Worthless distraction? State GOP says "no" to right to secede

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Assembly Republicans are urging delegates at the GOP state convention to reject a tea party-backed resolution calling on lawmakers to affirm Wisconsin's right to secede.

Fifty of the Assembly's 69 Republicans, including Speaker Robin Vos and Rep. John Nygren, co-chairman of the powerful Joint Finance Committee, sent a letter Friday to delegates calling the resolution a worthless distraction. The letter goes on to call the secessionist movement giving up on the American idea and asks how different the world would be today if Republican President Abraham Lincoln had allowed the southern states to leave the union. The letter adds that Republicans can't win elections on a platform that includes secession.

Delegates are expected to vote on whether to adopt the resolution during the convention in Milwaukee on Saturday.