As a recall election for Gov. Scott Walker looms in the near future, three Republican candidates have stepped forward to possibly challenge Walker in a primary for the Republican nomination.
Michael Mangan, a Milwaukee energy engineer, Arthur Kohl-Riggs, a Madison citizen, and Patrick O’Brien, a New Glarus stay-at-home father, have filed paperwork with the Government Accountability Board for potential runs against Walker in a May 8 primary election.
Mangan, who said he was a “recovering Democrat,” also ran as an independent candidate for governor in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He said he has a plan that would cut the state’s energy costs by 30 percent and use the saved money to cover the costs of Medicare and other programs.
He said he had decided to not run for governor again after 2002 until this last year when he discovered he had ancestors who fought for the North during the Civil War. He said if he had ancestors who died for Lincoln, he could make a smaller sacrifice by running as a “Lincoln Republican.”
“Lincoln was a founding member of the Republican Party, and he put people before profits,” Mangan said. “I want to reconstitute the progressive part of the party that has gone into the closet and stand up to the right wing to bring the party back to where Lincoln started it.”
Mangan said he has experience as a police officer, school board member and a former school district energy manager, where he cut energy use by 25 percent and saved the school district $3.5 million. His platform involves a repeal of concealed carry laws which he said would reduce gun violence.
Kohl-Riggs said he filed his paperwork with the GAB as a way to protest Walker’s policies. He said he is also running to prevent Republican voters from influencing the Democratic primary.
He said if Walker runs unopposed, his supporters would try to influence the primary. The winner of the Democratic primary would need 35 percent of the vote and a small and organized group could have an impact, Kohl-Riggs said.
However, he added he wants to use his campaign to highlight Walker’s policies.
“If I were to win, my main policy is openness. I would listen to what people say,” Kohl-Riggs said. “There has been a disconnect between what people want to see and the real issues they get.”
Although he never considered himself a Republican before this last year, after studying the history of the Republican Party, he said he now closely aligns himself with the progressive tradition, considering himself more of a Bob La Follette progressive Republican. He said he hopes he can bring “refreshing honesty and humor” to the political process.
O’Brien said he was running for the Republican nomination for governor because he felt responsible for voting for Walker in the primary. He defined himself as a moderate Republican.
He said his campaign is focused on job creation and long-term economic goals by investing in agriculture and dairy products. He said his plan focuses on areas connected with agriculture, such as highway repair and fixing roads so they can handle more traffic and as governor, he would not roll back environmental restrictions.
Mangan said normally the GAB gives candidates six weeks to collect 2,000 signatures to get on a nomination ballot. However, due to the recall, the GAB has only given people 10 days to collect the 2,000 signatures. He said this is a huge hurdle to meet unless candidates have a fair amount of money.
He said he has filed a federal lawsuit that would require the GAB to prorate the signatures on time so candidates would only have to collect 400 to 500 signatures. However, he said the GAB received the lawsuit on Wednesday and sent it to the Department of Justice and that the time to file nomination papers is next Tuesday. He accused the GAB of keeping the doors closed to alternative candidates.
“I’m battling many institutional barriers,” Mangan said.
