Game. Set. Match. Election.

Apparently Mitt Romney is going to announce on the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Virginia today that Paul Ryan (r), not Joe Lieberman, will be his vice presidential running mate.

April 4, 2011

GOP Aim: Cut $4 Trillion

Budget Plan Would Transform Medicare, Reset Budget Debate; Democrats Balk

….The budget has been prepared by Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican and the new chairman of the House Budget Committee….

….The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills…..

….Conservative activists who are familiar with the Ryan plan said they expect it to call for a fundamental overhaul of the tax system, with a 25% top rate for both individuals and corporations, compared to the current 35% top rate….

Medicare in the Ryan Budget

By Paul N. Van de Water

March 28, 2012

….Most Medicare beneficiaries live on modest incomes and are in no position to pay much more for their health care.  The median income of Medicare households is about $25,000 a year, and only about 15 percent of Medicare households have total household incomes over $50,000.  Medicare households also spend three times as large a percentage of their budgets on out-of-pocket health expenses – 15 percent compared to 5 percent – as non-Medicare households do.  The Ryan budget would significantly raise the out-of-pocket health costs for Medicare beneficiaries with modest incomes, even as it proposes huge new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans….

End Medicare as we know it and cut taxes for people like Mitt Romney (r). Sounds like a winner. For Obama.

Uh, for Ayn Rand true believers the timing for “going Galt” was supposed to be after the November election, not before.

From a comment at Charles Pierce, the Obama/Biden campaign ads will write themselves:

….Vote for Willard & Paul, and believe me, it’s not going to be a problem: you won’t be able to use the words “health”, “care”, and “affordable” in the same sentence ever again.

Game. Set. Match. Election.

Wisconsin recall election breaks state’s political spending records

Published: 12:44 PM 06/04/2012

….Many high-dollar donations have come from anti-union billionaires including Dick DeVos, David Koch, and Sheldon Adelson. Walker’s top three contributors contributed more money to his campaign than Barrett’s campaign has collected overall….

[emphasis added]

Via Twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

A victory tonight for fiscal responsibility and job creation. May it spread from Wisconsin across the nation. 9:28 PM – 5 Jun 12

Seriously?

Wisconsin Recall Election – total raised:  

Walker, Scott [R] $30,505,082.66

Barrett, Tom [D] $3,938,574.59

Trivedi, Hariprasad $120,089.63

[emphasis added]

If corporations were people and could vote it would have been a landslide. Oh, wait…

Missouri is not Wisconsin and the Koch Brothers probably aren’t willing to spend it all on every Congressional race. Probably.

Ouch, from Think Progress:

Missouri Becomes Second State To Divert Foreclosure Funds Away From Homeowners To Balance Its Budget

By Travis Waldron on Feb 13, 2012 at 9:25 am

Last week, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced that he would use the funds his state received from a $26 billion mortgage settlement between 49 states and the nation’s largest banks to help balance the state’s budget, even though the settlement money was marked to help homeowners. In all, Walker will use $25.6 million of the $31.6 million Wisconsin’s state government receives to help close a budget shortfall.

Though Walker’s move to push struggling homeowners aside may seem radical, it is now being followed by at least one other state. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) and Attorney General Chris Koster (D) have pledged to put $40 million of the state’s $196 million share of the settlement into the state’s general fund to boost its higher education budget….

Wisconsin’s republican Governor Scott Walker bragged in television ads that he had a balanced budget and then grabbed the settlement funds to balance his budget because his policies didn’t actually fix the budget. Missouri’s Democratic Governor Jay Nixon submitted a budget with a 12.5% cut to higher education (ostensibly, to balance the budget) and when the settlement came in decided to relieve some of that cut to higher education with settlement money.

There is a difference.

Oh, my:

Over One Million

MADISON – United Wisconsin today announced that more than one million Wisconsinites have signed a petition to recall Scott Walker, representing the most-participated-in major recall effort in American history, and a number so significant that it is beyond any legal challenge. More then 845,000 signatures were collected for Rebecca Kleefisch. Signatures were submitted to the Government Accountability Board this afternoon.

The signatures represent the largest recall effort in the history of the United States and 185 percent of the signatures needed to trigger a recall of Walker….

….The weight of all of the signatures collected is 3,000 pounds. That’s two of the heaviest Wisconsin Dairy (Holstein) Cows, or 158 of the heaviest Badgers.

300,000 pages at 14″ each laid end to end is 66.3 miles. This is the distance from Green Bay to Oshkosh, La Crosse to Tomah.

Stood straight up the petition pile is 128 times higher than the tallest building in the world.

Stacked on top of one another, the petitions would reach 125 feet high, which is taller than the wings of the Madison Capitol Building (those are 84 feet high)….

How much is that in butter cow sculpture at the state fair?

Put those numbers in perspective with the results of the 2010 election, from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board:

Office GOVERNOR Total Votes: 2,160,832

1,004,303 46.48% TOM BARRETT/TOM NELSON Democrat

1,128,941 52.25% SCOTT WALKER/REBECCA KLEEFISCH Republican

Back to the recall. That’s certainly a lot of signatures. What’s the lead recallee doing?:

Gov. Walker skips interviews, does NYC fundraiser

By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel Jan. 17, 2012 11:00 a.m. |(20) Comments

Madison — With recall petitions to be filed against Gov. Scott Walker Tuesday, aides said the governor would not be available for an interview because of a busy schedule.

Walker is scheduled to hold a fundraiser in New York City in the afternoon hosted by Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the founder of financial services corporation American International Group, according to a copy of the fund-raising solicitation posted on the website of the New York Daily News….

