Title changed to reflect the expansion of this post beyond its original mission
Major Update: Recall petitions have been submitted to the Government Accountability Board for Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and 4 Republican State Senators. Now onto the original posting.
The awesome group of citizens in State Senator Fitzgeralds Wisconsin district who decided to collect signatures for his recall have filed the petitions with the Government Accountability Board.
The signatures filed by the group trying to recall Fitzgerald amounted to 123% of the 16,742 valid signatures that would be needed to force a recall election. Fitzgerald had no immediate comment Tuesday, saying his campaign would release one later in the day.
I'll post more but wanted everyone to know the good news ASAP.
As optimistic as I like to be, I thought this would be impossible. Fitzgerald sits in one of the most Republican districts in the state. Even the Wisconsin recall organizations and Wisconsin Democratic Party didn't think it was possible. After all, we had failed to collect enough signatures to recall Republican State Senators Glen Grothman and Mary Lazich just this summer because of their red districts. I tried in both of those districts and it was just plain ugly.
But the people in the district, sickened by their State Senator (also the Senate Majority Leader) decided to recall him all on their own. I wished them luck, knew that the recall wasn't just going to be just uphill, but a completely vertical climb.
Lori Compas and her group of awesome recallers not only deserve deserve medals for the major effort, but halos for doing it!
Petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker, Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and 3 Republican State Senators (Galloway, Moulton and Wanggaard who were first elected in the Republican wave of 2010) will be filed with the Government Accountability Board at 3 PM today at which time the number of signatures will be made public. The petitions weigh 3000 pounds.
UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin is on a sabbatical to do polling on state politics for the Marquette University Law School. Franklin said his group will do polling on the recall later this week with results out next week.
Franklin said the likely race appeared to be tight but Walker had advantages because of his strong fundraising and the fact that Democrats still haven't coalesced around a challenger.
"Given the fundraising advantage and the fact that Walker won the 2010 election means that you'd have to say Walker is in a more advantageous position going into this recall," Franklin said.
But Franklin said there were still unknown factors for the governor, including what might come out of an ongoing John Doe investigation.
My apologies that this came out in dribs and drabs, but I wanted everyone to know this astounding news ASAP. Thanks for your support.
Update: ATL Dem has posted a picture of the submission in the comments here. I don't know how to post a picture, but I'm hoping it will be kind of a no-brainer when the DK Photo Coop goes online for subscribers and I'll be able to post them after that. Old brain stuffed with all kinds of other stuff learns slowly these days.
Update: Fitz Speaks Edition: Here's what Republican State Senator and Majority Leader Scott Fizgerald has to say (via statement because he's probably busy crying like a baby):
"In 12 short months Senate Republicans balanced a massive budget deficit without raising taxes or resorting to layoffs. We passed over a dozen job-creation bills to lay the groundwork for economic recovery in our state, and we gave power back to school districts and municipalities which allowed them to prioritize their spending and avoid mass layoffs."
He's also busy whining about the expense of the recall. He's already raised more than $190,000 since July, more than any of the other Republican State Senators being recalled. And that doesn't count all of the funds that will come from his monied interests owners via astroturfed groups they'll create to put out attack ads.
Update: Hahahahaha Edition: Scott Walker has cancelled interviews today because of a "busy schedule", but his "busy schedule" isn't stopping him from holding a fundraiser in New York City hosted by a manager of AIG (You know, the guys that provided all that "insurance" so the Wall Streeters could bet against all those crappy mortgages they bundled, slided and diced. The same stuff that crashed our economy. These are Walkers friends and donors. Nice rogues gallery, Snotty. I hope there will be plenty of pictures of you and your owners).
Update #4: Walker Had Time for RW Radio Edition: Despite the fact that Walker aides were cancelling interviews today due to a "busy schedule" it's apparantly not too busy to prevent his attendance at the (noted in the Hahahahaha Edition" above fundraiser, he DID have plenty of time for an interview with Milwaukee RW radio shill Charlie Sykes:
In that interview, Walker conceded there would be a recall election, adding that it would give him a chance to get his message out.
The governor said the recall effort and the millions of dollars that will be raised were being driven by big-government unions. "They want their hands on that money," he said in reference to legislative approval of Walker's plan to remove most collective-bargaining rights for public-employee unions.
"It's a lot easier to sign a recall petition than it is to vote," Walker said.
