Republican AG candidate Schimel pronounces Waukesha County clean, not "Ground Zero" for Voter Fraud?

Wow, Brad Schimel's partisan aw shucks cluelessness is getting even more unsettling by the day.

It was a jaw dropping moment, and of course ignored by the media, even the Journal Sentinel who got the scoop. Schimel spouted what was clearly a race based, partisan centric comment about voter fraud.

Schimel: "As it turns out, we're not ground zero for voter fraud in Waukesha County."

After going on a rant about how hard it is to find fraud, and then prove it, this was said:

JS Reporter: "So you said Waukesha wasn't ground zero for voter ID and voter fraud, is there a ground zero for voter fraud?"

Schimel: "I don't know the answer to that, but I do know what happens in my county...we typically have a very large voter turnout in the big elections, and I think that helps."

But if you can't check and there's no real way to know...my head is hurting.

Lilly white Republican Waukesha County is clean. Why even look for fraud, when according to Schimel, so many other unspecified places are so questionable. He couldn't name them, but...well, you know where they are, right?

It wasn't so long ago ballot bags were found open in Waukesha County, late reported votes were counted, a private record keeping system based on "trust" was put in place by the areas star of incompetence, County Clerk Kathy Nicholaus. Click here for an entire history of stories Nicholaus generated over her botched handling of votes and elections in "clean" Waukesha County.  She even came back when she was reappointed temporarily to her old job as clerk last spring, even while running for board supervisor. You can't make this stuff up.

The Journal Sentinel editorial board didn't appear stunned by Schimel's over the top statement. Breathtaking:

Joe Leibham has his own Kathy Nicholaus in Sheboygan County?

I love seeing the candidates whine about dirty tricks and cheating in their own Republican primaries.

Guess we’ll never have the integrity we want, or the confidence we need in our elections. Sigh!

WSJ: Only 214 votes separate state Sens. Glenn Grothman and Joe Leibman … putting Grothman's initially-declared victory in doubt, unofficial election results show.

The Associated Press had called the race for Grothman on Tuesday night, but then uncalled it Wednesday after more votes came in for state Sen. Joe Leibham from “late-reporting Sheboygan County.”

It takes a while to rig an election you know. 

Free? Paid for by Taxpayers: Let’s see if Leibham will opt to save money for his constituents:

Any candidate can request a recount in Wisconsin. And the recount in the 6th District Congressional race would be free because the margin appears to be one-half a percentage point or less.

My God!!! She's Back, Waukesha's walking Disaster Kathy Nicholaus to oversee their upcoming Election Again!

Nothings ever too bizarre or completely irresponsible for conservative stronghold Waukesha. Is there no penalty for screwing up past elections? 

Remember this:

WISN: Former Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus drew statewide criticism for failing to include votes from Brookfield in a 2011 supreme court race that resulted in a recount.

Well, she was asked back by one crazy SOB, Republican Waukesha Supervisor Joe Banske:

Kathy Nickolaus has found herself in a new position as clerk-treasurer for the city … she is in charge of another election.

According to Banske:

"There is no question in my mind that Kathy has the skill set needed to execute a flawless election here in the town of Waukesha.”

And get this, Nicholaus will have an up close chance to watch the results of her own race for County Board. For someone in a party that hates government so much, she sure loves the benefits doled out to her by taxpayers:

The clerk-treasurer position is interim and ends May 1. Meanwhile, Nickolaus is also running for Waukesha County Board of Supervisor in the 2nd District. She will find out if she wins that seat April 1.

From WISN TV:

Kathy Nicholaus another Republican looking to freeload off the government ....

The Republicans Party is filled with "on the public dole" freeloaders. We might have another one.

The face of the taxpayer freeloader!!

Why do these enemies of government keep coming back to populate government?

Because they love being the biggest "unskilled" do nothing freeloaders sucking in taxpayer paychecks.

Kathy's history is a checkered one..here, here.

