Ah, what a crazy state. All of you have been closely following the successful recall efforts for 4 Republican State Legislators, the Governor and Lt. Governor. Elections will occur in May and June.
You may also have been following the corporate takeover of the Wisconsin Legislature over the past year. Most recently, the failed attempt at passing a mining bill...it's dead...or maybe not.
Well, hold on... 2 new recall efforts just announced.
A group filed paperwork Monday to recall Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar), and another formed an exploratory committee to consider recalling Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). The two voted against a mining bill the Assembly passed earlier this year, and Jauch and Schultz's attempts to advance alternative mining legislation never gained traction.
Journal Sentinel
Of course, Schultz (a Republican) was held "safe" from earlier recall efforts because he was a sane voice in last year's efforts to destroy worker's rights. Now, conservatives are going after him.
Dan Curran, a retired salesman from Dodgeville, created the exploratory committee to recall Schultz because of his stance on mining.
Schultz was the lone Republican senator to vote against the collective bargaining changes, and Curran said he was disappointed in Schultz's vote on that issue as well.
Curran said he did not have a timeline for deciding whether to recall Schultz. He said one factor he would consider would be whether recalling Schultz could lead to a Democrat taking hold of the seat instead of a Republican who backed the mining bill.
Citizens for Responsible Government, the group that led the recall efforts in 2002 after the Milwaukee County pension scandal, are assisting the efforts against Jauch and Schultz.
Schultz described CRG as "kind of a fringe group from Milwaukee loosely tied to talk radio."
"They like to spend a lot of time in other people's pastures," he said.
Jauch was working hard on a mining bill that balanced the need for jobs & mining with environmental concerns. Fitzgerald stopped those negotiations in order to ram through the industry written bill.
Shirl LaBarre of Hayward, who said in December she would consider recalling Jauch over mining, filed the paperwork against him Monday.
"Sen. Jauch did not listen to the majority of his constituents and, frankly, we've had it," said LaBarre, who runs a plumbing business.
"Mining is our history," she said. "It's our culture and it's our future. Well, (Jauch) just threw that down the toilet, and that's coming from a plumber."
LaBarre needs to gather 15,270 signatures in 60 days to force a recall election. If she succeeded, the earliest elections could be held would be late June.
LaBarre has run unsuccessfully for the Assembly three times, but she said she would not run against Jauch in a recall.
Jauch said people in the north want a mine and the jobs it would bring with it, but they overwhelmingly support doing it in a responsible way. He said he and Schultz are being targeted because they worked across party lines.
Here is some background on
CRG...a right wing group infatuated with Walker.
UPDATE Some context on Schultz, Jauch and the mining bill.
Schultz and Jauch both wanted to vote for a mining bill. They just didn't like the one that was written by the corporation that wanted the mine. They were negotiating for months to craft a bipartisan bill that would balance the need for streamlined mining regulations and strong environmental controls. These negotiation were abruptly cut short by State Sen Majority Leader Fitzgerald.
Here is an interview with State Senator Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) that explains what happens. Carpenter also wanted a mining bill, just not one written only by the mining industry. A mine in northern Wisconsin would bring lots of jobs for heavy manufacturing to the Milwaukee area.
He said the main problem throughout the mining bill process was a lack of openness from GOP Senate leadership. He said Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Gov. Scott Walker never spoke with him about the legislation.
“There were a lot of things because it was done in secret that caused this train wreck to happen,” Carpenter said on Sunday’s show, which is produced in conjunction with WisPolitics.com.
Before the bill was brought to the floor, there had been speculation that Carpenter would cast the deciding vote for the legislation. Carpenter said he was interested in supporting a mining bill that helped bring jobs to Milwaukee and was told the weekend before the vote there were serious negotiations with Sens. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, and Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, who had a competing version of the mining bill.
But he was later told neither the guv nor others had talked to Schultz and Jauch. He said if the guv, much like Tommy Thompson used to, had gotten involved in discussions, something could have been worked out, lawmakers could have gone to the floor and a bill would have passed.
“But you have to have someone who’s willing to negotiate, not be a cheerleader from the side,” he said.
Carpenter said the JFC version could have been tweaked enough to attract bipartisan support if Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, would have allowed negotiations to continue.
“We didn’t vote against mining; we voted against the Joint Finance version,” Carpenter said.
Read more: http://www.wisn.com/...
The anger directed towards Schultz and the Democrats by Right Wingers, Union folks (who would have benefited from jobs), and others in Northern Wisconsin that desperately need these jobs should be directed where it belongs. At the Fitzgeralds and Walker, who wanted to act like grade school bullies instead of statesmen.