Scott Walker Recall Efforts to Launch Nov. 15
Survey shows majority of Wisconsinites want governor out of office next year
The grassroots group United Wisconsin announced on Tuesday that it will begin circulating petitions to recall Walker on Nov. 15.
The group needs 540,206 signatures within 60 days to put Walker on a recall ballot next year. For more information, visit www.unitedwisconsin.com.
The effort is buoyed by a survey sponsored by the state Democratic Party and commissioned by the respected public opinion research firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates showing that 52% of people disapprove of Walker's job performance. Furthermore, 51% of likely voters support recalling Walker, with only 42% in favor of keeping him in office.
The intensity of the opposition to Walker is especially striking.
Of the 52% who disapprove of Walker's job performance, 41% "strongly disapprove" of the first-term Republican governor. That's in contrast to the 46% who approve of the job he's doing in Madison, with 31% "strongly" approving of him.
Walker is having an especially difficult time persuading independents, moderates and women to support him. The survey, conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates in mid-September, found that independents favor recalling Walker by 16 points, moderates by 23 points, and women by 20 points.
Walker has also wiped out the enthusiasm gap that plagued Democratic candidates in 2010.
According to the poll, likely 2012 voters who did not vote in 2010 support the recall 57% to 26%.
Overall, the pollsters found that "there is little question that a recall campaign against Scott Walker has an excellent chance for success."
Graeme Zielinski, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said that the intensity of the opposition to Walker in all parts of the state, in key demographics, was shocking.
"From Ashland to Racine, from Prairie du Chien to Crivitz, there's an appetite for this," Zielinski said.
He said that collecting enough signatures to force a Walker recall was entirely possible, since activists gathered more than 180,000 signatures to recall six Republican senators this summer.
"That was without coming near our base of power," Zielinski said. "These were in red districts."
John Doe Investigation Continues
Especially worrisome for Walker is how the electorate views his priorities as governor. Strong majorities said that Walker was too close to corporate interests and is mainly interested in grabbing political power. In contrast, Democrats were seen as being willing to improve public education and fight for the middle class, as well as being interested in "people like me," respondents said.
Democrats were even seen as doing more to create jobs—Walker's signature issue as governor.
Not included in the survey but an issue that could have a devastating effect on Walker is voters' views of the ongoing John Doe investigation that is said to be looking into potential campaign violations while Walker was running for governor.
Last month, the FBI raided the Madison home of Cindy Archer, an aide to Walker at the county level who became a high-ranking official in the state Department of Administration when Walker became governor. Archer resigned from that position to work at the state Department of Children and Families, although she is currently on medical leave.
Cullen Werwie, Walker's spokesman, Rose Ann Dieck, a Republican fund-raiser, and those connected to Wisconsin & Southern Railroad have been granted immunity in connection with this investigation.
The railroad company's president and CEO, William Gardner, was charged with two felonies for funneling more than $60,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Walker's campaign. According to investigators, Gardner asked employees to contribute to Walker's campaign and then had the company reimburse those employees for their donations.
Gardner pleaded guilty to two felonies and the company paid a civil forfeiture of $166,900—the largest campaign-related fine in Wisconsin history.
Well..I doubt the Union will get 540,000 people to sign. So I think the recall isn't going to happen.
As soon as a label is assigned, the conversation is over. We throw around terms like "left" or "right", "socialism" or "capitalism", "muslim" or "christian, "black" or "white" as ways to stop the conversation, to stop the people from thinking further. We get down to mere score-keeping, counting who's side is strongest. We want the fight to be over before it even gets started. Simple fact is nobody wants "change" if it means they must be making the changes themselves. We all "hoped" for "change" when it meant everyone and everything out there had to change, but we in our narrow-minded community could stay unchanged and just benefit from it.
I decided to go back to basics, meaning go back to what left-wing is, what being right-wing means. The shocking thing was that what these terms mean is a matter of opinion, opinion that seems very different in different continents, no time to go into that. -- Basic idea is that "left-wing" means those who support a sense of equality, not just of equal opportunity to get into the race, but also reasonable equality in the end-results of the rat-race. The right-wing on the other hand is simply about saying "No" to anything the left-wing says; effectively become those who support inequality, to the point of monarchy, he who has the most gold not only keeps his gold, but also takes the lesser people's gold, and #1 also makes the rules, lesser opinions do not matter!
I was watching a few Micheal Moore videos, many of you already get your fingers in your ears, are busy saying "la-la-la-la". No need to listen, your mind is already made up. I watch to hear what sources he uses, and also watch the Anti-Moore rebuttals. The best lines were the statements by Tony Benn, a former British parliament member, very conservative-British looking gentleman...
"Before we had the [democratic] vote, all the power was in the hands of the rich people. If you had money, you could get healthcare, education, look after yourself when you were old. What democracy did was to give the poor the vote. And it moved the power from the marketplace to the polling station. From the wallet to the ballot.
"... this idea of choice which capital[ism] talks about, "you've got to have a choice," choice depends on the freedom to choose. If you are shackled with debt, you do not have the freedom to choose.
"People in debt become hopeless, and hopeless people don't vote.
"I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all, frighten people, and secondly, demoralize them.
"An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern. And I think there is an element of thinking in some people: "We don't want people to be educated, healthy and confident, because they would get out of control."
And lastly,
"The top 1% of the world's population have 80% of the world's wealth. It's incredible that people put up with it, but they are poor, they're demoralized, they're frightened. And therefore, they think perhaps the safest thing to do is to take orders and hope for the best.
Speaking of left wing- you're utilizing one of the oldest left-wing tactics in the book: "It's not that our message is complete garbage, no...it's the label (or the medium, or talk radio, etc...)"
The fact that this article is crap has nothing to do with the author's name- it is crap because it leaves out these FACTS:
1. Over 1.5 million people voted for Walker, and 500K signatures will be sufficient to bring him up for recall- why is that "fair"?
2. Classrooms are not being stuffed with 50 kids.
3. Teachers are not being laid off anywhere but Milwaukee, which is a lost cause anyway.
4. Teachers are not losing their houses and still have a very good gig.
5. Both 3 and 4 also apply to public workers.
6. Our budget is balanced, our bills are paid- and no taxes were raised, no jobs were lost, and services remain at nearly the same level they were at before Act 10.
7. In many school districts, MORE teachers are being hired.
Democrats are simply power-hungry and are still beholden to the UNIONS. Nothing new here at all- except that WI will now be in political chaos for the forseable future. Thanks, Mr. Alinsky!