Madison – State Representative Janel Brandtjen (R- Menomonee Falls) issued the following statement regarding Speaker Vos’ continued defense of the Wisconsin Elections Commission:
“Speaker Vos recently referred to me as ‘going rogue.’ Why doesn’t he have words for the lawless Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC)?
Where is talk of a rogue agency when it comes to the fact that WEC that sued him, Justice Gableman and myself? Have I misunderstood my role as a legislator in that agencies can now sue their creators?
Why didn’t Vos call a caucus when WEC blatantly told clerks to cure ballots after the legislature voted down that emergency rule? These were the same illegal instructions WEC used in the 2020 election.
WEC has refused to remove wards under guardianship, or non-citizens from the WisVote database. Again, no talk of a rogue agency, even though it’s required by law.
Speaker Vos tries to soothe voters by saying new election bills will solve election integrity issues. WEC, formed by the legislature, regularly acts beyond the law and puts our elections at risk. Both the LAB report and Justice Gableman’s report determined how lawless WEC acted. We don’t need more laws that WEC can ignore; we need more oversight, which is the job of the legislature.
The real use of the word ‘rogue’ should be applied to what we uncovered in the 2020 election. Citizens were never supposed to know how lawless WEC had become. Right now, WEC refuses to report when the FIDO keys are used to change active to inactive voters, or let us see the private data sent monthly from WEC to the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). Not to worry, Administrator Wolfe is the President of ERIC, so no rogue conflict there.
WEC is a lawless agency that consistently pretends its guidance is law, just as the ruling that ballot boxes were illegal. The list of WEC’s law violations is so long and embarrassing that the Speaker had to fire Justice Gableman, and has refused to talk to me for months.
The Republic is under assault. The Assembly can caucus to finally address election integrity or pretend everything is awesome. God save Wisconsin.”
