recall elections – Moe Lane

Everything you need to know about today’s WI recall filing.

In general:

Democratic Big Labor cronies are submitting recall petitions today to force a recall election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. They claim to have enough to weather the inevitable challenges.
This latest exercise in partisan petulance is scheduled to cost the state of Wisconsin 9 million dollars’ worth of taxpayer money, once you factor in all the state- and municipal-level Democratic temper tantrums. And here we thought that getting Democrats out of office would stop them from wasting productive people’s money.
Governor Walker has already amassed a $5.1 million dollar war chest for this nonsense, and he can raise as much as he darn well pleases. There’s going to be a lot of money poured into these recall elections, by the way; money that the Democrats in particular are going to miss.
The Democrats don’t have a clue who to run against Walker. (via @VickiMcKenna)

Continue reading Everything you need to know about today’s WI recall filing.

Russ Feingold (D, NOTHING) cuts and runs.

(Via Hot Air) Russ Feingold’s not running for Senate in 2012. He’s not running for Governor in a hypothetical (and futile) 2012 recall election. He’s not running for Governor in the 2014 general election[*]. Russ Feingold’s just running away:

“After twenty-eight continuous years as an elected official … I have found the past eight months to be an opportunity to look at things from a different perspective,” Feingold said in the email, first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Craig Gilbert. Feingold said he is “thoroughly enjoying the life of a private citizen.”

Funny about that: I’m enjoying Russ Feingold’s life as a private citizen, too. More than I suspect that he is, brave words to the contrary. Continue reading Russ Feingold (D, NOTHING) cuts and runs.

Wisconsin Recall Elections, Take Two.

Jim Holperin against Kim Simac (R) in the 12th district; Bob Wertz against Jonathan Steitz (R) in the 22nd. Of the two, Holperin is considered to be more vulnerable; but the Democrats’ failure to win back the Senate last week has put this election – and the Wisconsin Democratic long-term agenda generally – on the back burner*. Which is entertaining enough, in its way – then again, there’s something deep, dark, and not very nice in the human psyche that enjoys watching an enemy run across a field at full tilt, only to step on a rake. Put another way: from the GOP’s point of view, this is mostly about trying to make the EPIC FAIL of the Democrats’ even more obvious than it is already**.

Anyway, still looking for the AP link for the results: but you’ll be able to see them here (via Legal Insurrection) in the meantime.

Moe Lane (crosspost) Continue reading Wisconsin Recall Elections, Take Two.

The Wisconsin redistricting maps are out.

Alternate title: Wisconsin Gutter War expands.

There is a gutter war going on right now in Wisconsin, by the way. It’s not one that the Republicans there started, but darned if they’re not grimly intent on finishing it – and for anybody who might be upset at that notion, let me remind you of something: oddly enough, when you threaten a man or woman’s family, it’s rare that he or she will… just shrug that off later. The more typical response usually involves the phrase ‘put down like mad dogs.’

Of course that statement, while true, is perhaps a little melodramatic for this situation: Wisconsin state legislators have merely put out the likely new redistricting maps. Normally, it’s the federal one that would get the most ink or pixels, but the state legislative one will probably get touched upon in the media, too (for reasons that will be made clear)… Continue reading The Wisconsin redistricting maps are out.

Fred Clark (D-CAND, WI-SEN): would-be abuser.

I say ‘would-be’ because Rep. Clark (who is running against incumbent Wisconsin Senator Luther Olsen in the upcoming recall election) doesn’t have the nerve to say things like the below to a constituent’s face:

FC: “Ok. I feel like calling her back and smacking her around.”

Nope! Clark’s much more comfortable with waiting until he thinks that she’s off the phone, and only then playing tough-guy. Which is how people like this operate, of course. I don’t know where the character quote (which I probably mangled, anyway) came from, originally, but it’s true: the best way to find out how a person really acts is to somehow observe him or her when there’s nobody else around. Good thing that Wisconsin voters got an earful, huh?

More here: and remember, Fred Clark is supposedly a hardworking and progressive legislator. At least, by Wisconsin Democratic standards. Which apparently are sufficiently low that reacting this badly to the intolerable affront of being hung up on doesn’t exclude people like Clark from consideration for higher office.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Luther Olsen for WI-SEN, and the rest of the Republican recall candidates.