Petition Drives Land Six Wisconsin Republicans on Recall Ballot

Three Democrats Who Stood With Workers Also Likely to Face Voters July 12

Six Wisconsin Republican senators who voted to do away with public workers’ collective bargaining rights are headed for recall elections July 12, thanks to weeks of legwork by CWA members and countless other workers and allies.

With July 12 set as the first date for recall elections in Wisconsin, a rally 10,000-strong at the state capitol Saturday reminded voters that the fight isn’t over.

Activists gathered more than 150,000 petition signatures between the six districts, far more than required for each recall. In Sen. Dan Kapanke’s district in La Crosse, Wis., for instance, state elections officials estimate that 30,000 people signed, nearly twice the number of valid signatures required by law.

“It went great,” said CWA Local 4603 Vice President Clinton Rodgers, who circulated petitions two to three nights a week after work. “People were excited, saying it was time to get these politicians out of office.”

Rodgers said many voters he spoke with felt hoodwinked by Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature. “None of our senators was elected on the basis that they would be trying to eliminate collective bargaining,” he said. “Once the citizens recognized who their friends were in the capitol, they were ready to support them and to get rid of the dead weight.”

Three Democrats who were among the 14 Senate Democrats who fled Wisconsin for weeks to try to stop Walker’s anti-union bill are also facing recall.

Both parties are challenging the others’ petitions, issues that the state’s Government Accountability Board is expected to rule on next week. Unless any of the appeals are upheld, all of the recall targets will face voters on July 12. If candidates have primary challengers, a second election will be held about four weeks later.

To remind voters how much is still at stake, about 10,000 people took part in last Saturday’s “The Fight Is Not Over” rally at the Wisconsin capitol, the scene of mass protests that got worldwide attention in February and March.

Rodgers said despite all the hard work the last several months, there’s no time to rest. “We’ll be making phone calls, knocking on doors to get out the vote,” he said. “We need to make sure that the senators who want to take away our rights lose their jobs, and that those who fought for us keep theirs.”