Immediately after the April 5, 2011, judicial election, liberal Madison attorney JoAnne Kloppenburg was ahead of conservative incumbent David Prosser by 204 votes. That was according to the only available statewide vote tallies – unofficial ones collected by the Associated Press.
A few weeks later, about 7,381 votes were found that had not been sent to AP from Waukesha County, near Milwaukee. That find put Prosser ahead by about 7,000 votes. State officials certified this margin.
Kloppenburg demanded a statewide recount, which failed to uncover any substantial errors in election tallying, not even in Waukesha County. May 31 was the deadline for Kloppenburg to file a court challenge to the election results. She announced today there would be no legal basis for any litigation.
The following statement by Maureen Martin – a legal expert at The Heartland Institute and resident of Green Lake, Wisconsin – may be used for attribution. For further comments, refer to the contact information below.
“JoAnne Kloppenburg did the right thing today in conceding her loss to David Prosser. Her concession nevertheless is the ultimate in hypocrisy.
“Kloppenburg said, as a lawyer and officer of the court, a lawsuit challenging the election results was not warranted by the recount. But she couldn’t resist one last low blow: She’s demanding an investigation by state election officials into ‘irregularities and anomalies’ in the election process. This investigation is required so that Wisconsin voters can have confidence ‘in the integrity of the election process in Wisconsin.’
“If the Wisconsin election process is so flawed we should spend more taxpayer money, beyond the cost of the recount, then why didn’t Kloppenburg go to court herself at her expense, and prove her point with her own money, not taxpayer funds? The time finally came when Kloppenburg had to put up or shut up. At long last, she’s finally shut up.”
Maureen Martin
Senior Fellow for Legal Affairs
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
920/ 295-6032
The Heartland Institute is a 27-year-old national nonprofit organization with offices in Chicago and Washington, DC. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.heartland.org or call 312/377-4000.
