Free Republic

Walker came to office in the Republican wave of 2010. He inherited a mess. Under his profligate predecessor, Jim Doyle, state government had operated almost as a slush fund for public employee unions. Giveaways to teachers and others put the state on an unsustainable fiscal path, so Doyle raised some taxes and threatened to raise others. He raided a state fund set up to cover medical liability, essentially stealing contributions doctors had made to the pooled account. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against that pilfering, but the money had already been spent. Even after budget gimmickry that would make Fannie...

Sources close to the Senator Wanggaard Campaign are stating that 130 high school students have signed the recall petitions calling for a recall election. There are 80 confirmed signatures of students who are not old enough to vote. They were verifying additional signatures for eligibility. The group states that they are filing an addendum to the challenge for the recall signatures. It is not confirmed if these students also signed other recall papers for the Governor. More on this story as it develops.

The Republican leader of the state Senate said Friday he expects recall elections to proceed against three of his colleagues, despite challenges they made to thousands of signatures on petitions seeking their ouster from office. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said he is hopeful, though, that his election can be blocked through the challenges he made to the Government Accountability Board on Thursday. As for the others, Fitzgerald said, "They're not even close." Fitzgerald was the only one of the four who clearly challenged more than enough signatures to void an election. But whether to reject the signatures is up to...

MILWAUKEE - You might be a skeptical of petition problems Michael Zore brought to TODAY'S TMJ4 because of his background. Zore was convicted of voter fraud five years ago after he claims he accidentally voted twice in the same election. "The goal for the whole of process is transparency," Zore told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray. Turns out, this career computer guru uncovered a problem that took the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board most of the day to explain. He discovered hundreds of pages of petitions missing from the GAB's website. "Scanning forms in and posting them to a website should...

Poll If the governor recall election were held today, who would you vote for? Scott Walker Kathleen Falk Kathleen Vinehout Other

The following statement is on behalf of Mike Grebe, Chairman of the Friends of Scott Walker and Brad Courtney, Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin: “The Republican Party of Wisconsin along with the Friends of Scott Walker want to address a grassroots effort to write in Governor Walker’s name on the ballot during a Democratic primary election. Under state statutes, when a recall election is certified against Governor Walker he is automatically placed on the ballot as a Republican. According to Wisconsin Statute 8.03, a candidate cannot represent both parties, therefore making his name invalid in the Democratic primary,...

Union leaders are asking Democratic candidates for governor to veto the next state budget if it doesn't restore collective bargaining for public workers, and one leading candidate - Kathleen Falk - has agreed. Such a veto could lead to gridlock with the Legislature, particularly if Republicans continue to control one or both houses, and to possible layoffs of state workers, officials warned. Nonetheless, the move is a key strategy that union leaders are considering for undoing Gov. Scott Walker's repeal last year of most collective bargaining for public employees. Falk, the former Dane County executive, has committed to restoring collective...

Union leaders are asking Democratic candidates for governor to veto the next state budget if it doesn't restore collective bargaining for public workers and at least one leading candidate - Kathleen Falk - has agreed, participants in the private meetings say.

Madison - Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Tuesday he will challenge thousands of signatures this week - enough to prevent a recall election against him if state officials agree. Fitzgerald made the comments Tuesday as the state Government Accountability Board disclosed it is considering using statistical sampling to determine how frequently duplicate names have appeared on petitions to recall Fitzgerald, Gov. Scott Walker and four other Republicans. The board's director, Kevin Kennedy, said the board is committed to creating a database of those who signed the Walker recall petitions to find people who may have signed twice. But the...

About 15% of the signatures in a random sample of the petitions seeking the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker could not be verified, according to an analysis by the Journal Sentinel. The review suggests that even if the number of unverifiable signatures turned out to be three times higher, Walker supporters - barring a new legal challenge - will have a difficult time striking enough of the 1 million signatures submitted to stop a recall election. To force a recall election against Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, 540,208 valid signatures are needed for each - a figure equivalent...

