A “Paper-Shuffling Bureaucrat” at Center Stage in Wisconsin Politics

Kevin Kennedy refers to himself as “just a paper-shuffling bureaucrat. – I haven’t moved to rock star status.”

But sometimes, timing is everything. So that’s why there were a gaggle of television cameras, a cluster of reporters, and about 200 others in the room when Kennedy joined Mike Gousha for an “On the Issues” session at Eckstein Hall on Thursday.

Kennedy is director and general counsel of the Wisconsin Governmental Accountability Board. Now in possession of petitions with about 1.9 million signatures calling for recall elections for governor, lieutenant governor, and for four state Senate seats currently held by Republicans, the board is at center stage for one of America’s hottest political scenes. What the GAB decides in handling the petitions and setting the course for the elections that are almost sure to result will have a major bearing on Wisconsin’s future and become a vivid part of Wisconsin’s history.

“It’s an honor to be part this process,” Kennedy told Gousha, the Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy. ”And it’s definitely energizing. You can’t help but get juiced when you’re working on something this challenging.”

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Providing Straight Information on Public Opinion in a Historic Political Time

Amid the amazing tumult on the Wisconsin political scene, with partisanship and passion running so high, how can you get straight information about what voters are thinking?

One good answer: You can run a large-scale polling project, adhering to the highest standards of professionalism and non-partisanship. You can poll repeatedly throughout the year, so that you can follow trends. You can make all the results available promptly to anybody. You can go to lengths to give others a chance to see what you’ve found out.

That is what the Marquette Law School Poll is going to do. It will be the most extensive polling project in Wisconsin history, and we are fully committed to making it an independent effort that will have no agenda except to find out as much as we can about public opinion in Wisconsin and share it with all.

In fact, consider this your invitation to tune into the poll’s results. We are launching the first round of polling on Thursday, Jan. 19, and will release the results next Wednesday, Jan. 25.

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The GAB’s Duty of “Careful Examination”: Why Judge Davis Got It Right

I have written a few things on my personal blog about the GAB’s authority and duty to conduct a more thorough review of recall petitions than it apparently intends to conduct. Last Thursday, Judge Mac Davis ordered a more extensive review. Ed Fallone thinks that the judge got it wrong. I disagree. Here’s why.

Ed argues that “there are no explicit provisions in the statutes that direct the GAB to look for and eliminate duplicate, fictitious or unrecognizable signatures. Just a direction not to count signatures that are insufficient under Section 9.10(2)(e).”

I see two problems with this statement. First, the GAB’s obligation upon the filing of a petition is not limited to the elimination of signatures for the reasons set forth in § 9.10(2)(e). To the contrary, the obligation imposed on GAB is to “determine by careful examination whether the petition on its face is sufficient.” Wis. Stat. § 9.10(3)(b). Whatever that duty is, it is nowhere limited by § 9.10(2)(e). Second, as we will see, even if it is so limited, § 9.10(2)(e) does not relieve GAB of the obligation to do what Judge Davis ordered it to do.

So what does this duty of “careful examination” entail?

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