Frederica Freyberg:

Lawsuits are flying fast and furious over new legislative boundaries drawn up and passed by the republican majority, and whether those new districts should be in place for any recall elections. This is what we take up in tonight's Capitol Insight for which we're joined by Wisconsin Public Radio's Shawn Johnson.  Hi, Shawn.

 

Shawn Johnson:

Hi, Fred.

 

Frederica Freyberg:

So lawsuits are pretty usual in redistricting, but this is not your typical lawsuit.

 

Shawn Johnson:

Definitely not, but before we get into that it helps to understand a little background. The republican majority in the legislature changed the district lines, as required every ten years when the population census comes out. The redistricting plan passed both houses and was signed by Governor Scott Walker. But the language of the law they passed said the new maps did not take effect for elections until the fall of 2012. Republicans hired private lawyers to help draft those maps. Now those same lawyers are challenging the effective date they helped write, arguing the new lines should be in effect for any recalls. Here's what partisans on both side said about the challenge. 

 

Bill McCoshen:

If recall organizers are able to get enough signatures for three additional republican state senators, obviously, they would have a stronger advantage if they could run on the new maps, which were passed last summer rather than the old maps.

 

Scot Ross:

It seems like just another power grab, just another situation where if the republicans don't like the rules, then they rewrite the rules. And when you want to talk about costs, I mean, how much more? You know, we're already spent upwards of a half million dollars on private law firms that the republicans contracted with to do redistricting, and now we're going to have to pay more because they don't like the law they passed?

 

Bill McCoshen:

For the first time in 30 years that the legislature has passed and the governor has signed a redistricting plan in Wisconsin, so yes, it's being challenged, but I think it will hold up in court and we're likely to see the new maps sooner rather than later.

 

Frederica Freyberg:

This court case does not affect efforts to recall the governor. But it could affect four senators being targeted for recalls. They are Van Wanggaard in the 21st District, Terry Moulton in the 23rd, Pam Galloway in the 29th and Scott Fitzgerald in the 13th. Now, in the first three, Wanggaard, Moulton and Galloway, the new lines represent a distinct advantage for the republican incumbents. Especially in Wanggaard's district, that removes the cities of Racine and Kenosha. The argument on the part of republicans suing to move up the date of the new maps is that the current maps are out of date and using them for recalls is unconstitutional. But as you know, we put that question to UW-Madison professor Barry Burden. He says this lawsuit is definitely unusual. And the constitutional issues aside, there's a reason that it's being brought. 

 

Barry Burden:

This is all the party politics. This is the republicans wanting to hold onto the majority in the State Senate, that’s already been chipped away. They lost two seats in the summer recalls. It's now 17-16. They only need to lose one more seat to really lose control of state government. 

 

Shawn Johnson:

Burden says it's hard to know what court will ultimately decide here since the rules for bringing these types of lawsuits have actually changed. And both parties are doing right now what's known as venue shopping. Republicans originally petitioned the state Supreme Court to take the case, and they withdrew that lawsuit. The GOP still has a lawsuit that they filed in republican friendly Waukesha County.

 

Frederica Freyberg:

They just withdraw that lawsuit at the Supreme Court today. That's raising some eyebrows and creating some questions as well. But as you say, that's still before the Waukesha County Circuit Court. Now, the democrats on the other side, have their own lawsuit going.  It is in federal court, and they are suing because they do want the new maps only in place in November, 2012 as was written in the original law. So, like we said, there are lawsuits flying back and forth in different jurisdictions, and now some being withdrawn out of some jurisdictions.

 

Shawn Johnson:

And you have people out there gathering signatures for potential recalls in these four state Senate districts right now. They need, at the low end, 15,000 signatures, at the upper end, about 17,000 signatures just to force an election. For the time being, it looks like the real action may be in the courtroom.

 

Frederica Freyberg:

And yet, we were talking about how if there are people out there right now gathering recall in these districts, presumably, they’re doing it under the old lines. If it changes in the courts, then it raises the question about whether or not some of these signatures would have to be thrown out or challenged, so it’s kind of messy right now all the way around.

 

Shawn Johnson:

It's very easy to see how what we’re talking about now, can morph into the next court case, because you know that any recall petitions are likely going to have some form of a legal challenge.

 

Frederica Freyberg:

Well, as you know, we’ll be watching it. Thanks, Shawn.

 

Shawn Johnson:

Thanks.