Update on the Scott Walker recall shenanigans.

So, let me tell you of the wickedness of the world… or, more accurately, of the abject stupidity of the anti-Scott Walker forces in Wisconsin.  Which is really not the same thing, but it at least sounds good.  Or at least jovial.

Anyway, here’s the background: the Wisconsin Left, having managed to allegedly get enough signatures to force a recall election against a governor enjoying a 51% approval rating (and this, after several years of nigh-relentless demonization) is now trying to figure out how to actually win a recall election with the schlubs, has-beens, never-weres and other political detritus that would make up their, and I use the term loosely, ‘talent pool.’  In this particular case, it doesn’t help that there’s an important fault line within the Left being revealed by events.  One the one hand, you’ve got the public sector union leadership, who are even now starting to feel the first signs of withdrawal from not being able to directly mainline mandatory union dues into their veins; on the other, there’s the actual Democratic party leadership, who are still hooked in with their source of ‘free’ money, and so are able to think more clearly.

Why this is important is because the unions have a plan!  They called for all Democratic candidates in the recall race to announce, point-blank, that they would pledge to veto any budget bill that did not repeal Walker’s union reforms.  The technical term for this is ‘dunderheaded,’ by the way: aside from the fact that the state Republican party would welcome that fight, should the worst happen, it simply looks bad.  A major argument from the Wisconsin GOP is that the Democratic party is beholden to public sector unions; demanding and getting loyalty oaths would not exactly contradict that narrative.  Which is why most of the Democratic candidates involved didn’t sign off on said loyalty oath.

But one candidate did – Kathleen Falk, former Dane County executive – and the WEAC (the largest teachers’ union in Wisconsin) promptly endorsed her.  Well… their leadership did; the members themselves didn’t get polled on it.  Which is something that many of them are not happy about.  Neither are many liberals in Wisconsin.  You see, Falk is not very good at winning statewide elections; a measure of just how bad she is can be seen in that she managed to actually lose the Wisconsin Attorney General’s race in 2006.  That took skill.  There’s also the fact that she pretty much quit her last job about halfway through the term, and it looks like she did so in order to position herself for a gubernatorial run (while claiming “I am not angling for another political job and there is no ulterior motive”).  So, all in all, this is not an optimal candidate… just one with an endorsement that will resonate in the Democratic primary.  If nowhere else.

And the most entertaining part?  The date for the recall hasn’t even been set yet.  Which is why a lot of the aforementioned candidates are upset, too.  Whether they’ll be upset enough to point out the eyebrow-raising new financial relationship between WEAC and Falk consultant Melissa Mulliken is another question…

Moe Lane (crosspost)