2 million Wisconsin citizens demand Walker’s removal

Image courtesy of WKOW.com, Madison, WI.

John Nichols at the Nation tells the story of democracy at work in Wisconsin:

What does democracy look like? How about this: a governor, swept into office on the GOP wave of 2010 with a financial assist from the billionaire Koch brothers, pivots immediately from moderate talk about job creation to radical austerity that divides his state more than any in the Union. He attacks the collective bargaining rights of public workers and teachers. When hundreds of thousands of citizens rally to oppose his agenda, the governor and his allies respond by attempting to bar protests in the Capitol. They reject their state’s tradition of open and transparent government, dismiss criticisms from the opposition—even from moderates in their own party—and begin gerrymandering districts and changing election rules, actions Common Cause and the League of Women Voters recognize as assaults on voting rights. Faced with a serious threat to basic rights and democracy, citizens organize a grassroots campaign to recall and remove the governor, the lieutenant governor, the State Senate majority leader and key legislators.

The task is daunting: it requires collecting more than a million signatures in the dead of winter, and it must overcome a multimillion-dollar attack campaign, along with daily condemnations from local, state and national talk-radio and the Fox News echo chamber. Yet in villages and inner-city neighborhoods, grandmothers with clipboards and high school seniors engaging for the first time in politics brave the snow and cold. They put up with catcalls from Rush Limbaugh listeners who have been instructed that they are nothing but “union stooges.” On the day the documents are due, the people march to the state elections office with brass bands, banners and petitions bearing almost
2 million names—the largest portion of a state’s population ever to demand the removal of a governor and his lieutenants.

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The birth of a movement: Madison’s largest demonstration yet

Capitol Square overflows in largest Wisconsin labor solidarity demonstration yet (crowd estimated at 85,000 to 100,000). Alison Bauter on Saturday 03/12/2011 6:17 pm ,  courtesy of the Daily Page. 

The following post was contributed by Facebook friend, Kevin Shannon.

Yesterday was a great day for me. I not only got to spend the whole day with my son, but we spent the afternoon hours outdoors in 10 degree windchill with the warmest and nicest bunch (120,000 or so) of friendly people you may ever see gathered in one place. As a Minnesotan, I never thought I would say that about my neighboring state's cheeseheads, even if it were true! But, as we chanted along with everyone there yesterday, "We ARE Wisconsin." Yes we are, and that can apply to so many of us, anywhere....

After the early morning (okay, it wasn't as early as we had intended!) drive down the freeway, which included linking up with Todd Dahlstrom's car on I-90/94, we stumbled luckily onto an underground parking ramp which only was charging $3, and was right next to the Capitol. When we emerged into the light, we were in political activist heaven. Thousands of people were already marching around Capitol Square, with signs and costumes galore (mind you these are Midwesterners, in winter!, being expressive!!!). Not knowing where things would be happening, we fell into the stream of people and let it carry us around to the far diagonal corner, where just as we arrived about noon, Jim Hightower was being introduced. What a way to start!

Then a fabulous thing happened...as he finished his colorful (ahem!) remarks, the crowd first yelled out a cheer, but then rather politely (for a protest crowd) began to chant, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Not just a few people, but all 30-40,000 who were already there! The amazing thing is, this was the "new normal" as, after each speaker or singer, this mass gratitude was loudly, but politely, expressed again and again. Even as the crowd grew to upwards of 100,000 people (a jam packed stadium full at a large university's football game...united in being polite and grateful! in unison!)

We looked for a place to be, and noticed that many of the swelling crowd were moving up onto the lawn on the hillside up to the Capitol. All the square feet of space in the streets and the sidewalks and the steps were now occupied. This is the situation which led to the trampling and muddying and ripping up (soft ground) of the Capitol Grounds sod, which I'm sure you will hear Gov. Walker say, tomorrow, is expected to cost between $75 and 100 million to replace. However, should Gov. Walker offer to step down in exchange, I'm quite certain that the $15-20,000?? project would be completed for free by any number of union workers....

I had along one of those fold out canvas chairs from my soccer-dad days, and we looked for a place where it wouldn't tip over backwards if I sat down from time to time. Parking at the base of a very large tree, we discovered that for most of the afternoon, we could actually see the heads of the speakers, up the hill near the top of the steps. As the crowd milled around and the inclined ground became more and more of a mudslide, we frequently directed the less capable to safer ways of descending to street level, than the slope to one side where several people found themselves enjoying a mud bath on their asses. This provided quite a bit of entertainment between speakers...

