Despite not collecting a SINGLE signature in their effort to recall Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, and despite their recall effort dying a quick and quiet death, the folks at WIN (led by Vince Schmuki) are “claiming victory” as reports indicate Gov. Doyle won’t seek reelection in 2010.
As The Chief said…priceless.
I believe you and I have finally found some common ground. I was laughing at these guys before the attempted recall even failed. I think there were three factors that ultimately led Doyle to opt out of running for another term:
1) Record state deficit (is it $6.5 billion now?) that increased massively during his terms.
2) Signing the most recent state budget that alienated a lot of support (those state representatives and senators that voted for it are really up a creek when they are up for election again without having any support from Doyle anymore…).
3) The persistent suspicion of pay-to-play tactics with his administration. The recent trouble with Chandra Miller-Fienen (not being a Wisconsin state-licensed attorney while practicing law as the Chief Legal Counsel, the administration knowing about it, Miller-Fienen contributing $350 days before she got the appointment, and the fact that she is the daughter of Senator Mark Miller) may have just been the final nail where people finally saw the gun behind the smoke.
In the end, these “Recall Doyle” guys had nothing to do with Doyle not running again. Doyle did this to himself. Even if he wanted to run, he must know that he would have had an extremely difficult time convincing Wisconsinites to vote on the record he has.
From your political perspective (my guess is moderately liberal), I would have wanted these guys to keep going. If they had been able to get a successful recall, that was no guarantee that they would beat Doyle. Then, even with a Walker or Neumann win, they would have had to be up for election again in just over a year. By that time, the financial resources would be low from the recall election and the Democrats would have had a vast sum of money in the war chest (I believe Doyle himself has about $2 million even now).
I don’t blame the motivation (i.e. frustration over Doyle’s governing of Wisconsin) of these guys, but this was a very misguided and, frankly, stupid idea. I was as happy as anyone else to see that this “Recall Doyle” idea went nowhere.
Cameron, I will admit a certain amount of disappointment that the Recall Doyle movement died, if for no other reason than the fact that it would have weakened Republican efforts to win the gubernatorial election in 2010.