It just keeps getting better. After news broke yesterday that Republican Wisconsin State Senator Dan Kapanke had been secretly recorded speaking to the La Crosse County GOP on May 25th about his hopes that all the state workers in La Crosse would be sleeping instead of voting during his recall election, new audio from that same meeting has emerged.
Before Kapanke's arrival at the GOP's general membership meeting held in Onalaska, Wisconsin, the Republicans discussed their efforts to find and run a "spoiler" candidate against Democrat Jennifer Shilling, the only Democrat to have thrown her hat into the ring against Kapanke. The La Crosse Tribune was forwarded more audio secretly obtained during that meeting. According to the article in this morning's edition,
"On the recording obtained by the Tribune, party vice chairman Julian Bradley says he just spoke with Mark Jefferson, executive director of the state GOP, and '"we are actively keeping our ears to the ground and if anybody knows anybody for a candidate that would be interested on the Democratic side in running in the primary against Jennifer Shilling…. So if anybody knows any Democrats who would be interested, please let us know.'"Jefferson went on to explain that a spoiler would force the Democratic Party to spend more money as more than one candidate would necessitate a run-off primary between the two Democrats. That would also push back the recall election by about a month, giving Kapanke more time to campaign. Not surprisingly, the article notes that
"Bradley, a former candidate for state Assembly and the La Crosse Common Council, did not return multiple voice and email messages Tuesday and Wednesday."This part of the meeting apparently occurred before Dan Kapanke's arrival - luckily for him. Kapanke's campaign manager denied any knowledge of the plan or discussion.
The Chairman of the La Crosse County Republican Party, Bill Feehan, was not at the meeting either, and denied any knowledge of the scheme.
"'There’s nothing official to it,' Feehan said. 'I’m sure that people would like to see a contested primary for the Democrats. I’m sure there are people who recognize that would be beneficial (for Kapanke).'"I think the Republicans are worried.
