Remember Wisconsin?
Before we started having to worry about a worldwide economic tailspin created by Tea Party Republicans in Congress “trading” a routine debt ceiling increase for an expensive free ride for corporations and the wealthy, we were trying to stop state legislatures from passing draconian budgets that punched working people in the gut.
Even as Republicans in Congress – doing Grover Norquist’s bidding - attempt to make hard working Americans pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporate special interests, the situation in the states is equally dire. Wisconsin is Exhibit A. Republican majorities in Wisconsin’s House and Senate, led by Gov. Scott Walker, enacted this year a miniature version of what the Tea Party House seems to want for America. They cut hundreds of millions of dollars from public education, while handing hundreds of millions of dollars of tax breaks to out-of-state corporations and the state’s wealthiest residents, all in the name of fixing a state budget already weakened by massive tax breaks for the rich.
Six of the Republican senators who voted for Walker’s misplaced priorities are now facing recall elections from constituents who feel like they were stiffed. These recall elections don’t just matter for Wisconsin. The results will send a clear signal to elected officials across the country about how much abuse working people are willing to put up with – and how much support their allies throughout the country are willing to provide. When Wisconsin’s citizens stormed the capital for weeks this winter protesting a state budget that cut public education and health care to pay for tax cuts for the rich, they echoed the frustrations of millions of Americans who have seen their unemployment checks evaporate while the rich get tax breaks on private jets. These voices are loud and clear, but won’t be fully heard until we win at the ballot box. Victories against the pro-corporate Right in the recall elections will send an unequivocal message to elected officials that they are ultimately beholden to the people who vote for them, not to the special interests that bankroll their campaigns.
The first of the nine recall elections was a great victory for progressives, with Democrat Dave Hansen winning easily over a Republican challenger. Hansen’s victory was relatively easy, in a large part because his challenger was plagued with legal issues, including allegations of domestic abuse, but Hansen ran a strong campaign that turned out an impressive progressive vote. However, the real challenge is yet to come. On August 9, six sitting Republican state senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker’s draconian anti-worker budget will face recall votes – if at least three get the boot from voters and the challenges against incumbent Democrats fail, the state Senate’s majority will flip, and the state will have at least one legislative body to put up a fight next time Gov. Walker shows up with a radical bill in tow.
Conservative groups from across the country have been pouring money into Wisconsin to defend the state senators who are up for recall. And Republicans in the state are busy trying to make it more difficult for some Wisconsinites to vote. They imposed a Voter ID bill, which took partial effect before the recall elections, designed to keep those without government-issued photo ID – largely the elderly, students and the poor – from accessing the ballot box.
August 9’s elections are about putting Wisconsin back on track and about showing the corporate Right who’s really the boss in a democracy.
PFAW is running a multi-pronged campaign to elect progressive voices to the Wisconsin state senate, not in coordination with any candidate, candidate’s committee or party. TV ads in three districts went on the air Tuesday: