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Opponents of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) were expected to do well in their efforts to recall him. Few expected them to do this well.
Democrats seeking to recall Gov. Scott Walker filed more than a million signatures Tuesday, virtually guaranteeing a historic recall election against him later this year.
It would mark the first gubernatorial recall election in Wisconsin history and only the third one in U.S. history. Organizers Tuesday also handed in 845,000 recall signatures against Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, as well as recall petitions against four GOP state senators, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau.
The sheer number of signatures being filed against Walker — nearly as many as the total votes cast for the governor in November 2010 and about twice as many as those needed to trigger a recall election — ensure the election will be held, said officials with the state Democratic Party and United Wisconsin, the group that launched the Walker recall.
Keep in mind, the minimum number of signatures required was roughly 540,000. By collecting over 1 million signatures, Walker’s opponents have not only guaranteed a recall election, they’ve also demonstrated a level of organizational might that seemed almost impossible to pull off.
When Walker went after collective-bargaining rights — without campaigning on the issue — he apparently woke a sleeping giant.
There will be a review process to ensure the integrity of the signatures, but state Democratic Party officials said they already removed “an undisclosed number of signatures that were duplicates, illegible or seemingly fake.” With such an enormous buffer, no one on either side seriously doubts Dems will have more than enough.
There is, however, still plenty of work for the governor’s opponents to do. For one thing, they don’t have a candidate. For another, Walker is already raising an enormous amount of money.
Indeed, the Republican governor appears eager to nationalize the recall process. Walker said yesterday he was “too busy” to do interviews with reporters from Wisconsin, but he managed to find time to talk to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. The point wasn’t subtle — the governor hopes far-right activists nationwide will rally behind him by, at a minimum, offering financial support.
The schedule for the recall election will be set once the signatures have been reviewed. It’s going to be a wild one.
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Patrick Star on January 18, 2012 9:22 AM:
No time for local reporters, but plenty of time for Rush and Fox. Walker is supposed to be the governor of ALL the citizens of Wisconsin, not just the right-wingers. As a born Cheesehead, I hope they kick his arrogant ass outta there.
Ron Byers on January 18, 2012 9:28 AM:
The question is can Citizens United overcome an outraged grass roots organization.
By the way, the Democrats are pitching this as Wisconsin against the national Republicans.
Josef K on January 18, 2012 9:31 AM:
Nice to see my home state is finally showing a glimmer of sanity.
Robert on January 18, 2012 9:33 AM:
Imagine the outrage against Walker when voters find out he bet on the Giants.
kevo on January 18, 2012 9:35 AM:
Wisconsin is in the forefront, and the fork in the road of our democratic heritage is upon us!
Walker and his grotesquely monied backers know this, and are working to blind as many as they can to our nation's travels. The fork we face will take us either to the right where we'll find a u-turn back to the dog eat dog days of laissez faire opulence for the few and misery for the rest, or to the left where our future can be pursued with fuel to match the world's changing circumstances.
Too bad we don't have the luxury of Yogi Berra's observation that a fork in the road should be taken, simply because a spoon can't work for everything!
Seriously, You Go Wisconsin! Recall the bastard! -Kevo
c u n d gulag on January 18, 2012 9:35 AM:
The Republicans, financed by the Koch Brothers, among other in and out of the state, will pull every dirty trick to stop the recall.
And if they can't stop it, then to delay it so that their cronies can pull out every last public dollar before the recall election.
This will be U-G-L-Y!!!
Anonymous on January 18, 2012 9:42 AM:
"The point wasn’t subtle — the governor hopes far-right activists nationwide will rally behind him by, at a minimum, offering financial support."
To Walker - Bring it, MoFo. I'll keep sending my $$ to the WI Dems. His ads don't do much if noone listens to them.
DAY on January 18, 2012 9:51 AM:
Sometimes a small and local act can have global consequences.
-Look what grew from a frustrated street vendor in Tunisia.
Walker took one step over the line when he confronted the unions.
"There is some shit I will not eat, I will not kiss your fucking flag." e.e.cummings
deanarms on January 18, 2012 9:52 AM:
Today's WSJ buried the story on page 4 and the headline was something like "Republicans Successfully Delay Recall." That was a reference to weeks old news that the Government Accountability Board had agreed to go through the tortured examination of signatures that a right wing judge forced on them. The front page "Brief" on the story mentioned the 1mm signatures but the actual article did not dwell on that astounding fact at all. I think they're nervous.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Grumpy on January 18, 2012 9:54 AM:
For one thing, they don’t have a candidate.
