Recall Scott Walker

Started by Valerian, November 10, 2011, 10:11:34 AM

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Valerian

Now that the dust has settled from the senatorial recalls in Wisconsin, the official signature-gathering effort to recall Governor Walker himself starts on November 15th.  Some predict that the overturning of the union-busting bill in Ohio (one even more harsh than the one in Wisconsin, as it included firefighters and police officers) will help set up some momentum for the recall election.

I really hope so, since frankly, things are only getting more messed up around here lately.  (Thanks to Oniya for pointing the video out to me.)

Gov. Scott Walker gets checked, Mic Checked!




Walker is almost certainly the subject of a John Doe investigation by the FBI.  Two major supporters of Walker's gubernatorial campaign and Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie have all been granted immunity in exchange for their testimony.  A Walker aide who recently left her job to work elsewhere in state government had her home raided by the FBI in September.

A timeline of events suggests that the investigation is looking back all the way to 2005, when Walker first began accepting illegal contributions for his gubernatorial campaign, though the full extent of the investigation is not yet known.




Republican Dale Schultz was the only senator to break party lines during the vote on Wisconsin's anti-collective bargaining bill -- he voted with the Democrats and therefore saved himself any real risk of a recall.  It didn't matter; the Republicans still had the majority and the bill passed.

Now he's broken with party lines again and voted against the redistricting bill that the Republicans are trying to push into law to make future recalls against Republicans more difficult.  (Redistricting is required to be finished by November 2012; Republicans wanted it done a year early.  Schultz says he wants to continue to represent the people who actually elected him.)  But while the Senate recalls didn't give the Democrats the majority, they did reduce the Republican majority to one vote.  Schultz voting against the bill means it doesn't pass.  Apparently in retaliation, someone decided to egg his office at the capitol building.




As of November 1st, concealed carry gun permits are available.  This being one of Walker's pet projects, it must somehow create jobs -- he claimed back in October that he would have a "laser-like focus" on job creation this legislative session -- but I haven't yet figured out how, exactly.  The point is, at the first opportunity, Walker dropped the requirement for a four-hour training course in proper gun handling.  If you want to hunt deer, you need a 10-hour training course with that rifle; so maybe people should go after those big bucks with a .45 instead.  :P

You're even allowed to carry a concealed weapon in most areas of the state capitol buildings, the major exception being the State Supreme Court hearing room.

But if you carry in one of those terribly dangerous protest signs, or dare to use a camera, prepare to be arrested.

Quote
Earlier this year, during the large protests in the capital over the governor’s anti-union policies, the administration installed metal detectors to make sure no weapons were brought into the building. Republicans complained they often felt unsafe, the Journal-Sentinel said, and state Senator Scott Fitzgerald called the Capitol “a powder keg.”

The demonstrations over the anti-union measures were peaceful. Yet, this week, a dozen people were arrested for holding up signs in the Assembly galleries and videotaping proceedings. It turns out cameras – while permitted to be carried – can’t be used, and signs are not permitted in the galleries. On Tuesday, a resolution was introduced to suspend the rule forbidding signs, but it was defeated along party lines, with one Republican arguing that the turbulence of the protests and death threats received by Republicans required the rules remain in place. The Journal-Sentinel noted that members of both parties received death threats by email and phone.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Callie Del Noire

While the video cheers me a bit, over all Valerian, your new bites depress me. Less and less cooperation and non-partisan statesmanship seems to be coming out of this, with the single exception of Republican Dale Schultz trying to meet the opposition in the middle. I don't expect he'll be getting any support on his reelection from the party, which is a shame since it seems he's a LEADER rather than party yes man.

I imagine there are going to be a LOT of districts that will bob and weave around neighborhoods and towns in ways that will either maxmize the republican turn out or put all the democrats in two or more districts into a 'new single' district. Back how we had a district appear that extended only two miles around i-85 for like nearly 40 miles.

meikle

Quote from: Valerian on November 10, 2011, 10:11:34 AMBut if you carry in one of those terribly dangerous protest signs, or dare to use a camera, prepare to be arrested.
Quote from: That ArticleEarlier this year, during the large protests in the capital over the governor’s anti-union policies, the administration installed metal detectors to make sure no weapons were brought into the building. Republicans complained they often felt unsafe, the Journal-Sentinel said, and state Senator Scott Fitzgerald called the Capitol “a powder keg.”

