MADISON (WKOW) -- Wisconsin Senator Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) is not only a 17-year incumbent in District 13, he is also the Senate
Majority Leader.
But Sen. Fitzgerald finds himself having to win an
election against an energized political newcomer, in Democrat Lori Compas.
The two debate on this weekend's edition of Capitol City
Sunday.
Compas said there is no question she decided to start the
Scott Fitzgerald recall movement after he pushed through a vote to strip
collective bargaining rights from public workers in March of 2011, with no
Democrats present.
"I feel that the process that's been followed has been
really divisive and I think a lot of people agree with me on that," said Compas,
a photographer from Fort Atkinson.
"I think you could second guess yourself on some of the
decisions we made but, its still about those who were opposed to the bill, I
think, finding something like process to hang their hat on now and say that's
why these individual legislators should be recalled," replied Sen.
Fitzgerald.
The race has had some
heated moments, many of which have come out of Sen. Fitzgerald's insistence that
Lori Compas couldn't have come up with this recall movement on her own and that
her husband or union officials must be behind it.
"I knew of Eric Compas before I knew of Lori Compas and the
reason for that is because Eric was organizing marches during the heart of the
protests to the Capitol and presenting letters on the steps of the Capitol,"
said Sen. Fitzgerald.
"I just don't
understand, frankly, why the Senator repeats this constantly and finally I
decided that every minute we spend talking about my husband is a minute that
we're spending not talking about the issues and, frankly, I think he's avoiding
discussion of his record," said Compas.
The only poll conducted in the race came in mid-April by PPP
and showed Sen. Fitzgerald holding a 14-point lead in the district.
"It always has voted Conservative and
I think Republican and I've never pulled any punches on that," said Sen.
Fitzgerald.
But Compas replied:
"I've found that there are a lot of Republicans that are supporting my
campaign."
You can hear everything Sen. Fitzgerald and Lori Compas
have to say on Capitol City Sunday at 9:00 a.m., right after This Week with
George Stephanopoulos.
