Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, announced his plans to challenge more than 3,000 recall signatures as the Government Accountability Board simultaneously addressed several issues surrounding the recall petitions Tuesday.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday Fitzgerald planned to challenge the legitimacy of the 3,000 signatures, which would be enough to stop the recall efforts against him if the signatures were falsified.
Petitioners attempting to recall Fitzgerald turned in an estimated 20,600 signatures Jan. 17. The deadline for other incumbent state senators to file challenges to recall petitions is Thursday.
Board members discussed the recall petitions at a special meeting about several pending issues with the recalls, including what the GAB would do after an appeals court ruling earlier in the week about the review process.
GAB Director Kevin Kennedy said Tuesday the board would continue to review recall petitions as they have been, despite an appeals court decision earlier in the week that challenged the ruling requiring them to a more thorough check.
“We’re proceeding as if it is still in effect,” Kennedy said of Waukesha County Judge Mac Davis’ original decision. “The decision is in flux; it’s still in place and we’re not going to change the rules halfway through the process.”
Davis’ original decision ordered the GAB to change its review processes and denied an intervention by recall committees to provide testimony, according to the original decision released by the court.
The nonpartisan board also addressed its decision to release the recall petitions uncensored to the public last Friday despite several groups’ opposition to releasing the addresses of those who signed the petitions, because petitioners might be harassed for political reasons, or victims of sexual abuse might be endangered.
“This was our protocol last summer in the recalls,” Kennedy said. “This was provided for information purposes and there is a preference to making this public.”
Kennedy also said this protocol was established beforehand and this was not kept a secret. He admitted he knew not every signer had been aware they were signing a public document, but overwhelming public demand for the petitions along with previous Supreme Court decisions helped solidify the decision.
Kennedy added the petitions have had over 4 million page views since publication.
The GAB also ruled during the meeting it would not accept help from two Tea Party groups in checking the validity of the recall petitions.
The Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty and We the People of the Republic both expressed concern over the recall process and said they wanted to get involved. Kennedy said the board would not be changing its methods at this point in the process.
“We talked about what role the organizations could play,” Kennedy said. “And I think one thing we learn with this many eyes on the process is what we could implement at a policy level. But despite absent administrative rules, our current rules do not provide for this [participation] at this point.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
