MADISON, Wis., March 17 (UPI) -- A Republican state senator in Wisconsin resigned Friday, announcing she wants to devote herself to her family instead of dealing with a recall election.
Pam Galloway's departure leaves the upper house of the Legislature evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. One of the two parties is expected to gain the upper hand in the next round of recall elections.
"My family has experienced multiple, sudden and serious health issues, which require my full attention," Galloway said in a statement. "Unfortunately, this situation is not compatible with fulfilling my obligations as state senator or running for re-election at this time."
Republican Gov. Scott Walker's successful push for a law that limits collective bargaining rights for public employees enraged unions and Democrats. A round of recall elections last year reduced the Republican majority in the Senate -- and Walker, the lieutenant governor and three Republican senators in addition to Galloway face recalls this year.
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The recall elections are scheduled for May 8. If primaries are necessary, they will be held that day with general elections in June.
In an unrelated development, the Wisconsin Judicial Commission Friday filed formal ethics allegations against state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, asking the court to determine whether Prosser violated three ethics rules in a June incident involving Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, the Journal Sentinel reported.
All but one of the other justices on the court witnesses the confrontation, in which Prosser was accused of assaulting Bradley.
Bradley declined to comment on the filing but Prosser issued a statement calling the charges "partisan, unreasonable and largely untrue," and accusing the commission of "trying to accomplish through this prosecution what some of its members failed to achieve at the ballot box."
The Dane County Sheriff's Office investigated the June incident and a special prosecutor determined it did not merit criminal prosecution.
