Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is criticizing the wave of recalls in his state, which are taking place in the wake of the controversial passage of his anti-public employee union legislation.
Wisconsin Radio Network reported on Friday:
Walker says in the past lawmakers have faced recall elections after instances of misconduct in office and not over a single vote.
“At some point if you have a recall after every vote, you could have those continuously, one-after-another-after-another and it makes it very hard in a Republic for things to get done.”
In fact, as an article from the State Bar of Wisconsin indicates, the four legislative recall elections that taken have place in Wisconsin history were mostly motivated by politics. (Interestingly, one of the recalls was in 1990, against Democratic state Rep. Jim Holperin, who won the election and stayed in office — and who is now a state senator targeted for recall again.)
Democrats are hoping to gain three or more state Senate seats via recalls, and thus win a majority in the chamber. Republicans have responded in kind with recall petitions against the Democrats, targeting the Democrats who fled the state in an attempt to block a three-fifths budget quorum. In addition, under Wisconsin’s recall law requiring at least one year of a term to have been completed before a recall drive can commence, Democrats have openly declared their intention to recall Walker next year.
Thus far, Democrats have filed recall signatures against five Republicans: Dan Kapanke, Randy Hopper, Luther Olsen, Sheila Harsdorf and Alberta Darling. Republicans have filed recall signatures against three Democrats: Dave Hansen, Jim Holperin and Robert Wirch. More petitions could yet be filed in the next two weeks.
In order to initiate a recall, signatures of at least 25 percent of the number of voters in the previous gubernatorial election, within the targeted district, must be collected in a 60-day window.
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