Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — The state Ethics Commission today unanimously signaled its confidence in agency Administrator Brian Bell as Republican lawmakers continue to push for his ouster. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, has refused calls for a public hearing on Bell and Elections Commission Administrator

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — Madison Mayor Paul Soglin responded to Gov. Scott Walker’s jabs at the city by saying the guv should be thanking Madison and the region for “making him look good.” “I hear this morning that Scott Walker was mocking Madison’s economic development. Well

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — The offices of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Sen. Steve Nass told WisPolitics.com they have been contacted by an attorney hired by the Ethics Commission to probe charges of “partisan influence” directed at agency Administrator Brian Bell. The Ethics Commission declined

From WisPolitics.com … — Gov. Scott Walker today threw his support behind a plan from JFC Co-chair John Nygren to help low-revenue school districts after vetoing a similar provision from the state budget. The legislation also would boost sparsity aid $6.4 million. Still, fellow JFC Co-chair Alberta Darling, R-River Hills,

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to move youthful offenders from prisons in northern Wisconsin to new regional facilities wouldn’t kick in until at least 2019. But with some Dems complaining the transition of offenders wouldn’t be fast enough, Walker’s office signaled late this

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — Senate candidates Kevin Nicholson and Leah Vukmir today agreed to sign a unity pledge from the Wisconsin GOP so they’ll be eligible to win the party’s endorsement at the state convention in May. Meanwhile, former UN Ambassador John Bolton’s super PAC is

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — Middleton attorney Tim Burns filed his nomination papers today, setting up a three-way primary with Milwaukee Judge Rebecca Dallet and Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock. The Elections Commission found Screnock had 3,539 valid signatures, while Dallet had 3,073. Candidates for the court

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — A GOP-run Senate committee today voted to give AG Brad Schimel the go-ahead to conduct an expanded investigation into the actions of the defunct Government Accountability Board. The vote came after the Elections Commission head’s protests that Schimel is unable to lead

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he doesn’t see a crisis in the state’s workers comp program and sees no demand in his caucus to impose a fee schedule for the medical care injured employees receive. Vos, R-Rochester, said he has heard good

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — Sen. Leah Vukmir said today those responsible for broad email sweeps unveiled in the John Doe leak report should be fired and possibly face jail time. Vukmir, a U.S. Senate candidate whose personal emails between her and her daughter were seized by

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Milwaukee today announced the Eastern District of Wisconsin will get two new prosecutors to help combat violent crime. The two are part of 40 new prosecutor positions the Department of Justice has created nationwide. Sessions said

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — House Speaker Paul Ryan says he’s not leaving Congress anytime soon amid multiple media reports this week the Janesville Republican will step aside next year. That includes a Politico Magazine report today that says Ryan’s planning to retire after the 2018 elections.

Co-chairs of a commission tasked with overhauling the state’s school funding formula say they’re taking a “blank slate” approach to the job. Commission heads Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, and Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, told reporters this morning they’ll make recommendations based on wherever “the evidence leads us.” “Do I

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz late this afternoon declined comment on Rep. Josh Zepnick’s standing with the caucus after Dems met behind closed doors for more than three hours today. Several Assembly Dems and caucus leadership have called on Zepnick to resign

AG Brad Schimel today said he “can’t fathom” a reasonable explanation why the old GAB had personal emails between GOP state Sen. Leah Vukmir and her daughter in a folder labeled “Opposition Research.” Still, he doesn’t believe DOJ investigators looked for the search warrant that likely allowed the collection of

The state Dem party outraised the Wisconsin GOP in the most recent reporting period through its main state account. But Dems continued to significantly lag behind the Republican Party for cash on hand in their state accounts, though that disparity has narrowed somewhat since July. Reports filed with the Ethics

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — The state Ethics Commission today countered DOJ’s investigation into leaks from the John Doe probes, saying the report failed to accurately describe the agency’s efforts to cooperate or the steps it took to secure records after replacing the GAB. But AG Brad