Documents show Republicans used redistricting to protect their own

Talk about it

Newly released documents show that Wisconsin legislative Republicans talked privately about using the redistricting process to keep GOP incumbents from losing elections.

Democrat Mark Miller asked for the documents after he became the Senate’s majority leader last month. Miller released the documents Tuesday.

Republican leaders have repeatedly said that political gain was not their main goal in redistricting, which is required every 10 years to make sure the districts have relatively equal populations.

But in one email, Senate Republican Leah Vukmir of Wauwatosa suggested that at least one Democratic area be taken out of her district.

Another report outlined how many districts would be safe for Republicans and Democrats, and how many could go either way at election time.

Legislative aide Tad Ottman told the Wisconsin State Journal the chart did not reflect the final breakdown.

Senate Republican leader Scott Fitzgerald said his goal was to re-draw the maps according to the constitutional requirements. He never said that considerations weren’t given to incumbents.

Assembly Finance Chair Robin Vos said his party’s leaders always admitted the maps could help the GOP, but only marginally.

Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca called the new documents a deceitful “smoking gun” which showed all of the GOP’s efforts were “political, partisan, and about protecting their power.”

The new districts will be used for the first time in the August 14 partisan primaries.

July was hot

July was a month for the record books. The National Weather Service said La Crosse had its warmest July ever with an average temperature of just under 80 degrees. That was one-tenth of a degree higher than the previous record of 79.5 set in 1936.

Milwaukee, Madison and Wausau all had their second-warmest Julys on record. Madison’s average temperature for the month was just above 79 degrees. Milwaukee averaged about 78.5. Wausau averaged 76.

Green Bay had its third-hottest July in history, with an average reading of 76. Packerland had 14 days of 90-plus temperatures last month, which broke a record set in 1921.

The average high in La Crosse was just over 91-degrees last month, and it got above 100 twice, on July 4 and 6.

Rainfall varied throughout Wisconsin. The Weather Service said La Crosse got just over 2 inches for the month, about 2.25 inches below normal. Forecasters predict highs in the 80s statewide on Wednesday. Clear to partly cloudy skies, are predicted, with a slight chance of rain.

Tags: news, wisconsin, politics