Not All Republicans Support Senator Fitzgerald

When Senator Scott Fitzgerald talks about the thousands of votes that he received in each of his last few of elections, he might want to think about the number of people as myself who will be crossing-over to vote for Democrat candidate Lori Compas in the June 5^th recall election.  

Trust me; I am not the only Republican in the area who will be leaving the Fitzgerald camp.  In fact, take a look at the number of typical Fitzgerald supporters who signed the recall petition against Senator Fitzgerald.  Rumor has it that this upset the senator enough that he actually called some of the once-supporters personally to inquire about their signing against him.  Given that he actually called me at work last fall on my office line to let me know that he knew where I worked, where I use to work, and a summary of my military history, I would not put it past the senator to call dissatisfied prominent donors/supporters. 

For every Republican exiting his camp like me, that means a two point difference in the recall election, (one less vote for Senator Fitzgerald and one more for Lori Compas).  No matter how you spin it, that actually adds up in a hurry for Lori Compas.

Why the Republican exodus? Among many reasons, lack of demonstrated integrity is a big one for me and others.  Specifically the non-disclosure agreements (A.K.A the “Secrecy Agreements”) were a damning piece of evidence helping to affirm my change in support away from Senator Fitzgerald.  The secrecy agreements exemplified a total level of disregard for the Wisconsin taxpayers and it solidifies yet another reason to question the senator’s integrity on what he tells us.

For those who are not aware of it, attorneys for Wisconsin Latino group (Voces de la Frontera) filed a complaint with the District Attorney for Dane County alleging violations of both Wisconsin’s Constitution and statutes governing open meetings.  In doing so, the group discovered that 75 (nearly all) state Republican lawmakers signed nondisclosure contracts with attorney Eric McLeod, of Michael Best & Friedrich, who advised lawmakers on the new GOP-led redistricting maps for the state. That’s the same attorney who gave free legal services to state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman.

Furthermore, attorneys for Voces de la Frontera discovered that Tad Ottman, Senator Scott Fitzgerald’s legislative aide, and Adam Foltz, Representative Jeff Fitzgerald’s legislative aide, conducted secret redistricting map meetings under the direction of attorney Eric McLeod.  From those meetings came the creation of the secrecy agreements that almost all of the GOP legislators signed.  

Senator Fitzgerald and other Republican lawmakers fought hard to keep the documents confidential, claiming that their process used granted them attorney-client privilege.  But a three-judge panel determined their arguments to be frivolous and ordered the release of related records.

In the agreements, the legislators promised to not comment publicly about the redistricting efforts or related talks about the GOP-friendly maps being drafted.  Apparently the secrecy pact by the legislators was intended to keep anyone from leaking anything or any drafts of the maps out to the public or to the Democrat legislators.  The secret agreement went as far as to tell Republican legislators to ignore public comments about the maps and only focus on what was being discussed in private strategy meetings.  There is even talk that the GOP legislators were given talking points to use in public regarding the redistricting efforts.  Senator Fitzgerald stated that such claims are false, but how can we believe that he is telling the truth about claims that others are lying?

A rather interesting point in all of this is the fact that of the 75 legislators who signed the secrecy agreements, Senator Fitzgerald was not one of them. Does anyone else find it odd that his aid was heavily involved in creating the agreements and the requirement that everyone signs them, but the senator did not have to?  Does this mean that the senator was so trustworthy not to be telling the public the truth that he was exempt or what?  Or was he the one calling the shots requiring that everyone else be compelled to act as he does and withhold information from the public even though $400,000 of taxpayer money was involved? The question that truly begs to be discussed is the matter of what were the consequences for any one not willing to sign the secrecy agreement?  Better yet, what were the consequences going to be for any GOP legislator who broke any of the requirements within the secrecy agreement? 

I have actually heard rumors that non-veteran GOP legislators or those who are not tightly aligned within the GOP’s “Good Ol’ Club” were actually shown two sets of redistricting maps, with one being a draft of an appealing map of their district boundaries if they played along and towed the party line throughout the passing of ACT 10.  Supposedly the second set of maps for the respective legislators were drafted with less favorable district boundaries that they could potentially get stuck with for not being a party team player.  Again, all hearsay, but then again is there any reason to put it passed the GOP to use such strong arm tactics on their own party members, given the contentiousness that the GOP has demonstrated over the last sixteen months?

Regardless whether the last statement holds any truth not, the secrecy agreements are now public knowledge and declared to be true. The redistricting process meanwhile is currently caught up in court costing the taxpayers more money every day.  If the maps end up having to be completely redrawn, the amount of taxpayer money will just keep climbing thanks to guys like Senator Fitzgerald and his seeming attempts to game the system and cheat the Wisconsin voters for his own possible gain with GOP friendly districts. 

The bottom line is rather simple. The secrecy agreements and the fiasco that the redistricting process has turned into is more than enough to demonstrate that it is time for Senator Fitzgerald to go.  The senator no longer demonstrates the values that I seek from my party and I worry that his actions are too extreme and too caustic for our state.  That is I am voting for Democrat candidate Lori Compas on June 5^th.  The question is how many other Republican constituents will be voting just like me?

Sincerely,

Gary

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Wisconsin GOP lawmakers signed redistricting secrecy pact; were told to ignore public comments

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/138850044.html

WISCONSIN: Co-Senate Majority Leader Takes On Michael, Best, And Friedrich

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/27/1078340/-WISCONSIN-Co-Senate-Majority-Leader-Takes-On-Michael-Best-And-Friedrich