Of course it will be. Scott Walker and his Republican pals made it more difficult by ramming through a voter suppression bill requiring photo IDs which will disenfranchize tens of thousands of Wisconsinites from their constitutionally guarenteed right to vote.
This is the same guy who kept telling everyone in February, March, Arpil ..... that protesters would get tired and just accept what he did. He thinks like a Republican - a lie becomes the truth if you say it often enough and loud enough. Fail.
Update: More than a Million Edition: This just in. OMG. More than a million signatures will be submitted to recall Scott Walker. A moment of silence (and awe) is required.
Moment of silence and awe over. I am stupified that it's that many. People kept posting that we should get more than a million signatures because Ohio got that many to put their union stripping bill on the ballot. I kept telling everyone that we have a lot less people in Wisconsin than Ohio so that amount would be incredibly hard to reach. OMG I was wrong again.
To put that million signatures into perpective:
According to official election results, Walker got 1,128,941 votes (52.25%), while Barrett got 1,004,303 votes (46.48%).
We're talking election level results here. And these are verified, duplicates elimated signatures. Governor Walker, the people of this state really, really, really don't like you.
Of course, Governor Snotty isn't even in the state (again). Wherever he is, he should be worried. The millions of dollars his monied interests owner spent on propaganda ads over the last 2 months didn't save his behind from the people he's trampled on for a year. And he's still whining about the recalls being done by outside forces and outside unions with outside money while not a peep about his massive campaign payola that he has been relentlessly raising from .... you guessed it ..... outside monied interests.
We still have a long road ahead of us including what will be an ugly recall election containing even more massive numbers of attack ads that will outdo the horrendous ones that poisoned our airwaves in 2010, but I think it's time for some Scottenfreuden.
Please see Chris Bowers front page article for the donation link and more juiciness.
Whew. What an amazing day and it's not even close to being over yet.
Update: Lots More Coming Out Edition: This is a big stories on our local media and will get plenty of coverage. A sample here:
Walker ran his first campaign television ad the night before recall petitions hit the street in mid-November. He's been on air nonstop, making arguments that while some of the decisions he made last year to balance a $3.6 billion state budget shortfall were difficult, the state is in a better financial position and will prosper in the long run.
Walker has been raising money at a furious clip. He was hosting a $2,500 per-person fundraiser in New York City along with Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the founder and former CEO of American International Group. AIG was one of the world's largest insurance companies that nearly collapsed in the fall of 2008 at the height of the financial crisis and received about $180 billion in bailout aid from the government.
Walker has also recently attended fundraisers in Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee. He is taking full advantage of both the conservative star persona built as he put Wisconsin at the center of the national labor rights debate and a quirk in state law allowing those targeted for recall to ignore normal contribution limits until an election date is set.
As of mid-December, he had already raised $5.1 million, with about half of that coming from out-of-state donors.
This station, like far too many others, have been Walker water carriers. Interesting focus on his fundraising and a nice debunk to his claims about outside money and outside unions being the force behind the recalls (they very clearly weren't).
Live updating available here. Look below the video at the top for their twitter feed and pix of the petition delivery.
Update. The Petitions are IN Edition! The petitions were delivered box by box by box by box to the Government Accountability Board. Buh bye Walker.
This is being covered LIVE on every local station.
Update #8: See update #4. Walker cancelled state and local media apprearance today, but had time to chat with Milwaukee RW radio shill Charlie Sykes. He also had time to chat with national RW blowhard Rush Limbaugh. This IS being noted by our local media.
1:40 PM PT: The last box of petitions has now been delivered.
1:42 PM PT: The recall timeline rules:
60 days for the GAB to verify the petitions
6 weeks to hold a primary, if needed
4 weeks to hold the recall election
1:50 PM PT: GAB holding news conference now.
They will begin scanning the petitions for Fitzgerald first before starting the scanning of the remainder of the petitions. This will be done in an undisclosed location (with a web cam - link to be posted on GABs web site) for security reasons.
They will not stop verification after reaching the minimum required to trigger a recall election. They will review each signature until all have been verified and generate a total. They will be using software to check for duplicates and fraudulent signatures.
Update: Title Change Edition: I really didn't expect this post to get so big, but it did as more and more and more awesomeness kept coming in. I'm changing the title to reflect the expanded scope of what started out as a small diary.
Update: You can see some video here. Look behind the woman being interviewed to see the boxes being delivered.