The Clock Is Ticking

The clock is ticking in the recall efforts to get Walker and his 8 "buddies" out of office. We only have 60 days to get this accomplished and this is the most important step, at this point, to be taken to get "Our House" and our state back from these crooked politicians in Madison.

The rallies in Madison, the nation, and around the state are important.

Boycotting Koch Industry products is important.

Boycotting M & I bank and removing your money from them is important.



These efforts list above are a great way to show solidarity and support for the middle class. They also pale in comparison to putting more efforts into the actual work of the recall effort. That is going to be the winning strategy to getting our state back. Right now there is nothing more important than removing these parasites from office as soon as possible. That's how we'll really win this battle.

There is no time line in organizing rallies and boycotts. They can go on well beyond 60 days. Recall efforts can not go beyond that time line. This is the number one priority and to be successful it can't be ignored.

Nineteen states allow the recall of politicians at the state level, with an additional 10 states allowing recall efforts at local or municipality level. Wisconsin, Idaho, and Nevada have the strictest time limit involved for recall efforts.

The required number of signatures in Wisconsin to trigger a recall election is 25% of the number of persons that voted in the last preceding election for the office of governor within the electoral district of the officer sought to be recalled.

A Little History In Recall Efforts: (Source and Attribution)

Recall attempts at the state level have been singularly unsuccessful. Prior to California's 2003 recall election, the only successful recall of a governor to date took place in North Dakota in 1921, when voters removed from office not only Governor Lynn J. Frazier, but also the attorney general and the commissioner of agriculture. California voters have initiated 32 gubernatorial recall attempts since 1911, but the 2003 recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003 was the first to ever reach the ballot. In 1988, Arizona voters filed enough signatures to trigger a recall election for Governor Evan Mecham, but he was impeached by the state's House of Representatives before the date of the scheduled recall election.

Recall efforts against state legislators are slightly more common, but still unusual. In California, 54 recall efforts were initiated against state legislators between 1911 to 2003. Among the 54 are three notices filed against a single senator and eight against a single representative, all by the same individual. Only four of the 54 qualified for the ballot.

As you can see we have our work cut out for us to be successful. The Republican Senators and Governor of Wisconsin have no real fear of being recalled just based on the history of recall efforts taken across the country in the past. My guess is that they're sitting back and laughing about the rallies and boycott efforts. Neither of these efforts really scare them. The latest protest rally figures seem to show that between 100,000 to 150, 000 people were in Madison yesterday for the protest rally. It was an awesome display of solidarity.

The one knock the democratic party gets, whether fully justified or not, is their ability to organize well and truly get things done in comparison to Republicans. We need boots on the ground getting the required signatures. We need people getting out pertinent information on local efforts on recalls. In other words we need to get really focused on the recall effort itself. As stated before the protest rallies and boycotts are great for showing solidarity and displeasure. The bottom line is we need the required signatures to really make a difference.

Every poll I've seen in Wisconsin and across the nation for that matter show people are not in favor of taking away collective bargaining rights. Citizen sentiment is on our side. Citizen sentiment doesn't get the job done without the required signatures though. We have got to take this sentiment and desire and get it documented and signed.

Once we achieve that aspect of the recall effort then it's time to really ramp up the rallies to get out the actual vote to get these criminals out of office. Getting the required signatures will be a daunting task in itself. We then  need to get the actual voting public on board for the recall vote itself. We're going to need money for advertising as well. The other side isn't going to idly sit by and they'll be getting money and advertising of their own to counter our efforts. (In all honesty my bet is they are well ahead of us in this area.)

It's time for them to get truly scared of us. They've ignored the wishes and desire of the majority of public sentiment in Wisconsin. We've got to transform desire and sentiment into action. Failure in this effort will simply embolden them to ram through more legislation that favors Corporate interests over the middle class.

They've awoken a sleeping giant. Will the sleeping giant now actually get out of bed and get something done?

Any other blogger who wishes to use this post in whole, or in part, has my permission. We need to get the word out and get organized. It's time. It's way beyond time. Let's get this done. The clock is ticking.