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board is the state's election watchdog. On Tuesday, February 7, 2012 they announced they would not be verifying the signatures on the petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker. Moreover, they would not review, investigate or accept evidence of fraudulent signatures brought to their attention by VerifytheRecall.com or any third party groups. Only those officials targeted for recall, the GAB argued, can contest the validity of recall signatures. MacIver's Bill Osmulski Reports from Madison

MADISON — While some see a wave of legislation aimed at weakening organized labor following Indiana’s new right-to-work law, Wisconsin is not expected to join it anytime soon. “No,” Cullen Werwie, spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker, told Wisconsin Reporter on Monday when asked if Walker thought the Republican-controlled Legislature would pursue legislation prohibiting labor organizations from requiring workers to join unions. Republicans on the record said they've heard of no proposals. Off the record, some in the GOP said no one is interested in waging another big battle over labor matters in this season of recalls. "Boy, I don't think...

Ann Liston and Eric Adelstein are hardened Chicago Democratic consultants. Their behind-the-scenes role helping the Wisconsin Democratic Party collect more than 1 million signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker has put them in a campaign unlike any they've ever seen. The two 40-somethings said Facebook's power to reach voters, combined with a recentU.S. Supreme Court ruling that unfettered limits on corporate and union political spending, has rewritten their industry's game plan. "It's horrible for democracy but great for business," Adelstein said Tuesday, referring to the Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court decision. Voters in Wisconsin, South Carolina and Florida have been...

RACINE - An investigation Thursday night into recall petition fraud after a man's name is found four times on a petition against a state senator. TODAY'S TMJ4 talked to three people Thursday -- who say their names were forged on petitions to recall Van Wanggaard, including a woman who wonders if her son forged her name. At first glance, you might think Jeff Demet has quite the axe to grind with his state senator. Demet's signature appears four times on petitions to recall Van Wanggaard. There's just one problem. TODAY'S TMJ4's Steve Chamraz: "Did you sign that?" Jeff Demet: "No,...

It started with the pay cut, and when that didn’t fly they changed to losing collective bargaining rights, and when that fell on deaf ears they claimed the sky would most certainly fall, and when it didn’t they made one last tweak and claimed that it wasn’t necessarily what Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did that justified a recall, it’s just that he went about it the wrong way.

On Thursday, Media Trackers reported the plight of Jeff Demet, a Racine native who found his name forged four times on petitions to recall Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard. The story was followed up by TMJ4 who interviewed two more individuals who’s names were on recall petitions when they never signed, including Jeff’s mother Mary who’s name appears twice. Ken Brown of CRG Racine first noticed that Jeff Demet’s brother Mark Demet was a circulator for one of the pages that features both Jeff and Mary Demet’s names.

On Wednesday, local watchdog Citizens for Responsible Government in Racine reported that Racine native Jeff Demet’s name was found four times on the petition to recall Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard. Finding the same signature four times is bad enough, but when Demet was contacted about the four signatures, he claims he never signed the Wanggaard recall petition at all! This week, Ken Brown of CRG Racine was perusing the recall petitions for names he might recognize and came across his friend Jeff Demet. Brown thought this was interesting because not only does Demet not support the recall of Senator...

On Wednesday, Citizens for Responsible Government in Racine reported that Racine native Jeff Demet’s name was found four times on the petition to recall Republican Senator Van Wanggaard. Finding the same signature four times is bad enough, but when Demet was contacted about the four signatures, he claims he never signed the Wanggaard recall petition at all!

Madison - State election officials plan to post all the petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker late Tuesday, the board announced. "In the interest of full transparency, the (Government Accountability) Board has always planned to release copies of recall petitions to anyone who requested them, and to post them online," Kevin Kennedy, the board's director said in a statement. "However, we recently heard from a number of people who are concerned about their personal safety if their names and addresses are made public. As a result, our staff had to do a thorough analysis under Wisconsin's public records law. These...

Madison - State election officials put off making recall petitions available publicly on Monday after hearing privacy concerns from people who signed them. The state Government Accountability Board provided copies of the petitions against Gov. Scott Walker to Walker's campaign on Friday and had said that it planned to post copies of them on its website on Monday. But agency spokesman Reid Magney said the board was holding off on posting them online after hearing concerns about a stalking victim and others who did not want their names released. Recall organizers say more than 1 million people signed petitions to...