Previously:

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r) (December 19, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 2 (December 21, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 3 (December 23, 2011)

Wisconsin: they were misinformed? (December 26, 2012)

Over the course of the last year we covered a number of government and political events in Missouri (and elsewhere), in the process taking thousands of photographs. Most of them didn’t make it into the blog. Some of the things we saw and heard made us smile, made us think, made us gasp, made us hope, and made us despair. We thought we’d provide a retrospective of some of the pictures and stories we consider to be memorable.

January 5, 2011 – The Missouri General Assembly begins the legislative session –

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) brings the House into session.

We covered the opening of the Missouri General Assembly session. Again.

Teabaggers, and nullification, and the cult of the lost cause, oh my! (January 5, 2011)

Teabagger rally at the state capitol: when astroturfing lobbyists speak, they listen… (January 5, 2011)

Opening of the legislative session in Jefferson City: January 5, 2010 (January 6, 2011)

Our hopes were dashed. Again.

January 19, 2011 – Senator Claire McCaskill (D) sits down for a talk with bloggers at her Kansas City office.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) sat down for a conversation with Missouri political bloggers for over an hour in her office in Kansas City. Five years ago the thought of doing so wouldn’t have crossed anyone’s mind. The world has changed.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): a conversation with bloggers in Kansas City (January 20, 2011)

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): a conversation with bloggers in Kansas City, part 2 (January 20, 2011)

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): a conversation with bloggers in Kansas City, part 3 (January 21, 2011)

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): a conversation with bloggers in Kansas City, part 4 (January 22, 2011)

February 26, 2011 – Teachers and organized labor rally in solidarity with Wisconsin workers at the state capitol in Jefferson City.

Photo by Joan Ferguson, Show Me Progress.

In late February teachers and organized labor held a rally in solidarity with Wisconsin workers at the state capitol in Jefferson City. There was a much smaller astroturf teabagger rally on the opposite side of the building at the same time.

Rallies in Jefferson City, Saturday, Feb. 26th: support organized labor or teabaggers, your pick (February 24, 2011)

Rallies in Jefferson City, Saturday, Feb. 26th: organized labor or teabaggers – photos (February 26, 2011)

Voices of Organized Labor in Jefferson City on February 26, 2011 (February 27, 2011)

An editor for the Wisconsin State Journal, a Madison paper, contacted us in April about using the photo in their coverage of the ongoing rallies at their state capitol. We granted permission and they ran the photo, with a credit.

Wisconsin: “Thank God for Missouri…” (April 21, 2011)

March 22, 2011 – Sly James is elected Mayor of Kansas City – speaking with the media.

In March we had to make a choice about which post election gathering to cover for the two candidates running for Mayor of Kansas City. We made the correct one.

Sly James: Mayor-elect of Kansas City – photos (March 23, 2011)

Our long municipal nightmare is at long last over (March 23, 2011)

May 29, 2011 – President Barack Obama speaks at the memorial service for victims of the Joplin tornado

on the campus of Missouri Southern State University.

In late May we covered the memorial service on the campus of Missouri Southern State University for the victims of the Joplin tornado.

Governor Jay Nixon in Joplin – remarks (May 30, 2011)

President Obama in Joplin – photos and remarks (May 30, 2011)

Some thoughts on Joplin (June 2, 2011)

June 16, 2011 – Governor Jay Nixon (D) addresses Missouri Boys State on the campus of the University of Central Missouri.

Missouri Boys State 2011 (June 11, 2011)

Former Governor Bob Holden at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 1 (June 12, 2011)

Former Governor Bob Holden at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 2 (June 13, 2011)

Governor Jay Nixon (D) signs HB 233 into law at Missouri Boys State (June 16, 2011)

Former Senator John Danforth at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 1 (June 16, 2011)

Former Senator John Danforth at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 2 (June 19, 2011)

June 17, 2011 – A rally in support of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security at Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D) office in St. Louis.

In June we had one of those rare Show Me Progress blog gatherings where the westsiders joined the eastsiders in St. Louis. We used the opportunity to cover two events.

St. Louis: calling on Sen. McCaskill (D) to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (June 18, 2011)

Definitely not a teabagger… (June 18, 2011)

Definitely not a teabagger, part 2 (June 20, 2011)

St. Louis: Jefferson Jackson Dinner – photos (June 18, 2011)

St. Louis: Jefferson Jackson Dinner – Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor (D) (June 19, 2011)

August 10, 2011 – Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) listens at a town hall in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) held town halls in Clinton and Warrensburg in August. People other than teabagger true believers attended and there was significant pushback against Representative Hartzler’s agenda from many in attendance.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town halls in Clinton and Warrensburg (August 10, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Warrensburg, part 1 (August 11, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Warrensburg, part 2 (August 12, 2011)

Vicky Hartzler is trying trying to scare you (August 12, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Warrensburg, part 3 (August 13, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Warrensburg, part 4 (August 14, 2011)

September 18, 2011 – Paul Begala (D) speaks to the media at the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianols, Iowa.

In what has become an annual September road trip for us, we once again made the trek to Indianola, Iowa to cover the annual Harkin Steak Fry.

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa (September 18, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Senator Bernie Sanders (I) (September 19, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 1 (September 20, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 2 (September 22, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 3 (September 23,2011)

October 9, 2011 – Occupy Kansas City marches down to the Plaza.

In October the Occupy Wall Street movement changed the conversation across America, including in Kansas City.

The Occupation of Kansas City: Day 9 (October 8, 2011)

Occupy Kansas City (October 8, 2011)

The picture I didn’t take (October 8, 2011)

Occupy KC, Day Ten: The day the occupation came to me (October 9, 2011)

Occupy Kansas City: a concert, a few speeches, and a march (October 9, 2011)

Occupy Kansas City: a concert, a few speeches, and a march – part 2 (October 10, 2011)

October 30, 2011 – Occupy Kansas City holds a downtown rally and marches in the streets.

