Elections for vacant seats could have taken place weeks ago says Bowen.

MADISON – This morning, after a third judge repudiated Governor Walker’s effort to ignore his legal obligation to call special elections in vacant districts, Republicans officially dropped plans for an extraordinary session to keep 200,000 Wisconsin taxpayers without representation. Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) issued the following statement:

“The governor and Republican leaders are calling these elections ‘too expensive’ and ‘meaningless,’ yet the governor easily could have put these elections on the same schedule as he did the special election for the 10th Senate District, which took place two months after the seat became vacant,” said Bowen. “Fearing another rejection at the polls, the governor placed a bet that he could convince conservative judges to let him get away with violating his legal obligation, but even his allies on the bench rejected this abuse of power.

“Today marks three months since SD-1 and AD-42 became vacant, and citizens of those districts must now wait until June 12 – nearly half a year – to have representation again,” said Bowen. “That is the real cost of Governor Walker neglecting to do his job.”

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