By Brendan Fischer, AlterNet
Posted on March 23, 2012, Printed on March 25, 2012
“The folks that were angry about this started a recall....Not hundreds, not thousands, but tens of thousands of ordinary people did an extraordinary thing. They stood up and took their government back.” -- Gov. Scott Walker, discussing the 2002 recalls that led to his election as Milwaukee County Executive.
Those words, uttered by Wisconsin Republican Gov. Walker in an ad during his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, are strikingly relevant today.
In a 60-day period during a cold Wisconsin winter, state residents
collected nearly one million signatures for Walker’s recall, with an
election date now scheduled for June 5. That election, which will likely
be very close and will almost certainly break new records for spending
in the state, will end this stage of a year-and-a-half-long battle over
Walker’s divisive reforms, including his controversial attack on public
employee unions.
When Walker first announced his plans to reform collective
bargaining on Feb. 11, 2011 he anticipated the fight would be over in
less than a week. Claiming the state was broke (just weeks after cutting
the corporate tax rate), Walker announced Act 10 on a Friday and
planned a vote the following Wednesday, leaving almost no time for
public debate or deliberation. He even scheduled a bill signing at the
end of the week.
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