The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee County Post • April 6, 2018 In two Wisconsin state legislative dis- tricts, candidates will have to decide if they are running for an office several weeks before they must decide if they are going to run for the same office in an election for that office that will be held a few weeks before another election for the same office. ???????? Re-read the first paragraph. Congratulations if you can follow it. Welcome to Democrat Party politics, Wisconsin-style. In the next few paragraphs I will attempt to explain the ludicrous situa- tion forced upon some voters by a Democrat Party that is using the courts to force politi- cal insanity and an absurd waste of money and resources. Two members of the state Legislature resigned recently. All state Assembly seats, including the one in question here in Columbia and Dodge counties, are up for election every two years and will be filled in this year's elections. State Senate seats are held for four years and the current vacant seat along the northern Lake Michigan shoreline through Door County is also up for election this year. The period to take out nominating petitions for the seats starts April 15 and the deadline to file papers is June 1. The primary election is Aug.14. But, thanks to a lawsuit filed by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who is now meddling virtually full-time in Wisconsin politics, special elections will have to be held to fill both seats even though there are also regular elections pending to do the exact same thing. Insane as it sounds, voters will have to fill the seats in separate elections only weeks apart. A can- didate could theoretically win an election and be defeated for re-election a few weeks later! Walker has tried in vain to avoid this nut- tiness but state law is vague on when vacant seats have to be filled and Holder found some judges dopey enough to order special elections for two jobs that will almost simul- taneously be filled in regular elections. This is creating the following preposterous situa- tion: Walker must now call special elections for both seats. He has to give candidates time to file nominating papers. The primary elec- tions will then be held May 15. The general elections will be June 12. But with the nor- mal primary election being held Aug. 14, candidates running for the full term will have to file nominating papers for the August election before the June election is even held! That means a candidate who runs and loses in June will automatically be on the ballot again in August even if they don't want to run again for an office they lost only a few weeks earlier. Democrats say that holding the June elec- tion will mean that the two districts have representation in the Legislature for the rest of the year. But the Legislature has con- cluded its 2018 floor session already and there is essentially nothing to do. Besides, both legislative offices still have full-time staffers on duty to handle constituent ques- tions. The voter turnout for these special elec- tions is likely to be low and the public con- fusion over having to hold elections two months apart for the same job will be a prob- lem. In addition, the special elections will be a major hassle for the clerks and election official in the two districts. Both consist almost entirely of a lot of small towns and villages and ramping up for two additional elections is a major project. In addition, all clerk offices will have to reopen for the two weeks before both the primary and general special elections to accommodate early vot- ing. The cost of all of this is considerable. So why are Holder and the Democrats doing it? Wasting money is, after all, the one thing American Democrats have gotten good at. And doing inexplicable things (Obamacare, Milwaukee Streetcar, giving nukes to Iran) has become the Democrat norm. But even by Democrat standards, these elections are nutty. So what is up? My theory is that the Democrats think they are likelier to win the low-turnout elec- tions than the higher-turnout regular elec- tion to be held in November. They have had some success in special elections around the country the last few months. Perhaps they think if they can get somebody elected in June that candidate will have an edge when they run again in the fall. In other words, they are putting us through all of this because they think they can gain an edge. Eons ago, some Democrats were appalled at wasting government money. The late Sen. Bill Proxmire even handed out a "Golden Fleece" award every month for some galling example of government waste. But today's Democrats love to throw taxpayer money down the drain. So ... Two groups of Wisconsinites will have four elections — two primaries and two gen- erals — for the exact same positions in the space of six months. Somehow Eric Holder was less of a pain in the butt when he was attorney general. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE Democrats force insane double elections OPINION Last week's question Did the "60 Minutes" interview with adult film star Stormy Daniels change your view on President Donald Trump or did you purposely avoid it? It's a sad commentary when a porn star, who apparently does a few things on the side, comes across as more credible than the president of the United States. — Sandy Sue Szanderek Bay View *** This is a comment on Stormy Daniels and "Dirtbag" Trump. I 100 percent believe Stormy. She passed the poly- graph test. Trump won't even consider it. As a sitting president, he is the No. 1 liar.You can't believe Trump. Every day he comments and it's some disaster — you never know what the brainless jerk will come up with. Has anyone heard the U.S. president called a moron? It's shameful to have such an unqualified goofball known as the U.S. president.We must be the No. 1 laugh- ingstock of all the other countries. Where are the other nine sexy ladies that were on TV? They disappeared from the news. Who paid them off to silence them? So I say, Stormy, go get him. Get rid of that jerk. Let's have a real leader. And let's not forget Melania. She ran off to Florida to get away from that shameful news, and to protect Barron from being bullied and to have an unfit role model for a father. It's time to get rid of that shameless cancer. — Gracie Schrank Oak Creek This week's question Major League Baseball is underway. How do you think the Brewers will do this year? Record prediction? Was last year a fluke or will they build on it? Or, what do you think of Milwaukee County Sheriff Richard Schmidt's suggestion of tougher first-offense oper- ating while intoxicated laws? Under Wisconsin statutes the fine is $150 to $300 plus $435 OWI surcharge, a six- to nine- month regular license revoca- tion and no jail, which is increased to between a $350 and $1,100 fine as well as a five-day to six-month jail sentence, if a child under 16 is in the vehicle.The Legislature recently raised penalties for third and fourth OWIs. (Choose one.) Editor's note: When responding to the Question of the Week, please include your full name with spelling, phone number and city where you live. Phone numbers will not be published. Call 744- 6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dmuck@conleynet.com. Question of the week Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dan Muckelbauer, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by email to: dmuck@conleynet.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, length and clarity. Letters should be typewritten or printed and include full name, phone number and address. Please keep your letters to no more than 400 words. Letters policy

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