Rol Church
Rol Church was a Democratic candidate for District 14 of the Wisconsin State Senate in the recall election against current incumbent Sen. Luther Olsen.
Church, a Republican supporter, ran as a protest candidate in order to necessitate a Democratic primary between himself and Assemblyman Fred Clark. Clark easily defeated Church in the July 12 primary.
Elections
2011
In early June, a petition began circulating to encourage Republicans to support Church as a "protest candidate."
Sen. Olsen said of Church's candidacy, "I have no idea if it will hurt or help. If it stretches the election out I don't know if that's good or bad. There are so many strange things happening in this business."[1]
Robert Forseth had filed to run as a Democrat. Following the news that all six "fake" Democrats had turned in their final paperwork to get on the ballot to the GAB, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin announced that it would not be running their placeholder candidates in the recalls as they are no longer necessary. Party Chair Mike Tate explained, "The goal of the placeholder candidacies was to create an insurance policy against further Republican attempts to exploit the recall election schedule through dirty tricks and cynical plots."[2]
All three had filed nomination papers with a sufficient number of verified signatures.
July 12 Democratic Primary
Clark easily defeated Church in the primary.
| July 12 Democratic primary[3] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
Fred Clark 
|
15,052 | 66.7% | ||
| Rol Church | 7,346 | 32.55% | ||
| Scattering | 169 | 0.75% | ||
- Robert Forseth Note: Forseth filed nomination papers with sufficient signatures but did not file final papers to be on the ballot.
Ads relating to the campaign
Campaign contributions
| Rol Church Campaign Finance Reports (GAB ID No. 0105115) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions | (Expenditures) | Cash on Hand | ||||
| July Continuing[4] | July 7, 2011 | $0.00 | $750.00 | $(750.00) | $0 | ||||
Official reports
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Northwestern, "Wisconsin Republican Party recruiting protest candidates to run as Democrats in recall primaries including John Buckstaff against Jessica King and Rol Church against Fred Clark," June 7, 2011
- ↑ WisPolitics, "WisDems: Dems to end placeholder candidacies in recall elections," June 17, 2011
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "July 12 Primary Election Results District 14," accessed July 11, 2011
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORT: STATE OF WISCONSIN: GAB-2: Friends of Rol Church," July 6, 2011
