There’s no denying there’s a tremendous amount of enthusiasm right now for a recall of Governor Scott Walker once he’s legally eligible to be recalled, but the downside to that is the possibility that a recall of Walker could find its way onto the same ballot as the Republican presidential primary on April 5, 2012. However, it’s been posited that initiating a recall of Gov. Walker shortly after he’s eligible might not make the most strategic sense and that it would be better strategically to have a recall on the same ballot as the 2012 presidential election, so I’d like to hear from you all.
Do you think it’s smarter to start a recall as quickly as possible, so as to capitalize on the momentum that currently exists for a recall, or does it make more sense to wait a little while and ensure Gov. Walker’s recall is on the same ballot as the 2012 general election, with President Barack Obama at the top of the ballot?
“Momentum” isn’t a thing. It’s political phlogiston. It should play no role in the decision. Here’s what should:
-It’s extremely difficult to collect signatures and recruit volunteers in the dead of winter and over holidays. The first possible recall window will have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in it.
-The electorate that turns out for presidential general elections is more Democratic than the one that turns out for gubernatorial general elections, which is in turn more Democratic than the one that turns out for random special elections, and all three are much more Democratic than the one that would turn out for the Republican Presidential Primary.
-If we win the Senate back, the extremist Republican agenda will end this summer (if we don’t, recalling Walker is probably a bad idea anyway). There’s not a whole lot that Walker can accomplish as governor between April and November when we have control of one house of the Legislature, and the Legislature isn’t even in session.
-We can’t move forward a positive agenda without the Assembly too. There won’t be Assembly recalls, so the Assembly elections in November will be our shot to take back the Assembly. Under these new maps, we’ll need all the help we can get, so it would be beneficial for Assembly candidates to tie the incumbents to Walker. That would be a lot easier if 1. he’s still Governor and 2. his recall is on the same ballot. In other words, we need his reverse coattails.
“-If we win the Senate back, the extremist Republican agenda will end this summer (if we don’t, recalling Walker is probably a bad idea anyway). There’s not a whole lot that Walker can accomplish as governor between April and November when we have control of one house of the Legislature, and the Legislature isn’t even in session.”
Very wrong statement all around. Check out the appointments Walker has made to head up various departments, and remember that even more jobs and powers were given to the Governor’s Office in the last 6 months. And also look at the wide-ranging veto powers a Wisconsin governor has. Walker has to go as soon as is practicable.
And you can make excuses about the holidays and weather being a bad time to get signatures, but it didn’t seem to keep people from doing so this February and March, now did it? And last I checked, there’s quite a few Badger and Packer games which’ll be visited by hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites in November and December, as well as a few malls.
The only concern should be to make sure the general recall election doesn’t fall on April 3 (the GOP prez primary). Otherwise, any time soon after is the time to do it. If you want to wait until the kids get back into school on MLK to get signatures, I might understand, but that’s when it starts AT THE LATEST.
As I often told Hillary Clinton backers in early 2008, put away the slide rule and see what’s really going on here.
I tend to agree with Jake on this. I think a standalone election early next May is the best possible scenario.
A question I’ve not seen answered is whether or not timing with the 2012 general election can be guaranteed. Does anyone know?
We’ll have the Senate, we can stop egregious appointments. Vetoes don’t matter when there’s no legislation, and there won’t be between April and November.
Also, when was the last time you checked? Because the recall drives didn’t start until March. The weather in March and April is very different than it is in the winter. It’s not an excuse to point out that people don’t like to volunteer when it’s below zero or over Christmas vacation.
We’ll need to collect 540,000 signatures in two months, plus enough of a buffer for when they get thrown out. If we keep trying and failing, not only does it hurt us in the media, it burns out volunteers, and confuses voters, who may be asked to sign the same thing repeatedly, and it won’t always be clear to them whether they can or can’t sign again. That’s a good way to get a lot of signatures thrown out.
