This was expected when the Government Accountability Board ruled last week on 3 other recall petitions. But it is not good news given that anything can happen in a special election - and usually does.

JS Online:

State election officials on Tuesday approved recall elections against three Republican senators but put off decisions on certifying recall petitions against three Democrats.

That decision by the Government Accountability Board drew cries of partisanship from Republicans and set up the possibility that two sets of recall elections would be held a week apart, rather than all on the same day.

"This is an example of a supposedly neutral government agency acting in a blatantly partisan manner to further the objectives of a particular political party," said Dan Hunt, who led the effort to recall Sen. Bob Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie).

That charge from Hunt and other Republicans comes just four years after every GOP lawmaker in the state Legislature voted to create the accountability board in an attempt to put a nonpartisan agency in charge of elections.

Board attorney Shane Falk said the board has been working overtime to review all the recall petitions, with half a dozen board employees working on them over the Memorial Day weekend. But they have not had time to fully analyze the challenges to the recalls against Democrats, which are based on different arguments than the Republican challenges.

Similar challenges against 3 Democratic senators have yet to be adjudicated.

There certainly is the appearance of bias here with the announcement of the GOP recall elections before any ruling on the Democratic challenges. In fact, it is likely that this latest batch of 3 GOP senate recall elections will be held sometime after the original 3 races ruled on last week by the Board. And the Democratic recall elections - if any - will be held after all GOP races have been run.

This gives an unfair advantage to the Democrats and might present a situation where the senate changes hands back and forth - then back again - in a matter of weeks.

The GOP must win at least 4 of the 6 races to maintain control of the senate. They currently enjoy a 19-14 advantage. If they lose, a Democratic majority could try and repeal the government union reform law. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether to hear the case regarding the law's legality as it relates to Wisconsin's "open meetings" law on June 6.

Who needs the Koch brothers when you have unions pouring millions of dollars into a petition drive to punish legislators for doing their job while the opposition ran and hid in a neighboring state?