Contact: Brad Bainum, [email protected]
“Vukmir’s latest vote in support of Gov. Walker’s despotic effort to disenfranchise Wisconsinites by leaving them without elected representatives is despicable”
MADISON — State Sen. Leah Vukmir is doing what she’s always done: putting corporate special interests first and — as usual — toeing the right-wing, Republican Party line as she and her legislative colleagues embark on their latest attack on Wisconsin voters and our state’s democratic process.
Yesterday, Vukmir voted to advance Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans’ effort to force through legislation that would supersede a Walker-appointed judge’s court order calling on Walker to schedule two special elections that would provide representation for more than 200,000 Wisconsinites. Via the Journal Sentinel:
In a private meeting last week, state Sen. Leah Vukmir of Brookfield — a GOP primary candidate for U.S. Senate — also criticized the idea, according to people who were there. Aides to Vukmir did not respond to questions Monday, but Vukmir did vote to call senators back into session to take up the elections bill.
Undermining Wisconsin voters is nothing new for Leah Vukmir. Vukmir championed Wisconsin’s undemocratic voter ID requirements and was reportedly “politically frothing at the mouth” following the law’s passage. And Vukmir was also an eager and active participant in Wisconsin Republicans’ partisan gerrymandering effort. In a 2011 email, for example, Vukmir wrote that she was “So glad we are in control!,” then proceeded to dictate how precisely she wanted to carve up her Senate district so as to most effectively minimize her accountability to voters. This is who Leah Vukmir is — she’s staked her entire career on undemocratically keeping Wisconsinites from voting her out of office.
“Leah Vukmir has spent her entire political career in Madison working to help corporate special interests get even richer while undermining hardworking Wisconsinites — and a major part of that legacy is Vukmir’s record of undercutting Wisconsinites at the ballot box, from championing undemocratic voter ID laws to her leading role in Republicans’ partisan gerrymandering,” said Brad Bainum, Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson for the 2018 Senate race. “Vukmir’s latest vote in support of Gov. Walker’s despotic effort to disenfranchise Wisconsinites by leaving them without elected representatives is despicable; and if Vukmir has any reverence whatsoever for the democratic process, she will forcefully oppose her fellow Republicans’ efforts to block a court-mandated special election that would secure hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites the representation that they deserve.”
