Wisconsin's attempt to recall Governor Scott Walker will officially begin on November 15. As you can imagine, there's a good deal of excitement in my crowd over the possibility of a recall election, but I am concerned about the recall on a couple of levels. I'm not wild about the precedent, to be honest; if Scott Walker loses a recall to a Democrat, I think its safe to say there will be a recall effort against that Democrat a year later. But my real concern comes from the message that I hear, even from among my liberal and uber-liberal friends.
Like many on the left, and many in a public sector union who have been hurt by the Governor's politics and his tactics, I will be signing the petition to recall Scott Walker. I also believe that there are 540,000 of us, or enough to actually trigger the recall election. But I'm worried that those on the left will be unable to convince those in the middle that they should in fact get out to vote in a recall election.
I fear that a coherent and broad-based message is lacking. I fear that those on the left are once again leaning heavily on a policy of increasing voter turnout, in hopes that all of those who turn out will vote liberal. This simply doesn't work. It didn't work in the European revolutions of 1848, it didn't work when Benjamin Disraeli made his great leap in the dark, and it didn't work when suffrage in America was increased by allowing blacks, or women, or when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. There is no liberal groundswell of support that is waiting around to happen, just hoping to take a shot at the governor. That being the case, the goal of the recall effort needs to be to educate voters (especially moderates) as to why Scott Walker should go, and the goal of the Democrats is to offer a candidate who can provide an alternative vision for Wisconsin and who can attack Scott Walker on his record.
I don't see that happening yet, and that's why I'm worried. Among those of my political leanings and many in my profession, the message so far seems to be "Walker sucks." I believe that those who say this think it is the case. But he's a sitting governor, and he's going to have a massive war chest of campaign funds; if the best we can come up with is "Walker sucks," we're going to lose.
So this post is designed to offer, but mostly to solicit, talking points for the recall elections. Rather than "Walker sucks," what do we truly feel people need to know in order to not only succeed in triggering a recall election, but also in helping to make sure that the Governor loses that election? What bullet points can we put on a campaign mailer, or in the hands of canvassers, that are accurate, can be backed up with sources, and will help the average voter recognize what Scott Walker is doing to our state? Assuming we can get people to listen to reason, what reasonable argument can be made?
I'll start with my two cents. Governor Walker campaigned on the promise of bringing jobs to Wisconsin. His campaign slogan was "Wisconsin is Open for Business." And yet:
-
- According to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article dated October 20, the state of Wisconsin has lost jobs for three straight months, both in the private and in the public sectors. (Source: http://www.jsonline.com/... )
-
- Wisconsin's unemployment was at 7.4% in February of this year, when Governor Walker's so-called "Budget Repair Bill" was announced. As of September, it was 7.8%. If the governor is working so hard on jobs, why has unemployment gone up, and not down? (Source: http://badgerstat.org/... )
I freely admit, that's not enough; I can (and will) find more, but I am also asking for your help. If you have a talking point that you think will work to encourage reasonable people to vote against the governor, please send it along. Do you have info about his financing? Verifiable proof that his policies have failed? Knowledge that ALEC is essentially spoon-feeding the governor legislation? I'd love to know about it. A couple of caveats:
-
- Please make it something that can be verified, so that a skeptical voter can be shown the evidence to support the claim. The best possible source would be both reputable and politically neutral. Send a link or an article or something that allows a potential voter to examine your source material.
-
- Please don't make it personal. Governor Walker's policies hurt me, too, but I don't think that's enough to convince others that he has to go. Boo-hoo for all of us, but let's not feel sorry for ourselves; let's change the government of our state.
My aim is fairly simple -- when canvassers begin to go door-to-door and phone calls begin to be made to various houses, I want those people to have a series of reasons, backed with factual evidence, as to why Scott Walker's recall is good for Wisconsin. My aim is to educate potential voters that might be on the fence, then let them make up their own minds. My aim is not just to see Scott Walker recalled, but to see him lose a recall election.
I look forward to your suggestions.
(Apologies for substandard bullet-pointing. A slightly-altered version of this piece first appeared at the author's personal blog at www.bangthebuckets.com)