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With 1/4th of the time gone they've already got half the signatures required.
Chicago – The partisan fight over collective-bargaining rights in Wisconsin is moving from the streets of Madison toward the ballot box.
A recall drive of unprecedented scale is underway, with 32 efforts targeting 16 state senators involved in the three-week budget standoff between Senate Republicans and Democrats. In the 103 years since Oregon first adopted the recall process, only 13 state legislators have been recalled nationwide.
The campaigns – against eight Republicans and eight Democrats – have been infused with money and energy from outside the state, making the movement “a national event” that could drive momentum for similar efforts in other states, says Joshua Spivak, an expert on recall history at the Hugh Carey Ins ute for Government Reform in New York.
Others agree that the Wisconsin recall drive is unique in American history. “In Wisconsin, nothing like this has ever happened; in terms of the US, nothing comes close to such a wholesale effort,” says Greg Magarian, an election law expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker ended the standoff by signing into law a measure that eliminated collective bargaining from all non-law-enforcement public sector unions – a move his party says will help better state budget woes, but that critics say amounts to nothing more than union busting. Wisconsin recall law prevents him from being subject to a recall until 2012.
Democratic senators are being criticized for fleeing the state for several weeks to prevent Republicans from having a quorum to vote on a budget bill. Republican senators are being criticized for removing the collective-bargaining provision from the budget bill through a controversial legislative maneuver and then passing the provision as a separate bill without a quorum.
The mother of all recall drives
Recall efforts are seldom used, and when they are, they typically fail because of the money needed to mobilize pe ion drives and to defend the validity of the signatures in court, Mr. Magarian says.
But the organizational help from outside the state could help, says Mr. Spivak. "The money is there and the will is there. Which makes it an unusual situation compared to the past but it may not be unusual compared to the future,'
Wisconsin makes it easy for outside forces to get involved in recall efforts. According to the state’s Government Accountability Board, which oversees campaign finance, elections, ethics, and lobbying laws, only one person from each recall committee is required to reside in the district of the legislator who is the target of the recall.
The actual pe ioner who files the paperwork also does not need to be a resident of the district or state.
The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 48 is helping lead the recall efforts of the eight Senate Republicans. AFSCME Council 48 Executive Director Rich Abelson told a Milwaukee television host Sunday his organization decided to invest in recalling the legislators instead of calling for a strike.
“We think by summer we will have changed the face of the Wisconsin Senate,” he said.
Democratic state party chairman Mike Tate told the Wisconsin State Journal Sunday that $940,000 was raised in donations last week for similar recall efforts.
Helping target the eight Senate Democrats is the American Recall Coalition, a Salt Lake City organization. In a statement, the group states that the grounds for its recall effort of the Democrats “are conspiracy to intentionally interfere with the proper functioning of the Wisconsin Senate and gross dereliction of duty.â€
“Politicians must learn that the American people will no longer tolerate political tantrums, holding the legislative process hostage or attempting to impose their will through extortion or dereliction of the duties they were elected to perform,” it adds.
Wisconsin Sen. Dave Hansen, one of the eight the group is targeting, released a statement last month questioning the integrity of the organization. "One has to wonder why a group in Salt Lake City Utah is so interested in what is happening here,"
How Wisconsin's recall process works
Recall committees have 60 days from the time of their filing to collect the needed signatures. To qualify for the ballot, the committees must have signatures from one-quarter the number of people who voted in the most recent election.
The signature deadlines for the 16 senators range from April 25 to May 4, because they were filed at different times. If any recall efforts qualify, a recall election would follow in that district within weeks or months, followed by an election to name a replacement if the recall is successful.
Wisconsin politicians are eligible for a recall only after they have been in office for a year, meaning that Governor Walker will not be eligible for a recall until Jan. 3, 2012.
That could benefit Walker if the economy improves and passions diminish, Magarian says.
On the other hand, if the economy does not improve, his opponents are likely to sustain their argument in every way they can through January.
“Labor is not going to go away. Obviously you’re not going to have 100,000 people in Madison every weekend, but if they keep the spotlight on Walker, he’s going to have a real problem,” Magarian says.
Editor's note: Monitor staff photographer Ann Hermes traveled with Wisconsin farmers on March 12 in a 'tractorcade' to the Wisconsin state capital in Madison to protest Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to stifle collective bargaining.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/369630
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With 1/4th of the time gone they've already got half the signatures required.
The Republicans might have painted themselves in a corner in this case...
Kock Bros, US CoC, will give Walker legal aid to allege "signature fraud" and tie it up in the courts for years.
Meh...they would still have to win the election.
Mannys big day is tomorrow. I pray whatever the results be, manny will celebrate the winners. Walker did not wage a war on unions, he was looking out for the tax payers money. Wisconsin has a lot of healing in front of them no matter of the results. God bless
"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
CNN is saying walker will win recall vote. This was a huge waste of money, time, resources and energy. The man was doing the job he was elected to do. Now a second vote clarified that. I hope mannyisgod (u should change that name to just manny) can see the error in his thinking. Plus, side note, Obama won this state last election, may not be as easy this time around. God bless
This was a resounding victory for Scott Walker and a big punch in the mouth to unions and liberal policies. Congratulations to the people of Wisconsin!
A lot of liberals voted for Walker, including a few that I know..who still Intend to vote for Obama. I don't think it was so much against union or liberal policies, but rather the corruption in the unions and waste.
A lot of teachers are happy not to be paying Union dues.
