About 25 people attend a 'Toss Vos' event to see Robin Vos flung in effigy night before the primary

BURLINGTON - Robin Vos was flung in effigy in a Racine County field during a campaign event Vos' primary opponent held the night before voters will decide whether to grant another term to Wisconsin's longest-serving Assembly speaker.

Adam Steen, who is running against Vos in the Republican primary, is putting into action "Toss Vos," a theme of his campaign that has symbolized the discontent within the GOP base over Vos' refusal to decertify the 2020 election, an impossible and illegal goal that a vocal portion of the base believes could and should happen nearly two years after polls closed.

In a statement, Vos said it is unfortunate how Steen has chosen to spend the final days of his campaign.

"Instead of talking to voters about all the issues that matter to them, he's chosen to engage in an immature publicity stunt that confirms he is not ready to hold public office," Vos wrote.

Steen and GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Ramthun joined about 25 others at the event held in Vos' hometown of Burlington. "Contestants" flung straw-filled dolls with photos of Vos' face taped to them using a giant, homemade slingshot.

Despite the violent imagery, Steen's campaign said he does not support physically throwing the Assembly Speaker.

"I think this is an absolute blast, we've been working our tails off for the last six months and someone said we need to have some fun, because right now we've done about all we can do," Steen said.

Steen, who unsuccessfully ran for Congressman Paul Ryan's open seat in 2018, said people are ready for a change.

One of those people is Burlington resident Matthew Allen, who helped build the slingshot Sunday night with a few friends. Allen also runs one of the "Toss Vos" Facebook pages.

He said he voted for Vos every year since 2008, but he doesn't like that Vos has become a career politician.

"You get entrenched, almost feel too obligated to take care of other people," Allen said. "I want more of a citizen politician, someone who will step in for two or four years and go back to their families."

Michael Gableman, who left the state Supreme Court in 2018 and was hired by Vos in 2021 to review the 2020 election, was scheduled to appear at the event as a "special guest" but decided against attending before the event began.

Gableman has received more than $100,000 in a taxpayer-funded salary from Vos but is now turning on his boss and campaigning with Vos' primary opponent.

Gableman was promoted as attending the event but decided against attending later Monday, according to the Steen campaign.

In an interview with WisconsinEye, Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Paul Farrow said he did not expect Steen to come close to defeating Vos in the election.

"He has one of the probably best records of constituent relations," Farrow said.

Contact Molly Beck and Corri Hess at molly.beck@jrn.com and chess@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter at @MollyBeck and @CorriHess.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: About 25 attend 'Toss Vos' event to see Robin Vos flung in effigy