by Mike Hall, May 4, 2011
In a race that centered on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) attack on the rights of public employees to bargain for middle-class jobs, Democratic state Assembly candidate Steve Doyle easily won a seat that had been held by Republicans for 16 years.
In a special election to replace the previous assembly member whom Walker tapped for a top job in his administration, Doyle won 54 percent to 46 percent over Walker-backed candidate John Lautz.
The La Crosse Tribune reports that Doyle won despite:
a barrage of television and radio attacks by third-party groups, along with mailings from the Jobs First Coalition, a Brookfield, Wis.-based group tied to Scott Jensen, the former Republican state Assembly speaker who left office in 2002 amid misconduct allegations.
Before leaving to become Walker’s second-in-command, Rep. Mike Huebsch (R) held the longtime safe Republican seat since 2000 and won his six elections by an average of nearly 20 percentage points. This is just the latest backlash against Walker and his elimination of collective bargaining rights for teachers, nurses and other public service workers.
In April, Walker’s hand-picked successor to take his place as Milwaukee County executive, Rep. Jeff Stone (R), was trounced by Chris Abele (D) 61 percent to 39 percent. Abele was never shy about proclaiming, “I believe in collective bargaining for all workers.”
Meanwhile, six Republican state senators who voted for Walker’s bill to take away the rights of workers to bargain for a better life face recall elections. In each district, activists mobilized soon after the vote and quickly collected far more than the required number of signatures to trigger the recalls.
