Dems flips Wis. Assembly seat as GOP holds 2 others in special election to fill vacancies

Source: AP via Minneapolis Star Tribune

MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Democrats managed to take one Assembly seat from Republicans in a low-key special election where the GOP held two other contested seats.

In District 94, which covers rural La Crosse County and parts of Monroe County, Democrat Steve Doyle beat Republican challenger John Lautz, 54 percent to 46 percent with all precincts reporting. Doyle, the current La Crosse County Board chair, will fill the vacancy left by Republican Rep. Mike Huebsch. Huebsch was first elected in 1994 and held the seat until early 2011, when Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Huebsch secretary of administration.

The race turned ugly in the last few weeks after outside interest group Jobs First Coalition sent out mailers claiming Doyle had not paid property taxes on time in 2009. Doyle and several others, including La Crosse County corporation counsel, confirmed the taxes were paid on time. The state Democratic Party has asked for a criminal investigation into the mailers.

The candidates' main disagreement was over Walker's bill to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights. Doyle firmly opposed the move, while Lautz said it was needed to "get our fiscal house in order."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/local/121152574.html

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I wish all three special elections had been won by Democrats, but this victory for Huebsch's Assembly seat was an important one.

Huebsch was the main author of the "budget repair bill" that's caused so much trouble. He's a former Wisconsin state chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and as DOA now he's considered the second most powerful man in Wisconsin, after Walker. Given his prominence, this race was probably more of a referendum on Walker's policies (which largely follow ALEC guidelines) than the other two special elections.

So it's an important win, and it's also a win following an ugly smear campaign by the Republicans. I was glad to read that the state Democratic Party has requested a criminal investigation into the mailers from Jobs First Coalition that claimed Doyle had paid his property taxes late.

The Jobs First Coalition appears to be another right-wing front group. According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign website:

http://www.wisdc.org/index.php?module=cms&page=3014



As the Wisconsin Democratic Party pointed out, the "ethically challenged" former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen is the senior advisor for Jobs First Coalition. John Nichols of The Nation and the Capital Times called Jensen the Lindsay Lohan of Wisconsin politics -- "arguably the most discredited Wisconsin political figure who has not served a jail sentence."

Good for the voters who rejected those policies and those tactics.

And a good start! Recalls will ultimately return the Senate to the Dems.

WI assembly and by 3/4th wins. Not good at all.

...........Despite losing the District 94 seat, Republicans managed to increase their majority in the state Assembly Tuesday night.

Duey Stroebel easily defeated Democratic challenger Rick Aaron for the District 60 seat, which represents parts of Ozaukee and Washington counties. Stroebel, a real estate agent and Cedarburg School Board member, won the race with 76 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting.

Stroebel will fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Mark Gottlieb, whom Walker appointed secretary of transportation in January.

The District 83 seat, which covers parts of Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties, went to Dave Craig, who worked as an aide for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan. Craig beat Democratic challenger James Brownlow, a retired librarian, with 74 percent of the vote. Craig said he would work with Walker to cut more from state government.

"I think this race has been in a large part a referendum on the policies of Gov. Scott Walker and the people of the 83 district made their voice loud and clear," Craig said. "We need to stop this spending spree in Madison and we have to stop it now."..................

If so, then no, they didn't increase their Assembly majority.

The other two districts are deep Republican districts and have been held by Republicans without interruption for many years.

nt

maybe decades. Where's the public relations commercials FOR unions? Where's the recruitment effort? The AFL-CIO should make their top three priorities: 1) Unionize Wal-Mart, 2) Unionize Wal-Mart, and 3) Unionize Wal-Mart.

The United Auto Workers have lost more than half their membership as auto jobs disappear, mostly due to productivity gains, which means robots took the jobs. Overall, the unions should be growing, IF they marketed themselves effectively, their accomplishments, their ongoing importance. Non-union shops still abuse workers terribly. All the rules for safe, reasonable workplaces came about because of unions. Without unions, the temptation for bosses to give in to their inner bullies proves too strong for many. It's kind of like that guards and prisoners experiment they did at Stanford.

On half a CEO bonus. Add up the numbers side by side for every one of the big and greedy's

If CEO Joe Blow got $10 million bonus...how many Americans could live well on $5 million? Then mention how many jobs this ass outsourced away from America.

Just go down the list.

I'd be ecstatic!

This is such an uphill battle, I could :cry:

The Senate recalls will be the ones to watch.

Michigan is gearing up to recall Gov. Snyder. The petition was approved and we will be all set to go. We are organizing now for petition circulators. Please go to www.firericksnyder.org. This is not just about collective bargaining rights. This is also about taking over duly elected office holders (mayors, city councils etc.) and using emergency managers to replace them.

Wake up! We can do this if we have the will. www.firericksnyder.org

we had hopes for a better outcome.

I am very proud of our candidate Rick Aaron.

Walker pulled his folks in the safest of the safe districts
1 in 3 is a positive outcome

Wisconsin is writing the book on how to take this country back.

he won in too.