On the other side of the aisle, Democratic Senator Mark Spritzer calls it disingenuous
for Republicans to propose the plan after years of fighting non-partisan redistricting.
He joins us from Beloit and Senator, thanks very much for being here.
Thank you for having me.
So, is it not disingenuous for Democrats to now oppose this after calling for non-partisan
redistricting over the years yourselves?
No, we still support non-partisan redistricting.
In fact, non-partisan redistricting was the very first bill that I authored as a state
representative in 2015, and I still support it.
But there are some critical differences between what I've supported and the bill that Robin
Bosses proposing.
But also, the bill we've supported was never intended to fix an underlying Republican
gerrymander.
It was intended for the every decade redraw of maps after the census, and the bill that's
in front of us right now doesn't do anything to actually guarantee that we get rid of the
Republican gerrymander that we're currently stuck with, because if there were to be a
stalemate in drawing new maps, we would just default to the map we have right now.
After the census, you go to court because you have to redraw the maps.
Right now, we have a gerrymander that we need to make sure we get rid of, and this
bill doesn't do that.
So would you be at all in favor of any bill that would be coming out of the assembly
right now that dealt with some of these issues as this bill does?
I don't think this is a serious effort by Republicans.
I don't think Robin Bosses woke up Tuesday morning and decided that after more than a
decade, he suddenly supports getting rid of gerrymandering.
I think this is a ploy to try to keep his current gerrymander, but if we were looking
at something serious, it would have to start by making sure that the current map cannot
be used in any future elections, that the odd-numbered senators like myself would have
to run on the new map in 2024 and not wait until 2026, and you'd have to have some sort
of guarantee that you actually have a like a three-fourth supermajority that would be
enacting any maps that deviate from what LRB proposes on those first two attempts,
and the simply requiring bipartisanship, that could just be one legislator who either
decides to switch parties or one Democrat who decides to defect because they want a
safe district.
That's not what voters want.
Voters don't want individual legislators drawing districts and voting for maps that
will benefit them.
They want fair maps that are nonpartisan and that aren't drawn by politicians, and this
bill doesn't give us that.
Do you think Democrats could get to yes if, for example, that provision of the three-quarters
approval of members would be required to pass them?
You'd need the three-quarters, but as I said, you'd also need a guarantee that the
current map be thrown out and that the entire Senate have to run next year, and I don't
think that's something Republicans are going to be willing to do, because I think they
just want to keep their gerrymander maps.
So then possibly a rhetorical question.
How likely is it that the governor would sign this?
I don't think the governor will sign this.
I don't think Democrats are going to support this, because I don't think this is real.
I think this is an attempt to distract from Robin Voss' impeachment threats against
Janet Protisawitz, which essentially amount to extortion, because he's trying to influence
her action in a case that he's actually a party to through the legislature.
And I also think that it's an attempt to delay the lawsuit that is actually seeking
to throw out the current gerrymander, get fair maps in place for next year, and set a standard
constitutionally against partisan gerrymandering.
So I hope that lawsuit proceeds as quickly as possible.
Anything that tries to distract from that or delay it is a mistake and it's not going
to lead to fair maps.
So Speaker Voss says that he remains convinced that the reason Republicans win elections
is not because of the district maps, but because he says they have a better message,
better candidates, and a better organization.
What's your response to that?
That's simply not true.
When you look at where Governor Evers won districts, where Tammy Baldwin has won districts,
where Janet Protisawitz has won districts, even in landslides like Tammy Baldwin has won,
that would have barely gotten to a majority of legislative seats, and Tony Evers won
about the same number of districts as Democrats did while winning statewide.
So there's a clear disconnect between the legislative district map and how Democrats
perform in statewide elections.
The fact that we've been winning most of the statewide elections for years now means
that our ideas are popular and it's the legislative district maps that are keeping us from getting
anywhere near a majority in the state legislature.
What do you make of reports that Speaker Voss is seeking consult from former justices
on what it kind of takes to impeach a justice?
Well, clearly Speaker Voss is trying to stack the deck with conservative former justices
that he thinks will tell them what he wants to hear.
We certainly need to know who those three justices are besides David Prosser, who is
said he's part of that group.
And David Prosser is somebody who has taken Republican donations back when he was on
the court and didn't recuse himself.
He's somebody who donated to Janet Prosser to say what's his opponent.
So certainly if he were being honest here, he would say that she doesn't need to recuse
and that there are no grounds for impeachment.
But the fact that he just supported her opponent in April, I certainly don't know if that's
going to influence what advice he gives Robin Voss.
We only have about a half a minute left, but what's your comment on the Senate vote to
fire elections, Chief Meghan Wolf?
The Senate vote on Meghan Wolf has no legal force, as Josh called the Attorney General
is arguing in court right now.
Meghan Wolf is still the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and she
will be as long as the bipartisan commission wants her to there.
All right, Senator Mark Spitzer, thanks very much.
Thank you for having me.
You were great.
Thank you.
You got a lot of in.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, we'll see how this all goes.
All right.
And this airs tonight, then?
It does.
It's 730 on PBS Wisconsin.
Wonderful.
Well, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Have a good weekend.
Thanks.
Yeah, that'd be wonderful.
Okay.
Thanks.
You too.
Bye.