Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial clown show: Announced candidates endorse GUNS GUNS AND MORE GUN platform

Headline:  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4/12/21022

The candidates' support comes as most Wisconsinites — 76% — oppose the idea of removing concealed carry permits, according to 2021 polling by the Marquette University Law School, and goes further than desired by Republican leaders of the state Legislature.  [emphasis added]

 

4/9/2022 update, " Doin' the Mar-a Lago Grovel", starts here.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4/8/2022

3/30/2022 update starts here

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/29/2022

Kevin Nicholson, a U.S. Marine veteran and Pewaukee business consultant, said reducing time and pay for lawmakers would focus the Legislature's work and attract newcomers with full-time jobs while saving money. 

"It's for more than just the financial purpose. It's also to say, let's free this up so that more people can serve," Nicholson said in a recent interview.

If Nicholson is truly serious about this proposal, which he is not, he should also promote campaign finance reform, a companion recommendation to limit the amount of money that can be raised when running for office.  Not to mention shorter campaign periods, which would serve to limit the need for barrels of cash.

Right now, Kevin, who can afford to run for state office?  Only candidates with substantial personal wealth or those who have the time and inclination to raise big bucks.

2/14/2022 update, "Officially, it's now a trio", starts here.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/12/2022

It's dim time!

The Campbellsport Republican brought election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell to a high school auditorium to make his pitch to voters, an argument that relies on the impossible and illegal endeavor of revoking Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes for President Joe Biden. 

His campaign was born out of ostracization, Ramthun told a packed high school auditorium — a last resort after his Republican colleagues in the Wisconsin State Capitol rebuffed his repeated calls to overturn the last presidential election. 

"I need to exhaust all options to address the November 2020 election," Ramthun said from a lectern decorated with the green, yellow and white logo of Kewaskum High School, where Ramthun played basketball about four decades ago. 

"Right person. Right role. Right time. It's Tim time.”

2/10/2022 update starts here

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/9/2022

A new campaign website says Rep. Timothy Ramthun, a Republican from Campbellsport, is running on a platform of election scrutiny and is endorsed by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow executive who has heavily promoted baseless election conspiracy theories.

"I'm a servant of, by, and for the people who believes in truth, transparency, and integrity," says a message attributed to Ramthun on the website. "I will call for an independent full forensic physical cyber audit for the November 2022 election, beginning with my race regardless of its outcome," the campaign website says.

2/2/2022 update, "ALL ABOARD the anti-government insurrection train", starts here

Wisconsin Examiner, 1/31/2022

A number of Wisconsin Republicans running for office this year spoke in front of the flag of an anti-government ideology that advocates for the violent overthrow of American democracy at a meeting of the Winnebago County Republican Party this weekend. 

Gubernatorial candidates Rebecca Kleefisch and Kevin Nicholson, attorney general candidates Adam Jarchow and Eric Toney, lieutenant governor candidate and state Sen. Patrick Testin and U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman all spoke at the meeting on Saturday in front of the flag of the Three Percenters. 

Photos of the event posted to the party’s Facebook page have since been deleted.

Dear GOP.  Can you spell 'screenshot'?

2/1/2022 update, "ALL ABOARD the voter suppression train", starts here

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/1/2022

Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in a radio interview last week said she wants to dissolve the Wisconsin Elections Commission and hand over its duties to elected officials so voters have "one throat to choke" if something goes wrong. 

Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson expressed a similar view days later when he announced his plan to take on Kleefisch in the Republican primary for governor. He painted Kleefisch as part of the GOP establishment that created the commission under former Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 and attacked her for calling on Republicans last fall to engage in "ballot harvesting" to beat Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

It's called "Get Out the Vote" (GOTV) and it's a legitimate activity that terrifies Republicans.

1/28/2022 update starts here

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1/27/2022

Republican U.S. Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson launched a campaign for governor on Thursday that is as much against Wisconsin Republicans as it is about unseating Democratic incumbent Gov. Tony Evers. 

Nicholson, a former candidate for U.S. Senate, spent an hour with two conservative radio talk show hosts condemning the state's Republican "machine" and accusing his GOP primary opponent former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch of being a "broken record" who would continue a Democratic string of victories in statewide races. T 

he 44-year-old Delafield business consultant compared himself to former President Donald Trump in making his announcement, noting the state party he's at odds with in Wisconsin wouldn't support the former president in his first run either — instead throwing support behind U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz who ultimately won Wisconsin's 2016 GOP presidential primary.

Nicholson lost the 2018 GOP U.S. Senate primary to the Leahs, 48.9% to 43.1%.  (Votes:  217,230 to 191,276)

This one's gonna be nastier.