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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Will the Wisconsin GOP Kick Out Its Tea Party Supporters Tonight?

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  May 1st, 2012 at 09:26 PM  | 

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The Wisconsin Tea Party movement is not gelling to Tommy Thompson who presumed he would have an easy nomination to be Wisconsin’s next Republican Senator. Tea Party activists have rallied against him in Wisconsin and now the state party seems poised to shut out a group that has been so helpful in battling the recall efforts there.

According to several people I’ve spoken to on the ground there, the Wisconsin GOP is getting ready to disqualify hundreds of tea party activists as delegates to the state convention.

The GOP in Wisconsin changed its rules to make it easier for the party to endorse in primaries. One person tells me “it made sense for the establishment because typically 700 to 900 people go to the conventions and everyone knows everyone.” But then the Tea Party came to power and has flooded Wisconsin politics, driven, in part, by the union trying to roll back Scott Walker’s reforms.

This year, the Wisconsin GOP is on track for something like 2,000 delegates, which would be double the largest state convention. The majority of those are opposed to Tommy Thompson.

Asa result, the GOP “Credentials Committee” met and tried to disqualify new delegates who signed up after county caucuses (signing up after the county caucuses is permissible under Article XIII VIII, Section 4 of the Wisconsin GOP’s constitution [Editorial Note: Thanks to those who pointed out the typo. it is Article VIII, not Article XIII]). The motion was defeated 7 to 5 with 4 absences. Now the state GOP wants to re-fight this fight tonight and get the 4 absentee committeemen to show up.

The fallout to this could be huge with the Wisconsin GOP burning bridges to a core group of tea party activists who’ve poured a lot of energy into defending GOP gains. To save Tommy Thompson, the Wisconsin GOP just might be throwing everyone else overboard.

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  • jdaman

    More moderates trying to protect the incumbent instead of allowing a primary that could remove their old buddy from power.
    This is especially dumb of the GOP establishment given how much the Tea Party has benefited Scott Walker and his team, is the Wisconsin GOP trying to offend the Tea Party enough so that a Democrat wins the Governorship or are they just stupid?

  • Stinger808

    “We must destroy the Republican Party in order to save it (for ourselves).”

  • Wubbies World

    … control of the power and the money and they will destroy this country to secure it.

    Back in the Pre-Newt days of the party, they were content to submit to permanent minority status so long as they got invites to the cocktail parties and tee times with Top O’Neil. They will commit party suicide to return to those glory days.

    They will stop at nothing to retain power. They are doing it in South Carolina and now in Wisconsin. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

    It makes me furious and sick all at the same time.

  • lakesuperiorguy

    And endorse the other. Since Neumann has been endorsed by the CFG, I’d favor Fitzgerald dropping out and running for something else in a few years. The only thing having both of them in the primary is going to do is give the election to Tommy Thompson.

    Shame on the old boys club in the Wisconsin GOP. Either Neumann or Fitzgerald would beat Baldwin regardless of the polls right now. After Walker wins by double digits in the summer, the Dems aren’t going to show up in Nov like they would otherwise.

  • lerm

    The republican establishment must be brought to heel. It would really be a good time to start thinking about what were going to do about the Trent Lotts in the republican party.

  • altexas

    and generally find unions to be destructive. For those that object, show me an industry unions actually conceived, designed and constructed.

    On the subject, the GOP is in part abiding to unions and bends too often to socialism and socialist practices. The Tea Party is too young in itself and too diversified to be criticized as a whole. It can be said, the Tea party conducts itself with more decorum and civility than any political party ever has. Maybe because it is not a political party. The Tea Party was a spontaneous response to the socialist domination of Washington D.C. during the first two years of Obama’s regime.

    The members of the Tea Party, like the members of the previously termed ‘moral majority’ are still here. In fact, they represent the majority of America who tend to there own affairs and care little for what Washington bureaucrats do or think. That is a fault but in the free minds of middle America, free men rule.

    Washington remains a burdensome necessity, which should be usually ignored. It is not reality

  • zachv

    Depressing. There’s absolutely nothing online about this!

  • zachv

    I know this is horrible to say of him, but he’s good. We need Scott to stay in Wisconsin and lead on the state level.

    What’s your take on Hovde? I was approached the other day to sign his nomination papers.

  • http://www.rightspeak.net/search/label/-Right%20Wingnut rightwingnut2

    ….supporters, you can pretty much write of Wisconsin in November. Do these idiots understand that?

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    I’ve seen polls that show Thompson leading in the primary and being the top vote getter vs Baldwin.

    Is this another case of unneeded intraparty paranoid infighting, rather than focus on the main goal of getting leaders like Gov Walker to stay as Gov and winning in Nov?

    One thing that would be really abysmal: Ending up, at the end of this, with Obama winning WI electoral votes and tammy Bladwin being the new Senator there.

  • Change Jar Conservative

    Get their names and put them out there where conservatives can see their names and vote them out in the next state wide elections in the GOP.

    Until we force people like this out into the open, this is the kind of thing we will have to put up with.

  • zachv

    He’s got the lead in the polls, but I would only think that would be a recognition advantage. Neumann and Fitz are both former/current office holders, but given that Tommy was Governor of our state for fourteen years … it’s a name recognition problem. I say wait until all the fundraising numbers are released so that we can get a better picture of where it stands.

    Also, Governor Walker’s recall election is June 5th. If he survives, he’ll carry out the rest of his four year term which ends in 2014.

  • Tbone

    its establishment? I Thought Republicans were the good guys? Nope, to many power hungry politicians and party bureaucrats to let conservative principles get in the way of a good pay check and perks of being part of the American aristocracy of elected thieves.