Occupy Kansas City: rally and march from Ilus Davis Park (October 30, 2011)

Occupy Kansas City: rally and march from Ilus Davis Park, part 2 (October 31, 2011)

Videos from Occupy Kansas City October 30 rally! (November 1, 2011

Videos from Occupy Kansas City October 30 rally! – part 2 (November 2, 2011)

December 6, 2011 – President Barack Obama speaks in Osawatomie, Kansas.

Photo by Jerry Schmidt, Show Me Progress.

President Obama made a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas.

President Obama in Osawatomie, Kansas (December 6, 2011)

President Obama in Osawatomie, Kansas: the crazification factor kicks in (December 7, 2011)

Obama Speech at Osawatomie, Kansas 2011 Video(December 9, 2011)

December 19, 2011 – A conversation in front of the Middleton, Wisconsin City Hall

between a recall petition signature gatherer and a supporter of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (r).

We had the opportunity to interview folks taking part in the recall process against Governor Scott Walker (r) in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r) (December 19, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 2 (December 21, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall o
f Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 3 (December 23, 2011)

Wisconsin: they were misinformed? (December 26, 2011)

We look forward to more of the same in the coming year.

Looking across Lake Mendota to the isthmus and the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison.

Previously:

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r) (December 19, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 2 (December 21, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 3 (December 23, 2011)

Captain Renault: What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?

Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.

Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.

Rick: I was misinformed.

Yesterday, in Wisconsin newspapers:

Walker says he did poor job of selling labor changes, regrets Koch prank call

10:53 PM, Dec. 25, 2011

MADISON – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, known for vigorously defending his positions, acknowledged recently that he’s made mistakes in how he’s gone about achieving his agenda.

The Republican governor, now facing a recall effort, said he regretted not having done a better job of selling his changes regarding collective bargaining for public employees….

….”Those are things most people didn’t know about and we’ve had to talk about since,” Walker said in the interview at the Executive Residence. Had he done so, he mused, “Would it have persuaded everybody? No. But the most common complaint I get, which I think is legitimate, is people say…’I’m really disappointed you didn’t do a better job of explaining it….'”

“…I’m really disappointed you didn’t do a better job of explaining it…”

Along Highway 14 near Black Earth, Dane County, Wisconsin.

Over 500,000 people have signed recall petitions. Woe is me. They were misinformed?

Not hardly.

“…And, uh, let’s let our state have a voice again. I mean, we need to take this, I, I’m really sad that we have to pay for a recall election. I’m really sad about that. I, but at the same time, I’m even more sad about how this is affecting the people of this state, how it’s driven people into poverty and, and how it’s all about power and influence. And, and the person, the person with the most power might have the most money. You know, I don’t believe that. I think if we all gather together, if we’re in one voice, then it’s the people of this state that have the power, not the money, you know…”

“…I’ve learned that it’s really important to fight for what you believe in. And I’ve learned that apathy is the, the greatest cancer our society could possibly have. And I’ve learned that if Scott Walker has given this state anything positive, it’s awaken the people of this state so they’re not apathetic. Because when you’re asleep that’s when anyone can take over your house, you know. Our house is this state. We’re the citizens of this state. We need to stay together even after this is over. We’ve formed coalitions in every county in the state and I think it’s, it’s going to be extremely important that we always stay vigilant, that we keep our coalitions together, that we don’t just break up, uh, and go our separate ways after this is all over. But, instead, that we, we stay together as a community, as a family, as a, as a coalition so this doesn’t happen in this state again…”

A sign along Highway 14 outside of Cross Plains, Dane County, Wisconsin.

Previously:

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r) (December 19, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 2 (December 21, 2011)

Proponents of the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (r) have collected over 500,000 signatures toward their goal of 720,000 to initiate a recall election.

Yesterday afternoon we spoke by phone with Robin Transo, a volunteer working on the recall effort from Boscobel, Grant County, Wisconsin, in the southwestern part of the state:

Show Me Progress: ….You’re working in, uh.

Robin Transo: Who am I and what do, what do I, what am I. Is that what you wanted? [laugh]

Show Me Progress:  Yeah.

Robin Transo:  Well, I, I’ll , I’ll just tell you. I’m, uh, normally, uh, I’m a retired teacher. And after I got out of retirement I, I, uh, started seeing, uh, how terrible it was, uh, people without health care. So I started a free clinic that serves to thousand five hundred people with primary health care. And, and we have dental programs for children, we serve about four thousand children in four of the southwest Wisconsin counties, with, uh, oral hygienists and cleaning and all of that. And then we have a thrift shop that helps get these kids’ teeth fixed and, and we have two other dental programs, uh, a dental extraction clinic for adults and we’re starting a new program next year for restorative care for adults. So, that’s what I do kind of for a living right now. I raise a lot of funds for the clinic, to keep it going because it takes about seventy-five thousand dollars a year to keep this clinic going. And most of our contributors have always been, uh, you know, people, middle class people who have secure jobs and, you know, like teachers, and union workers, and, and, uh.

And now, you know, as soon as, as soon as all of this came down in the State of Wisconsin I really started to get worried about our clinic because I knew that people were gonna be taken off from Badger Care and Medicaid waiting lists. I knew that, uh, there are supposed to be about sixty-nine thousand people dropped off from Badger Care and Medicaid, which means the only choice they have is to come to the free clinic and, and at the same time all of our contributors have been, their wages have been cut, you know. So, we were gonna be bringing in less money and we’d have more people to serve. In fact, in just the last couple of months we’ve, our numbers are up by two hundred and sixty-eight percent. We’re getting eight new patients a night every time we open our doors. And, I, I lose sleep over this.

