WI Recall Petitions: Far More than Enough to Recall Walker, Kleefisch, and Wanggaard

Today’s Wisconsin recall update is as follows, folks:

• Over 1 million signatures have been turned in to recall Governor Scott Walker.  (Approximately 540,000 were needed)
• Over 800,000 signatures have been turned in to recall Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch.  (Approximately 540,000 were needed)
• Over 24,000 signatures have been turned in to recall State Senator Van Wangaaard (R-Racine).  (Approximately 15,000 signatures were needed.)

Please see this link from today’s online version of the Racine Journal-Times for further details.

As for how these numbers compare?  Well, with over 1 million signatures, it’s highly likely Scott Walker is going to be facing recall; considering recall organizers got nearly twice as many signatures statewide as needed, it seems very, very likely that Walker will be recalled and replaced no matter who his opponent is.

With regards to Rebecca Kleefisch, the main reason there weren’t quite as many people willing to sign to get her out (though still quite a high number at an estimated 845,000) is because she’s a cancer survivor, a former anchorwoman for one of the biggest news stations in the state (WISN-TV in Milwaukee, WI), and because as a few men of my acquaintance have said in the past, “What a shame about her politics; she’s cute.”  (For the conservative men of my acquaintance, let me point out that Lt. Gov. Kleefisch is also Mrs. Joel Kleefisch, as she’s married to a state Assemblyman.)

As for Wanggaard, the fact that 24,000 people signed to get him out is historic; I believe this is more than the amount of signatures that had been gathered to recall George Petak (R-Racine) in 1996, and Petak was indeed successfully recalled and replaced by then-Democratic Assemblywoman Kim Plache.  (I wrote about that historic election here.)  While this isn’t nearly twice as many signatures as needed as seen in the statewide Walker recall, it is still a very high number of people who were willing to sign to get Wanggaard out of office.   (If I were him, I’d be quite worried.)

As for what State Senator Wanggaard has to say about it?  From a different article at today’s online Racine Journal-Times:

Wanggaard, R-Racine, said in a press release that for union bosses and Democrats today marks the start of the “do-over of their loss in the November 2010 elections.”

While others focus on recalls and politics, Wanggaard “will continue to focus on my efforts to help Wisconsin create and retain good-paying jobs,” he said in the release. “Recalls and further division do nothing to show job creators that Wisconsin has a stable business environment and continues to poison the well of politics.”

So did you catch that?  Wanggaard says that people are trying to “do over” the 2010 elections.  By doing so, he’s attempting to belittle the organizers of the recall effort against him, but it’s not going to work.  (And notice, Wanggaard didn’t say anything about how “the people have spoken, but I intend to win them over,” which would’ve made far more sense and wouldn’t have demeaned those who’d signed the petitions against him.)

But at least Wanggaard commented at all (even if it was by a press release); so far, both Walker and Kleefisch have been unavailable for comment.

Oh, one more thing; it appears that State Senators Moulton and Galloway, and the biggest fish of them all, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, have also had more than enough signatures turned in to recall them.  So all six recalls have completed their first phase; now it’s on to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board and the courts to first verify the signatures, then figure out when the recall elections will be scheduled.  (As always, I’ll keep you posted.)

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Personal note:  This is bittersweet, as I really want to talk with my friend Jeff about all this.  He knew I was active in helping Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha) retain Wirch’s seat; he knew I was planning to help work on the recall petitions against Walker, Kleefisch and Wanggaard.  And he was very much in favor of this, because he felt all three of them deserved to be recalled — he even said so in our last conversation on 11/11/11.

I very much wish Jeff were still alive just so I could tell him about all this; even though I couldn’t do very much due to Jeff’s sudden death (nowhere near as much as I’d hoped or planned to do), I did gather some signatures and I did, personally, sign the petitions to recall all three individuals.  I hope, wherever he is now, that he knows I did my best to get these three people removed from office, and that he’s happy that all three will, indeed, face recall.

And I’ll not even start on my feelings about how I wish I could tell my late husband Michael about all this, too.  Because I know that he, too, would’ve been in favor; he’d probably have called this a “classic overreach” and have signed right along with me.