It was a crushing defeat for Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse on Thursday at the Waukesha County Courthouse, as the Friends of Scott Walker successfully sued in order to ensure that those characters would not steal our recall process. Attorney Jeremy Levinson called the day’s events “political theatre”, an apt way to describe the arguments, rationale, and ruling that took place during the Walker v. Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) lawsuit hearing this afternoon.
Jay Bullock stated in a post earlier today, “The GOP, the party that opposes frivolous lawsuits and judicial activism, is jubilant today that its frivolous lawsuit produced a piece of judicial activism.” He’s correct. This case was frivolous and should have been dismissed.
A central argument presented by the Friends of Scott Walker was that because the Wisconsin GAB let one signature by “Bugs Bunny” slip through during the Holperin recall process, the agency could no longer be trusted to do its job.
As Kevin Kennedy, the director of the GAB, who has overseen nine recall elections in the last year alone, fielded questions about Bugs Bunny during his testimony, I’m not sure how he kept his frustration in check. When one of Walker’s lawyers asked Kennedy if the GAB had counted “Bugs Bunny” as a valid signature during the Holperin recall and Kennedy replied, “yes,” he tried to explain why it was counted, but the explanation didn’t seem to matter.
But context does matter. The reason Mr. Bunny’s vote was counted is an extremely important piece of evidence, as it proves that the GAB was not negligent. The GAB didn’t just allow Bugs to get his name through with a wink and a nod, like some idiotic, untrustworthy organization.
The GAB did not strike Bugs Bunny’s signature because the signature had not been challenged, and the agency can’t strike a signature without a challenge.
Jeremy Levinson, who was the attorney for the Democrats during the Holperin election, later explained why the signature had not been challenged. He said, “To get an affidavit dealing with the Bugs Bunny signature from Jim Holperin’s district which is…very far away from Madison, wasn’t worth the resources of the legal challenge because even if we had struck Bugs Bunny, Senator Holperin would still have had an election. That was a conscious decision, that didn’t slip through the cracks.”
The Friends of Scott Walker also said they were worried about “eligibility of addresses” and “potential duplicate signatures.” They argued that Equal Protection rights were at stake, and cited the person who bragged about signing Walker’s recall petition eighty times as an example. They claimed that “that person takes away the voting right of a person who chooses not to sign.” The plaintiffs also said the GAB didn’t “sense an obligation to ferret out signatures” that may not be legit, due to comments GAB staff had previously made to the media.
The closing statements made by the GAB’s attorney were extremely compelling. He said “we shouldn’t make this up as we go along,” and that the plaintiffs were “attempting to micromanage” the staff review prior to the determination. He shot down the plaintiff’s claim of Equal Protection (“they’re really reaching”) and argued that this shouldn’t be a “case about staff comments.” Finally, “The whole process of review doesn’t have to be overturned because perfection cannot be guaranteed.”
In the end, the judge said he was concerned about published GAB remarks which “left an impression that they don’t intend to follow the law,” and that “if we let an unqualified person sign, each signature erodes the rights of qualified people because the pool of qualified electors is finite.” Judge Davis said the GAB has an obligation under the law to strike duplicate signatures, fictitious signatures, and signatures that are not eligible due to municipality.
Kevin Kennedy said he isn’t sure exactly what will change yet, as “that remains to be seen.” But I guess we can all rest easier tonight, secure in the knowledge that Governor Walker has protected the electorate from the likes of Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse.
Here’s my interview with Atty Jeremy Levinson. Warning: video quality is VERY rough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coKu3NJHPdI
This whole Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Adolph Hitler business is the most laughable, ridiculous non-story of the last 12 months.
With over 700,000 signatures expected to be submitted to the GAB by the middle of the month, does anybody really, truly believe that phony signatures are going to be a problem? Really?
Is there no one on the right side of the aisle with any integrity or honesty? No one?
Esenberg cites the ruling yesterday as evidence that the Friends of Scott Walker suit wasn’t frivolous? Really, Rick?
Althouse continues to obsess over whether someone has signed her name to a recall petition. Narcissus has met his match.
No word from Sqwiggy, Leni Binversie or Kilkenny, and not much from that Boots and Sabres guy. Maybe this is too ridiculous for even them to comment on at length?
Are you all afraid that Walker can’t win a recall election? Your only hope is to try and obstruct the process with bullshit lawsuits?
What a pack of pussies.
The likelihood of a lawsuit, and then of it winning, would have been greatly diminished had the idiot from the GAB not stated that he would allow Bug’s signature, coupled with the fella who bragged to the media that he signed the petition 80 times.
Perhaps your anger should be aimed at the saboteurs from within.
Dbag,
Thanks for the nonsense. We can all use a good laugh every now and then.
By the way, anybody know the name of that guy who bragged about signing 80 times? It’s absolutely remarkable that the reporter who had him on video failed to ask his name.
Has anybody tried to track him down?
How about you, Dbag? Maybe you know who he is?
Steve, I am guessing, since you cannot discern the difference between a T and a D, you probably signed the petition multiple times before getting your name right. Now that’s funny!