The Fond du Lac Reporter and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel are reporting that Republican leaders are seeking to place fake Democrats on the ballot.
In letters pdfed and linked to in the Journal Sentinel, officials of the Republican Party of Wisconsin sent petitions and explicit instructions to followers to get them to place cronies on the Democratic primary ticket even though they are not Dems. The strategem is meant to push back recall elections a month and to force Dems to spend money in a primary.
The Sentinel Journal reports:
"We need to make sure Democrat challengers face primaries to allow our Republicans time to mount a campaign," Dan Feyen, chairman of the 6th 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."
Two "democratic" challengers will mount primary campaigns in the districts currently occupied by Republican Senators Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac and Luther Olsen of Ripon. Both challengers have contributed primarily to Republicans.
"It's something being coordinated by the RPW, [Republican Party of Wisconsin]" Feyen is quoted as saying.
The LaCrosse Tribune obtained a recording of Lacrosse County Republican Vice Chairman Julian Bradley discussing plans to run a spoiler "democratic" candidate against Democrat Jennifer Shilling in order to delay the recall of Republican Dan Kapanke. Bradley attributes the strategy to Mark Jefferson, the executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
n Olsen's race, Sauk County Republican Party Chairman Tim McCumber and Waupaca County Republican Party Chairman Fred Zaug are encouraging conservatives in their area to gather enough signatures to get Rol Church on the ballot as a Democrat.
"Please help maintain our Republican legislative majority today!" the pair wrote. "We can't stress enough how important it is to have Rol on the ballot to combat the shady maneuvers of Madison liberals and their out-of-state allies."
The letter asks supporters to collect 800 signatures by June 13.
"Please join us in supporting Rol Church's 'protest candidacy' on the Democratic ballot by signing the enclosed nomination paper and returning it to us right away!" the pair of GOP officials wrote.
The LaCrosse Tribune
Some Republicans are questioning the strategy of postponing primaries until September when students return to school and are available to vote.
I guess desperate times require desperate measures!