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January 13, 2012 FROM CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM: Battle Lines Stark as Wisconsin Recall Push Nears End Sonja O'Brien heard from the hecklers as she collected signatures in a final push to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. One man yelled at her for forcing the state to spend millions on a recall election. A woman told her she was annoying. And Jack Bublitz, a 75-year-old retired banker, said Democrats would never collect enough names. "You're not going to do it! You're not going to do it!" Bublitz yelled at her. But O'Brien figured these naysayers were relatively civil compared to most days over the past two months in what has become a knock-down, drag-out brawl to oust Walker from office. Now the fight is about to move from the streets to the courtroom. Democrats want to wind up the signature drive this weekend and get the names to state election officials by Tuesday's deadline. GOP legal challenges are almost certain to follow. With supporters and detractors almost equally vocal, the recent petition campaign has been a microcosm of a political landscape that remains toxic and highly divided a year after the Republican governor introduced his plan to strip almost all public workers of their collective bargaining rights. "These people are being ridiculous," Bublitz said as he hurried inside the casino. "We elected Walker. Let him serve out his term." O'Brien, a 57-year-old data technician, shrugged it off as she made the rounds Wednesday at the Potawatomi casino near downtown Milwaukee. "We're making history," she said, armed with two homemade "Recall Walker" signs, a pair of clipboards, boots and a parka. "It feels good to empower the people." Walker argued the union crackdown was needed to balance the state's $3.6 billion budget deficit, but Democrats saw it as a doomsday attack on unions, one of their crucial constituencies. Thousands of demonstrators protested at the Capitol around the clock for three weeks. The Senate's 14 minority Democrats fled the state in a futile attempt to block a vote on the plan, which Walker eventually signed into law last March. |
William P. Logan, President 1300 W. Higgins Rd. Suite 301 CONTACT YOUR STATE LEGISLATOR: UPCOMING EVENTS Monday, May 28 Wednesday, July 4 Saturday, August 4 |
