Embattled Wisconsin State Assemblyman Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) is considering leaving the Democratic Party:
Democratic state Rep. Brett Hulsey of Madison is considering switching his party affiliation to become an independent.
Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says Hulsey told him and Democratic Assembly Leader Peter Barca on Tuesday he was considering the switch.
Earlier this year, Hulsey was involved in this incident:
After spending much of the fall explaining why he pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge, Wisconsin Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) appears to be in the middle of more turmoil.
His full-time legislative aide took vacation and is being reassigned to another job following an incident where she felt threatened by Hulsey’s plan to use a box cutter to show her how to defend herself.
Last year, during his 2012 re-election campaign, Hulsey pled no contest to charges stemming from
this incident:
A Democratic state legislator in Wisconsin has pled no contest to disorderly conduct charges, following a bizarre encounter at a Madison-area beach with a nine-year-old child on the Fourth of July.
Police cited State Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) for allegedly toppling the boy off of an inner tube after the child was splashing two girls in the lake, The Daily Page reported. Hulsey admitted having an altercation with the child, telling Wisconsin radio host Sly Slyvester Thursday morning that he was worried that danger could occur as a result of the splashing.
In 2010, in what was then the 77th Assembly District of Wisconsin, Hulsey won a five-way Democratic primary with 44.2% of the vote, and then won the general election with a plurality of the vote in a race that featured Green Party candidate Ben Manski receiving more votes than Republican candidate David Redick. In 2012, in the re-drawn 78th Assembly District of Wisconsin, Hulsey had only token opposition in the Democratic primary and did not face a Republican challenger in the general election, but a Green Party candidate, Jonathan Dedering, got 24.2% of the vote.
This is pure speculation on my part, but it's quite possible that Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos may be trying to convince Hulsey to run for re-election as an independent so that Republicans can win a four-way race (a Democratic nominee, a Republican nominee, a Green Party nominee, and Hulsey as an independent) in a district that voted heavily for Barack Obama, Tammy Baldwin, and Mark Pocan in the 2012 federal elections. The Green Party has run serious candidates before against Hulsey, and may do so again.
Democrats in the 78th Assembly District of Wisconsin need to recruit a strong candidate, and it better not be Brett Hulsey.