Beach Peanuts

Wisconsin Collects Over One Million SIgnatures To Recall Gov. Walker

Democrats needed 540,208 signatures on petitions to force a recall of Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin, but today they got that and more.

Over one million signatures!

It's the next step in the effort to recall the Koch friendly governor, who stripped collective bargaining rights for unions, slashed education from his budget, brought about huge job losses and pushed through a strict voter suppression, voter ID law among other things. (Sound a bit familiar Florida?)

From TPM:

Wisconsin Democrats announced Tuesday that they have collected over a million signatures to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker — nearly twice the 540,208 signatures, or 25 percent of the total votes in the previous election for governor, needed to trigger a new election.

The petitions are being submitted today to the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections. This will in turn set off a lengthy review process by state officials, before an election can go forward later in the year. But given the very large number of signatures that are well beyond the already high threshold, and the state’s recent history of recalls in the state Senate, it seems a safe bet that an election will occur.

The Dems are also submitting separate petitions for: Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (845,000 signatures, showing some amount of drop-off from the Walker papers, but still well above the same 540,208 threshold); State Sen. Pam Galloway; State Sen. Terry Moulton; State Sen. Van Wanggaard; and state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (who was not originally a top target of the state party, but against whom the local Walker-recall organizers took the extra initiative).

In their announcement, the party boasted of numerous measurements of the total collection of petitions: That they number 300,000 pages, weighing a total of 3,000 pounds — or two Holstein milk cows, in this dairy-producing state.

You can read the entire article here.

It's too bad the same can't happen in Florida. I don't know about you, but I have governor recall envy.

Another Day, Another Recall

First it was recalls in Michigan, then Arizona, then the current one playing out against Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Now it's Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina who has caused a case of voter's remorse. Funny how that happens when Republicans run on one platform, but take another course or turn on voters after their election.

From the West Ashley Patch:

Gov. Nikki Haley racked up a long list of political enemies in her first year as South Carolina's top elected official.

Now a group of purported conservative activists have launched a new effort to recall the governor with the website recallsc.com. The site, which consists of a single page laying out the case for recalling Haley, launched in December to build public support for the effort.

"I'm sure the people supporting this have passion," said College of Charleston political science professor and director of the Joseph P. Riley Center for Livable Communities Kendra Stewart.

"But it is highly unlikely that it will happen."

For starters, the state Constitution does not currently allow for a recall process, and it will require a constitutional amendment to change that. Constitutional amendments require a higher threshold in the legislature — a two-thirds majority in both houses — than typical statutory legislation.

However, if one of the several bills now filed in the General Assembly that would establish the framework for recalls were to pass it would have the necessary support to override a gubernatorial veto. The legislature's 2012 session begins Tuesday.

Then the voters of South Carolina would have to weigh in on the issue as a referendum question on a future ballot.

So many Republicans, so many recalls.

If only we could add Florida Governor Rick Scott to the list. After all, see if any of the grievances against Haley sound familiar:

Oddly enough, the petition lists the Haley administration's lack of transparency first among several gripes with the governor.

Other grievances on the petition include Haley giving salary increases to her staff while campaigning on fiscal responsibility, that Haley is facing a lawsuit over potential ethics violations, the SC DHEC Board's decision on approving port deepening activities in the Savannah River, Haley using inflated jobs numbers, her removal of Darla Moore from the Board of Trustees at the University of South Carolina and Haley's administration destroying public records.

Of course a recall of Rick Scott will never happen in Florida.

Still, one can dream....