Accountability board researching whether a Walker ticket would include Kleefisch

[undeterred]

Madison - In a possible recall election, are Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch a package deal or separate tickets? It's an unprecedented question for an unprecedented period in Wisconsin politics, and so far there's no official answer. The Government Accountability Board, which runs state elections, won't yet weigh in, saying that it's still researching the issue. "It's the unanswered question that somebody needs to provide some guidance on," said Mike Wittenwyler, a Madison election and campaign finance attorney. "To me, it's an issue that deserves serious study before this begins."

So far, any talk of a recall of Walker or Kleefisch by Democrats and unions is just that - neither official is even eligible for recall until early November, one year after they were elected to office. To do it, recall organizers would need to gather a whopping 540,208 signatures across the state within 60 days and then back a pair of candidates in a costly statewide election.

But the group United Wisconsin, which is identifying potential recall petition signers, says its mission is to "recall Scott Walker & Rebecca Kleefisch." And the issue would be important even at the beginning of a recall effort for questions as simple as whether organizers would have to circulate one petition or two while gathering signatures. Kleefisch and the treasurer for United Wisconsin, Mike Brown, didn't respond to requests for comment. United Wisconsin says it's seeking to recall Walker for his legislation repealing most union bargaining for public workers and for budget policies such as passing tax cuts for business while making spending cuts in areas such as public schools. Walker says he was seeking to boost the state's economy and close a more than $3 billion budget shortfall over two years.

So far, United Wisconsin says more than 190,000 people have signed its pledge supporting the recall. But that number can't be independently verified since the group is keeping the names confidential. The nine state senators who recently faced recall elections over their stances on union legislation were all elected - and recalled - separately in different districts. But in Wisconsin, governors and lieutenant governors such as Walker and Kleefisch are elected on a single ticket just as presidents and vice presidents are at the federal level.

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So far, no state official is weighing in on whether that means Walker and Kleefisch might also be recalled jointly. In Wisconsin, no statewide official has ever been successfully recalled, putting the question into uncharted territory. "The answer is we do not have an answer yet. It's something we are researching," said Reid Magney, a spokesman for the accountability board, adding that the agency is seeking to get an answer before either official is eligible for recall.

State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is declining to comment on the issue, said Dana Brueck, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice. State law and the Wisconsin Constitution make somewhat contradictory statements about recalls and about governors and lieutenant governors.

The state constitution, for instance, says that voters "may petition for the recall of any incumbent elective officer." A related state law says that "a petition requesting the recall of each elected officer shall be prepared and filed separately." But under the section in the state constitution on the governor and lieutenant governor, it says that they must be elected together. "They shall be chosen jointly, by the casting by each voter of a single vote applicable to both offices," the constitution reads.

Joshua Spivak, a senior fellow at the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College in New York, said there have been only two successful recalls of governors in the nation's history - one decades ago in North Dakota and the other in California in 2003 of then-Gov. Gray Davis by Arnold Schwarzenegger.


http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/128540363.html

[elocs]

1. "neither official is even eligible for recall until early November,

one year after they were elected to office". From what I've always understood it is a year after their term began.

http://elections.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid=11827&locid=47

RECALL ELECTIONS

Summary

Wisconsin law permits voters to recall elected officials under certain
circumstances. Recall is an opportunity for voters to require elected officials to
stand for election before the end of the official’s term. No petition for recall of an
officer may be offered for filing before the expiration of one year after
commencement of the term of office for which the officer is elected. The Elections
Board staff has prepared a manual, Recall of Local Elected Officials, which can be
found on the agency website.

[sybylla]

2. It's the Urinal Sentinel. They don't worry about facts.

OTOH, I've heard the signature gathering can begin 60 days before the 1 year anniversary of the start of their term, which means November - perhaps that's what they were referring to.