Key Wisconsin Republican says her colleagues are making baseless attacks and need to wrap up election review – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MADISON Republicans and Democrats alike Monday ripped into Wisconsins partisan review of the 2020 election, saying it was a baseless exercise that would needlessly damage faith in democracy.
State Sen. Kathy Bernier, a Republican from Lake Hallie who leads the Senate Elections Committee, said the review by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is firing uppeople who dont understand elections.
"Mr. Gableman is coming to my county and I will attend that meeting along with my concealed carry permit, to be perfectly honest,because (the election review) keeps jazzing up the people who think they know what they're talking about,and they don't," Bernier said.
Bernier, who oversaw elections for 12 years as Chippewa County clerk, said Republicans are reacting to political pressure from former President Donald Trump. Their constant complaints about the election could ultimately hurt Republicans if they don't believe results can be trusted, she said.
"And so I think my advice would be to have Mr. Gableman wrap up sooner rather than later, because the longer we keep this up, the more harm ... we're going to do for Republicans," she said.
In response,Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester issued a statement saying it was Democrats who were preventing Gableman from completing his work sooner. He did not note that much of Monday's criticism came from Republicans and offered no timeline for when Gableman would finish his review.
"The easiest way to wrap up Special Counsel Gablemans investigation is to get the Democrats to cooperate," Vos said in his statement. "Instead, invoking McCarthyism has been their only motive, trying to discredit the investigation rather than finding ways to improve the system and prevent fraud going forward."
Bernier made her comments during a panel discussion in the state Capitol. She was joined by Ben Ginsberg, who spent nearly four decades representing Republicans in election disputes, and Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel during Barack Obama's presidency.
Ginsberg agreed with Berniers assessment, saying attacks on the election will hurt Republicans in the long run because their voters will be less likely to cast ballots if they think elections are rigged.
"We are here today because Wisconsin has found itself really in the middle of a harmful and disturbing national trend that involves the intimidation of election officials the people who are supposed to call balls and strikes in our elections,"Ginsberg said.
Joe Biden beat Trump by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin. Recounts and court rulings have confirmed his victory. A legislative audit and a study by a conservative group turned up no evidence that would question the results.
Vos hired Gableman this summer to conduct his own review of the election. His work is expected to cost taxpayers about $675,000.
Gableman last yearclaimed without evidence that the election was stolen. More recently, he said he does "not have a comprehensive understanding or even any understanding of how elections work."
Bauer said Gableman's comments "and the partisan context in which he received this assignment" show Gableman is not right for the job.
The partisan reviews in Wisconsin and other states are pseudo audits being organized for partisan political purposes by those who do not have the wherewithal to meet any kinds of standards whatsoever," Bauer said.
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Ginsberg and Bauer this year formed the Election Official Legal Defense Network to provide legal help to election workers who face challenges over how they perform their duties.
Their presence put national attention on what's happening in Wisconsin. But it was Bernier who offered some of the bluntest assessments of what's happening in her state.
"This is a charade," she said. "There's a simple explanation for almost every single thing that people accuse election officials of doing."
At another point, she said: "These made-up things that people do to jazz up the base is just despicable and I don't think any elected legislator should ever play that game."
Gableman has conferred with partisans, former Trump officials and election conspiracy theorists. Bernier said she thought Gableman should have talked to her given her years of work on elections, but so far he has not called her.
Gablemanhas conducted much of his work in secret but plans to talk about his activities on Dec. 20 with theChippewa County Republican Party. Bernier said she didn't think it was a good idea for Gableman to attend a partisan event in the midst of his election review.
Bernier said during the panel discussion that she would attend Gableman's event but afterward said she wasn't sure whether she would.
"I know I'm not going to learn anything more than I currently know," she said. "And then I'll end up with the people who want to yell at me, so that's really probably not a good place for me to be."
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Gableman was initially supposed to complete his review in October. His contract with the state runs through December, but Republicans could extend it if they wanted.
His work got off to a slow start but has also been delayed by court fights over his subpoenas. Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has sued to block some of his subpoenaswhile Gableman has asked a Waukesha County judge to jail the mayors of Madison and Green Bay if they won't meet with him.
The mayors have called the request ridiculous, saying they have cooperated with Gableman.
Meanwhile, some Republicans have called for the resignations of members of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission and its nonpartisan director, Meagan Wolfe. Wolfe and the commissioners have said they plan on staying on the job.
Wisconsin election officials have faced a string of threats over the last year over how they did their jobs.
For instance, people this year have threatened to hang, shoot orjail Claire Woodall-Vogg, the director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.
Similarly, people anonymously posted threats to Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl last year in response to an article on the Gateway Pundit, a right-wing website that frequently traffics in conspiracy theories.
Law enforcement was notified of the threats to Woodall-Vogg and Witzel-Behl, according to emails released under the state's open records law.
ContactPatrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Followhim on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.
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