What's our tactic to deal with fake candidates?

[HelenWheels]

Scott Fitzgerald wants to get Repukes to run against the Dem candidates for recall. Do we have any battle plan to push against this? Do we get Dems to run as fake Repukes? Although any Dem who would put a R after their name would be seriously mentally impaired.

[PeaceNikki]

1. They're trying to get enough signatures to force a primary.

This will buy them time to raise $, run ads and redistrict.

The liklihood that these fake Dems would win the primary is slim to none, but here are the sanctioned actual candidates: http://www.wisdems.org/candidates. Spread the word to everyone in the districts, help raise $ against Citizens United so that there's no confustion.

That's all I've got now.

[dragonlady]

3. We MUST make sure turnout is maximum for a primary

Worst-case scenario: all the Republicans vote for the fake Dem in the primary and suddenly the recall election is between Darling et al. and the fake Dems. It's probably too late to run our own fake Republicans to make them stay in their own primary, because nomination papers are due next week.

I doubt they can finish redistricting by late August when the recall election result would be certified. The prerequisite work of drawing new wards at the local level would not be done until after that. Here's a link to the schedule that has been published: http://www.wisdc.org/redistricting_timeline.html
This shows that municipalities should have their wards redrawn by September and a database is created in October. The legislature would then take up state redistricting. I would think that some counties would take at least until September to do their work. :evilgrin:

[sybylla]

2. I'm sure there will be attempts to tie the BS to the puke candidates

In Harsdorf's district, the guy who's trying to run as a Dem ran as a puke in 2010. So it's easy to point fingers, cry foul and blacken Harsdorf's name a little more.

It's always possible to turn this against them. OTOH, they probably already believe they will lose these seats regardless of what they do, so stalling until they can get the worst of the dirty work done is all that matters.

What we probably ought to do is put someone on the ballot on the puke side so that their voters will have to vote for their candidate - and not against ours.

[wintoursghost]

4. Open records will expose fake Wisc recall candidates

Campaign finance donations, everything they ever posted online and their employers will all have to face media and public microscopes.
In Wisc, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaigns a great source to find donors, and more.
Mike McCabe and his staff are very helpful and everything is public record.....

head to the website and FOLLOW THE MONEY.
http://www.wisdc.org/

[sybylla]

5. Hell, two of them are on record already as Pukes

There's a LBN story about the guy running against Jen Shilling having been a GOP party officer. And the guy who wants to get on the Dem ballot in the Harsdorf race ran the last two elections as a Puke.

Plus the RPW had a defense of the whole effing plan on the front page of their website yesterday.

They're not even trying to hide the fact in the least.

[Robbie88]

6. I don't know...is there anything we can do really, other than call them out on it as loudly as

possible and hope that their sleazy tactics backfire on them?

[dembotoz]

7. of concern

we must be careful in case there is a legitimate challenger.
Sometimes the madison anointed candidate is a real piece of work.

[dragonlady]

8. A legitimate Dem would not be popping up at this late date

I don't know anything about our candidates in other districts, but Sandy Pasch is an excellent person to run against Darling--right on all the issues, savvy about the workings of the legislature, and already a leader there.

[Identity-H]

24. True

It's prety easy to know.

I think the RPW's strategy with this is more oriented towards delaying the recalls another month, rather than trying to dupe people to vote for their phony candidates.

[dembotoz]

9. lets say we welcome thier conversion to our side--publically

news releases, whole 9 yards
Publicize their old record and then invite them to publicly renounce all things republican.
When they refuse--ask why and then blast the dirty trick from here to etirnity

[ewagner]

10. Have to agree with Dragonlady

I'm worried that because of the legality of cross-over voting they will have a massive get-out-the-vote effort for the Republicans pretending to be democrats to drive the Dem out of the race. It's almost too sleazy to be true but nowadays nothing Walker and his cronies do surprises. me....

the other advantage they are seeking is to force the real Dems to spend money on a primary while the real repub sits back and spends nothing thus saving it all for the general election against a dem with a depleted treasury....

It's brilliant and cynical and unethical as hell....

We do need a massive turnout and also close monitoring of campaign contributions to the fake-out candidates.

[ewagner]

11. Another note

We can't really try running a fake Republican against the recall target because if cross-over voting is taking place against our candidate, then we will need every legitimate vote we can get to keep our candidate in the race.....we won't be able to squander votes by encouraging cross-over voting for a fake Repub.

Apparently none of what the repubs are doing is illegal, per se....it's unethical but not illegal...otherwise Scott Fitzgerald and the whole f-ing repub party wouldn't be so open about it.

[mzteris]

12. 2010 Wisconsin Code

2010 Wisconsin Code
Chapter 12. Prohibited election practices.
12.05 False representations affecting elections.
Share |

12.05
12.05 False representations affecting elections. No person may knowingly make or publish, or cause to be made or published, a false representation pertaining to a candidate or referendum which is intended or tends to affect voting at an election.

