Robin Vos | |
|---|---|
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| 79th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly | |
| Assumed office January 7, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Jeff Fitzgerald |
| Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 63rd district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Bonnie Ladwig |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 5, 1968 Burlington, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican (Wisconsin) |
| Spouses | Amy Kuemmel
(m. 2000; div. 2003)Samantha Schmitt
(m. 2008; div. 2017) |
| Education | University of Wisconsin–Whitewater (BA) |
| Website | Official page Official twitter |
Robin Joseph Vos (born July 5, 1968) is an American businessman and Republican politician and the 79th speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, serving in that role since 2013. He has been a member of the Assembly since 2005,[1] representing most of the southern half of Racine County.[2] Vos is also president of the National Conference of State Legislatures.[3]
Vos came to prominence for his role in shepherding legislation to weaken bargaining rights and labor unions in Wisconsin while Scott Walker was governor, which culminated in the 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election.[4] Vos has been speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly since 2013, retaining Republican control of the chamber through heavily gerrymandered maps.[5] During the governorship of Tony Evers, a Democrat, Vos has sought to curb the governor's powers.[6] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vos blocked Evers's efforts to increase the safety and accessibility of elections, sought to hinder public health measures to mitigate the pandemic, such as mask mandates, and opposed vaccine requirements by private businesses.
After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making claims of fraud, Vos appropriated $680,000 in taxpayer money to fund an investigation by Michael Gableman into fraud in the 2020 election. Gableman's appointment came a day after Trump had accused Vos of participating in a coverup of the election.[7] In March 2022, Gableman released a report rife with false claims of fraud and conspiracy theories.[8] Vos fired Gableman in August 2022, three days after a primary election in which Gableman had endorsed Vos's challenger.[9] At the time of his firing, Gableman's investigation had already cost Wisconsin taxpayers more than $1,000,000,[10] but the costs continued to rise, climbing close to $2.5 million, as lawsuits related to the practices of his investigation continued more than six months later.[11]
- ^ "Representative Robin Vos - Speaker". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ^ Wisconsin Blue Book 2011-2012, Biographical sketch of Robin Vos, p. 61.
- ^ "Wisconsin Speaker Robin Vos to Head NCSL". National Conference of State Legislatures. August 19, 2019.
- ^ Vock, Daniel C. "How Wisconsin is ruled by a shadow governor". POLITICO. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
- ^ O’Matz, Megan (February 16, 2024). "Wisconsin Picks New Legislative Maps That Would End Years of GOP Gerrymandering". ProPublica.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Beck, Molly (June 26, 2021). "A former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice will oversee the latest election review sought by the state's GOP leaders". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ^ "Gableman to rehash his review at event featuring clerk indicted for election tampering". Wisconsin State Journal. March 15, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
- ^ Epstein, Reid J. (August 12, 2022). "A Top Wisconsin Republican Fires the 2020 Election Investigator He Hired". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ Rogan, Adam (August 10, 2022). "From 'well qualified' to 'an embarrassment': Robin Vos' 180-degree reversal on Michael Gableman". Racine Journal Times.
- ^ van Wagtendonk, Anya (March 1, 2023). "Pricetag on Assembly Republicans' investigation into the 2020 presidential election nears $2.5M". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved March 17, 2023.