Possible errors uncovered on petitions GAB will make final ruling on recall petitions Updated: Monday, 30 Jan 2012, 4:48 AM CST Published : Sunday, 29 Jan 2012, 6:55 PM CST Mark Leland MADISON - The tedious task of reviewing the more than 1.9 million recall signatures in Wisconsin is underway. Government Accountability Board staff are looking for invalid signatures and errors on the petition sheets. While separately volunteers with incumbent Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican state senators are also scrutinizing the petitions. And the petitions are not error-free. We asked GAB Public Information officer Reid...

<p>One Sunday afternoon last spring, as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was working in his front yard, a car rolled slowly by and blared its horn. He and his two teenage sons looked up to see two middle fingers directed their way as the car screeched down the street. A few minutes later another car rolled by and a voice shouted "Hey governor!" Mr. Walker reluctantly looked up—to find two thumbs up coming through the open window.</p>

WAUKESHA - Republicans are getting their first look at all the recall signatures against Governor Walker. Volunteers at the Waukesha County Republican headquarters told TODAY'S TMJ4 they're thrilled to finally get started. They began reviewing signatures Friday afternoon, launching a statewide mission to tackle the recall effort. Packed into a Waukesha warehouse, Republicans got their hands on recall petitions for the first time. Nearly a thousand people signed up to help. "It's really positive. High energy. They're excited to get going with this process and get it over with," said executive director Cathy Waller. Volunteers will be at the warehouse...

There's so much good news to report out of Wisconsin, I don't know where to begin. I suppose this is as good a place as any: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is ahead in his likely recall election even as his campaign raises — and spends — millions of dollars in expectation of a tough race later this year. ~ snip~ By all means, lefties, please pour more cash into this race. The Washington Post story quoted above focuses heavily on Walker's fundraising and political spending in anticipation of the recall election, yet ignores the massive money game on the...

Following Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s reforming his state’s collective bargaining laws and breaking the stranglehold unions held on taxpayers (saving them $476 million so far), union bosses across the country laid siege on the dairy state’s capitol and declared war on Walker and his fellow Republicans. In 2011, union bosses and other outside groups spent tens of millions of dollars in a failed attempt to recall six Republican state senators and are spending millions more now trying to recall Scott Walker. The millions union bosses are now spending—paid for by union members throughout the country—has Democrats getting nervous that the...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is ahead in his likely recall election even as his campaign raises — and spends — millions of dollars in expectation of a tough race later this year. According to a new Marquette Law School poll the governor leads Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a likely candidate, 50 percent to 44 percent. He leads former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, the only declared Democratic candidate, 49 percent to 42 percent margin, former Rep. David Obey 49 percent to 43 percent and state Sen. Tim Cullen 50 percent to 40 percent. Democrats started targeting Walker last year,...

Organizers with several Wisconsin Tea Party groups say they have thousands of volunteers ready to check the validity of signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker and other GOP leaders. Organizers with We the People of the Republic and The Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty held a press conference Tuesday at the state Capitol to announce about 11,000 people have pledged online to check for fraudulent signatures through an online system. The groups are working with a Texas-based group to create the database program that will allow volunteers to check the signatures from home. They will receive webinar training to check for...

Gov. Scott Walker holds single-digit leads over several potential Democratic opponents in hypothetical recall matchups, according to a new statewide poll. The poll was conducted Jan. 19-22 for the Marquette Law School by Charles Franklin, co-founder of pollster.com and a visiting professor at Marquette, on leave from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The law school plans to poll throughout the year. In the survey of 701 registered voters, Walker leads his 2010 opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, 50% to 44%. He leads former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk 49% to 42%. He also leads two other Democrats, former congressman Dave Obey...

On January 17, 2012, recall committees submitted recall signatures for Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Sen. Pam Galloway, Sen. Terry Molten, and Sen. Van Wanggaard to Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (“GAB”). Right away, the GAB began scanning recall petitions at a secret location. The GAB even set up a live web-cam where anyone can view the staff at work scanning and reviewing the recall signatures. There have been many concerns that thousands of fraudulent signatures would be counted in the recalls. During the 60 day circulation period, there were many reports of apparent...