Republicans felt unsafe with all of the protesters, so now we'll let them carry guns instead of signs.  That'll be safer!
Kiss your lover with that filthy mouth, you fuckin' monster.

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Valerian

Some morning DJs pointed out that the cost of providing security for the governor and lieutenant governor has more than doubled from the comparable time period for the last administration ($611,400 now compared to $259,900 when Jim Doyle was governor).  Part of that is because Walker's children are younger and need more protection than Doyle's grown children, who no longer lived with him, but also:

Quote
David Erwin, a captain in the State Patrol and the head of the unit that protects the governor, said the threats against Walker have reached a new level. State officials declined to discuss those threats or the governor's security in any detail because they said it might put him at risk.

"Any threats targeting the governor, his family and the lieutenant governor are not comparable to past administrations. Because of the increased threat level, for the first time we need to provide security at this level for the (lieutenant governor) and the governor's family," said a statement by Erwin, who also led the unit when Doyle was governor.
So you'd think that they'd want to stop people from carrying guns around, openly or otherwise, but apparently that's too logical.  :P
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: meikle on November 10, 2011, 10:45:14 AM
Republicans felt unsafe with all of the protesters, so now we'll let them carry guns instead of signs.  That'll be safer!


Hey! Everyone knows those commie/liberal/hippy unionists don't like guns! And they say such mean things on those signs!

Valerian



Wisconsin being the Badger State.  ;)


There is one bit of slightly better news that I meant to link to earlier: Schultz and Democratic Senator Tim Cullen organized a joint tour of the state last month to promote cooperation between parties.

Quote from: Common Cause Wisconsin
Cullen and Schultz have visited each others’ districts. Each listened to the concerns of the others’ constituents. They are working together finding common ground on issues that matter to people regardless of political affiliation.

http://www.commoncausewisconsin.org/2011/09/two-state-senators-should-be-inducted.html
http://therecoveringpolitician.com/weekly-web-gems/the-rps-weekly-web-gems-the-politics-of-the-states-2

So thank goodness someone's trying to restore some sanity, even though it doesn't seem to be helping much yet...
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

MasterMischief

Quote from: Callie Del Noire on November 10, 2011, 11:00:40 AM

Hey! Everyone knows those commie/liberal/hippy unionists don't like guns! And they say such mean things on those signs!

You forgot fascists.   ::)

Oniya

Didn't you know?  Communists and fascists are the same thing.  [/sarcasm]
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
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itsbeenfun2000

The recall paperwork was put in about a week ago by one of Walker's supporters. This gave Walker an extra few weeks to acquire money from the superpacks to start his campain and for the superpacks to start getting the money together to advertise.

Needless to say the Democrats are extremely unhappy about this issue. How much sleazier can this man be?

Valerian

United Wisconsin, the group leading the recall effort, had their website hit by a Distributed Denial of Service attack earlier today.  The site was down for about six hours, and the group has reported the attack to the FBI and the Wisconsin Attorney General's office. 

A United Wisconsin spokesperson is quoted as saying that the "attack was coordinated and deliberate".

Several cities around the state are having signing parties that start just after midnight tonight, so that the recall can get started as quickly as possible.


On the one hand, it's depressing that anyone would do something like that.  On the other, at least maybe this means that Walker supporters are nervous about the recall.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Avis habilis

Quote from: Valerian on November 14, 2011, 09:37:24 PM
On the one hand, it's depressing that anyone would do something like that.  On the other, at least maybe this means that Walker supporters are nervous about the recall.

They're just getting started.

MasterMischief

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

Valerian

According to politiscoop, the plotters involved in the link Avis posted also have ties to the Republican party in Waukesha County -- that being the county where the mysteriously missing 7,000+ votes turned up just in time to give heavily conservative judge and Walker rubber-stamp David Prosser the win in the last state supreme court election.  It's very much a Republican enclave, about the only one in that part of the state.  The good news, such as it is, is that if they get caught doing anything like they said they might, that's a Class I felony, punishable by up to a $10,000 fine and as much as three and a half years in prison.

