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Protest Republicans Fall on Primary Day
Six Wisconsin Democrats, including La Crosse state rep, Jennifer Shilling, will advance to take on incumbent Republican state senators targeted for recall after they supported Gov. Scott Walker's divisive proposal taking away union rights from public workers.
All six Democrats prevailed Tuesday in primaries against candidates put on the ballot by the Republican Party. Those fake Democrats ran in order to delay the general election for the incumbents until Aug. 9.
Democrats decried the tactic, saying it would confuse voters.
But five of the six real Democratic candidates won with at least 65 percent of the vote. A sixth won with 54 percent in a hotly contested district in western Wisconsin that's attracted a lot of outside spending for the general election.
Democrats need to pick up three seats to win majority of control of the Senate.
Shilling Stop At Sauber Questioned On Election DayJennifer Shilling may have picked a bad time to visit residents at one senior high-rise in La Crosse. The city clerk's office got a complaint about Representative Shilling, a candidate in today's Senate recall primary, stopping at Sauber Manor, which is the polling place for La Crosse's 3rd District on the north side. Clerk Teri Lehrke says the chief election inspector found that Shilling was NOT in the room where voting is taking place, so there was no apparent breach of election rules. However, Lehrke tells us that candidates should avoid being at polling places on election day, unless the candidate is actually voting. Buoys Missing, No Wake Rules Still in PlaceYes, the no wake zones in the Mississippi at the city of La Crosse are still in effect. There's just no buoys that say so. The buoys typically bob around in the water in front of Riverside Park and farther south to where the no wake zone starts at the northern tip of Houska Park. The Harbor Commission is in charge of putting the buoys out but hasn't yet. Apparently the high water levels in the first part of this boating season has delayed the buoy placement. We're told those buoys and others in the Black River could finally be in place by sometime this week Lobby Hours Cut at La Crosse PDMoney's tight and getting tighter in the city of La Crosse. Latest indication of that; the police department is cutting hours at its walk-up lobby area in city hall by more than half. Starting this week, the lobby will close at six and re-open at six in the morning. The lobby will also be closed on week-ends and holidays. Police chief Ed Kondracki says, the change is being made in order to meet increased demand for other services with fewer resources. Recall Election in 32nd Turning into Big Money AffairThe senate recall elections in Wisconsin were expected to be big money affairs and they certainly haven't disappointed. Nine state senators in all face recalls this summer. Fallout from the spring fight over collective bargaining in Madison. La Crosse's Dan Kapanke is one of the half dozen republican senators who will be on recall ballots next month. Campaign finance reports due Monday show that Kapanke has raised over $700 thousand this year and spent all but a hundred thousand of that to defend his seat. Democratic state rep Jennifer Shilling, meanwhile, has raised over a quarter million dollars to try and unseat Kapanke. |