  • acat

    (Cheshire grin)

  • Next93

    I can’t think of anything that would re-energize the TEA party nationwide more than “the establishment” successfully locking them out in Wisconsin in the middle of a pitched battle with the socialists in Madison. There’s already rumors of the old-boy network bending or re-writing the rules to lock out newcomers, and this would solidify the misgivings.

    If this becomes a fait acompli, expect the TEA party to become a true third party in the next cycle. And if that happens, the Republican party will join the Whigs in the dustbin of history (who’s going to vote for “democrat-lite” when they have real democrats and real conservatives to vote for?)

  • dave447

    Go ahead Repubs – block them out – set that fire and watch what happens. You’ll be the low 3rd party as the TEA Party rises – especially if such antics allows Obummer to win a 2nd term or the Senate to remain in Dem hands. Go ahead – shoot yourself in the head -

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    OMG, the whole state party should at DEFCON 1 to ensure that there is no possibility of Gov Walker falling to the Big Labor massive ($7 million warchest) campaign.

    Thank heavens the Dems got themselves into a primary fight, but seriously, there is little margin for error, and wasting time in intraparty fights is dumb in the extreme, both on the Tea Party and establishment side.

  • zachv

    But Walker’s got a double digit poll lead and has raised 7.5x times the combined donations that Falk/Barrett have received. Politicians will always have the ability to lose a race, but I have the suspicion that this has a lot more of a chance to turn out to be a comedy show played out by idiot liberals.

  • mikeymike143

    :)

  • lakesuperiorguy

    I don’t know much about him, but what I’ve read sounds good. But we can’t afford to be splitting the conservative vote. It’ll only help elect Tommy Thompson, who is a classic big government Republican that has ruined the brand.

  • nwbh

    I wish the party would not endorse in the primary in most cases. Especially in this case where we appear to have four qualified GOP candidates. I could conceivably vote for any of the four. Why not let the rank-and-file voters decide? The endorsement gives a huge advantage because they get access to all the party’s mailing lists, offices, etc.

    Part of the problem is that nobody in WI is paying attention to the U.S. Senate race (or presidential race) right now – it’s all recall. I expect this to heat up after the recall election.

    I like what I’m hearing from Eric Hovde, but I need to learn more about him. Jeff Fitgerald is running (not Scott) – he gave up his assembly seat to run and he’s a proven fighter in the legislature. Mark Neumann is certainly a solid conservative and has some recent name recognition due to his failed 2010 governor’s race. Tommy – I still could support him. Like others I’m concerned about his moderate tendencies and his age, but we can’t forget all the positive conservative impacts he had on our state during his time as governor. He was extremely popular at one time and even won Dane County (I can’t imagine a Republican doing so now). I always thought I could give Tommy the benefit of the doubt since his libertarian brother (Ed) would at least talk to him and maybe balance things out. But sadly, Ed is no longer with us.

    The bottom line is, remember 2010. Everybody thought that Feingold couldn’t be beat unless Tommy ran. When he didn’t run, we assumed Feingold would win since no other Republican would be strong enough to beat him. But then Ron Johnson entered the race starting with zero name recognition, and we all know the rest of the story.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    Entrenched party members who care only about keeping their cushy positions/getting more for themselves over the will of the people who are actively defending their cushy jobs versus even worse crooks getting over on them…
    The TEA party didn’t come into existence just because democrats are corrupt, it came about because both sides have their share of greedy professional kleptocrats who are running the country into the ground by design or by forfeit…

  • urbanpioneer

    It’s time for Fitz to forget ti and run against Tom Petri to his right. Hovde is beginning to build his brand ID, with lots of ads. Only to have him still polling in 4th place. I like his ideas, I just do not think he can out run Neumann. I agree splitting the TEA Party support between Neumann and Hovde will ensure a victory for Tommy Thompson.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    I hope you are right that Walker will win – it’s the most important race out there prior to Nov, sets up the whole election:
    “I have the suspicion that this has a lot more of a chance to turn out to be a comedy show played out by idiot liberals.”

    … just think that complacency is bad and misplaced intraparty squabbles are always destructive.

    Its seems the party could easily avoid trouble if they did NOT endorse and let the primary play out, letting the best candidate win.

  • checkmate2012

    I have searched the internet but can’t find out the results of last night’s GOP actions. Update from anyone please.

  • checkmate2012

    Please post an update. Thank you.

  • DVPTEXFLA

    In case the “leaders” of the Wisconsin GOP have not noticed there is a major recall election in a few weeks. I do believe that Mr. Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch would like to have the TEA party supporters being all in for them.

    This action by some on the Republican leadership would see suicidal, for Mr. Thonpson and Ms. Kleefisch, and certainly for Mr. Thompson, if he was actually wanting to win an election in November.

    Goal number one is winning the Walker recall. Goal two Winning the Kleefisch recall, goal number three…go back to goal number one and start over.

  • zachv

    I don’t know if I’m going to regret that or not, because we DO need someone who can beat both Tammy and Tommy. Splitting the conservative vote by nominating more conservatives is rather harmful self-inflictive move.

    However I am not sure I’m sold on the idea that we need to prevent conservative candidates from entering primary races and the sole reasoning being that it’d split the conservative vote. The quality of our politicians (wit, speaking, creativity, fundraising ability) does not necessarily correlate with ideology. You can have a conservative star politicians and you can have conservative boob politicians.

    Assuming Neumann and Hovde are 99% same positions, I personally would prefer elected conservative politicians that are leaders rather than focusing on which conservative politico filed first.

  • idonotrecall

    Congressman Petri is being challenged by the Tea Party this year! Wait and see if the establishment forces him to retire and throws someone else into the race, just so the Tea Party loses.