Madison — A trial over Wisconsin’s voting laws kicked off Monday with a former aide to a Republican state senator testifying that GOP senators were “giddy” over the prospect the state’s 2011 voter ID law could keep some people from voting.
Todd Allbaugh, who worked at the time for then-Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center), said some senators expressed a lack of enthusiasm to take up the voter ID legislation early that year during a private meeting of Republicans. Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) then made the case for the bill, he testified.
“She got up out of her chair and hit her fist or her finger on the table and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to think about what this would mean for the neighborhoods around Milwaukee and the college campuses,'” Allbaugh said.
Schultz said they ought to consider what they would be doing to people’s ability to vote, according to Allbaugh. That elicited a response from Glenn Grothman, who at the time was a state senator and now is a member of Congress.
“Grothman said, ‘What I’m concerned about here is winning, and that’s what really matters here. … We better get this done quickly while we have the opportunity,'” Allbaugh said.
“I’ve characterized it as giddy and that’s part of what bothered me so much,” Allbaugh testified.
Allbaugh named two other senators — Leah Vukmir and Randy Hopper — as being gleeful over passing the bill.
“They were politically frothing at the mouth,” he said of Vukmir and Hopper, who lost a recall election a few months after the voter ID law passed.
Allbaugh said some Republican senators did not express a strong opinion on the bill and three — Rob Cowles, Neal Kedzie and Luther Olsen — were “ashen faced” over the prospect of taking up the voter ID bill. (Kedzie stepped down from the Senate in 2014.)
The excitement some had for passing the voter ID law prompted Allbaugh to decide to leave the Republican Party after being active in GOP politics his whole life, Allbaugh testified. Allbaugh did not mention that for years after that he continued to work for Schultz, who took increasing flak for opposing some Republican proposals and did not seek re-election in 2014.
Allbaugh first described the GOP meeting last month in a Facebook post and interviews with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other news outlets. But he went into more detail Monday by naming specific senators and their reactions.
After stories appeared about Allbaugh’s comments last month, Grothman contacted him. Grothman said he did not recall making the statements but did not dispute Allbaugh’s recollections, Allbaugh testified.
“He said, ‘Well, here’s the thing … I fundamentally believe Democrats cheat, OK? I do. And I don’t believe our side does,'” Allbaugh testified.
All Republicans, elected one’s and those who elect them, are fascist warmongers.
They do not believe in anyone’s freedom except their own.
Although they will howl in disagreement, what Republican’s really want is a corporate dictatorship where everyone is forced to attend a Christian church on Sunday and wear a black shirt on Monday.
Which is exactly the way Italy was run by Mussolini.
Again I ask, where’s the Department of Justice? Excuse me, the Department of Justus.
If Justice doesn’t do something now we will shortly see the return of white poll watchers brazenly challenging the ID of minority voters in Democratic precincts. “This isn’t you.”