An appellate judge Wednesday became the third in a week to rule against Gov. Scott Walker’s attempt to hold off on two special elections, prompting Walker to abandon an attempt to take the issue to the state Supreme Court.
Walker is expected to order the special legislative elections by Thursday’s noon deadline set by a judge last week.
Walker and his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature this week have been advancing legislation that could avoid the special elections and they could still pursue that option — which would trigger a new court fight.
District 2 Court of Appeals Judge Paul Reilly in Waukesha left in place a lower court order that the GOP governor call the elections, rejecting Walker’s arguments that he needed an extra eight days to let the Legislature change the law and eliminate the need for the elections.
“We know of no law that allows us to disregard the (statute),” reads the order from Reilly, who was first elected to the appeals court in 2010.”Representative government and the election of our representatives are never ‘unnecessary,’ never a ‘waste of taxpayer resources,’ and the calling of the special elections are, as the governor acknowledges, his ‘obligation.’ “