Democratic canvasser for Waukesha county Ramona Kitzinger has changed her story about the error made by county clerk Kathy Nickolaus in the Supreme Court election last week.
Last Thursday at the Nickolaus news conference explaining the mistake, Kitzinger was quoted as saying, "all the numbers jibed up, and we're satisfied they're correct. I'm not going to stand here and tell you something that's not true."
No doubt after several thousand nasty emails - and probably a call from state Democratic officials - Kitzinger is singing a slightly different tune. JS Online:
But in the statement released Monday by the county Democrats, she wrote:"I am still very, very confused about why the canvass was finalized before I was informed of the Brookfield error, and it wasn't even until the news conference was happening that I learned it was this enormous mistake that could swing the whole election. I was never shown anything that would verify Kathy's statement about the missing vote, and with how events unfolded and people citing me as an authority on this now, I feel I must speak up."
Victor Weers, chairman of the Waukesha County Democratic Party, said that because of national attention to Kitzinger's statement and angry emails over it, party members talked to Kitzinger and solicited more details. The words in the statement are her own, Weers said. Kitzinger could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon, and Weers said she is not granting interviews.
Kitzinger said she was "instructed that I would not say anything at the news conference, and was actually surprised when I was asked questions by reporters." Nickolaus was seen gently trying to move Kitzinger back from the microphone after her initial statements Thursday.
Kennedy and others have criticized Nickolaus' failure to inform them on Wednesday about the untabulated Brookfield votes. The news came a day later.
This poor woman is 80 years old and before her press conference appearance, never imagined that she would become a national figure embroiled in controversy. Canvassers are volunteers and no one deserves the kind of abuse she has taken at the hands of her fellow Democrats. Clearly, she would much prefer to crawl back into her cocoon of anonymity and forget the whole thing.
Thankfully, it is a relatively simple matter - although a laborious process - to compare vote totals from Nickolaus's computer with the raw totals from each precinct so that at the end of the day, Prosser will almost certainly be certified the winner.
As for Nickolaus, she should probably step down due to her incompetence and violations of even rudimentary rules in the safekeeping of data. Her system was an accident waiting to happen and the fact that it has tarnished this election, should lead to her immediate resignation.
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