Mahlon Mitchell announces run for Lieutenant Governor

(cross-posted from Daily Kos)

The President of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin (PFFW), Mahlon Mitchell, announced this morning that he will run for the office of Lieutenant Governor in the upcoming recall election.

Mitchell is running to replace the current Lieutenent Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, the former television reporter best known politically for equating same sex marriage with marrying a table or a clock.

Members of the PFFW, including Mitchell, have maintained a strong presence at protests against Governor Scott Walker’s attacks on public employee unions and at rallies supporting the rights of public employees. Mitchell has spoken at numerous events over the past year and it was widely assumed he would be running for political office if the recall petition drives succeeded.

The race for Lieutenant Governor will probably include a primary which would be held on May 8th, then a general election on June 5th. Unlike regularly scheduled elections, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor will be listed in separate contests, not grouped as a pair by party affiliation.

Mitchell’s campaign web site includes the following statement by Mitchell posted today:

“I have been a fire fighter for 15 years. When firefighters see an emergency we respond. We respond because we care about our community. It’s a level of service and a calling that only a few decide to take. I look at being LT Gov as another part of this service. As fire fighters, we have a motto – all hands working. Every fire fighter on scene is doing a task or job to stabilize the tragedy. We need all hands working now in our community to deal with the emergency in Madison. ”

Rep. Zamarripa Rips GOP Attorneys in Redistricting Case

Closing arguments delivered by an attorney defending redistricting maps in a federal court last Friday implied that State Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa was not opposed to the maps. The new, disputed boundaries for Rep. Zamarripa’s district are at the center of the lawsuit seeking to have the maps thrown out.

The attorney for the state of Wisconsin argued that Rep. Zamarripa’s absence of testimony in the trial was a de facto endorsement of the plan:

“If she was really worried about her chances (of keeping her seat), don’t you think she’d be beating down the door . . . saying let me come in and tell this court how problematic this is going to be for me?… JoCasta Zamarippa wasn’t here. There are circumstances where silence says an awful lot.”

Rep. Zamarippa has fired back, releasing this statement

Today, Representative JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee) issued a statement regarding the Republican attorney’s closing argument on the redistricting case filed by Democrats and Latinos. Attorneys for the defendants highlighted a quote of Zamarripa, out of context, and claimed that it displayed her support of the maps. They went on to falsely insist that Zamarripa supports the Republican maps because she did not testify during the two day trial.

“I am outraged that the GOP attorneys would resort to potentially slanderous statements in order to defend the Republicans in their web of lies and deceit of the public.

“In fact, I was on the witness list to testify, but in a strategic decision by attorneys based on the court’s directive that the trial conclude in two days, I was not called to testify.

“This redistricting plan deliberately and cynically divides our Latino community. It is an abuse of power designed to marginalize Latino voters.

“I cannot state emphatically enough that I do not and never have endorsed the redistricted maps that were forced upon Wisconsin with no public input, no thoughtful timeline and no regard for our fellow Wisconsinites.”

Time for the trial was shortened by a three-judge panel hearing the case after Republican legislative leaders delayed the start of testimony. The judges gave leaders a chance to redraw the maps with input from Democrats and disenfranchised voter groups, but the leaders refused, citing an obscure State Supreme Court ruling they said would prevent them from undoing their previous work. The judges dismissed that argument and gave the leaders another day to consider. The leaders still refused to redraw the maps.

Attorneys for the leaders have been fined previously for filing frivolous motions in the case, and the Republican leaders have been severely criticized by the judges for their secretive process of designing the new voting districts. The panel is expected to rule in the next few weeks, though it’s not clear what their remedy would be if they find that the maps violate the law.

VICTORY! Legislature’s Website Modified!

This is a quick follow up to a story I posted yesterday. The Wisconsin legislature had recently changed their website to show the wrong representatives on their “Who Represents Me?” feature.

A query would display results as if new redistricting laws had already taken effect, describing a constituent’s future representatives as “current” representatives and labeling the current representatives as “previous.”

Many citizens, especially those involved in recalling Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, were convinced that the change was made to intentionally confuse potential recall petition signers.

Thanks to one day of numerous complaints from citizens and a bit of media attention, the legislature changed the search results display. Using my address as a sample, here is what it looked like yesterday morning…

…and here’s what it looked like late yesterday:

I was so amused by the responses I got from the Government Accountability Board (GAB) yesterday that I posted their emails on Daily Kos, if you need a laugh.

While the new display is still not ideal, it is at least technically accurate. One thing that is not spelled out is that for purposes of recalls, the district lines from 2002 apply. The GAB is firm on that point (although the Republican legislative leaders are trying to get a court to change that, naturally.)

Republican margin-of-terror dropped down to 1 vote from 3 in Wisconsin’s Senate

By Aredee

It’s lamentable that we didn’t take back the state Senate, but it wasn’t a total loss; in fact it was quite an historic victory.

In the entire history of the state, Wisconsin has had only four legislative recall elections–and only two of those were successful–until yesterday. We replaced two reactionaries–who were backed by huge out-of-state contributions–with progressives.
And now the Republican margin-of-terror in the Wisconsin Senate is one vote, rather than three.

I am as negative about the condition of this country as anybody else, but let’s give ourselves credit where it’s due.

When Goldwater lost to LBJ in the ’64 landslide, America’s right wing regrouped and reorganized to bring us Reagan, Bush, and the Tea Party.

Progressives need to understand that our task is also one of long-term planning and perseverance. Toward that end. I’ll accept even a partial victory over total defeat any day.

One other thought: assuming the Dems don’t get kicked out in next week’s recalls, the result of last night does improve things for progressives.

With only a one vote Senate majority, the Republican’s hold on the Senate has been weakened, and with the presence of at least one true GOP moderate, Dale Schultz, the right-wing legislative agenda is even weaker. Not an ideal outcome for us, but not entirely terrible, either.