Good morning. 
Veteran’s Day in Whitewater will see morning showers with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:43 AM and sunset 4:34 PM for 9h 51m 35s of daytime. The moon is in its first quarter with 49.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1918, Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne.
Patrick Marley and Bill Glauber report Ron Johnson calls for having Republican lawmakers take over federal elections in Wisconsin:
MADISON – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is calling on Wisconsin lawmakers to take over elections and tell local officials to ignore the work of the bipartisan Elections Commission they set up six years ago.
The Oshkosh Republican on Wednesday met privately for an hour with GOP legislative leaders in the state Capitol, less than two weeks after telling the Journal Sentinel in an interview that lawmakers should set aside the commission’s work. He repeatedly declined to say afterward whether he’d discussed his views on taking over elections, saying only that he had talked about many issues.
In the earlier interview, Johnson accused the state commission of “systematically” violating the law with the advice it gave to municipal clerks during the coronavirus pandemic last year.
He contended Republicans who control the Legislature could unilaterally take over federal elections and said Democratic Gov Tony Evers couldn’t stop them.
“There’s no mention of the governor in the Constitution” when it comes to running elections, Johnson said. “It says state legislatures, and so if I were running the joint —and I’m not — I would come out and I would just say, ‘We’re reclaiming our authority. Don’t listen to WEC anymore. Their guidances are null and void.'”
He added: “I think the state Legislature has to reassert, reclaim this authority over our election system.”
Attempting to overtake elections without the sign-off of Evers would all but guarantee a legal challenge. The Elections Commission was created by state law and the normal process for replacing it would be for legislators to pass legislation and the governor to sign it.
In the interview with the Journal Sentinel, Johnson focused on how he believed lawmakers could take control of federal elections, such as those for Congress and the presidency. He said the situation may be different for elections for state offices like the governor.
Johnson’s been plain that he may break his pledge to serve only two terms, but if he were confident of victory he wouldn’t need WISGOP control of federal elections in the state. The WISGOP created the bipartisan Elections Commission in 2015, but that creation isn’t enough for Johnson in 2022.
Ron Johnson wants it all: he wants an election he can’t lose.
[…] See also Ron Johnson Wants It All. […]
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