When the second round of the Wisconsin recalls began, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin told the media that in addition to the recall of Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, it would target three vulnerable, first-term Republican state senators: Pam Galloway, Terry Moulton and Van Wanggaard. The state party and other groups working on the recall decided not to target State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald because, according to local grassroots activist Lori Compas, they didn't believe it was possible.
However, Lori Compas thought otherwise, so she launched a recall of Fitzgerald on her own. Amazingly, it appears she is on the brink of succeeding:
A group working to recall state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says it has collected more than enough signatures to force an election.
The group needs 16,742 names by Saturday. Lori Compas, the group's chairwoman, called a news conference at the state Capitol Friday to announce she had collected more than enough signatures, although she declined to reveal how many.
Recognizing that Compas and her grassroots cohorts were within reach of pulling this off, two weeks ago We Are Wisconsin, the umbrella organization for unions involved in the recall, joined the effort. On Wednesday, they passed 16,000, and are now racing against the clock to build a large enough cushion to survive challenges to their signatures. It is going to be so close that Fitzgerald and the recall organizers are now arguing in public over whether today or tomorrow is the final day to collect signatures.
Whether or not Scott Fitzgerald ends up facing a recall election, this is truly astonishing grassroots leadership by Lori Compas and her fellow volunteers. Please, send her a letter of thanks.
For more discussion on the recall of Scott Fitzgerald, see Giles Goat Boy on the rec list.