Here & Now

Don Millis on the Political Campaign to Impeach Meagan Wolfe

Frederica Freyberg:

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says we should stop obsessing about Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. That’s even as fellow Republicans in the legislature continue to ramp up calls to impeach her. The elections commission chair Republican Don Millis is calling allegations against her a pack of lies and he’s angry newspapers and TV stations are making revenue of an advertisement showcasing those lies. Don Millis joins us now. Thanks very much for being here.

Don Millis:

My pleasure.

Frederica Freyberg:

Let’s hear a few seconds of that ad. It’s from the election denier who ran against Robin Vos.

TV announcer:

I am very worried about the fairness and security of our elections if Meagan Wolfe remains in charge of them.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the ad highlights what it says was her approval of illegal drop boxes, ballot harvesting and so called Zucker-bucks. Mr. Millis, why do you call these allegations out as demonstrably false?

Don Millis:

Well, with respect to the first two items, it wasn’t her choice. The election commission, unanimous bipartisan vote, approved the unstaffed drop boxes and also to the extent that ballot harvesting was permitted under that, it was part of the same thing. Administrator Wolfe was just carrying out those plans. With respect to the so-called Zucker-bucks, there’s nothing that state government could do because the courts have since determined that the local governments accepting those funds were perfectly legal. There was a lawsuit. The commission part of my — being on the commission voted to dismiss that complaint and that was confirmed. We know that because the legislature is now trying to amend the constitution to prohibit the use of such private funds, and I think there’s some merit to that, but blaming administrator Wolfe makes no sense because it wasn’t her call.

Frederica Freyberg:

So when you first saw this ad, what was your reaction?

Don Millis:

Well, I was surprised. I mean, you know, I’m not a journalist. I do have a journalism degree, and when I was in journalism school a long time ago, newspapers like the Milwaukee Journal, it was called the Journal then, were paragons of virtue. They never would have accepted ads like this. We’ve since seen that the media, when we have election deniers and when President Trump has made statements that the media believes are lies, they will run chyrons under his speeches, and all that and so it seems to be very hypocritical that the media would accept money and it’s certainly in the case of Journal Sentinel, run ads that they know are false because a month before they ran the ad, they had an article that pointed out that the allegations contained in that ad were false.

Frederica Freyberg:

Hmm. So meanwhile, the saga of trying to impeach Meagan Wolfe rolls on and ramps up. Do you want her to leave her post?

Don Millis:

I think at this point, you know, we’re getting on the eve of a very important and it’s going to be very contested election. I think that Speaker Vos has it right that this is not the time to be debating these issues. We have so many more important issues. The thing that’s frustrating to me is on Tuesday, the Assembly had, I think, a very good day. They voted on a number of things that would appeal to the base, that would appeal to independents, and the headlines were about impeaching Meagan Wolfe, when there’s just no chance that that’s going to happen because I don’t think there are enough votes in either house to accomplish that. And so it seems to me it’s a fool’s errand to go down that road because there simply are not the votes to do that, in my opinion.

Frederica Freyberg:

Would you replace her if it were not a fool’s errand?

Don Millis:

Well, you know, I think we have to think about — let’s put it this way. Politics is the art of the possible. I know that there are four votes on the commission to keep her, and so the only thing the commission could do right now, based on the court decisions, is that the commission could vote to remove her but you need four votes to do that. There are not four votes to do that. It doesn’t make sense to do that. It doesn’t make sense to change an administrator and go searching for a new administrator when, in 362 days or 361 days, we’re going to have an election that’s going to be pretty hotly contested in Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

If that vote were to come to pass on the commission, would you vote? Would you vote to replace her?

Don Millis:

I wouldn’t vote to replace her right now because I don’t think it makes sense to do so.

Frederica Freyberg:

But you might in the future?

Don Millis:

Well, you know, I’ve had discussions with administrator Wolfe about a variety of things. I think she’s generally doing a good job. I think the things that she has done are the things that have been said about her are totally false, but I’m not going to predict how things go in the future. A lot of this has to do with personal decisions that she has to make: the future of the staff and how do we build in a successor. I think it is important that in any agency like this that you have a plan for succession. I’ve had some private conversations with her about that. I’m not going to explo — I’m not going to divulge those, but right now, it makes no sense to talk about replacing her.

Frederica Freyberg:

Very briefly, how do you feel about Donald Trump reportedly pressuring Robin Vos to impeach Meagan Wolfe?

Don Millis:

Well, you know, again, I think that people are misled. If you really think that Meagan Wolfe was the reason why Donald Trump lost Wisconsin, then that’s just — that’s just — it’s just false. That’s not the reason why he didn’t prevail here. It had nothing to do with her. And so I don’t understand that. I think my guess is that he’s trying to appeal to a base so that he can continue to be in the news.

Frederica Freyberg:

Don Millis, thanks very much.

Don Millis:

Thank you.