So, I have a lot to do, but, uh, I was contacted by United Wisconsin to, to work to collect signatures in Grant County and I, I just thought, now, when am I gonna have time for this? But how can I not do this? I have to fight for the poor. And that’s why I’ve been doing this recall in, in, out here in Grant County…

…Show Me Progress:  So, have you been working with a lot of volunteers?

Robin Transo:  Yeah, we have, uh, we actually formed a coalition of, uh, Democrats and, uh, union workers and state workers and, uh, concerned citizens. So this coalition, uh, Grant County is a, uh, one of the largest counties in the state. We have quite a number of people, but, but a lot of farm lands and so, uh, we have to work the county from the southern part of the county, has to work one way because that’s where the university is, and a lot of the industry in our county. And then the northern part of the county, that’s where our vocational school is and a lot of farm, lot of farm people, a lot of poverty in the northern part of the county. Our county seat’s in, also in the northern part of the county. And it’s kind of a tough county because it’s, it’s sort of fifty-fifty. Uh, it’s really a, quite a Republican county in a lot of ways. But, um, they, all these volunteers get together and, and we’ve gotten our numbers. We’re, what we’re really trying to do now is achieve our seven hundred thousand, uh, signature mark out in all of these counties. And between Grant, Lafayette, and Iowa County we have nineteen hundred signatures to go to reach our seven hundred thousand signature goal.

Show Me Progress: What has been the reaction, um, in your community to this, to this, uh, to your [crosstalk]…

Robin Transo: Pretty split. Pretty split. You know, if, if you’re getting into the poorest part of the county, which is down by the Wisconsin River, uh, where there’s a lot of poverty along the river, you know, a lot of river people, um, just are poorer people. If you’re in those parts of the county then you get an incredible amount of support. If you’re in the part of the county where the county seat is, it’s, it’s pretty divided. Um, you know, you get some pretty angry people coming up to your recall areas and, and yet, you, you get, um, you also get people who are like, thank God, I didn’t know where to sign, you, you know, how, where, where do I sign? So, it depends on how these people have been impacted, you know, and I think, uh, this fallacy about, that our, our taxes are gonna go down is, they’re seeing now that that isn’t true. You know, this is tax time right now, where everybody’s getting their notifications on, on how their property taxes have been affected. Well, everybody I’ve talked to, their property taxes have gone up. And the reason for that, of course, is because our schools were slashed so deeply that you have to make it up some way, you know. And we still, the snow still falls, we still have to plow our roads, yet the counties have been cut. So, the only thing they can do is increase property taxes at the local level. And people are angry about that. I mean, I, I think under, had we stuck with the old tax formula, uh, their property taxes were due to go up by about fifty dollars. Well, our property taxes went up close to four hundred dollars in our township. And, and my husband went through the roof when he saw how that’s gonna change. But, our school di
strict was slashed by two hundred thousand dollars and we can’t afford to, to lose good teachers.

I should tell you all about how this is affecting our schools. And I, having been a teacher for twenty-one years, uh, I know that when you become a teacher that first five years of teaching you really need, in order to get you through, uh, to the point where you’re actually a good teacher and you don’t leave frustrated as a teacher, you need mentors. And those mentors are your older teachers. The people who’ve been there fifteen, twenty years are, are the best mentors. They know everything inside and out. They know how to discipline children the right way, they know how to teach, and they, they take your hand, so to speak, and, and they walk you through, uh, and teach you how to be a good teacher, you know. Our, our university systems, uh, teach you only so much, but experience takes you the rest of the way. Well, with all of these, these cuts in the state we lost so many good, experienced teachers. And now the schools are full brand new teachers that have to find their own way in their school system.

A lot of our special needs children, uh, special ed teachers have, have lost their jobs. So where do they put these special needs children? They put them in the classroom with, uh, inexperienced teachers that, and now the school systems can’t afford aides, so you have this inexperienced teacher with larger class sizes, uh, teaching a lot of special needs children and, and at the same time you have Governor walker who says, well, if these teachers don’t toe the line, and if their, if their, uh, children can’t prove that they can pass the test, then we’re gonna fire these, these teachers that, that can’t make it. You know, and they’re, they’re, it’s like totally pushed education into a corner.

And I, I really seriously feel that the reason that they’re doing that is so they can privatize schools in our state. Privatize, uh, our snow plowing, privatize everything and in the state. And, and what’s gonna keep the state from, from doing the same thing that [national anti-union chain store] does to its employees? Hire, hire everybody at minimum wage and then take ’em to a back room and sit down and say, this is how you apply for Badger Care and Medicaid, ’cause we’re not gonna pay you insurance to work here. You know, it, it’s going to make the middle class poorer and the rich richer. And pretty soon no one will be able to afford to send their children on to higher education so that they can get out of the hole because the, they’ve raised tuition in our, in our colleges. You know, it’s just totally, uh, it does not make any sense. You, you want your working people to have good insurance because if you don’t keep your workforce healthy who’s going to work? You know, you want people to be able to retire eventually because you want the young, new thinking people to be able to take over with new ideas and, but how can anyone afford to retire now? How can they afford to educate their children? It’s, I’m very frightened for my, uh, well, I don’t have any grandchildren, but if I did, I would be very frightened for my grandchildren, you know. I’m frightened for the children that are coming up through the schools right now. What options are they gonna have if their parents are poor? Very few. Very few options.

Show Me Progress: As, as you, uh, as you’ve gone through this process, and you touched on this, uh, a bit, you, you get, uh, somewhat mixed reactions from people depending on their viewpoint, uh, do you, do you hear recurring themes from, uh, people with either the positive or the, the negative views of what you’re doing?