Waukesha's Kathy Nickolaus Typically Reckless Republican Loser: Incompetence cost Taxpayer $253,000.

Big surprise? We'll see if Republicans whine and complain about own $253,000 election mistakes:

jsonline: A consultant's report traces problems in reporting Waukesha County election results directly to mistakes by outgoing County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus - mistakes that will cost county taxpayers more than a quarter of a million dollars to fix. 

All this to keep Kathy Nickolaus in her job? Are we Mad?

What in gods name are we doing? All this from a Republican Party that whines incessantly about not being able to fire people...

As just another example of a freeloading elected Republican official, Nickolaus continues to complicate what other clerks have found to be a workable system. But check this out:

Republican Freeloader won't leave!

Waukesha Patch: Waukesha Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Gina Kozlik, who runs the elections for the city, brought up several issues with the procedure changes.

“Do I have concerns? Yes, I have a lot of concerns,” she said Tuesday. “Mainly, there is going to be a lot of municipal clerks that are signed onto the system. … We’ve experienced slowness in system. I am just concerned that it works.”

Testing the system, possible system failures, tabulating the vote counts, scheduling staff to have fresh eyes looking at the numbers and maintaining the integrity of all election materials in case of a recount are among Kozlik’s concerns.

In addition to uploading results directly to the state system, the municipal clerks are being asked to submit an election night report with vote counts to Waukesha County. The ballot tapes are also to be delivered to the Waukesha County Courthouse by 4 p.m. the day after the election. 

Waukesha Vote Counts to go Directly to State, bypassing Kathy Nickolaus?

Brad Blog just posted this interesting news out of Waukesha County:

Nickolaus' decision to temporarily hand over her duties to Waukesha's Deputy Clerk Kelly Yaeger for the two recall elections was prompted after calls for her resignation … Shortly after the latest mess, during an interview while we were guest hosting the Mike Malloy Show on April 6th, election integrity expert John Washburn of Wisconsin Fair Elections explained to us that Yaeger had been both hired and trained by Nickolaus herself.

Doh! Missed that one. So now there’s this report:

As reported by Sarah Millard of the Brookfield Patch ... It looks like the office of embattled Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus won't be able to bungle the counting of votes … That's because Waukesha County is now requiring municipalities with the capability to do so to submit the results directly to the state instead of first reporting them to the county. Votes will be entered directly into the state system by the municipal clerks, which eliminates the need for clerks or election workers to come to the county clerk’s office on election night. After the results are entered into the state system, clerks will sign a report and fax it to the county clerk’s office, according to an email sent by Deputy County Clerk Kelly Yaeger to area clerks. The county will still post unofficial results with the GAB, canvass the votes and perform all other duties under state law.

So we can rest easy now?

Curiously, Millard's article ends by noting that "A spokesman for the GAB said Friday evening that he was unaware of the changes."

Kathy Nickolaus so bad special protest held by Occupy!!

In keeping with the "freeloading off taxpayer money" lifestyle of our elected Republican officials, Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus only stepped aside, not down, from her disastrous on the job performance. Which just proves, no matter how bad you are, if you're a controlling conservative freak, your job is safe.

From the Waukesha Patch, these classically dry, creative liberal protesters...in pictures:

About a dozen (really about 25) Occupy Riverwest protesters called for embattled Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus’ resignation Wednesday night, just over a week since the latest Election Night flub in the county. With shouts of “Nickolaus, you look ridiculous,” the small group drew attention to passing traffic as they took their signs and stood in the grassy median on West Moreland Boulevard.

Lazy Freeloading Kathy Nickolaus decides to keep job, but let somebody else do it.

You want more proof conservatives take government jobs to freeload and collect fat taxpayer checks and benefits?

Kathy Nickolaus decided to just hand off her duties, instead of quitting. And she got a pat on the back from the Republican county executive for making the right decision? Of course, and it could only happen in Waukesha. See the original story here.  WMTV:

jsonline: Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas said he would publicly call for County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus' resignation unless she handed off her election duties in the upcoming recalls to her deputy clerk.

