Johnson-Barnes clash; Gableman fired; Tim Michels skips big dinner

Johnson-Barnes clash

It's not even Labor Day and the gloves are already off in the race between Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.

In separate interviews with the Journal Sentinel, the two men wasted little time in going on the attack.

Barnes charged that Johnson is extreme on rhetoric and policy, asserting the senator has threatened Social Security, helped large companies ship jobs overseas and worked to get a tax provision passed to help his donors — all claims Johnson has vigorously denied.

"The dude says wacky stuff all the time," Barnes said. "And I feel like we've gotten used to it, unfortunately."

Johnson claimed, "I'm not extreme at all." He said Barnes "is extreme, but the problem is so much of his extremism has been normalized, has been accepted by the media."

There's quite a bit of back-and-forth and you can read the article here.

Gableman fired

It was the ultimate Friday news dump.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos fired Michael Gableman, ending a 2020 election review that's cost taxpayers more than $1 million and produced no evidence of fraud.

You could see the handwriting on the wall.

Molly Beck reports that Vos' decision to fire Gableman came a week after Trump announced to a Waukesha crowd that Gableman had turned on Vos and that Gableman, like Trump, had endorsed Vos' primary opponent Adam Steen.

Vos won last week's primary but only barely — defeating Steen by just 260 votes.

On election night, Vos called Gableman "an embarrassment."

Friday, Vos issued a statement and declared: "After having many members of our caucus reach out to me over the past several days, it is beyond clear to me that we only have one choice in this matter, and that's to close the Office of Special Counsel."

Here's a look at what happened with the investigation.

And finally, on Tuesday Vos said Gableman could lose his law license over his conduct during the taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election — but he stopped just short of calling for it.

"It's really a decision the courts have to make. I mean when you have a client and you decide to 'smerge' the very client that is paying you, I think that is the legal code or the legal ethics or whatever it is," Vos said. "But that's for somebody else to decide."

Tim Michels skips big dinner

The weekend after winning the Republican primary for governor, businessman Tim Michels kept a pretty low profile.

Corrinne Hess reports Michels was absent from Sunday's Dane County GOP Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner in Dane County during which other members of the statewide ticket spoke, including U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

To be fair, Michels put in an appearance with others at the Wisconsin State Fair, a day after the primary.

“Following a well fought primary, Tim has spent his time focusing on building the broadest and widest campaign for the general election by bringing people together, planning out strategies, and expanding staff," said campaign adviser Chris Walker.

"This week, Tim is traveling around the state with the other candidates with a singular, unified focus - beating Tony Evers.”

Ashanti Hamilton to lead Office of Violence Prevention

Big news from Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who appointed a one-time political rival with no public health background to lead the Office of Violence Prevention amid a historic wave of gun violence.

Ald. Ashanti Hamilton will take over for Arnitta Holliman, who was fired by Johnson after facing months of questions about the effectiveness of her office.

Holliman on Monday spoke out for the first time since losing her job, saying she had been unfairly maligned and calling her termination "unwarranted."

You can read the story here from reporters Alison Dirr, Mary Spicuzza and Elliot Hughes.

3rd Congressional District race

Lawrence Andrea takes a look at the big race in western Wisconsin, the battle to succeed U.S. Rep. Ron Kind representing the 3rd Congressional District.

Republicans are looking to flip the seat as Donald Trump-backed retired Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden takes on Democratic State Sen. Brad Pfaff.

Andrea focuses on the candidates, the political makeup of the district and some interesting ad numbers:

"The National Republican Congressional Committee has reserved a total of $2.16 million in ad buys in the La Crosse and Wausau media markets.

"The Congressional Leadership Fund, aligned with the House GOP leadership, reserved $722,700 worth of ads.

"House Majority PAC, Democrats’ largest outside group for congressional campaigns, reserved $1.68 million in TV and digital ads of their own — putting $780,000 into the La Crosse media market and $900,000 into Wausau."

You can read the article here.

Around the horn

Ron Johnson praises Racine County man who fraudulently sought absentee ballots to prove voter fraud.

Wisconsin Republicans delay response to Evers administration lawsuit challenging state's 1849 abortion law.

Milwaukee Common Council supports new juvenile prison on the city's northwest side to replace Lincoln Hills. In addition, state funding has been boosted for the Milwaukee County-run youth facility.

Evers administration changes direction after appointing convicted felon to juvenile justice group. Appointee faces a trial in new case.

Ron Johnson rips Biden border policies, claims southern border is "darn close to completely out of control."

About 30% of Wisconsin's monkeypox vaccine has been distributed.

Tweet of the week

Milwaukee Bucks executive and former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alex Lasry reacting to the big scheduling news from the NBA: "Election Day is a holiday in the NBA."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Johnson-Barnes clash; Gableman fired; Tim Michels skips big dinner;