Robin Transo:  Well, the reoccurring themes seem to be what people are being told, you know, that this state was in dire straits, which I do not believe we were. You know, well, we had to do something. You know, and I say, well, sure, we all want to sit down and make concessions and our unions were willing to make concessions. We put on the table everything that the governor wanted. But he did not want to communicate. He just wanted to break the backs of the unions. And whether it was to privatize things or whether it was to make it more difficult for to, uh, for Democrat voters, or to have a support system, you know, whatever, whatever his reasons, uh, you know, I don’t think people truly understand, um. They think that, they think that our state was in dire straits and we had to do something and it’s hard to explain to people who aren’t keeping up with everything that’s happening in this state. That, that’s not the bottom, that’s not the bottom line, you know. We were willing to make concessions. He was not willing to make concessions.

You know, uh, he wants to, he wanted to pass that bill through. So nobody knew what was in the bill. He wanted to rush it through. So, most of the people in the State of Wisconsin didn’t realize that in that bill, hidden in that bill were things like, um, power plants, uh, wanting, not wanting to follow environmental protection laws. You know, wanting to be able to force whatever to our waterways. You know, people didn’t know that until those fourteen senators left the state and people were able to go through that bill with a fine tooth comb and find out what was really happening. You know, why those senators left the state. Uh, I think they’re heroes, personally, I think they’re heroes because without them having left Wisconsin we may, we may never have known immediately what, you know, people wouldn’t have had an opportunity to get the word out. And it all would have been done. And, and, you know, they, they were gonna make it so recycling wasn’t gonna happen in this state. Well, you know, the fourteen senators left, they found out that, that they weren’t gonna have recycling anymore, well, people got upset. And, and the senators that stayed home had to change that because that was a very unpopular thing to have in that bill. And, you know, so there were changes after the fourteen senators left.

And, and, uh, another reoccurring theme is, is, uh, we voted this man in, what’s wrong with you people, why can’t you just be, you know, it’s too bad that, that you didn’t get your way about beating this guy, you know, let him just play it out. It’s like, well, actually, we don’t have to recall our governor. We don’t want to have to do this. But we can’t afford to let this go by another four years. Or everything that this state stand for is gonna be destroyed. Our progressive history is being, it, it, I compare it to, uh, you know, having been an art teacher and fabric artist and all of that, it’s kind of like, you know, this state and what we stand for is sort of like, um, kind of like burlap, a piece of burlap, you know. And every day another strand of burlap’s being pulled out of, burlap’s only as strong as, is only strong if it’s all together. You know, and you start pulling strands out, one person’s right after the other, the right to go into the state capitol and, and sit down as a school child in, in the legislature and take notes, you know, that’s, that’s our right. To have that taken away to say that they can’t even take a picture of their legislators in fourth grade, you know, or, or, you can’t go in with your whole family if you’re a family of four, uh, because if you do you better have a permit to walk in there. It, you know, all these, these things we’ve always taken for granted as the right of a Wisconsin citizen are slowly being taken away from us. That’s how fascism started, you know. That, that is, uh, one day you just wake up and you don’t have the right to do that anymore. It, it’s okay to bring concealed weapons into the capitol, it’s not okay to bring a camera. You know, it, it’s ridiculous. Some of this stuff that’s happening, it’s just totally ridiculous. It doesn’t even make sense in my mind. This is not Wisconsin. This is not what Wisconsin stands for. This isn’t what we grew up with. This isn’t what we’re proud of.

And, and we recallers are not doing it because we hate the governor. But we hate whoever is working him, you know. Someone is
working him, whether it’s big money, whether it’s lobbyists, whatever it is, somebody has an agenda and he’s following someone’s agenda. This could, no one man could be this insensitive to the poor. Or the, or the working people of this state. No one man could be this evil, you know. So, I don’t think it’s just him, you know.

Show Me Progress: So, how do you communicate, um, this kind of, um, message to people who aren’t aware of what’s going on? And, and especially as you, you communicate with them about the recall process.

Robin Transo:  Well, there’s. there’s different things that I’ve tried. I try to be a creative thinker. And, uh, and I try to be kind to people. This is the way, I mean, having been a teacher and in health care, you know, you have to be sensitive that everyone has the right to believe the way they want to believe. And my first reaction to all of this was, I don’t want, uh, the children of this state to not know the truth about what happened in that first one hundred days of office.

And, and I decided to come up with a game called Scottyopoly. It’s totally bipartisan. It’s only built on the truth. And, and yet, it’s, it’s fun, not because, there’s things that happened in that first one hundred days you just can’t make up. You know, like things like prank phone calls and, and, uh, going off to Illinois with fourteen senators, and blow up palm trees, and, I mean, this stuff is like [laugh], you know, a hundred and sixty thousand people showing up and then having the Governor say, these people are from out of state because Wisconsinites support me is, is crazy, you know. And, so, we created this Scottyopoly game which the State Historical Society reviewed and deemed as a historical, uh, having historical significance. And the reason I wanted to create that game is to support my free clinic. Primarily because I knew my free clinic was gonna be impacted. That’s, that’s one thing.

So you, you create, uh, different ways to teach people the truth. And another thing is, when you run into someone who is really upset you try to diffuse ’em. You know, tell them that you respect their opinion.  Tell them that you’d like to share their point of view. You don’t fight with them. Uh, you know, and, uh, you don’t want to fight with them [laugh].  But, it, you don’t want your family divided either. And your community divided and your state split in half over these issues, either, you know.

The, the one thing you have to do is find a common, a common ground and say, you know, we’re still, you’re my neighbor and no matter what you believe or what I believe I still love you as my neighbor. We’re all working together to make this state the best we can. And, and just have to respect each other, you know. And, and some people aren’t willing to, to respect your point of view. And they, they give you the middle finger and, and you have to just wave back, you know. I know that anybody that I work with, we all, we all say, listen, if anybody, uh, yells out the window, get a real job, or, or anything like that, you just wave at ’em and tell ’em [inaudible] hope you have a nice day, you know [laugh]. You don’t, you don’t argue with this people. They, they’re entitled to their opinions, just like we are. And we just need to respect each other and try to get through this.