The best way to stymie any such fraud, though, is to go to the nearest United Wisconsin recall office rather than signing a petition brought to your door.  There's a listing here, and they're in 28 cities around the state.

Recall centers have been busy.  The Appleton office collected about 1,100 signatures yesterday, for example, and Stevens Point reported collecting about 1,000.  No overall numbers are posted yet that I can find, but other numbers aren't in Walker's favor:
Quote
The poll showed that 58 percent of respondents believe Walker should be recalled from office. That compares with 47 percent who said in April that he should be recalled.

The growth in support for a recall came, surprisingly, from Republicans. In the spring, only 7 percent of Republicans supported recalling Walker but that grew to 24 percent in the fall. Support among Democrats held mainly steady at 88 percent in the spring and 92 percent in the fall.
Emphasis mine.




Also, four more GOP senators are now eligible for recall, and signatures are being gathered for that as well.  Those senators are Pam Galloway of Wausau, Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls, Van Wanggaard of Racine, and most hopeful of all, senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald, the second-most-disliked Scott in Wisconsin right now.  (Governor and majority leader agree on everything, unsurprisingly, and are sometimes jointly called Fitzwalker.)  His recall probably won't work, unfortunately, since he won by a considerable margin; but of the other three, Moulton had the biggest margin of votes at 8.5%.  Pam Galloway won by about 4.5% and Wanggaard by about 5%, so they didn't exactly get in by landslides.  Just one more Democrat in the senate will give them the majority.

The Daily Kos website is tracking some numbers and following the recalls day by day, and they've got some interesting statistics posted.  I am most amused by the fact that a Waukesha school board member appeared in a pro-Walker ad giving incorrect information about her own district -- she seems confused as to how many schools they actually have.  She also, incidentally, violated the board's own rules, which prohibit any member from talking to the media or issuing any sort of public statement without making it clear that they are speaking only for themselves and not for the entire board, whereas she implies throughout that she is speaking for the entire board.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Valerian

Ten days in and the fur is flying.

Three of the people mentioned above, who were planning to collect and destroy recall signatures now say they're going to turn them in after all, after having been informed of the possible legal consequences.  On the other hand, the one who was interviewed claims that about 1,000 people are involved in total.

And now a new facebook group called Operation Burn Notice claims they're making serious attempts to sabotage the recall efforts:
Quote
The letter cited several Operation Burn Notice posts that bragged about having destroyed 148,764 signatures as of Sunday.

One post stated Saturday:

The fires have been extinguished and the ashes spread. It was a very good day for a Sunday. To date, Operation Burn Notice has destroyed over 11,000 "documents". Do the math, kiddies. First correct total of signatures gets the Sunday, weekly door-prize.

There have so far been two reported incidents of people tearing up petitions.

As of yesterday, it's being reported that 105,000 of the 540,208 signatures needed have been collected, or about 20%.  The deadline for signatures is January 15th.




The Republicans have set up a "recall integrity center" website to combat recall fraud.  So far they've found a couple of public employees using their work emails to send out information about and support of the recall; and one joke posting on a schedule of recall events that was quickly yanked down.  Anyone is allowed to update that schedule.




And for fun:

The Wreck of the Brothers Fitzgerald

The Brothers Fitzgerald are Scott and Jeff, majority leaders of the Senate and Assembly respectively.  Lyrics by Madison singer/songwriter Peter Leidy.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Valerian

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/walker-administration-alters-protest-permit-requirements-6839brh-134845183.html

Walker's latest is a new set of rules about demonstrations in or near state buildings:

Quote
The policy says:

 Groups of four or more people must obtain permits for all activity and displays in state buildings and apply for those permits at least 72 hours in advance. The policy requires permits for 100 or more people outside the Capitol. The policy does provide some leeway for spontaneous gatherings triggered by unforeseen events.

 Groups holding demonstrations could be charged for the costs of having extra police on hand for the event. Costs associated with a counterprotest could be charged to that second group. The costs would be $50 per hour per Capitol Police officer - costs for police officers from outside agencies would depend on the costs billed to the state. The police could require an advance payment as a requirement for getting a permit and also could require liability insurance or a bond.

Quote
Bob Dreps, a lawyer who handles First Amendment cases including work for the Journal Sentinel, noted that the state can put some restrictions on the "time, place and manner" of free speech. But he said it was "laughable" to define a rally as four or more people.

Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) said it "makes sense" to have people ask permission to demonstrate and hold other events to ensure that the various groups that use the building can do so effectively. Grothman, however, said he wasn't sure that four people would amount to a rally.

"Like everything, the important thing is that it will be administered with common sense," Grothman said.

Quote
One group that meets every weekday at the Capitol is the Solidarity Singers, a pro-labor chorus that has been singing in protest of Walker's policies since last spring.

Department of Administration spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster said an agency lawyer had reached out to the leader of the Solidarity Singers, Chris Reeder, and would be meeting with him about the policy.

Reeder said his group has been willing to take its singing outside on days when other events such as blood drives are happening.

"We believe what we're doing is protected by the First Amendment," Reeder said of the new policy.

I find it mildly amusing that even a Republican senator isn't too sure about this new set of rules.  As I heard on the radio this morning, soon only the Scott Walker Fan Club will be allowed to meet in the capitol, since they have only three members.

On the plus side, over 300,000 signatures have been collected out of the 540,000 needed.

Walker went on CNBC implying that the recall effort was paying people to sign, even though the recall effort is seriously underfunded compared to the amount of money Walker and the Tea Party are already spending on TV ads.

And mostly I feel like I need to go rant in the Bad & Ugly now.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Valerian on December 02, 2011, 09:08:21 AM

Walker went on CNBC implying that the recall effort was paying people to sign, even though the recall effort is seriously underfunded compared to the amount of money Walker and the Tea Party are already spending on TV ads.

And mostly I feel like I need to go rant in the Bad & Ugly now.

Wow.. I'd say go get a stiff drink.. (looks at his bottle of Midnight Moon) but it's like still fairly early in the morning.

Trieste

Dude, Walker just defined my family as a rally! :D We have: four kids, seven if you count the significant others of the kids, plus two parents. So nine people... ten if you count the family dog.

We'll have to remember to get a permit if we ever visit the WI capitol. :P

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Trieste on December 02, 2011, 09:36:24 AM
Dude, Walker just defined my family as a rally! :D We have: four kids, seven if you count the significant others of the kids, plus two parents. So nine people... ten if you count the family dog.

We'll have to remember to get a permit if we ever visit the WI capitol. :P

Only if you carry signs or wear 'impeach Scott Walker' tshirts. (hmmm.. )

Oniya

Reminds me of the time a friend's mother asked us if we were worried about the roving gangs when we went to Chinatown for late-night dim sum.  We counted up how many people we crammed into the station wagon and realized 'We are a roving gang!'
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

itsbeenfun2000

The denial of the Republicans and Walker insisting that this is outside forces at work seems to be what other dictators of the earth say on demonstrations.

Valerian

For all his claims that he's looking forward to getting his message out again in any recall election, Walker seems rattled.

A longtime campaign manager from Wisconsin has stated that Walker is already handling the increasingly probable recall election all wrong.  And this is a Republican campaign manager who otherwise says nice things about Walker.

Quote
The [TV] ads are well produced. They make excellent, well-reasoned points and adequately defend Walker’s position. They are also a complete and total waste of money.

As an old campaign guru once said, “nobody ever successfully defended anything; there is only attack, attack, and more attack.” Walker is fighting the battle for his political life with a shield and not a sword; every dollar he wastes trying to explain his policy to the voters of Wisconsin, who have been saturated with stories about his policy for almost a year now, is a dollar he can’t spend aggressively moving votes in his direction.

And another dollar that isn't going towards making jobs, either, except for the TV people.  In October, Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state in the union -- 9,700 gone, while 39 other states added jobs.  And the best the Republicans can come up to help is apparently a law that would allow samples of hard liquor to be given out at retail stores.  (The man proposing this, Rep. Joel Kleefisch, is married to Wisconsin's lieutenant governor, who is also facing recall.)

Walker didn't like the poll that stated that 58% of the people in Wisconsin want him recalled, so he's attacked the poll as being infamously wrong.  It isn't; it's about as reliable as any other poll, though it does tend to have smaller sample sizes.  He also attacked the sample selection process because it didn't focus on "likely voters".  After all, why should he care how many people want him gone as long as those people aren't likely or able to haul themselves down to the voting booths?  Maybe they'll give up in disgust at the new, restrictive Republican voter ID requirements being phased in, anyway.

