Bernier frets for future of democracy
Sen. Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls) on Monday said during a panel discussion sponsored by the Center for Innovation and Research (CEIR) that continued investigations into the 2020 election were eroding confidence in Wisconsin elections and threatened the future of the republic created by Benjamin Franklin and the Founding Fathers. “We are in danger of losing it,” said the senator, choking back tears.
Bernier, who ran local elections as a county clerk for 12 years, faulted former President Donald Trump for “jazzing up the people” with false claims about voter fraud and irregularities during the closely contested, but double audited 2020 Wisconsin election. She said a taxpayer funded audit into the 2020 election conducted by former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Michael Gableman should “wrap up sooner than later.”
Bernier said her concern over the continued “horrendous” and “hilarious” doubting of the certified 2020 election was selfish. She said the ongoing election skepticism would, in the end, hurt Republicans.
“I want Republicans to win,” she said.
Bernier said she voted for Act 10 back in 2010 because it was both good policy and good Bernier
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politics. She said undermining elections was bad policy and, in turn, would be bad politics.
The senator said no elections are run perfectly but that continued criticisms of the Wisconsin 2020 race were a “charade” perpetrated by “people who think they know what they are talking about but don’t.”
Bernier said there was a “simple explanation” for every criticism of the 2020 election. She said a Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) decision to send ballots to nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic was not, perhaps, a perfect choice, but it was better than sending traditional special voter assistants to the homes when they were to all visitors. If nursing home workers manipulated the elderly to vote a certain way, Bernier said, that was a violation of law by those individuals. It’s wrong, she said, to fault the WEC for individual unlawful acts. “If your mechanic wrecks your car, you don’t ask for the chairman of General Motors to resign,” she argued.
Bernier charged that “dirty politics” starting in the national capital had Wisconsinites doubting an election that has been proven to have been fairly administered.
“We are being played from the top down,” she said. “We, the people, should tell officials what we want. We are being played by Washington, D.C., and the people at the top. Don’t let these people manipulate you.”
The panel discussion announced that CEIR supported creation of a legal defense fund to help election workers in all states fight off threats, lawsuits and harassment. The effort is supported by lawyers who have represented both Republican and Democratic clients.
David Becker, CEIR executive director, praised Wisconsin election workers for fairly and accurately counting votes in Wisconsin’s 2020 election during a global pandemic with very high voter turnout amongst a closely divided Wisconsin population.
