Late last week, organizers of an effort to recall Republican State Senator Dan Kapanke filed a petition with more than 21,700 signatures calling for a recall election of Sen. Kapanke, one of the “Republican 8” – the 8 Republican State Senators who voted in lockstep with Gov. Scott Walker’s bill to severely curtail collective bargaining rights for public workers. Only 15,588 signatures of the 21,700 signatures need to be validated in order for Sen. Kapanke to face a recall election, so odds are good that Sen. Kapanke will find himself in the middle of a recall election once the signatures submitted are validated.
While none of the other efforts to recall the rest of the “Republican 8” have filed their signatures with the GAB (nor have any of the efforts to recall Democratic State Senators), I’m willing to bet we’ll see no fewer than 4 recalls against Republican State Senators before all is said and done.
Kapanke hasn’t been recalled yet. Only if he loses the upcoming election will he be recalled. He is the first Republican to face a recall election. You might want to fix the title of your post.
Jill makes an astute point. A recall petition has been filed. In order to be actually recalled, a majority of voters must vote “yes” to the question of whether to subject Kapanke to a recall election before his term has expired, at which point a campaign will begin and his job will be at stake. The process is similar to that of impeachment of public officials, which begins with articles of impeachment being presented, but the official is not actually impeached until the legislative body votes to impeach on the basis of those articles, which leads to a trial and then an up-or-down vote on whether to remove the official from office.
Shorter version: Ordinary Jill is exactly right.
Actually they are impeached whether or not they are removed. Impeachment is the process. Bill Clinton was impeached but not removed, for example.
Just to clear things up, actually the recall is nothing until they are certified.
Point taken…I’ve edited the title accordingly.
Clearly I’m still not recovered from the plane ride home, hence the confusion.