Wisconsin GOP files complaint over 'bias' of judge who signed Walker recall petition
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE: Jan. 17, 2012: Protesters including labor union supporters at a rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wisc. (AP)
The Republican Party of Wisconsin has filed a formal complaint against a local judge after he temporarily blocked a GOP-backed voter ID law -- after having signed a petition advocating for the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
In a statement, the state party questioned the judge's "bias" and called for a probe by the state judicial commission into his "failure ... to maintain the appearance of impartiality" in the voter ID case.
Fox 6 in Milwaukee reported that Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan signed the petition before making the ruling. Walker is a defendant in that voter ID case -- which is a challenge to a state law requiring voters to show photo ID.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The state's attorney general already plans to appeal the voter ID ruling. But some questioned Flanagan's decision to sign the petition.
"How can it not be a conflict of interest?" Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald told Fox 6.
Janine Geske, a Marquette law professor, told Fox 6 that the judge should have disclosed the detail about the petition before issuing the ruling.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I know Judge Flanagan, and I have a lot of respect for him. I don't know whether there's an ethical violation. I think the fact that he signed the recall petition, and now he's deciding this case, now has political implications. I would never have signed a recall petition," said Geske, a former state Supreme Court justice.
But Democratic state Sen. Lena Taylor said the voter ID case has nothing to do with Walker, and downplayed the controversy.
"This is about a piece of legislation and an individual's fundamental right to vote," she said. "If this was a Scott Walker case in particular, then I could see the argument."