MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker reluctantly issued an executive order Thursday scheduling special elections to fill two vacant legislative seats, as Senate Republicans abandoned their efforts to block the contests amid Democratic criticism that the GOP is afraid of losing more seats. The seats — one in the state Senate and one in the Assembly — have been vacant since December, when Walker appointed the Republican incumbents to his administration. State law requires Walker to call special elections to fill legislative vacancies that occur prior to May in regular election years such as this one but he had refused to do so, calling the special elections a waste of taxpayer money with the seats coming up for election in the fall. Democrats have argued that Walker wants to avoid losing the seats to their party in a year that appears to favor Democrats. A group led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sued to force the special elections. The group won an order from a Madison judge last week forcing Walker to call the elections by noon Thursday. Walker initially refused to accept the court order but lost an appeal Wednesday. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald introduced a bill this week that would prohibit special elections after the spring election in a regular election year. Without the special elections, the seats would effectively remain empty until January, when winners in the regular November election would be sworn in. But Fitzgerald said minutes after Walker scheduled the elections that he was dropping efforts to move the bill forward in the wake of the judge’s order.
