Now What Is Robin Vos Afraid Of?

Reports say that Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is refusing to testify in the hearings about gerrymandering in Wisconsin. He wasn’t speaker that the time…but was involved in drawing district lines apparently…so how much input and control did he have? What is he afraid of?? other than his general disdain for transparency in Wisconsin government?

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is refusing to testify in a federal lawsuit alleging that political boundary maps he helped draw were illegally gerrymandered.

Attorneys representing Democrats in the case asked a panel of federal court judges on Tuesday to force Vos, R-Rochester, to sit for a deposition in May and turn over documents related to the case.

Attorneys for Vos argue that he is immune from civil legal action.


But the Democrats’ attorney Ruth Greenwood argues that Vos waived any claim to legislative immunity by intervening in the case as a defendant and actively participating in the lawsuit.

So we may have another: “be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it”? He wanted to take control of litigation and passed laws expanding his ability to do that during the lame duck sessions…and of course he had to insert himself and the legislature into this case.

And here’s a funny take on why he shouldn’t have to testify…no really:

“Subpoenaing Speaker Vos diverts time, energy, and attention away from legislative tasks and disrupts the important work of the Wisconsin Legislature,” attorney Kevin St. John wrote in a letter to Greenwood last month.

Oh my goodness, I am sure that it does divert the time of the $850,000 man…but if you can’t divert the time…

I really don’t care if this diverts his time. As an elected representative directly involved with the issues being tried in court…he should be fully expected to testify and explain what he knows…and what he did…and what he hired the lawyers who developed the redistricting maps to do. There is no gray area here…he needs to be forward and forthright with the voters of Wisconsin. To think he’s immune from the lawsuit is absurd. He should actually be grateful this is a civil lawsuit and not a criminal one…or is that possible evolution what he’s concerned about?