Commissioner Dean Knudson
In a somewhat surprising move, WEC Commissioner Dean Knudson resigned from the Wisconsin Elections Commission, claiming that he can no longer serve effectively because he has become cast as a RINO (Republican in Name Only) and that he cannot represent a party in which many members believe the 2020 election was rigged. Knudson stated "I cannot be effective in my role representing Republicans on the commission." He also asked that the election of new officers for the election be postponed in hopes that Robin Vos will quickly appoint another member to replace him on the commission.
Commissioner Robert Spindell, who has been campaigning to be the chair of the commission, spoke in favor of major changes in how elections are administrated, including major changes in election law. He believes the commission "needs to be transparent". Spindell then essentially made a campaign speech to be made the chair.
Note that in the current structure of the WEC the chair of the commission must alternate between Democrat and Republican Anne Jacobs (D) is currently the chair so one of the Republican members must be elected. He called for holding the election today. After some discussion, the commission voted 5-1 to postpone the officer elections until June 10 with Robert Spindell accessing via Zoom from his vacation.
Memberships
Ethics Commissioner Kinney resigns
Only a few months after the creation of the state Ethics Commission, one of the commisioners has resigned, expressing serious concerns about transparency in the behavior of the commission and the ability of the commission to actually enforce ethics on state politicians.
Commissioner Rober Kinney resigned, apparenlty partly due to the inabilit of the commission to take action on an ethics complaint filed by the Democrats against the Republican Assembly Campaing Committee for not filing proper accounting of their fundraising and expenditures. Kinney was also unhappy the the commission could not vote to keep themselves from making political contributions. Many have felt that the splitting of the former GAB into two commissions was a mistake, particularly since it was structured to make it difficult for either of the two new bodies to make decisions. More on this story later.
Steve is a member of LION Publishers , the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce, the Online News Association, and the Local Media Consortium, and is active in Health Dunn Right.
He has been a computer guy most of his life but has published a political blog, a discussion website, and now Eye On Dunn County.
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