And, uh, let’s let our state have a voice again. I mean, we need to take this, I, I’m really sad that we have to pay for a recall election. I’m really sad about that. I, but at the same time, I’m even more sad about how this is affecting the people of this state, how it’s driven people into poverty and, and how it’s all about power and influence. And, and the person, the person with the most power might have the most money. You know, I don’t believe that. I think if we all gather together, if we’re in one voice, then it’s the people of this state that have the power, not the money, you know.

Show Me Progress: So, this process, as you’ve gone through it, what have you learned?

Robin Transo: Well, I’ve learned [pause], I’ve learned that it’s really important to fight for what you believe in. And I’ve learned that apathy is the, the greatest cancer our society could possibly have. And I’ve learned that if Scott Walker has given this state anything positive, it’s awaken the people of this state so they’re not apathetic. Because when you’re asleep that’s when anyone can take over your house, you know. Our house is this state. We’re the citizens of this state. We need to stay together even after this is over. We’ve formed coalitions in every county in the state and I think it’s, it’s going to be extremely important that we always stay vigilant, that we keep our coalitions together, that we don’t just break up, uh, and go our separate ways after this is all over. But, instead, that we, we stay together as a community, as a family, as a, as a coalition so this doesn’t happen in this state again. And, and I’ve learned so much about so many wonderful people, people I never even knew existed are now in my life. And, and, it’s been a, it’s been a great journey for that reason. I’ve also learned that some of the people I never knew could be cruel can be cruel. And that’s a, that’s kind of a wakeup call. But, uh, but mostly I’ve seen positive things come from the people I live around. And, uh, I’ve seen, uh, people pull together and that’s, that’s a, it’s been a wonderful journey in that sense.

Previously: Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r) (December 19, 2011)

Proponents of the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (r) have collected over 500,000 signatures toward their goal of 720,000 to initiate a recall election.

Inside the Wisconsin Democratic Party Recall Walker Dane County East Main Office in Madison.

This morning we drove to the Wisconsin Democratic Party recall headquarters a few blocks from the state capitol building in Madison. We spoke with Jim Roseberry, a volunteer working for the recall effort:

Show Me Progress:  How long have you been working on the, this, uh, recall process?

Jim Roseberry: From the start. In fact, I was, uh, pretty active during the demonstrations.

Show Me Progress: In, in, the demonstrations precipitated the recall process for you?

Jim Roseberry: Uh, his [Governor Scott Walker] comments about the budget repair bill, uh, made me want to consider that as a possibility. And then more and more as we started to occupy the Capitol and make our political point of view known that became more and more, uh, a reasonable course of action in my mind.

Show Me Progress: And so how soon after the, uh, the movement at the Capitol with the demonstrations did the, uh, recall become, uh, a, a practical reality, as things started to get rolling?

Jim Roseberry: Well, for me, uh, it’s, it was a continuous thread. Uh, when finally the fourteen [Democratic state senators] came back and the legislation was passed and the protests subsided, although there were people who kept, still went into the Capitol to make their presence known. Uh, I didn’t see any break. You know, I, I, we were basically waiting for November fifteenth. And there were many of us who were actively organized and getting that going, so…

Jim Roseberry, a volunteer in the effort to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (r).

A sidewalk sandwich board in front of a shop on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin.

…Show Me Progress: As, as you’ve gone through this process have you been surprised by, um, the, the, the quick volume of signatures?

Jim Roseberry: Yes, uh, having no experience in recalling, uh, politicians. Uh, it’s all new to me and I’ve been amazed by the, uh, groundswell of support and the number of volunteers engaged in it. One comparison that comes to mind is that I’m old enough to have lived through the anti-war movement. In fact, I was a student at the University of California at Berkeley at the time and, uh, relatively conservative. Such a time. Grew up Republican. And, um, the composition of people engaged in this recall movement is much broader than it was, than the anti-war movement was. Age, gender, uh, background. So it’s quite inspiring that way.

Show Me Progress: Uh, what kind of response have you encountered as you’ve progressed through the, the, the recall process?

Jim Roseberry: Um, almost universally positive. Uh, people eager to sign, eager to be engaged, course, I live in Madison, which is not typical, either. You know, it’s not a model for all of Wisconsin, but, uh, that’s the case, and I haven’t been out collecting signatures. You know, you hear these anecdotal stories about somebody flipping the bird or whatever else. I consider them all outliers anyway. But, uh, I haven’t encountered any of that.

Show Me Progress: Um, so as you’ve worked in this office, uh, you’ve dealt with volunteers  [Jim Roseberry: “Um, hm.”] coming in. [Jim Roseberry: “Um, hm.”] Uh, are you finding that the volunteers are people who are activists who used to be, who are used to doing this kind of thing, or are you getting a mix of people who…

Jim Roseberry: I think it’s a phenomenal mix. And, uh, you know, there are, there are people who are going to be politically active, they’re, clearly they vote and, uh, pay attention to the news, but, I think many of them are becoming much more active than they’ve ever been in their lives, around collecting signatures and bringing ’em in. And it’s quite impressive. And, uh, the whole process, I think, has been rootinized in a, in a really good way. And we, people bring petitions in, we hand them blank petitions out, they bring signed, sig, petitions in. We go over them carefully with people and when you’re going over them carefully with people you get to ask a few questions. And, uh, it’s kind of interesting.

Show Me Progress: So, so [crosstalk]…

Jim Roseberry: The variety of people involved.

Show Me Progress: Uh, huh. Uh, so, you, you get stories about their background and why they’re doing this.

