Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Assigns Impeachment of State Elections Chief to Committee After Threats of His Removal

Friday, November 3rd, 2023 -- 12:01 PM

(Molly Beck and Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has assigned to committee impeachment against the Wisconsin elections chief amid a six-figure ad campaign threatening his removal, a campaign launched days after former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman suggested to the group behind the ads that Vos should be recalled if he did not advance the articles.

According to Molly Beck and Jessie Opoien with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the impeachment articles against Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe were first circulated by a group of Republican members of the Assembly on Sept. 21. Vos said at the time he instead preferred using a legislative process that allows a committee to hire a new administrator.

But within two days of a coordinated campaign to threaten him with being recalled or ousted through a primary challenge if he did not advance the impeachment articles, Vos assigned it to the Assembly Committee on Government Accountability and Oversight on Thursday. A spokeswoman for Vos said "it was referred to a committee like any other bill."

The move comes as the Wisconsin Election Committee, Inc. spent tens of thousands of dollars to run ads on Milwaukee-area TV and radio stations this week that falsely claim Wolfe implemented a number of policies decided by the agency's panel of commissioners and should be removed. The ads threaten to recall Vos or launch a primary challenge if he doesn't move forward with articles of impeachment against Wolfe.

Leading the group is Adam Steen, who unsuccessfully launched a primary challenge against Vos in 2022, and Harry Wait, a Racine County man who was charged last year for fraudulently obtaining absentee ballots for Vos and Racine Mayor Cory Mason in order to show violations of the law are possible, according to documents filed with the Federal Communication Commission by the group.

Wait leads a Racine County group known as H.O.T. Government, which promotes false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. The ads were launched nine days after Gableman, who oversaw a fruitless probe of the 2020 election, met with a group tied to the ads. During the Oct. 24 meeting with the Sheboygan County Republican Party, Gableman suggested Vos could be recalled in January.

When asked by a group member what legal recourse Vos' constituents have if he does not move forward with the impeachment articles, another group member shouted "Second Amendment," referring to the constitutional right to possess firearms. The comment was met with laughter.

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