Wisconsin: Scott Walker could face a recall very freaking soon, guys

» That’s way more than enough, but … In a huge sign of support for the unions that suffered greatly at the hands of Scott Walker, over half a million signatures were gathered against the Wisconsin governor. The signatures, which will get submitted to the state’s Government Accountability Board today, could be enough to force a recall election against the governor just over a year into his term. However, it’s important to keep in mind that gubernatorial recall elections are rare, and have only succeeded twice in U.S. history. The most recent, though, was the 2003 recall of Gray Davis in California, so it’s certainly not unprecedented in the modern political climate for a governor to lose a recall election. But will there be an opponent formidable enough to defeat Scott? Maybe Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who lost against Walker in 2010 but knows a thing or two about coming back strong after getting his butt kicked.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

Walker to state: Who, me? As the recall push against Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker heats up, Walker has pushed back, denying he incited such action: “…we wouldn’t have to spend a penny of that if there weren’t recalls. This is not something we brought on.” To refresh the memory, Walker and the state GOP passed a law stripping union rights from public sector employees earlier this year. Despite the unions agreeing to accept Walker’s benefit cuts if he’d leave collective bargaining alone, Walker wanted the whole hog (he also admitted to a David Koch impersonator that he’d considered planting troublemakers at the Madison protests). source

Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

Wisconsin Republicans’ quixotic attempt to recall Democratic state senators has gotten off to a bad start: State Sen. David Hansen was easily re-elected in today’s recall election, defeating his opponent by a 2:1 margin. Hansen is the first of nine WI State Senators facing recall attempts (three Democrats, six Republicans).The recalls were first initiated by Democrats hoping to punish Republicans for supporting Scott Walker’s anti-union bill last Spring. Republicans, out of a combination of boredom and petulance, responded by launching their own recall petitions against Democrats who opposed the bill. source

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jan 2012 11:21