Assembly Republicans put forward impeachment articles for Wisconsin elections chief Meagan Wolfe
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MADISON – Five Republican members of the state Assembly have released articles of impeachment against Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe, the latest move by the GOP-controlled state Legislature to oust the nonpartisan elections chief from her job ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The lawmakers on Thursday put forward 15 articles of impeachment within a 23-page resolution. Many of the articles contain accusations that have been debunked or are based on decisions made by the bipartisan panel of commissioners who oversee Wolfe.
The Wisconsin Constitution allows lawmakers to remove state officials "for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors."
The proposal comes a week after Republicans in the state Senate voted to fire Wolfe from her job in a legally dubious move that is being challenged by Wolfe and the Democratic Attorney General in Dane County Circuit court.
It's unclear whether the impeachment proposal will advance. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos must assign the resolution containing the articles to a committee before the proceeding can begin. A spokeswoman for Vos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawmakers, Rep. Janel Brandtjen of Menomonee Falls, Rep. Scott Allen of Waukesha, Rep. Elijah Behnke of Oconto, Rep. Ty Bodden of Hilbert and Rep. Chuck Wichgers of Muskego, argued impeachment is warranted because Wolfe is challenging the Senate's action.
"This impeachment is proposed to save taxpayer funds and reaffirm the legislature's authority to remove an administrator who has failed to adhere to existing statutes," the lawmakers wrote in a memo to colleagues seeking support.
In a statement, Wolfe said the claims made in the impeachment articles "have been thoroughly examined through numerous audits, investigations, and lawsuits, and they have shown that Wisconsin's elections are run with integrity."
"No matter how many times some politicians misrepresent my actions and how this agency works, it does not make what they're saying true. Contrary to what's said in this resolution, every major decision relating to the 2020 presidential election was made by the agency's six bipartisan Commissioners in public meetings," Wolfe said.
"It's irresponsible for this group of politicians to willfully distort the truth when they've been provided the facts for years. These attempts, while unlikely to succeed, only serve as a distraction from the hard work election officials need to be doing to prepare for the next presidential election,” Wolfe said.
Vos suggested last week he supported Wolfe losing her job.
"I think if Meagan Wolfe stays there, it will be even more problematic for people to believe whatever occurs in 2024 is fair," Vos said on Sept. 14. "So for the good of the system, I think that we need to say that in any job, there is always more than one qualified person who could do it."
Last week, the state Senate in a party-line vote rejected the appointment of Wolfe, the nonpartisan leader of the state's elections agency who has become a target of those who harbor intense distrust of election officials amid a baseless campaign by former President Donald Trump to sow doubt in the legitimacy of his 2020 election loss.
Minutes after the vote, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit asking a judge to block Republican legislative leaders from appointing a new administrator and to declare Wolfe administrator, arguing the Senate did not have the power to oust her. Meanwhile, Wolfe said she would not leave her job until a court told her to do so.
"During my 12 years as a nonpartisan election official, I've learned when politicians on either side of the aisle are upset with me, it's usually because I will not bend to political pressure," Wolfe told reporters.
"It’s unfortunate that political pressures have forced a group of our lawmakers to embrace unfounded rumors about my leadership, my role on the commission and our system of elections."
Even though lawmakers voted Wolfe out, she plans to stay in her job as litigation swallows the issue for weeks or even months. That's because last week's proceeding isn't being recognized by Wolfe or many Democrats as legitimate because the Republican-controlled state Senate forced a vote on Wolfe's future even though the bipartisan elections commission charged with hiring her did not put forward a nomination of Wolfe to consider.
When Wolfe's term expired in June, the six members of the commission agreed Wolfe should stay in her job but failed to find consensus on how to respond to an effort by Senate Republicans to oust her.
Ultimately, the commission did not put forward the four votes required by law to reappoint Wolfe, with Democratic commissioners arguing a recent state Supreme Court ruling that allows such officials to stay in their positions beyond the expiration of their terms protects Wolfe's job. Senate Republicans decided to move forward anyway.
More: Elections chief Meagan Wolfe calls her position 'untenable' in commission's dispute with senators
Wolfe oversees a commission that has been under fire for three years because of false claims put forward by Trump to persuade supporters he actually won an election he lost and because of policies commissioners approved during the 2020 presidential election to navigate hurdles presented by the coronavirus pandemic.
President Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by about 21,000 votes — a result that has been confirmed by two recounts paid by Trump, state audits, a partisan review, a conservative study and multiple lawsuits.
But Trump has continued to lie about the result of Wisconsin's last presidential election, bolstering the beliefs of those who do not believe Biden is a legitimate president, many of whom have made Wolfe the symbol of the false claims because of her position at the elections commission.
At the same time, some Republican lawmakers have also targeted Wolfe because of actions the bipartisan panel of six commissioners voted to take during the coronavirus pandemic at a time when health officials were advising people to avoid crowds, and for some voting practices that have since been deemed illegal through lawsuits.
The commission mailed absentee ballot applications to all voters, advised local officials on how to make ballot drop boxes secure and set new policies for voting in nursing homes. State law requires clerks to send poll workers to nursing homes, but the commission told the clerks to send residents absentee ballots because nursing homes weren't allowing visitors during the pandemic. The decision also ensured there was enough time for ballots to be returned and counted.
Few Republicans criticized the commission's decisions when they made them but called out the agency after Biden's victory. Last year, amid heightened scrutiny of election guidance from the commission, drop box use was deemed illegal by a conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard, D-Madison, described the impeachment effort as being from "a gaggle of well-known election deniers."
“These shameless continued attacks on our election must stop," Agard said in a statement. "The 2020 election was accurately and justly decided. Wisconsin has accepted it, and I urge my Republican colleagues to do the same.”
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Republicans release impeachment articles against Meagan Wolfe