WI regulations permitted the governor to receive much more money than a challenger. And most of Walker's money came from the VRWC outside of WI.
Citizens United, by the extreme radical right wing Repug SCOTUS, is allowing the completion of the coup d'etat that has been building for 35 years.
America is ed and un able.
A lot of teachers will be paying much more than union dues when their benefits and salaries get slashed more.
Exit polling still showed large support for Obama.
Before the election
After the election
Koch Money won this election....hooray for democracy!
You look kinda mad, Dan
Damn poor Ed.
I could give a rat's ass about Walker and this recall election....but Walker out-raised Barret 9-1 mostly with the help of out-of-state-donors...on top of that, Walker had a considerable PAC advantage, the RGA alone ran $8 million dollars of anti-Barret ads...given that, Walker outspent his opponent by a 10-1 margin...that's democracy in America....yippee..You look kinda mad, Dan
Nice message...
Koch brother's AFP in action in Wisconsin
This is how you buy an election...
This isn't what democracy looks like, this is what the end of democracy looks like
Save the democracy...overturn Citizen's United.
Of course, the most frustrating part of all this is that Walker has had 6 aids charged with felony and misdemeanor charges related to illegal campaigning
So far the investigators have charged six people with 15 felonies; one person, who turned himself in to prosecutors, was convicted on two counts:
http://truth-out.org/news/item/9578-...-second-chance* Timothy Russell (former deputy chief of staff to Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker) was charged with two felonies, and one misdemeanor related to embezzlement of donations intended for Wisconsin veterans in a special fund, which was created at Walker's direction. The money was used by Russell and his partner, Brian Pierick, to take a few vacations. Read the criminal complaint here.
* Brian Pierick (partner of Timothy Russell): charged with two felonies involving child solicitation. It appears Russell's phone records led to Pierick and a nasty story about two men soliciting a 17-year old minor for sex. Read the criminal complaint here.
* Kevin Kavanaugh (appointed by Walker as a county veterans' official): charged with five felonies related to embezzlement from the veterans fund. Kavanaugh appears to have been raiding the funds separately from Russell. Read the criminal complaint here.
* Kelly Rindfleisch (former deputy chief of staff to then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker): charged with four felonies relating to campaign fundraising while on the county payroll. Rindfleisch's worked on a secret wifi system in her office just steps away from Walker's office. Rindfleisch continued to work for Walker's campaign until she was charged. Read the criminal complaint here.
* Darlene Wink (former aide to then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker): pled guilty to two unclassified misdemeanors as part of a deal that she made with the prosecutors relating to working on campaign fundraising while on the county payroll. Winks office was down a short hallway from Walker's. Read the complaint here.
* William Gardner (President and CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad): Gardner pled guilty to felony violations of Wisconsin's election campaign laws in April of 2011. Gardner tried to convince prosecutors that his $50,000 in illegal contributions to Walker, which he funneled through his employees and a girlfriend, was an innocent mistake, except he had done the same thing the previous year. Read the criminal complaint here.
4) What did Walker know and when did he know it?
The investigation was initially sparked by a probe into some $60,000 in missing veterans' funds. Based on discoveries made in that investigation, it expanded into a probe of illegal fundraising activity by government employees who were Walker's staff. The allegation is that Tim Russell set up an unofficial email and wifi system in the Milwaukee County Executive's office so that staffers could conduct campaign business on laptops while their salaries were being paid by the taxpayers. This type of activity is a felony in Wisconsin, and other high-level politicians have been prosecuted and convicted of similar misconduct in the past. The existence of the secret email system was "never disclosed to county employees outside a closely held group within the Walker administration," says the indictment of Kelly Rindfleisch, the employee hired by Walker who spent the most time on fundraising activities. On county time, the staffers communicated extensively with Walker campaign staff, organized fundraisers, made invitations, exchanged fundraising lists, and sent out campaign press releases, all just steps away from Walker's own office.
Walker says he knows nothing about it, but an email included in the Kelly Rindfleisch charging do ents suggests otherwise. When the MJS caught Darlene Wink Facebooking for Walker's campaign while working on the county payroll and printed a story on the morning of May 14, 2010, she was fired. Walker sent an email to Deputy Chief of Staff Tim Russell that same morning at 8:46 a.m. -- not demanding an investigation or a top to bottom review of staff procedures -- but telling him he felt bad about firing her and stating "we cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the work day, etc." Many have described this as a "smoking gun" email.
Walker is in the middle of a John Doe investigation, equal to a grand jury investigation in other states, and his former campaign manager has thrown him under the bus...
So what?
Teachers work 9-10 months a year, and in many places get paid more than high risk jobs like police and fire fighters. they have too strong of a union with great benefits that you don't find in similar non government jobs.
Their status as elitists needs to end at some point. The kids need to come first.
Charged...
When you see a conviction, let us know.
Is it as credible as those charges against Edwards? You realize don't you, that politics is rather dirty, and these charges may be based on bad information. Right?
Interesting.
Large... Not a majority?
People from the outside appreciate someone elsewhere when they have nobody to support at home. I find it rare that I give a donation to anyone here in Oregon. Most are authoritarian liberals. Even the republicans in Oregon are almost all left of center. I give plenty to charities like Doernbechers Children's Hospital, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, etc. It's simply not often I ever donate to a political party. I did donate a nice UXGA monitor to the Chris Dudley campaign when I bough my WUXGA monitor, and cash. He is the first candidate I gave money to in a long time.
I very seldom donate outside the state, but I could see myself donating to Walker if I thought he needed more help than he was getting.
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