2 GOP lawsuits against Milwaukee in a week suggest fraying relations
The relationship between state Republicans and Milwaukee’s new Democratic mayor is looking less rosy in light of two lawsuits filed against the city this week in the lead-up to the Nov. 8 election for governor and U.S. Senate.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson has repeatedly touted his efforts to rebuild the city’s relationship with Republicans, who control the state Legislature and whose approval the city needs for steps to address its dire financial straits. His support has come in many forms, including his courting of the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Earlier this week Johnson attributed recent spats with Republicans to the upcoming competitive partisan elections.
But the city has come under fire from Republicans recently over comments Johnson made Sept. 12 about an initiative dubbed “Milwaukee Votes 2022” in which he referenced door-to-door canvassing funded by the “private sector.”
Johnson’s spokesman, Jeff Fleming, then said the campaign the mayor referenced as conducting the canvassing is a privately funded group, and the city’s association was “limited to the mayor voicing support for the work.”
Late Wednesday, the Republican Party of Wisconsin and a Milwaukee voter filed a lawsuit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court against the city and Johnson over the campaign.
“The Republican Party of Wisconsin is deeply concerned that cities like Milwaukee are working with Democrat operatives and partisan third party groups to get out the vote in a manner designed to tip the scales for Democrats,” Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement announcing the suit.
Fleming pushed back, saying in a statement that “absolutely no work has taken place from the Mayor’s office that supported candidates or political parties.”
Fleming said he was not aware of any violations of the law, adding that the city would “strongly challenge the allegations” and would prevail.
The lawsuit is the second Republicans have filed against the city this week.
In a suit filed Monday, Republicans used a lawsuit over open records to raise questions about the voting campaign.
The mayor’s office suggested the lawsuit, filed just two weeks after records were requested, is more about political posturing than how the city handles open records.
The two lawsuits come as Republicans have raised questions about grants Milwaukee and other large cities received from the Center for Tech and Civic Life to help administer the 2020 election. The group is funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Courts have rejected claims that grants were illegal, but Republicans have cried foul that the bulk of the funds went to larger, Democraticleaning cities like Milwaukee.