Jim Roseberry: Um, hm. Um, hm.

Show Me Progress: And so, have, have any of those stories struck you?

Jim Roseberry: Uh, not outside of the generic, uh, recognition that, uh, that it’s not only, not just the policies of this government and, and this, uh, governor, but it’s the methods and approaches that the, that he and his people have taken. And people are very frustrated with that.

Show Me Progress: How has Wisconsin changed since January?

Jim Roseberry: Well, it’s become much more politicized. I mean, in some sense you could send a thank you letter to the governor because a lot of people who were kind of walking, uh, slightly asleep are now wide awake and engaged. And making themselves aware of what’s going on and taking action. And, uh, uh, so, I think that it’s been incredibly politicized. And much of it in a good direction, from my point of view.

Show Me Progress: Uh, in the sense that people are actively engaged and participating.

Jim Roseberry: Yes, collecting signatures, uh, coming to the office to make phone calls. Uh, I go to the coffee houses every day, I’m retired so I can do that, and, uh, but, uh, just the conversations you hear amongst people, you know.

Show Me Progress: As, as you approach the end of the signature process, you know, the next step is the, ultimately, the election, and [Jim Roseberry: “Um, hm.”], um, do you feel that, that the people that you’ve been engaged with will follow through?

Jim Roseberry: Yes.

Show Me Progress:  They, they’ve signed that [crosstalk]…

Jim Roseberry: Yeah, and [crosstalk]…

Show Me Progress:  … that petition and so they’re going to participate.

Jim Roseberry: Yeah. I think so. And that, you know, who knows how an election’s gonna turn out? And, uh, I’ve lived, lived long enough that I’m not attached to outcomes. So if I were to lose life would go on. But, uh, this is going to be a very different election. The two thousand ten election was an off year election. The turnout was light, and, uh, a lot of people really didn’t know who Walker was and what he stood for. They now know what his, uh, what he, what his policies are and what his methods are and they’re quite energized. So it’s gonna be a different, uh, different election.

Show Me Progress:  Do you think the, the, in, in two thousand ten election that people were really aware of what the consequences of the election were?

Jim Roseberry: No. Uh, first of all, I think that the evidence is quite clear Walker did not really say exactly what he was gonna do. I think if he had run and said, we have a budget crisis and teachers and, are gonna have to make a contribution, that’s one thing. If he had said we’r
e gonna, uh, get rid of unions or really hamstring them and we’re gonna ram it through the legislature, that’s another thing. And I think the second part of that they weren’t aware of. I also think it was an election, off year election which don’t go well for parties in power, generally. And then I think that the previous governor who was a Democrat, Jim Doyle, uh, was not liked by a lot of people. And, uh, you can decide what you make of that, but, so, many people will vote against rather than for. And so Walker, I think, was, uh, had some advantages in that election which he doesn’t have right now.

Show Me Progress: So, after, after , uh, I believe it’s, about two weeks, or three weeks before the, um, petitions are due in?

Jim Roseberry: They’re due in the middle of January.

Show Me Progress: Middle of January. [Jim Roseberry: “Um, hm.”] Um, what then for you?

Jim Roseberry: Well, uh, getting the petitions in, making sure they’re squeaky clean so the Government Accountability Board can have an easy, clear route to verifying them, and since it’s such a, a huge task it’ll take a while. And, uh, so we just sit patiently by and wait for them to review them. Uh, I, I expect them to find that there are enough legitimate signatures to have an election. Then there’ll probably be some chicanery around trying to extend the election and get the voter ID law in and etcetera and so forth. So, there’s room there for some political education, if not, action and then, uh, once the election is set, uh, campaigning for the election.

Show Me Progress: All right. Thank you very much for your time.

Jim Roseberry: My pleasure.

Jim Roseberry.

Proponents of the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (r) have collected over 500,000 signatures toward their goal of 720,000 to initiate a recall election.

Opposing viewpoints on the steps of the Middleton, Wisconsin City Hall.

We spoke with a volunteer gathering recall petition signatures in Middleton, Wisconsin:

Show Me Progress: How long, how long have you been out here collecting petitions [signatures]?

Sharon Nash: Well, since, since this all started on the fifteenth I’ve been out, um, pretty much every day [laugh].

Show Me Progress: Is this, is this [crosstalk]…

Sharon Nash:  Except for Thursdays and Fridays.

Show Me Progress: Is this like, are you talking, like, uh, fifteenth of November, when you started?

Sharon Nash:  Yeah, I’m part of the Middleton Action Group which in Middleton is, um, working on the, the recall.

Show Me Progress: And, so what’s been, what been your response so far?

Sharon Nash:  What’s been my response as far as?

Show Me Progress: Meaning the, the response that people have been[crosstalk]…

Sharon Nash, collecting recall petition signatures outside of the Middleton, Wisconsin City Hall.

Sharon Nash:  Oh, well, the, the petition signers are wonderful [laugh]. And, and, uh, we’ve had people, you know, stop and bring us tea and hot coffee when we’ve been out on the street doing drive throughs or, you know, collecting petitions that way. We’ve been in different parts of the city, um, on different days now. We’re in front of city hall today because it’s, uh, property tax, uh, paying time, and so [laugh][crosstalk]…

Show Me Progress: It’s a[crosstalk]…

Sharon Nash:  People are paying their property taxes, so [crosstalk], people coming up.

Show Me Progress: So that’s where the traffic is, yeah.

Sharon Nash:  Yeah, and the library’s been good. The post office has been good. Uh, around Costco, um, my husband and I will do on the weekends. And, uh, we get a lot of, uh, lot of thumbs up from supporters [laugh] of, of the recall. And the supporters of [Governor Scott] Walker [r] are, um, [pause], uh, some of them will just say a polite no. And others will be really nasty [laugh]. [crosstalk][inaudible]

Show Me Progress: Yeah, but , have you, have you ever felt, um, that anybody would, would  get out of control at any time?

