Justin's Political Corner
Last Friday night’s Wisconsin recall election debate began a series of bizarre exchanges between Republican Governor Scott Walker and his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, over Walker’s attitudes regarding direct democracy.
During this campaign, Walker and his supporters have been harshly critical of those who have sought to recall and remove the governor and his political allies. Though the Wisconsin Constitution is absolutely clear that the reasons for recall elections are to be defined by those who seek them—as opposed to the politicians who would like to restrict the scheduling of accountability votes—the Walker camp has claimed that the recall is an expensive and unnecessary political gambit.
Barrett challenged this spin with a suggestion that Walker is a recall hypocrite.
Referring to Walker during the debate, Barrett said: “He has signed recall petitions, it’s my understanding, against Senator Feingold, against Senator Kohl, not for criminal misbehavior, but because he disagreed with political decisions that were made.”
Walker did not respond immediately. But the next day the governor said, “I have no memory” of signing on for the recall of the Democratic senators when they were targeted in 1997 by anti-abortion groups.
But there is no question that Scott Walker has spoken enthusiastically about the use of the recall power. Indeed, he attained his previous position as Milwaukee county executive in large part because of a recall initiative. And that initiative clearly delighted him.
Back when he was a state legislator, Walker was an enthusiastic proponent of recall elections—especially in Milwaukee County.
Walker got even more enthusiastic about recalls in 2002, when he became the favored candidate of the group seeking to remove Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament. After Ament resigned, Walker was elected to replace him.
Walker dodging questions yet again.
MADISON — Milwaukee Mayor and Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett continued to launch attacks at Governor Scott Walker on the campaign trail Memorial Day Weekend.
Sunday, May 27th, Barrett accused Gov. Walker of signing recall petitions in the past, when it has suited him.
“There are just so many questions Gov. Walker refuses to answer,” Barrett said.
“His whole objective is to attack me. He doesn’t have a plan,” Gov. Walker said.
Barrett and Gov. Walker faced off Friday, May 25th in their first debate. Barrett said during the debate that he believes Gov. Walker signed recall petitions against Wisconsin senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold back in 1997.
In Racine Sunday, Gov. Walker responded, saying Barrett is getting desperate and is trying to distract voters from Barrett’s record.
In West Allis Sunday morning, Barrett continued to press the issue, pointing out that Gov. Walker is now against recalls based on policy decisions.
“He refuses even to answer questions such as — did he sign recall petitions against Senator Feingold and Senator Kohl? The more questions he refuses to answer, the more people are asking themselves — why is he asking us to trust him when he’s not willing to trust us with the answers to these questions?” Barrett said.
“I don’t believe I did (sign the recall petitions), but I have nothing that strikes my memory from 15 years ago one way or the other. What they’re trying to do is divert attention away from the failed record of the city of Milwaukee. Unemployment is up, violent crime is up, taxes and fees are up and they don’t want to talk about our positive record in the state, which is working,” Gov. Walker said.
h/t: fox6now.com
Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), who lost his seat after three terms in the 2010 Republican wave, has announced that he will not run for office in 2012 — either in the race for state’s open Senate seat, or in a potential recall against Gov. Scott Walker — a development that could possibly lower the chances for success of the latter possibility, or the likelihood of a recall even occurring.
“This was a difficult decision, as I thoroughly enjoyed my tenure in both the State Senate and the U.S. Senate, and I know that progressives are eager to reverse some of the outrageous policies being pursued by corporate interests at both the state and federal levels,” Feingold wrote in an e-mail to his supporters.
“I am also well aware that I have a very strong standing in the polls should I choose to run again for the U.S. Senate or in a recall election for governor. After twenty-eight continuous years as an elected official, however, I have found the past eight months to be an opportunity to look at things from a different perspective.”
In addition, Feingold’s decision now makes Rep. Tammy Baldwin the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for Senate, following Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl’s announcement in May that he will retire in 2012. For the moment, at least, PPP also found Feingold as the strongest Democrat against Republican former Gov. Tommy Thompson, who is poised to enter the race for senate, with Baldwin currently trailing Thompson.
I wish Feingold had ran for Governor, so that the chances of Walker’s recall improves.
h/t: Talking Points Memo
