Wednesday, September 18, 2024
By Robert Cloud
The Waupaca County Republican Party filed an ethics complaint against state Rep. Kevin Petersen.
The Wisconsin Republican Party denies the validity of the complaint.
Petersen is an incumbent Republican who is currently running for the 57th Assembly District seat after redistricting moved him from the 40th Assembly District.
The county GOP has endorsed Petersen’s challenger in the Republican primary, Duane Wilson.
According to a press release from Joel Bartel, Waupaca County GOP chaIr, the state party has violated its own constitution by endorsing an Assembly candidate in a primary.
“The Republican State Constitution clearly states that only a county party can endorse state Assembly races,” Bartel said in the press release.
“After receiving numerous campaign flyers claiming the Republican Party of Wisconsin paid for the flyers, we felt we had to file the Ethics Complaint,” Bartel said.
The state GOP takes issue with Bartel’s claim.
“The Republican Party of Wisconsin does not endorse candidates in state legislative primaries and has not issued any such endorsement in the State Assembly primary for the 40th District,” according to Wisconsin Republican Party spokesperson, Matt Fisher,
“Furthermore, RPW leadership has explained to Mr. Bartel that in-kind mailers bearing the state party’s disclaimer do not constitute an endorsement by the RPW. Any such claims to the contrary are false,” Fisher said.
One mailer that was paid for by the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee in Madison claims Wilson is “a fake Trump supporter,” and accused him of posting derogatory comments about Trump and Trump voters on his Facebook page in 2016.
The county GOP filed its complaint with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission.
Wisconsin’s partisan primary is Tuesday, Aug. 13.