12.05 - ANNOT.
History: 1973 c. 334; 1993 a. 175.

12.05 - ANNOT.
A violation of this section does not constitute defamation per se. Tatur v. Solsrud, 174 Wis. 2d 735, 498 N.W.2d 232 (1993).

Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Wisconsin may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.

[midnight]

14. This is great.... I wonder how it will be litigated. You know the Republicans will

say this isn't the law and will make up their own....

[ewagner]

16. I'll read the cite

but off hand it doesn't seem to be perfectly on-point...I think this has more to do with slander and libel...The 12.05 note excludes such representations from being charged as "slander per se" which is a rather specific exemption.

Per my reference guides:

"One who publishes matter defamatory to another in such a manner as to make the publication a slander is subject to liability to the other although no special harm results if the publication imputes to the other 1). a criminal offense; 2). a loathsome disease; 3). matter incompatible with his business, trade, profession or office; or 4). Serious sexual misconduct."

in slander per se...damages for defamatory statements of the four types above do not require special proof of damage...this code simply separates campaign rhetoric from this category. I don't think it has any thing to do with misrepresenting your party affiliation.

[mzteris]

26. I think this:

12.05 False representations affecting elections. No person may knowingly make or publish, or cause to be made or published, a false representation pertaining to a candidate or referendum which is intended or tends to affect voting at an election.

applies. To represent yourself as a "democratic candidate" when you are not, is a false representation, is it not?

[ewagner]

28. It is....but...

the laws cited refer to defamation laws...what others say or publish about you....

Yours is an interesting approach though...

[midnight]

13. Did anyone go to convention, and was this discussed?

[PeaceNikki]

15. I was there and saw a handful of DUer's there.

No, this wasn't discussed because I don't think it hadn't gone public at that point.

[midnight]

17. On June 2 a tape revealing this plan was released by the Journal.

Secret Tape Reveals Wisconsin GOP Plan to Hijack Recall Election
June 2, 2011
By Sarah Jones





The same tape that revealed state Senator Republican Kapanke worrying about the many public employees in his district, whom he “hopes are sleeping” on election day, also reveals the Wisconsin Republicans discussing planting a Democratic candidate in order to delay the recall election. Those boys in Wisconsin are never too far away from sleazy, are they?

Instead of having faith in their record or in the voters pleasure with them, the Republicans were planning to hunt down a spoiler candidate in order to beat Democrat Jennifer Shilling in Kapanke’s district.

http://www.politicususa.com/en/secret-tape-wisconsin-gop

[HelenWheels]

18. Send post cards

How about we send out hand written postcards to our Dems encouraging them to vote in the primary. We could also inform them about the "falsie" running. We have had good response in the past with the handwritten cards. We could also send the cards to friends and acquaintances .

Goddess40 wants to know if any one else besides me knows what "falsies" are?

[dembotoz]

19. someone all set to go in the darling recall

push election day out to aug.
Article in today milw urinal

[dragonlady]

20. An officer in the Ozaukee Republican party

and the Republican election board member, named Gladys Huber. Will she have the decency to resign from her positions with the party, as the guy in one of the other assembly districts did? Nah, probably not.

[PeaceNikki]

21. I am happy to report that TMJ is reporting the Gladys Huber shit

They went to her house and showed the Walker and Johnson bumper stickers on her minivan and knocked on her door. They got a statement from Sandy and made sure viewers know she's a Republican.

Getting the word out so voters know is going to be important.

[AleksS]

22. It's kind of a double edged sword though, isn't it?

It's kind of a double edged sword though, isn't it?

The more republicans that know she's a republican, the more votes she'll get. You can bet AM radio will have its GOTV drive for the falsie.

Would it be enough to just campaign hard FOR Sandy, and let the falsie just stay out-of-sight/out-of-mind?

No good answer. What a load of crap this all is.

[PeaceNikki]

23. Well they will know by looking to see the Dem in primary who's not Pasch, no?

:)

Yeah, I get your point, though.

[Identity-H]

25. Wow, even TMJ?

I guess there are some Republican dirty tricks that even they find reprehensible.

[elocs]

27. "State Democrats say plan will thwart GOP manipulation":

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_f4a6d9e4-9470-11e0-a88a-001cc4c002e0.html

MADISON - State Democrats say they have a plan to prevent Republicans from gaming the political system by manipulating the dates of upcoming recall elections.

Six Republican senators will face recall elections, but the dates are in flux. If only one Democrat runs for each seat, the general election will be in July. If more than one Democrat runs, they'll have to face off in a primary first, pushing the general election back a month.

The state Republican Party wants Republicans to run as Democrats in those elections in order to force primary elections. That would give the GOP candidates more time to prepare.

But Democrats worry that Republicans might run candidates in some elections but not others, introducing voter confusion. Democrats said Saturday they'll run "placeholder" Democratic candidates in all six races to force six primaries and make sure general elections are held on the same day in every case.