Are there any Schwarzenegger-esque action heroes who can fit the bill? Jeff Daniels was in "Speed," which makes him an action hero, and he lives in Michigan, which is practically Wisconsin.
stormskies on January 18, 2012 9:54 AM:
Joseph K and Patrick Star: since you are from Wisconsin what do you feel the actual chances are of having Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau actually recalled in the vote next summer ? Walker of course is bad enough but from afar this creature called Fitzgerald struck me something along the lines of a Stalin.
chopin on January 18, 2012 10:08 AM:
Speaking as the world's only gazillionaire, I hope to buy Walker's reelection by throwing million$ upon million$ of dollars his way. I beg the citizens of Wisconsin to ignore my good buddy Scott's behaviour and give the boy another chance. Please. PLEASE don't make me reconsider throwing more good money after Scott and other bad candidates. PLEASE!!! This recall shit can start costing me some serious money.
citizen_pain on January 18, 2012 10:28 AM:
This is a microcosm of the battle we have before us; we the people vs. Koch puppets and their ilk.
Can the will of the people overpower the corrupt monied interests that would see our great nation turned into a cheap labor market for greedy capitalists?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Texas Aggie on January 18, 2012 10:47 AM:
When Walker went after collective-bargaining rights —
It isn't just going after collective bargaining rights that brought down the wrath of Wisconsinians on him. He also screwed over the schools and engaged in a lot of other budget cuts that hurt real people while reducing taxes for people like the Koch bros. That is as important or more important to some people as collective bargaining rights. You need to also focus on the rest of his program.
wihntr on January 18, 2012 11:50 AM:
Stormskies--
Before I saw the totals on the Fitzgerald recall I would have said the chances of a successfull Fitz recall were nearly zero. He has been in for a couple terms and is in a pretty safely GOP district. HOWEVER. The recall drive against him really only occurred in the last month or so (over Christmas and New Year)and they still got 20,000 signatures. About 60,000 ballots were cast in his race in 2010. That is impressive, not only because of the organizational effort involved. It also reflects the fact that a lot of people who voted GOP last time around are seriously pissed about what the current GOP agenda is doing to their communites. And Fitzgerald's "attitude" about the whole Walker program and opposition thereto has turned a lot folks off. If I had to bet money on the race I would still put it on Fitz, but I would say the odds are considerably closer than two months ago.
To those of you watching this from outside Wisconsin, I can't really express the intensity of feeling we have here. I have met very few people who believe what Walker and the GOP have done/are doing is the right way to go. The collective bargaining law is what sparked all this, of course, and that Walker didn't run on that policy change is probably the biggest factor in the recall support. But there are other things as well that affect nearly everyone in the state. In Wisconsin our public schools get about half of their funding from the state. That was cut by 5% in this school year and is likely to be cut agin in future years. At the same time, local districts' ability to make up for the cut through higher property taxes was severely curtailed. State aid to municipalities, which means police, fire, streets, libraries, has also been cut and is likely to be cut still further. State funding of our public unversities and technical schools has been cut. Funding for medical care for the poor and elderly has been cut. And on and on.
That Walker and his legislative minions couldn't see the potential consequences of their actions astonishes me.
Patango on January 18, 2012 1:35 PM:
Thanx wihn
And it is the over all agenda in your state for sure , imo people USE to be able to switch party votes for a change of pace and keep things balanced out between dem and gop, so one party does not get overly secure in office and corrupt ...The gop went into office this time all over the nation like bush cronies on steroids, with the self centered focus and incompetence of sarah palin , and thank god people are reacting negatively to it all for the most part ..
The gop are not even pretending to put together jobs plans , they feel so entitled , they are just spiting on everyone as below them , they are not even faking it , I'm guessing because they are just lazy , but mostly it is their narrow minded arrogance , I hope they keep it up , so americans can see who and what they are giving power to when they vote these turnip heads into office
Sconsin66 on January 18, 2012 6:42 PM:
There is a benefit that no one is talking about. 1,000,000 eligible voters have self-identified themselves as wanting to recall Scott Walker. Names, addresses and phone numbers. Has there ever been such a windfall for a political party in an election year? Every candidate for State Assembly or Senate will get a care package with thousands of names of people in their districts who signed the petition. Fund raising? Neighborhood canvassers? Phone banks? Sound crazy? Wisconsin has 99 assembly districts, evenly divided, each district would have 10,000 signers. This list is hot and the effect will be catastrophic for Republicans. Your welcome, Mr President!