Recall Organizer To Oppose Fitzgerald In Election

A Jefferson County woman synonymous with the effort to recall state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said she herself will challenge the incumbent in a recall election.

Lori Compas, a photographer from Fort Atkinson, said that she will run against Fitzgerald in the event of a recall election.

Compas organized the signature effort to recall Fitzgerald, and her group turned in more than 20,000 signatures in January.

She officially announced her candidacy on Tuesday afternoon in Jefferson. She said she plans to begin her campaign with listening sessions starting March 5.

“In a way, I have to thank Scott Fitzgerald for what he’s done. His actions over the past year have been so divisive and so consistently heartless, that there was simply no question, at least among people living here in this district, that he would be recalled,” Compas said.

Fitzgerald released a statement Tuesday afternoon.

“In the past year, Wisconsin has improved on nearly every business ranking, we passed a balanced budget without raising taxes, delivered the best property tax picture in 15 years, and created more than 20,000 jobs,” Fitzgerald said in the statement.

Democrats and their allies are trying to force Fitzgerald, a Juneau Republican, three other GOP state senators, Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch into recall elections later this year. The efforts were spurred largely by Walker’s plan to strip public workers of their union rights.

Recall organizers said they submitted nearly 2 million signatures on recall petitions in January. State election officials have until March 19 to decide if organizers turned in enough valid names to trigger elections.