Recall him the minute he’s eligible. People want to see this. It’s more exciting to count down the days…people will watch the count down and get more excited. Make a big deal about it like counting till the big ball drops in New York at New Years. Very important to move……
Walker must go asap. Some things we can turn around & others we are stuck with for a while. For the future of WI he must be stopped & removed. I still do not trust the election results. I just don’t want to believe the majority of WI people are that uninformed & gullible. I wonder how many voters have remorse in their decision. The Fitzgeralds also need to be removed from their seats. The whole family is like a cancer to this state.
Agree with Chris that Walker isn’t the only one we put up for recall. We must also include the 2 Fitzgeralds, Van Hollen, and Gableman and perhaps Ziegler on the Supreme Court. You do it all at once, it will work, and it will make a mark ( don’t discount that as a major motivator, by the way).
The rest of the Legislature can wait till November, barring absurd corruption.
But first things first. Let’s kick some ass in 17 and 24 days
The audacity with which Obama is selling out Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may mean that voter enthusiasm in November 2012 isn’t what people expect it to be. Momentum is very important in this struggle. Expecting people to sit on their anger and outrage for fourteen more months is a bit fanciful. Allowing this corrupt, sociopathic Governor to continue trashing Wisconsin government and human rights for that period of time is placing strategy over common sense, in my opinion.
I too am extremely concerned about what can happen even when Dems hold a majority in the Senate. Just look at the changes announced yesterday for the Charter St power plant on the UW Madison campus. Huebsch has cut out the electrical generation portion of the project at the request of MG&E– can’t have the university “compete” with private industry even if it will save money for the state!
No the administration is too corrupt to allow it’s existence any longer than possible.
As for collecting signatures — maybe setting up next to Salvation Army bell ringers would work.
My first comment ever here, but I read your posts daily Zack. I think we should move forward as soon as possible. Right after the August recalls, the pension and health insurance deductions will hit public employees. It’s one thing to know it is coming and another to actually see it in your take home pay. We have the momentum and total signatures are from the whole state not just small districts. One more thing, If we recall Walker does Kleefisch automatically get recalled too? We don’t want to replace blight with blight.
Also, there is rumor circulating that if we don’t do the immediate recall (possibly) putting Walker on the GOP April primary ballot, that the GOP is going to get the signatures for his recall themselves, so that they can “protect” him in April. Sounds too stupid to be true, but then, stupid is as stupid does, and we have certainly seen that.
My last question – if the recall does look like it is going to be scheduled in April after we submit the signatures, can we also run a second Dem candidate and turn it into a primary, as they did in the July recall, to extend the real vote? Would that be a viable possibility? Just asking.
My ending comment – probably no way to evaluate, but the things Walker is destroying are not just affecting Democrats (as much as he would wish that to be the case). So, they cannot be certain that their previous constituents will be there with a GOP vote with their homes, jobs, and food also now gone. What they are doing may come back to bite them in ways they didn’t imagine. One can only hope that will be the case in any scenario.
“My last question – if the recall does look like it is going to be scheduled in April after we submit the signatures, can we also run a second Dem candidate and turn it into a primary, as they did in the July recall, to extend the real vote? Would that be a viable possibility? Just asking.”
The short answer is “Yes.” And even if Feingold throws his hat in the ring (DO IT, RUSS!), I think a primary is a good thing. The whole “DPW anointing a candidate” didn’t work at all last year, and shows that they don’t need to be the ones controlling everything.
Greg- Don’t worry about getting 540,000+ signatures. You don’t think We Are Wisconsin and other groups don’t have hundreds of thousands of contact names from the last 6 months? Of course they do.
And Greg’s worries go to a bigger issue- I’m really getting tired of squirmy Dems who always concentrate on why something will fail and being scared of these GOP scumbags instead of seeing why something will succeed and going after them. Don’t believe for a second that having a Dem Senate will stop already-appointed Walker hacks from screwing things up. You have to get the guy at the top, and that needs to be done as quickly as possible.
Looks to me as the longer Walkers around, the more people are getting ticked off at his constant Bills. But not recalling him sooner than later also means the more crap he’s able to get passed.