Yesterday, Media Trackers reported that an initial naked eye look at a sampling of recall petitions turned in for Senator Pam Galloway showed numerous duplicates, invalid signatures, and circulator mistakes. Below is a brief accounting of the errors with screenshots of just a few pages that could throw out 24 of 37 signatures:

MADISON — A little advice for those who want to pop in and observe the recall petition review: Stay home and watch it on television. Only staff members and temporary employees of the Government Accountability Board, or GAB, which oversees state elections and campaigns, will be permitted in an at-present undisclosed location. And speaking of temp jobs, the board has had a hard time filling the petition review positions, mainly because too many prospective employment candidates have signed recall petitions targeting Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. GAB employees Thursday continued scanning some 1.9 million signatures, after having...

The four Republican Wisconsin state senators targeted for recall said Thursday that collectively they have about $734,000 in the bank to fight efforts to remove them from office. ~snip~ Recall organizers submitted more than enough signatures on Tuesday to force elections in all four districts. State elections officials are in the process of verifying those signatures, which could take months. It's not known when any elections may be but most expect them to be in the spring or summer. Under state law, anyone targeted for recall can raise unlimited amounts until an election is certified. In regular elections, donations are...

MADISON — One million signatures suggest a lot of support to recall Gov. Scott Walker. But will 1 million names translate into a lot of votes? A Wisconsin Reporter analysis of the 2011 recalls indicates the answer is “yes,” albeit for both sides in this latest spate of recalls — those who hope to oust Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four GOP state senators, and those who hope to defeat the recall efforts. By the numbers In seven of the nine Senate recall elections last summer, the number of people who voted for the challenger exceeded the number of...

From the Diaries… As the Recall Walker effort submitted their signatures to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board today (claiming 1 million signatures), Wisconsinites deserve a serious analysis of this Big Labor, big money game to force a recall election on the people of this state. We will be shocked at what is yet to come. Evidence is already mounting to suggest that Big Labor has used underhanded, fraudulent and illegal tactics to pad their petition numbers. Major national labor organizations have dumped millions into Wisconsin to stop Governor Walker’s reforms and with the integrity of these petitions being questioned; they...

The state Government Accountability Board is hiring temporary workers to help with the petition-review process. The agency has hired about 30 of a desired 50 people, said spokesman Reid Magney. Finding people in the Madison area who have not signed a recall petition — one of the prerequisites — has slowed the effort, he said. The agency is staffing two shifts between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. weekdays. The hourly pay is between $9 and $11. Interested people should apply through one of the following companies: • ABR Employment Services, 608-827-5818. • Spherion, 608-274-6000. • Hiring & Staff Services Inc.,...

The premise sounds captivating. Coming to you live from a secret government facility in Madison! The reality was less riveting as the state verification of recall documents, captured in real time on a webcam, began in earnest Wednesday. People across the country can watch the scanning of 309,661 pages of signatures for a recall of Gov. Scott Walker and five other Republican elected officials on laptops or iPhones atgab.wi.gov. It is the only viewing option. For now, the location of the processing site is not being disclosed to the public nor the media, and no one from the public or...

MADISON — Vic Oimette said he may have met Kathleen Falk at a convention meeting sometime. And he said he knows Falk has been involved in the “political scene for a long time.” “But if she walked in the room right now, I wouldn’t recognize her,” said Oimette, chairman of the Iron County Democratic Party. Falk’s not-so-familiar face could be a big problem for the former Dane County executive who announced Wednesday that she wants to be the Democratic candidate in the anticipated recall race against Gov. Scott Walker. Falk joins state Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, who expressed interest in...

There are two polls on this page...thanks to Freedom Frayed for bringing this poll to my attention.

The Democrats in Wisconsin will sink to any level to reestablish the union shakes down schemes cancelled by Governor Scott Walker’s agenda. They will join with anyone who hates Walker even Ian Murphy an anti-American blogger from Buffalo who is a hero to the left. Murphy reminds the unbiased reader of the dweeb in school who stood up and spewed four letter words at the teacher to suck up to the “cool” kids. Now he is attacking America to suck up to leftist Democrats like State Senator Tim Cullen who will run against Walker if the recall petitions are in...

Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk is running as a Democrat against Republican Gov. Scott Walker. She made her announcement today in an online video posted to her website and in an email message to supporters. Falk says in the message that the 1 million signatures submitted Tuesday to recall Walker was an “unprecedented and inspiring show of solidarity and determination.” Falk says she will make different choices than Walker on focus on creating good-paying jobs, a clean environment, successful schools and affordable health care. Friends of Scott Walker reacted to Falk's candidacy shortly after she declared. "Kathleen Falk's announcement...

Given that the "Recall Walker" effort reached 300,000 signatures in just 12 days, it would have been far more surprising if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s opponents didn’t manage to collect enough signatures to go forward with the election. Still, 1 million signatures is nearly twice the number needed to trigger an actual election — and Wisconsin Democrats are happy to hammer home that fact to anyone still following the story of their sad, insistent effort to undo what Walker promised to do from Day 1: More than a million people have signed a petition to recall Wisconsin’s governor, the state’s...

Wisconsin's chief elections official says he doesn't know how long it will take to review roughly 1.9 million signatures that have been submitted to recall Gov. Scott Walker and five others. The law requires the review to be done in 31 days, but Government Accountability Board Director Kevin Kennedy said Tuesday it will take longer than that. Kennedy says the board will go to court soon to seek the delay and ask that all six elections be held on the same day. Democrats who spearheaded the recall say the review should be done as quickly as possible. Kennedy says it...

National labor union-backed liberal activists have gathered and submitted 1 million signatures in Wisconsin in support of an orchestrated effort to force a recall election against Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

MADISON, Wis. -- Opponents of Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker submitted nearly twice as many signatures Tuesday as required to force a recall election, but still face the challenge of transforming public outrage over his moves against unions into actual votes to oust him from office.

In Scott Walker recall, Wisconsin Dems tout 1 million recall signatures By: MJ Lee January 17, 2012 02:38 PM EST Organizers behind the recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker collected 1 million signatures to be submitted to the state’s Government Accountability Board on Tuesday, dwarfing the required number of names and virtually ensuring that a recall election will take place later this year. A total of 540,208 valid signatures, or 25 percent of all of the votes cast in the election that put Walker in office last January, were needed to force a recall election, but organizers had aimed for...

Madison - As Democrats plan to submit more than a million signatures Tuesday to recall Gov. Scott Walker and five other Republicans, state election officials are preparing to go to court this week to try to ensure any elections are scheduled on the same day. Keeping recall elections for Walker and the others on the same day would save money and lessen logistical problems for local clerks. But Democrats behind the efforts argue that if one recall election is delayed it should not hold up others. State law gives the Government Accountability Board 31 days after receiving petitions to determine...

Madison - State elections officials plan to enter the names of all those who sign recall petitions into a new database - a policy that will add to taxpayer costs and delay until summer when any recall elections would be held. The decision, announced Thursday, comes after a ruling last week by Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis that said the state Government Accountability Board must take steps to search for duplicate names and fictitious names as it reviews petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker that are expected to be filed next week. "It is a time-consuming and very...

Waukesha - Martha Ryan puts in 10 hours a week to support Gov. Scott Walker. She works the front desk at the Waukesha County Republican Party headquarters, answering phones, greeting visitors, and, when they're in stock, handing out lawn signs that say, "Stand with Walker." Ryan also does a lot of listening. "People want to vent their frustration," she said. "I tell them, they're preaching to the choir here." Mainly sidelined for two months as Walker's opponents gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures in hopes of triggering a recall election, the Republican base now appears poised to demonstrate its support...

POLL: Do you approve of the job Gov. Walker is doing? Strongly approve 63.77% (526,078 votes) Approve 4.15% (34,220 votes) Disapprove 1.51% (12,435 votes) Strongly disapprove 30.57% (252,213 votes) Total Votes: 824,946

With the Jan. 17 deadline fast approaching for opponents of Republican Gov. Scott Walker to turn in petitions aimed at triggering a recall election, the Wisconsin Democratic Party is encouraging signature gatherers to wrap it up. "We don't want people holding on to petitions until the last minute," says Graeme Zielinski, spokesman with the Wisconsin Democratic Party. "So if you have them, turn them in. Don't hoard them." Zielinski says the party has imposed several "internal deadlines" for people to sign and to turn in petitions. He says the party is asking the petitions to be mailed in no later...