Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top elections official whose fate now is before the courts, says she’ll be at work today as she vows to stay on the job despite Senate Republicans voting to fire her.
“There has been this effort to bully us, to harass us, to try to get us to give in to political pressure, and I will not do that,” Wolfe said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “I think it would set a dangerous precedent that says if you bully and harass an election official enough, they’ll just leave.”
Republicans in the state Senate voted along party lines to reject confirming Wolfe to a second term as administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Immediately after, Dem AG Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit asking a Dane County judge to keep Wolfe in her post.
“I will accept the court’s final determination on this matter, whether it means I stay in this role or not,” Wolfe said. “I will accept the determination.”
Several Republican lawmakers criticized Wolfe for not attending her confirmation hearing in the Senate elections committee, a decision Wolfe said was based on legal advice from Kaul and the Wisconsin Legislative Council.
“I don’t regret the decision,” Wolfe said. “I do regret — no, regret is not the right word. I do understand the point about having the opportunity to tell the story about the good work that happens at the commission.”
— Former GOP State Sen. Kathy Bernier, who chaired the Senate Elections Committee and now leads the Wisconsin chapter of Keep Our Republic, told ‘UpFront’ she likely would’ve voted to confirm Wolfe.
“I’m not even sure, I don’t think I would,” Bernier said of rejecting Wolfe’s nomination. “However, talking to a couple of my former colleagues, they really honed in on that Legislative Audit Bureau report where there was a significant dissatisfaction with how she was running the agency as a whole. It’s also political. We have a certain far-left, far-right group of people in both parties that have a lot of influence, probably more influence than they should.”
Kaul says the lawsuit involving Wolfe could make it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“I think it’s possible that it will,” Kaul told the show. “I think what the Senate did here is clearly inconsistent with Wisconsin law.”
The case has been assigned to Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ann Peacock, who was recently appointed to the bench by Dem Gov. Tony Evers and previously worked at the Department of Justice.
“I’m confident that Judge Peacock, like any judge, will review the law and make a decision about how she should proceed with the case based on the facts and the law,” Kaul said.
Kaul also weighed in on Planned Parenthood’s decision to resume abortions in Milwaukee and Madison today as the challenge to the state’s 1849 law is ongoing.
“We don’t provide legal advice to private entities,” Kaul said, referring to Planned Parenthood’s decision. “We certainly have been in communication with a number of folks as the litigation has been going on, but ultimately, legal decisions that private entities make are their own decisions to make.”
Also on the show, Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says she’s working to rebuild trust in the agency as federal health officials issue new recommendations on the COVID-19 shot.
“Well, it starts here,” Cohen said. “We want folks to understand the data and the science that goes into these important decisions. We want to know the extensive way these have been reviewed.”
Cohen was recently appointed to the post by President Biden, but the job will require Senate confirmation beginning in January 2025.
“Well, look, it was nice this time for me to get started right away into the job, but I look forward to making sure I can build relationships on the Hill even though there wasn’t a confirmation process going forward,” Cohen said. “Looking forward to doing that.”
See more from the show here.