Sharon Nash:  Um, you know, it gives you pause as you’re standing on the street corner or, um, when some people will come up to you and just unload lots of profanity, kinda. But, you just have to kinda, just turn, and turn away and not engage.

Show Me Progress: Um, so, what, what makes you come out here, all these days, and do this?

Sharon Nash:  Uh, I’m just upset that our, our Democracy has been taken away from us. I was, uh, took part in a lot of the demonstrations in February, March, April, and then the recall elections, uh, for the senators. And, uh, it was a really, the, the protests at the capitol were just really profound. Uh, it was, it really affected me deeply as far as seeing all these people gather together with such passion. And, uh, and what he, Walker was doing to the state was just horrifying as far as, uh, the collective bargaining. And Wisconsin has been known for, for its, um, support and the beginnings of the, the unions here. So, uh, the history has just been rich, uh, with support for working families and workers. And, and, uh, to see it all disappear within a few short months of Walker getting in, and the other tea party, um, people that got in on, uh. Uh, I think, I think it was  a kind of a rigged, the money that was put into it was, um, totally distorted what the, what the issues were and, uh, um, I think people didn’t really have enough information about what these tea party people were really all about and what they were gonna do. And they had no idea about, uh, uh, what American for Prosperity was all about and the Koch brothers and ALEC, American, American Legislative Exchange Commission [Council] . Uh, people have no idea that’s where this legislation came from, you know. And so it wasn’t legislation that was coming from people in Wisconsin. It was bought and paid for ALEC. [laugh] And so, uh, that, and it’s not only about the, the, uh, collective bargaining, it’s about the relaxing of, of environmental regulations, it’s, um, the slashing of the budgets in, in education, it’s, um, about the, uh, voter suppression, um, which is the [crosstalk] voter ID.

Show Me Progress: Voter ID, yeah.

Sharon Nash:  Which is really, uh, for how that, the education budgets and the voter ID thing, how that affects the rural areas is just horrifying.  And, um, and, and the young, the students, and the, uh, the senior citizens, you know, who can’t get out or don’t have access, have no idea how this is going to affect them and, and how they’re gonna show up at the polls and not gonna be able to vote.

One of the many recall bumper stickers in Madison, Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, Governor Walker’s campaign filed a lawsuit, citing the 14th Amendment.

Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board, which oversees recall elections, issued a statement a few days ago.

Statement on Recall Petition Verification

Date: December 14, 2011

MADISON, WI – The Government Accountability Board issued the following statement by Director and General Counsel Kevin Kennedy regarding news media reports about how the Board will handle potentially fictitious names on recall petitions:

Comments made at our Board meeting Tuesday by elections specialists have been taken out of context.  They were answering questions about one aspect of the petition verification process.  Wisconsin’s recall petition process is designed with multiple checks and balances provided by the non-partisan G.A.B., as well as the competing partisan interests of the recall committee and the incumbent officeholder.  These competing interests ensure that ineligible signers, duplicate signatures and fake names get weeded out.  Focusing on any one aspect of the process in isolation misses the forest for a few trees.

The recall process starts at the grassroots level with petition circulators. They personally obtain each signature on the page and are responsible for striking any signature that does not match the name given to them by the person signing the petition.  These circulators sign each petition page stating that they understand that falsifying the certification is a punishable offense under state law, which is a felony.

The Board understands that the recall committees are doing their own quality control prior to filing petitions in January, involving hand-entering names from each petition page into a database that will allow them to identify duplicate signatures and fake names.  It is in the recall committees’ interests to do this to build their own mailing lists, as well as to help ensure that the petitions they file with the G.A.B. will stand up to the scrutiny of challenges.

Wisconsin law requires the G.A.B. to presume that petition signatures are valid, which means that the staff cannot automatically strike names that might appear to be fake.  That level of review would require a change in law as well as much greater resources than are available or practical.  However, the G.A.B. staff and temporary workers reviewing the petitions w
ill be flagging apparently fictitious names for review by higher-level staff.

At the same time G.A.B. is conducting its review, the incumbent officeholders’ committees will be reviewing copies of the petitions as part of the challenge process.  If and when the incumbents’ committees submit challenges to individual signatures, the G.A.B. staff must evaluate each signature and the documentation provided by the challenger, and may use outside sources such as voter registration lists and telephone directories to determine the validity of signatures.  The Government Accountability Board members will then vote on all the challenges at a public meeting to determine whether the petition has a sufficient number of signatures to trigger a recall election.  Additionally, both the petitioner and the incumbent officeholder have the ability to appeal the Board’s decision to the circuit court.

The right of Wisconsin residents to recall elected officials is guaranteed in the Wisconsin Constitution, and the laws of this state spell out the process by which that can happen.  These laws can seem complicated.  The process for any recall petition review will be consistent with the rules that were in place for both parties in the 2011 recall elections.  In reviewing approximately 215,000 signatures as part of the 2011 recalls, only a handful of signatures were successfully challenged on the basis that the name was fictitious or of a deceased individual.  

A homemade sign in support of Governor Scott Walker (r) along U.S. Highway 151 in southwestern Wisconsin.

You’d think with all that cash raised from big money interests that Governor Walker could afford nicer signs.

That’s over a half a million signatures. It ain’t exactly a ringing endorsement.

Previously:

Voices of Organized Labor in Jefferson City on February 26, 2011 (February 27, 2011)

Wisconsin: “Thank God for Missouri…” (April 21, 2011)

St. Louis: Jefferson Jackson Dinner – Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor (D) (June 19, 2011)