He's also claimed that there's no way over 300,000 signatures could have been gathered so quickly, so recall workers must be cheating.  He attacked the recallscottwalker site, saying that it was first set up before he even took office, in November 2010, implying that they must have been collecting signatures illegally ever since.  However, no one so much as posted on the site until February 2011, and the site's owner has done nothing to help collect signatures.

(Interestingly, of the 39 Walker statements reviewed so far on politifact.com, 7 have been rated Mostly False, 17 False, and 3 have been rated Pants on Fire.)

With any luck, maybe someone in the Tea Party will show some sense and stop supporting him.  He's making them all look bad at this point, with his random, baseless attacks, even aside from his awful track record.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Valerian

Now the GOP is spreading the story around that signatures on recall petitions that read Mickey Mouse or Adolf Hitler will be accepted.  "We will flag them, but we will not strike them without challenge," according to board elections specialist David Buerger.

Except it's all just designed to inflame conservatives who now think that such signatures are widespread on the recall petitions -- and it's hard to blame them, given the stories flying around on the subject.  This was the only reasonable article I could find:

Quote
A reasonable person would conclude, from that headline ["Mickey Mouse, Adolf Hitler Allowed On Wis. Recall Petitions"], that the Walker recall petitions have, in fact, been signed by Messrs. Mouse and Hitler, and that those signatures will be counted toward the 540,208 needed to initiate a recall of the Governor. In reality, neither of those things is true. None of the signatures have been reviewed yet, and if Mouse and Hitler do pop up, they will only be counted if they provide a valid Wisconsin address, and are properly dated.

The Hitler/Mouse hypotheticals are the go-to cliche´s in stories that seek to create the false hysteria about voter fraud that fuels the wave of voter ID laws which threaten to disenfranchise millions of voters nationwide... which makes this potential bit of cable news fluff deadly serious.

Reports are that a large portion of the estimated $650,000 cost of the recall will be spent on voter education over the new voter ID laws that are causing such confusion.  The ACLU is suing over the new laws, however, so it's possible they won't yet be in effect for the upcoming recall elections.  The requirements basically boil down to an illegal poll tax -- people who have been voting regularly will now have to pay to get the necessary ID.

All the real voter fraud in Wisconsin, of course, takes place via computer, and with the full support of local Republicans.

And speaking of Waukesha, since the Republicans weren't able to push the redistricting through in time for the senate recalls, thanks to Republican senator Dale Schultz breaking party lines, they've now started a lawsuit over the issue.  Thanks to a seemingly innocuous law they pushed through last month -- it allows state laws to be challenged in any county, not just highly liberal Dane County, where the state capital is -- they have filed this lawsuit in the Republican enclave of Waukesha county.

Quote
On November 18, 2011, a group of citizens asked a federal court to make sure that any recall elections taking place in 2012 occur in the old districts where the legislators were elected from, rather than the newly drawn districts. Three days later, a group of Republicans asked the state Supreme Court to require any recall elections take place in the new districts. The new districts, drawn by the Republican majority, would help the GOP.

Republicans filed a second lawsuit in Waukesha County on November 29, requesting a panel of three circuit court judges hear the case... On December 2, Republicans asked to withdraw their first lawsuit, a move Democrats immediately tried to block, saying the court should keep the case and dismiss it at a later date. The request came after it was known that Justice David Prosser, sidelined with an illness, would not take part in the case. That same day, Republicans amended their complaint, requesting a single Waukesha County judge hear the case, rather than the three-judge panel.

And just to round out my day, we have further reports of intimidation tactics against recall workers.  :P
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

ShadowFox89

I.... I don't want to live in this state anymore.

Hell, at this point, I don't want to live on this planet anymore >.<'
Call me Shadow
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itsbeenfun2000

It is interesting watching him squirm. The number of signatures is almost what they need and a lot of them have been coming out of republican area.

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: itsbeenfun2000 on December 17, 2011, 10:45:00 PM
It is interesting watching him squirm. The number of signatures is almost what they need and a lot of them have been coming out of republican area.

You know.. they out to create an app that causes his phone beep every time a signature is registered. :D