Ah the glorious smell of democracy in action...even if that odor is courtesy of the mingled scent of laptop-generated heat, pizza with an undertone of sweat-borne passion and determination... it smells WONDERFUL.
Let Mr. Fantastic explain: You may have noticed that IW and myself have been laying kinda low lately (and if you haven't I say, "HMPH!"), the reasons are twofold:
1) We have eliminated ATT wireless from our home in the Baxter Building (a secret location on the east side of Madison) as ATT is a donor to His Majesty, Scott Walker, and have yet to replace it.
2) We have been partaking in tasks which are akin to not only making the proverbial democracy sausage, but verily grinding the meat as well. We have been in the field gathering recall votes (more on that later) but more importantly, we have been volunteering our time with the WI Democratic party, assessing and entering data from recall petitions filed by Republicans AGAINST the eligible democrats, looking for mistakes and outright jackassery.
There is plenty of both in abundant and loopy display, let me assure you. More after the fold... =)
Did you know it is legal to trade shots of liquor for signatures in WI? Neither did we. But I suppose one could argue that "rail" booze (as opposed to top-shelf) might not constitute "something of value". Ugh. Anyhoo, this is what occurred in SE WI where Robert Wirch is being subject to a recall. The petitions have been filed for he and 2 other democrats.
Earlier this week, a call went out for progressives and democrats to show up to Dem HQ and help with the gargantuan task of reviewing petitions for accuracy and "no-goodery". Under this backdrop, Invisible Woman and I, who were looking for something to do while the Kloppenberg/Prosser recounts revved up, decided to answer the call after the Wirch "shotgate" story came out.
What we saw at the Democrats' office was something to heal the heart, sicken the soul, and generally make the masses merry.
For starters, when the call came out, the democrats offered up no less than 30 shifts of 3 hours apiece over six days to assess and enter the petition data into their database. The idea being that volunteers could go through the petitions and flag obvious problems (Mickey Mouse, Bullwinkle Moose or Mike Hunt signing the petition OR date mismatches) and not-so-obvious problems (one elector signing multiple lines, etc). This data would subsequently be given to the data experts for their review. The idea here is that we, the passionate volunteer force would separate the wheat from the chaff (what does that mean, btw?) and help to eliminate fraudulent votes.
Healing the Heart:
As far as we know EVERY SHIFT has been at maximum. With more volunteers than seats! I would wager that at least 50 or so seats/computers are available in the offices at dem HQ, and since Thursday night, officials are saying that they have had more than 300 separate volunteers show up to help, some of us multiple times. To see, to witness the continued passion from like-minded progressives is really uplifting, and it made both IW and MF quite proud! Furthermore, it turns out that at least one full day of volunteering is likely to be unnecessary as we volunteers are tearing through the petitions.
Also uplifting were appearances by both Sen. Mark Miller (in person) and Dave Hansen (via Skype) who were gracious and downright spirited in their thanks and appreciation for what it is we are all doing on behalf of our democracy. Miller has been sporting a weathered red cap that says "14" on it that Mr. Fantastic has his eye on! However, as it was given to Miller by a member of the gang of 200K upon return from his self-imposed exile, it is doubtful it shall find its way into MF's mitts.
Sickening the Soul:
Republicans can be more detestably dishonest than the very Wall-street investment executives they so aggressively represent (seen any AAA bond ratings worth more than a sack of rivets lately?), which is no surprise. bUT WHAT DID raise our eyebrows was the creativity and desperate tactics utilized to attempt to recall Democrats. Examples include:
1) Flying in petition circulators from EVERYWHERE including Colorado (one of which was a convicted felon, who while near Lambeau Field tried to steal a backpack), Oklahoma, Florida (shocking), and ... we shit you not constant reader... BEVERLY HILLS, CA!!!
2) According to officials, there is a group of people who do this for a living under the auspices of something called "ballot initiatives", and these groups pay by the signature, which naturally engenders copious and calculated fraud. It was believed that the individual from Beverly Hills was one such professional hack.
3) Cheating. Pure, simple, unfettered cheating. It was OBVIOUS from looking at names and neighborhoods in wards that are strong Hansen supporters that these people (or some at least) were telling electors that they were signing papers IN SUPPORT of Dave Hansen.
Making the Masses Merry:
Nothing says merriment like free pizza, peanut butter sandwich cookies, and diet cokes. That dear reader is the very Trifecta o' Fun Times. All joshin' aside, there is much to take heart in here; we are able to discern yet again that the passion born of Mother Protest has begot a bouncing baby of indeterminate sex that continues to kick ass, take names, and leave notice that he/she ain't goin' away anytime too damn soon. To see this room fill up beyond capacity every time, to see the many of us out in the field traveling (as IW and MF have on 6 occasions while seeking to unseat Kapanke and Cowles AND to attend a pro-Dave rally in Green Bay... yes we ARE that macho) hundreds of miles to gather signatures is moving and fills us with merry glee. Also MF notes with pride that IW attended a Recount Demand rally for Joanne Kloppenburg.
We protestors have become activists. Meanwhile the other side has to fly in felons and professional hacks to create fraudulent forms. What's more they do not have a virtual fleet of volunteers to pour over OUR generated forms looking for errors.
We are fighting the best fight we know how dear and constant reader; a fight of integrity; a fight where we are inspired by deeply held convictions of consensus and belief; a fight for the needs of the many (people) versus the wants of the few (Koch Inc.). Guess what... we are winning.