. Snorek asked a Dane County judge on March 25 to extend the rebuttal deadline until after the state Supreme Court determined which district boundaries should be used for a recall election, setting up today’s court hearing.

The speaker has been sharply critical of Snorek and his allies. Speaking at a WisPolitics.com event, Vos called the recall organizers “whack jobs.”

“The people who organized this are so out of touch with reality,” Vos said. “And I’m just going to keep saying it over and over again: They are morons. They are stupid.”

Late last month, Snorek launched a second recall effort against Vos.

What we’re watching this week

Monday

💸 President Joe Biden plans to visit Madison to announce new student debt relief details. He’ll speak at 1:15 p.m. at Madison Area Technical College.

🧑‍⚖️ A Dane County judge hears oral arguments about whether to allow organizers of the recall effort against Assembly Speaker Robin Vos more time to respond to Vos’ challenge of the recall campaign.

Wednesday

🌳 The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board meets at 8:30 a.m. to take up an agenda that includes land acquisitions.

🏘️ Mark Eppli, director of the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the Wisconsin School of Business, will speak about the state of the Wisconsin housing market at 11:30 a.m. at the Madison Sheraton. The keynote is part of the annual Wisconsin Economic Forecast Luncheon and can be viewed on Wisconsin Eye.

🗣️ Marquette Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin will discuss recent polling and the April 2 election results at noon at the Milwaukee Press Club and WisPolitics Newsmaker Luncheon. The event can be viewed on Wisconsin Eye.

Forward is a look at the week in Wisconsin government and politics from the Wisconsin Watch statehouse team.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Close window X Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Scroll down to copy and paste the code of our article into your CMS. The codes for images, graphics and other embeddable elements may not transfer exactly as they appear on our site. *** Also, the code below will NOT copy the featured image on the page. You are welcome to download the main image as a separate element for publication with this story. *** You are welcome to republish our articles for free using the following ground rules. Credit should be given, in this format: “By Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin Watch”

Editing material is prohibited, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and in-house style (for example, using “Waunakee, Wis.” instead of “Waunakee” or changing “yesterday” to “last week”)

Other than minor cosmetic and font changes, you may not change the structural appearance or visual format of a story.

If published online, you must include the links and link to wisconsinwatch.org

If you share the story on social media, please mention @wisconsinwatch (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), and ensure that the original featured image associated with the story is visible on the social media post.

Don’t sell the story or any part of it — it may not be marketed as a product.

Don’t extract, store or resell Wisconsin Watch content as a database.

Don’t sell ads against the story. But you can publish it with pre-sold ads.

Your website must include a prominent way to contact you.

Additional elements that are packaged with our story must be labeled.

Users can republish our photos, illustrations, graphics and multimedia elements ONLY with stories with which they originally appeared. You may not separate multimedia elements for standalone use.