Nickolaus chose the latter. She agreed to allow outside consultants and county staff to work with her deputy, Kelly Yaeger, to handle the election. Vrakas said, “when given the choice to step down or step aside, she made the right decision."

Just a recap from election night:

Nickolaus was to electronically upload the memory cards of the municipal ballot machines and produce summary reports throughout the night. Instead, the data transfer didn't work, something she said shocked her … As a result, she and her staff manually typed in every number for every race in every voting district into the wee hours of Wednesday morning and then proofed the results before putting them online. Initial results came about six hours after polls closed. Meanwhile, reporters were left to tabulate election outcomes by hand from yards of machine tapes that had been taped to walls in a county meeting room.

Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus Trashes Vote count Again!!!!

This is one of those OMG moments, again, from Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus. Why she didn’t wait to screw things up this bad in November is anyone’s guess. Does what you see here instill any kind of confidence, or that your vote will ever being counted? Nickolaus is a train wreck.

Brookfield Patch: Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus said her plans to directly upload results from local government election machine packs failed to work, causing hand-tabulation and delays in releasing results, according to this report from JSOnline.com reporter Laurel Walker, who was at the County Administration Building last night. Nickolaus faces challenge to her re-election bid on the November ballot.

The results, however, were tabulated by a Patch writer who added the numbers from voting machine tapes at the Waukesha County Administration Building.

The Waukesha County clerk's office, which said it would post local results online, posted few results, and asked the media and political campaigns to hand-count, using voting machine printouts taped to the walls around a room.

If Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus couldn't handle an election, why should we trust her with a Gun?

So how is Waukesha's bumbling incompetent, and election fraud professional, Kathy Nickolaus been doing lately. I thought she would have been voted out by now...but instead, she's now armed and seriously dangerous.

Elaine Boldt is a member of Girls with Guns, a no-fee group for women who share a passion for what they call the shooting sport.  Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus heard about it and joined in on the fun. “I’m able to meet other women that are also going to go through that class on concealed carry and understand how to use a gun properly, I think that’s important," said Nickolaus. 

Nicholaus should have been as determined to "understand how to" run an election properly, because "that's important" too isn't it? 58 News:

Breaking Election Law, and Getting Away with it, the Republican Way!

So much for the integrity of our elections. How can one person, Kathy Nickolaus, be so unbelievably lucky, seriously? For someone who has bucked election protocol for years, suddenly, it's been determined that all she made was an honest mistake?

TMJ4: Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus will not face any criminal charges in the problems with the April election, but the Government Accountability Board investigators say she needs to make improvements … "appears to be either an honest mistake or ineffectiveness. Her conduct does not appear to rise to the level of conduct that can be described as willful neglect or refusal to comply with the law."

Don't these guys do any research? She willfully did not comply in the past.

Jsonline: Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus' decision to go it alone in how she collects and maintains election results has some county officials raising a red flag about the integrity of the system. Nickolaus said she decided to take the election data collection and storage system off the county's computer network - and keep it on stand-alone personal computers accessible only in her office - for security reasons. "What it gave me was good security of the elections from start to finish, without the ability of someone unauthorized to be involved," she said.

Nonetheless, Director of Administration Norman A. Cummings said "How does anybody else in the county know, except for her verbal word, that there are backups, and that the software she has out there is performing as it should?" he said. "There's no way I can assure that the election system is going to be fine for the next presidential election." Cummings stressed … municipal clerks send their election night results by dial-up modem to the county clerk, where they are tabulated and stored. That prompted Cummings' concerns.

But that's in the past, what now?

While the GAB is not asking for any criminal charges, they are asking Nickolaus to improve. "Steps must be taken to correct the failure in order to prevent it from recurring, and to restore public confidence and trust in the administration of elections," said GAB Chairperson Thomas H. Barland.

Too late for that.