Specifics of the ploy involve “recruiting” two Democrats to challenge Republicans in primaries in two state Senate races. Both seats are currently held by Republicans.
The two sham contenders chosen by the Republican operatives were perhaps not as convincing as they could have been. As reported by the JSO, “Both of the fake Democrats have a history of giving almost exclusively to major Republicans.”
The article goes on to quote directly from the letters purportedly written to “fellow conservatives” explaining the need for the ruse.
“We need to make sure Democrat challengers face primaries to allow our Republicans time to mount a campaign,” Dan Feyen, chairman of the Sixth Congressional District Republican Party, wrote in the letter to “fellow conservatives” on Friday.
“A Democratic primary,” Feyen continued, “will push the general election back by one month, so that Senator Hopper can have more time to organize a campaign against his liberal challenger.”
As with most aspects of politics, local or national, money was the motivator behind this shameful manipulation of the electoral process. By filling the Democratic side of the ledger with dummy options, legitimate Democratic candidates will be forced to mount (and fund) a primary campaign, an expenditure that will by necessity cut into the amount of money they could use in a general election against the Republican alternative.
Who did Feyen (demonstrating another classic political gambit: passing the buck) identify as the igniter of the false fire?
“It’s something being coordinated by the RPW,” he said, referring to the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
Not surprisingly, when contacted by the JSO, officials of the RPW had no comment on Feyen’s allegations.
It appears that the finagle fever is spreading throughout the Badger State. There is some evidence that Republican leaders in La Crosse were clandestinely hatching their own plan to stuff a straw man into the ballot in an upcoming state Senate recall election. As revealed in the JSO:
[LaCrosse GOP Officials were] secretly recorded on May 25 discussing getting a spoiler Democratic candidate in the recall election tentatively scheduled for Republican Sen. Dan Kapanke of La Crosse. During that discussion, La Crosse County Republican officials mention Mark Jefferson, the former head of the state GOP, and Kapanke’s campaign manager.
The elections involved in the alleged scheme are part of nine state Senate seats where incumbents could soon face recall elections as a result of their actions in the recent budget battle with Governor Scott Walker.
As is familiar to readers of The New American, Governor Walker’s plan restricted the collective bargaining power of state employees. All the Republicans whose seats were included in the scheme supported Walker’s position.
The first line of an article describing the plot proclaimed, “The season of dirty political tricks is now officially under way.” I’m afraid that there is no such season, as this type of deception is part of the constant climate in a world where designing men and women will stop at nothing to occupy seats of power in order to exercise dominion over their fellow man.
Photo of Governor Scott Walker: AP Images
