A Republican effort to ban legislators from concurrently holding office as county executive is moving quickly through the state Legislature, as both houses held a public hearing on the bill Wednesday.
The legislation is a response to Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris running for the seat of state Sen. Richard Gudex, R-Fond du Lac, in the 18th district after Gudex announced in November that he is not seeking re-election.
State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, raised concerns about the excess amount of money that would be taken away from taxpayers every year to pay someone with an already lucrative salary.
“We’re definitely concerned about the double-dipping and want to address it directly, “ Fitzgerald told the Associated Press.
Harris is not up for re-election for county executive until April 2017, but would start in the legislature next November if elected senator.
Gudex is a supporter of the bill that would prohibit the county executive from simultaneously serving in the legislature. If the bill passes, Harris would be taking more than a 50 percent pay cut to work as a state senator.
Harris pointed out that legislators have served as county executives concurrently in the past. He noted that independent Bob Ziegelbauer served in the state Assembly while working as Manitowoc County executive from 2006 to 2013. In addition, Paul Farrow was elected as Waukesha County executive while serving as a state senator.
He is the only county executive seeking a seat in the legislature and believes his chances are good to win the race. But, he remains concerned about the priorities of the Republicans.
“I call it the Mike Harris exclusion bill. It is blatantly political and anti-democratic,” Harris told a meeting of the Dane County Democrats Wednesday. “It’s an annoyance but not an insurmountable problem for me.”
An executive session on the bills has not yet been scheduled.
