« Reading, Educator Effectiveness Legislation Passes | Home | DOR Confirms Applicable CPI-U »
Galloway Resignation Ends GOP Senate Majority
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 19, 2012
From WisPolitics . . .
Sen. Pam Galloway’s decision to resign from her Senate seat has largely dashed what little hopes remained on mining legislation, split control of the state Senate for the first time in more than 15 years and created a new dynamic in the coming recall elections this summer.
The Wausau Republican’s resignation also wipes out — at least for now — a GOP Senate majority that was built in 2010 with hundreds of thousands of dollars in TV ads alone by outside groups and then defended with millions more in last summer’s recall elections.
What was a 19-14 majority just 14 months ago has now slipped to 16-16, and insiders say Dem hopes of retaking the Senate in the four recall elections expected this summer have likely been given a boost with an open seat rather than facing an incumbent.
State election officials said her resignation does not impact the expected recall election for the 29th SD this summer other than leaving Republicans to find another candidate.
Dem Rep. Donna Seidel, who previously announced plans to challenge Galloway, said today’s news does not impact her decision. On the GOP side, the attention immediately focused on Reps. Jerry Petrowski of Marathon and Mary Williams of Medford, who hold the other two Assembly seats in the Senate district.
Petrowski, who was elected to the Assembly in 1998, said it’s “no secret” that he’s had an interest in the 29th SD for some time now, but that he’ll have to give thought to how large the time commitment would be. Petrowski said he likes being able to attend local meetings in his Assembly district and that the size of the Senate district gives him pause in that respect.
Much of the Senate district is centered on Wausau and Mosinee, but the portion that includes Williams’ district heads north and west into Price, Taylor, Rusk and Sawyer counties.
“My first plan is to go and sit down with my wife and discuss this with her before I make any decision,” Petrowski said. He also said that the recall dynamics of the race don’t faze him at all, stating, “It’s a challenge any time you run for office.” Williams said that while she would leave the door open for a run, she noted that she could have run for the seat in 2010 and chose not to. “I truly love my job in the Assembly, and while I’ll certainly give it some thought, I won’t be thinking too hard about it,” Williams said. Insiders note the issues in a race pitting Seidel against Petrowski or Williams likely would be no different than if Galloway were on the ballot because all three Republicans largely support Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda, including components such as the collective bargaining changes.
“I’m running because people throughout the district have convinced me that they want change in direction in Wisconsin and they want someone representing them that shares their values of maintaining quality public education, making sure everyone has access to our quality health care and returning to a Wisconsin with a reputation of clean, transparent, open government that we’ve had in the past,” Seidel said today.
One GOP Senate source said one of the main differences between having Galloway on the ballot instead of possibly Petrowski or Williams is a tradeoff of money vs. name ID. Galloway, who has not lived long in the district, reported $134,874 in her campaign account at the end of January. But insiders had considered her name ID one of her main weaknesses going into the fall election. She was swept into office in the 2010 GOP wave, aided by a series of ads that hammered away on former Dem Sen. Russ Decker.
Petrowski, in contrast, was first elected to the Assembly in 1998 and is a native of the area, as is Williams, who won her Assembly seat in 2002. Petrowski reported $22,044 cash on hand at the end of 2011, while Williams had $10,352 in the bank. Seidel reported $26,629, but has been actively fundraising for the Senate race since her announcement. “It’s a very crunched timeline to raise the dollars under the limits,” the Senate GOP source said. “They don’t have unlimited fundraising.”
Galloway could give either Republican a boost with her leftover campaign cash. According to the GAB, Galloway has several options with the money, though she must either return or give to charity any recall donations she received above the normal contribution limits. For the rest, she can make donations to other candidates under the normal state limits on PAC donations, return it to donors or donate it to charity.
A Senate Dem cautioned neither Petrowski nor Williams have run district-wide before. So while they have deeper roots in the district, they still face the challenge of building their name ID in the other two-thirds of the Senate district. What’s more, the Dem predicted Seidel would outwork either Petrowski or Williams and pointed out the two Republicans only have 11 weeks to build their warchests — assuming Republicans run “fake” or “protest” Dems in the expected May 8 primaries to ensure their candidates are on the general election ballot the same day as Gov. Walker on June 5.
Dems are also expected to again make an issue of Republicans running their own candidates in the Dem primaries to push back the general elections, likely to charge it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars and deceitful. “Either one of them have the same record of job loss and supporting the Walker agenda, and that’s exactly why Pam Galloway was recalled, and they supported that exact same agenda,” the Senate Dem said of Petrowski and Williams. “I don’t think any of them would be any stronger than Pam because they have the same record that Pam has.”
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Comments are closed.