Recall Election A Go In Wisconsin
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 30, 2012 3:35PM
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board is expected today to certify a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch The Board released a memo Thursday that said more than enough signatures were collected to move forward with the recall.
540,208 valid signatures are required in Wisconsin to certify a recall. The group spearheading the Walker recall effort, United Wisconsin, turned in over 930,000 signatures. Of those, only 30,115‐three percent—were struck. That's a far cry from the 10-20 percent Walker officials estimated before they decided to not mount a challenge. Even at those rates, Walker opponents would have had more than enough signatures to force a recall.
Only five names were struck because they were fictitious: Adolf Hitler, Mick E. Mous, Donald L. Duck, Fungky Van Den Elzen, and I Love Scott Walker Thanks. (We may have used Fungky Van Den Elzen as a fake name for one of those old Columbia House Record Club "12 albums for a penny" deals in the late 70s.)
Once the Government Accountability Board certifies the counts, recall primary elections will be scheduled for May 8, with the special election on June 5. Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate told ABC News, “I think the people of Wisconsin are ready to fire Scott Walker and hire a new governor.”
A Marquette Law School poll indicated Walker would win in head-to-head matchups with declared Democratic contenders, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk. Wisconsin Republican Party spokesman Ben Sparks said he's confident the voters who voted for Walker in 2010 on a mandate of change will do so again.
Another Democratic candidate, Wisconsin Secretary of State Don LaFollette, criticized his party's use of special interest money in the recall effort to shore the campaign of front runner Falk.
“I think it’s unfortunate we’re seeing out-of-state, anonymous super PAC money and literally large amounts of money telling people how to vote in the primary,” he added. “I think that was wrong, a mistake.”