Two La Crosse County supervisors taken off ballot over disputed signatures

Two members of the La Crosse County Board might not appear as candidates for re-election in April, because of problems with their nomination papers. 

The county clerk’s office ruled enough signatures to be invalid to remove Doug Weidenbach and Isaac Tahiri from the spring ballot. 

Weidenbach disputes claims that he did not personally collect all the signatures on his papers himself in the county’s 3rd District. 

He says another person assisted him in gathering names, and he was present at the time the papers were signed.

One of the signatures in dispute was from La Crosse city council member Barb Janssen, who filed papers to run against Weidenbach.

Janssen says Weidenbach did not personally get her signature, but he had later signed the paper which had her name on it.

Janssen says she learned of the problem after she submitted her own nomination papers.

Tahiri was found to have gathered some signatures from people who had already signed papers for his opponent in the 5th District.     

When the duplicate signatures were ruled out, Tahiri fell below the minimum number to qualify for the ballot.

County clerk Ginny Dankmeyer also ruled that Onalaska municipal judge John Brinckman be removed as a candidate for re-election to his post, because of a failure to file a financial statement on time.