Wisconsin
Vos consulting former justices on potential Protasiewicz impeachment
Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says former members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court are advising him on the potential impeachment of liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz.
During a Wednesday morning appearance on WISN’s The Jay Weber Show State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he’s formed a panel of former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices to “review and advise what the criteria are for impeachment” of Justice Protasiewicz if she refuses to recuse herself from lawsuits before the court seeking to overturn GOP drawn voting maps. He said he would not name the justices while their review was underway.
Vos and other Republicans claim Protasiewicz has prejudged the redistricting cases because she called GOP voting maps “rigged” on the campaign trail ahead of defeating conservative former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly by 11 points.
His comments came the day after a surprise press conference on Tuesday when Vos announced a Republican bill had been introduced to create an “Iowa-style” nonpartisan redistricting process in Wisconsin. Republicans are fast-tracking the bill, which creates a redistricting process similar to one they had previously opposed.
Democrats, including Gov. Tony Evers, quickly voiced opposition to the plan, claiming Vos cannot be trusted. They say legislation could give Republicans a chance to draw their own maps.
Vos told Weber impeachment is the “last thing I want to happen” and would prefer to see Wisconsin’s redistricting rules be changed rather than have the state go through potential court battles over recusal and impeachment.
“But if you have a justice that has predetermined cases and is not going to take themself off the case, I want to know what all of our options are so that we are ready to go if it is required,” Vos said.
State Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard, D-Madison, told WPR it’s “vitally important” to remember that Vos “created gerrymandered maps” and has been unwilling to consider reforming the state’s redistricting process as Democrats and their supporters have called for in the past.
Agard noted Vos and Republicans are set to vote on the redistricting bill Thursday without offering any opportunity for public comment.
Vos accused Democrats of being “hypocrites” for opposing legislation that is similar to what they introduced in 2021, their plan at that time also based on Iowa’s redistricting process.
“If they are so certain that they have a justice in their pocket, because they don’t even want to take an idea that has been their own for 20 years, it certainly says to me that the process in the Supreme Court is even more rigged than what they say the maps are.”
Agard said there’s no guarantee that Democrats would reintroduce their 2021 redistricting bill but are still interested in changing how maps are drawn.
“The Supreme Court would very likely come up with a solution for right now,” Agard said. “But as we move forward after future censuses, we could find ourselves in the same spot. So we need to come up with a long term solution that prevents us from fighting up in the same place again.”
Without Gov. Evers’ support, the GOP redistricting plan appears doomed. It’s also unclear whether Republicans in the State Senate would support it. WPR emails sent to State Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, Tuesday afternoon went unanswered.
While the bill outlines a process that is similar to how Iowa draws it’s voting maps, Senior Staff Attorney Derek Clinger of the University of Wisconsin Madison Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative told WPR there’s one key difference that “could be exploited for partisan gain.”
He said the GOP legislation would require Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau to draw maps that would need to be approved by legislators and the Governor. If lawmakers reject two of the LRB maps, they would be allowed to draw their own maps on a third attempt.
“And I think that would open the door for the legislature adopting a map that gives path an advantage to one party or favors incumbents,”
Vos has downplayed those concerns, claiming Evers could simply veto maps he feels have a Republican advantage. But Clinger said that only works with split-party government.
“I suppose that counts as a check, as long as there’s a Democratic governor,” Clinger said. “But thinking long term, who knows who will be in the governor’s seat the next time or the time after that and the time after that.”
The Wisconsin assembly is scheduled to vote on the Republican redistricting plan at 1 p.m. Thursday.
Wisconsin
Motorcyclist dead after Friday crash in Wisconsin Rapids
The crash happened about 7:10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of State 54 and Washington Street.
WISCONSIN RAPIDS – One person is dead following a motorcycle versus vehicle crash Friday evening in Wisconsin Rapids.
The crash happened about 7:10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of State 54 and Washington Street. According to the initial investigation, a vehicle was traveling north on State 54 at Washington Street and was attempting to turn left onto Baker Drive, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Rapids Police Department. The motorcycle was traveling south on State 54 and hit the passenger side of the vehicle, which turned in front of the motorcycle, the release said.
The driver of the motorcycle suffered serious injuries and was transported by ambulance to Marshfield Medical Center where he later died from his injuries, the release said.
The occupants of the vehicle were treated by Wisconsin Rapids Fire Department EMS and released at the scene.
The police department said it is not releasing the names of those involved at this time.
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Editor Jamie Rokus can be reached at jrokus@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter at @Jamie_Rokus.
Wisconsin
What should passengers off a jet in Wisconsin be handed, like the lei in Hawaii?
Our political blowhard, Adam Murphy, joins to answer the toughest question: What should we hand to people landing in Wisconsin, like getting a lei off the jet in Hawaii? We also discussed the less-than-half effort from Republicans in the state Legislature to overturn vetoes, plus WIZM on Reddit.
La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.
Got some great answers from Murphy and callers to that question and spent a good part of the show discussing it.
We also hit on Republicans in the state Legislature (17:30) calling themselves back into session — the Legislature has been off since mid-March and wasn’t coming back into session until next year, after the elections — to try and override 36 of Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes. You’ll be surprised at how big a failure that was.
Ended the show (33:00) talking about a post on Reddit about WIZM comments and whether or not they should be “moderated” or deleted. We did not have time to get to the part where someone said I was middle-left in political leaning.
Murphy has degrees in economics and political science from UW-Milwaukee. He’s also owns a small business, called Big Bang LLC in Milwaukee.
Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin-Superior honors its graduates
SUPERIOR — The University of Wisconsin-Superior class of 2024 was recognized Saturday, May 18 at Siinto S. Wessman Arena.
According to UWS, more than 650 students from 33 different countries were eligible to receive diplomas for Saturday’s commencement ceremony — including 437 bachelor’s degrees and 198 master’s degrees. There also were 46 undergraduate students with double majors.
Graduating students included 218 first-generation students. The oldest graduate is 72 years old and the youngest is 20.
Chancellor Renée Wachter presided over the ceremony and presented diplomas to students who earned associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
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