We've done a fine job on offense in Wisconsin in the last couple months, bringing perhaps as many as six anti-Worker GOPers back to face the voters, but I am pleased to see that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is playing smothering defense against the corrupt right-wing efforts to unseat three of the Fab 14.
"The overwhelming evidence clearly shows a pervasive pattern of election fraud committed by the shady out-of-state organization hired by Republicans to collect recall petitions," said Senate Democratic Leader Mark Miller. "Thousands of Wisconsin citizens fell victim to lies and misinformation spread by the circulators, and the papers submitted by this operation contain a river of omissions and wrong information."
As noted on Tuesday by Quicklund, too little attention has been paid to the defense efforts in Wisconsin. Admittedly, some of the GOP attempts, like the one to recall my man in Madison, Senator Spencer Coggs, were comical in their windmill-tilting, but there were three very serious attempts to remove Democrats in somewhat less solidly Democratic territory. So serious, in fact, that they reached a level of desperation that drove them to hire outside help and, apparently, commit fraud.
There is no guarantee that the Democrats will get all three of these fraud riddled efforts thrown out, but if we can, it will allow everyone to focus their efforts on offense and let the defense take a break for a while. Cheers to the DPW!
Even I am shocked by the bold and pervasive nature of the fraud.
Many affidavits attesting that Circulator Sherri Ferrell - who gathered nearly 3,000 signatures in two districts -- gathered signatures on Indian reservations claiming petitions were to support "schools," "Democrats," and "tribal rights."
Affidavit of a World War II veteran from Green Bay who was misled into signing a recall petition. Upon learning he had been duped, veteran called the sheriff to get his name removed. When confronted, the circulator claims he will remove the name, but a later review of the petitions reveals the veteran's name was never crossed off.
Although I am not too worried about Wirch being beaten and have only the slightest nervousness about Hansen's chances, I am convinced that winning this round and getting the recalls thrown out is the best chance we have at keeping Holperin. His district is reddish purple and not known for having any strong Democratic base to mobilize on his behalf. For me, the fact that the Democratic Party thinks there is already enough evidence to toss these recall petitions is great. I would be happy as a clam to know that all of the recall elections taking place this July will be of Republican incumbents.
Updated by pHunbalanced at Thu May 05, 2011 at 03:49 PM CDT
I can now stop worrying about Holperin, it appears his opponent will be Kim Simac, the leader of the Recall Holperin drive and right wing tea party nut, sort of like Palin meets Bachman.