Why the Recalls?

Articles with titles like “My Top 40 Reasons to Recall Scott Walker” have been popping up all year, and with time, those lists have grown longer. On the flip side, Walker supporters and the media often insist that Walker and the recalled State Senators have been targeted for their brave action—passing Act 10, the bill that repealed collective bargaining for public employees.

I can list many ways in which Governor Scott Walker is damaging our state, but the reason I believe he—and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald—should be recalled is somewhat different. The Wisconsin State Constitution is very specific about the recourse of recall.

In the early 1900s, Progressives designed recall as the remedy for a broken democracy. They wanted to strengthen the control of the people over the levers of government, while reducing the influence of powerful and wealthy special interests that controlled government. Sure sounds like today in Wisconsin.

As Fighting Bob LaFollette wrote: “By the recall, a faithless public official may be retired without waiting for the evil to be fully consummated. Under such a law, the public official will no longer betray his constituency.”

I vote to recall Governor Walker and Senator Fitzgerald because they have betrayed those who elected them. They used their positions to push an extreme agenda that Wisconsin citizens were not aware of and would never have voted for. We simply cannot wait until the end of their terms to vote them out, because we do not want to stand by until their agenda is “fully consummated”.

So on June 5, be thankful for the recall and make your voice heard!