If we send you a request to change or remove Wisconsin Watch content from your site, you must agree to do so immediately. *** Also, the code below will NOT copy the featured image on the page. You are welcome to download the main image as a separate element for publication with this story. *** You are welcome to republish our articles forusing the following ground rules. For questions regarding republishing rules please contact Jeff Bauer, digital editor and producer, at [email protected] Robin Vos recall effort heads to court <h1>Robin Vos recall effort heads to court</h1> by Jack Kelly / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch April 8, 2024 The effort to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos heads to court this morning — a hearing that could make an already messy situation messier. A Dane County judge is hearing oral arguments about whether to allow organizers of the recall push additional time to respond to a challenge to the effort filed by Vos. In their <a href="https://www.wispolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/240326Petition.pdf">petition</a>, recall organizers said there was “good cause for an extension” to respond to Vos because they were awaiting clarity from the Wisconsin Supreme Court about what district boundaries should be used in the recall effort. The high court complicated that argument last week, when it unanimously <a href="https://acefiling.wicourts.gov/document/eFiled/2023AP001399/785406">rejected</a> a request to determine which district boundaries should be used for recall elections, saying it is the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s responsibility to administer elections, not the court. In a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24534208-vos-response">filing</a> submitted to the Dane County court before the state Supreme Court’s order, attorneys for Vos argued there’s no need for an extension because organizers did not obtain the needed valid signatures “under either potential legislative district map.” Vos’ attorneys also argued an extension “would be unduly prejudicial to Vos, as it effectively allows the (recall organizers) additional time to cure deficiencies in the Recall petition.” Neither an attorney for the recall organizers, Kevin Scott, nor attorneys for Vos responded to questions about how they plan to proceed in light of the high court ruling. WEC is working against an <a href="https://elections.wi.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/2022-04/Recall%2520Manual-State.Const_.%2520FINAL%2520%2528Rev.%252008-2020%2529_Final.pdf">April 11 deadline</a> to determine whether there were sufficient signatures to trigger a recall election. The saga commenced in January when Matthew Snorek, a Burlington resident, began circulating a recall petition against Vos, the powerful Republican leader of the Assembly and longest-serving speaker in state history. Snorek is <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/10/racine-county-man-launches-bid-to-recall-speaker-robin-vos/72177921007/">seeking to recall</a> Vos over the speaker’s opposition to impeaching Meagan Wolfe, the nonpartisan administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and earlier pledges to stop Donald Trump from being the GOP presidential nominee. Vos <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/19/wisconsins-robin-vos-endorses-trump-after-pledging-to-block-him/73031193007/">reversed course</a> last month and endorsed Trump. In March, Snorek said he <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/03/wisconsin-recall-election-robin-vos-trump-signatures-petition/">submitted</a> almost 11,000 signatures to WEC, several thousand more than the 6,850 signatures required to trigger a recall election. However, an <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/12/signatures-to-force-robin-vos-recall-fall-short-initial-review-shows/72941641007/">initial review</a> from WEC staff found that recall organizers were short of the necessary signatures from residents in Vos’ district. The signatures submitted by Snorek were also plagued with claims of fraud. Marie Mutter, who lives in Dover, told Wisconsin Watch in an interview that she and her husband never signed the petition to recall Vos, despite both of their names appearing on the documents submitted by Snorek. “Honestly, it made me sick to my stomach,” Mutter said of discovering her name had apparently been forged on the petition. “It felt like a punch to the gut.” The Racine County district attorney is <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/19/racine-county-da-investigating-signatures-on-robin-vos-recall-papers/73019299007/">investigating</a> 30 complaints from residents who said their signatures were forged by recall signature collectors. Vos filed a <a href="https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/madison.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/b/68/b68fcd3a-e7c0-11ee-815b-bb109e826980/65fc96f9bb923.pdf.pdf">challenge</a> to the recall petition, arguing that a preliminary WEC review found only 5,905 valid signatures in his old 63rd Assembly District and others that were “plagued with fraud and criminality.” The speaker also argued that a December Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that the state’s legislative maps were unconstitutional prevents a recall election from occurring in his old district. Vos was moved into the 33rd district under maps drawn by Gov. Tony Evers and approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature. Vos’ challenge, filed last month, triggered a five-day rebuttal window for recall organizers — a deadline that passed March 26. Snorek asked a Dane County judge on March 25 to extend the rebuttal deadline until after the state Supreme Court determined which district boundaries should be used for a recall election, setting up today’s court hearing. The speaker has been <a href="https://www.cbs58.com/news/whack-jobs-and-morons-vos-unleashes-on-recall-organizers#:~:text=(CBS%2058)%20%2D%2D%20Assembly%20Speaker,the%20longest%2Dserving%20Assembly%20Speaker.">sharply critical</a> of Snorek and his allies. Speaking at a <a href="https://wiseye.org/2024/03/19/wispolitics-luncheon-with-gop-assembly-speaker-robin-vos/">WisPolitics.com event</a>, Vos called the recall organizers “whack jobs.” “The people who organized this are so out of touch with reality," Vos said. "And I'm just going to keep saying it over and over again: They are morons. They are stupid." Late last month, Snorek launched <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/28/robin-vos-recall-organizer-starts-second-effort-after-first-one-fails/73132411007/">a second recall effort</a> against Vos. <h2 class="wp-block-heading">What we’re watching this week</h2> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Monday</h4> 💸 President Joe Biden plans to visit Madison to announce new <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-education-department-student-loan-debt-forgiveness-fc7bc28332b1b1faec088ae7a02b5f0c">student debt relief details</a>. He’ll speak at 1:15 p.m. at Madison Area Technical College. 🧑‍⚖️ A Dane County judge hears oral arguments about whether to allow organizers of the recall effort against Assembly Speaker Robin Vos more time to respond to Vos’ challenge of the recall campaign. <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Wednesday</h4> 🌳 The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board meets at 8:30 a.m. to take up an <a href="https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/About/NRB/2024/April">agenda</a> that includes land acquisitions. 🏘️ Mark Eppli, director of the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the Wisconsin School of Business, will speak about the state of the Wisconsin housing market at 11:30 a.m. at the Madison Sheraton. The keynote is part of the annual <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-wisconsin-economic-forecast-luncheon-tickets-818891234727">Wisconsin Economic Forecast Luncheon</a> and can be viewed on <a href="https://wiseye.org/?p=29630">Wisconsin Eye.</a> 🗣️ Marquette Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin will discuss recent polling and the April 2 election results at noon at the Milwaukee Press Club and WisPolitics Newsmaker Luncheon. The event can be viewed on <a href="https://wiseye.org/?p=29644">Wisconsin Eye.</a> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-default" /> Forward is a look at the week in Wisconsin government and politics from the Wisconsin Watch statehouse team. This <a target="_blank" href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/04/wisconsin-vos-recall-election-court-signatures-assembly-speaker/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://wisconsinwatch.org">Wisconsin Watch</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150%2C150&quality=100&ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1289170&ga4=G-D2S69Y9TDB" style="width:1px;height:1px;"> Copy to Clipboard

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/04/wisconsin-vos-recall-election-court-signatures-assembly-speaker/

Published and (C) by Wisconsin Watch
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0 Intl.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/wisconsinwatch/