Here's what all this led up to: for the rest of the afternoon, we were swept along with the emotion and passion of over 100,000 amazingly fervent and yes raucous citizens, who were, yes, angry about the theft of their democracy and their civil rights by the Republicans in the state government....but nary a single incident of thuggery, violence, fighting, even arguing(!) was seen. Not one! Boring? NO WAY, I still have chills, not from the cold, but from remembering the energy and united force of the crowd's unity! But friendly respectful, GOOD PEOPLE?? Yes!!!

"THIS. is. what. de.moc..racy looks. like."  The chant was so incredibly, beautifully, openly, powerfully.....TRUE!

More than one speaker told all of us, this was now more than just a "protest" - this was the birth of a MOVEMENT. A movement of the people who have had enough. A movement for democracy fighting back against the insidious onslaught of plutocracy. A movement to guard the hard-won civil rights gained in past battles - now, right here and right now, in today's very-polite ("Thank You! Thank you!") but-make-no-mistake-deadly-serious war.

To all who were there, to all who see these words or any other story about yesterday, 3/12/11 in  Madison Wisconsin (well, except any story about it on Fox News)....make no mistake:

THE PEOPLE ARE COMING ALIVE. THE MOVEMENT IS HERE. NOW IS THE TIME!!!

Gov. Walker’s victory a boon to Wisconsin Democrats and a boost to recall efforts

Republicans in the Wisconsin state assembly rammed through a bill on Thursday to cut bargaining rights for most government workers in the state. 

But here’s the good news: within 24 hours, the Democratic party in Wisconsin received donations from supporters totaling $360,000, and the recall effort of several Republican state senators is well underway.

Monica Davey and A. G. Sulzberger at the NY Times have the latest:

MADISON, Wis. — After nearly a month of angry demonstrations and procedural maneuvering in the State Capitol here, Gov. Scott Walker won his battle on Thursday to cut bargaining rights for most government workers in Wisconsin.

But his victory, after the State Assembly passed the bill, also carries risks for the state’s Republicans who swept into power last November. 

Democratic-leaning voters appeared energized by the battle over collective bargaining on a national stage. The fight has already spurred a list of potential recall elections for state lawmakers this spring. Protesters are planning more large demonstrations this weekend.

“From a policy perspective, this is terrible,” said Mike Tate, the leader of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. 

“But from a political perspective, he could not have handed us a bigger gift,” Mr. Tate said of the governor. 

In the last 24 hours, he added, the state party had received $360,000 in contributions and volunteers have streamed into offices where signatures were being collected for recall bids.

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It’s time to fire Gov. Walker’s Republican senators

Image courtesy of Democurmudgeon

Chris Bowers at Daily Kos offers a rallying cry and an urgent plea for support in recalling the Republican 8 senators:

This past weekend, while Scott Walker was threatening to fire a bunch of people, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin was collecting recall petition signatures, threatening to fire Scott Walker's Senators.

The recall has begun in Wisconsin, and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is the central organizing hub. As such, we've added the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to Orange to Blue.

Can you contribute $8 to the recall effort, $1 for each of the eight targeted Republican Senators?

We are winning this fight. Polls show Scott Walker's approval rating dropping fast, and a clear majority of Wisconsin siding with the unions and the middle class. We are outnumbering the other side at rallies by margins of 5-1, 10-1, and even 35-1.

With numbers like those, we are in a good position to win the recall elections. The first step is gathering enough signatures to make the elections happen. Over 250 Kossacks in Wisconsin have signed up to help canvass--can you back them up by contributing $8 to the Wisconsin Democratic Party on Orange to Blue?

Man, it sure feels good to be winning. It will feel even better when we win.

In solidarity,

Chris Bowers
Campaign Director, Daily Kos

It’s a great fight song: “On Wisconsin, On Wisconsin…”

Feb. 26, Madison rally of 70-100,000 demonstrators, tennisforum.com

I’m not from the Badger State, but when I played the snare drum in my high school band back in Ohio years ago, “On Wisconsin” was one of our favorite marching tunes. I just looked up the lyrics and was reminded that it’s a great fight song.

And those Wisconsin folks are not giving up the fight these days against their over-reaching amateur governor, Scott Walker; just today, they held their biggest rally yet with a turn out of more than 70,000.

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank nailed Walker today in his op-ed titled Scott Walker’s Unprincipled Rigidity.

Milbank writes: 

"He's not one of us."

That phrase, uttered in the fourth minute of what Scott Walker believed to be a private phone conversation, tells you everything you need to know about the rookie governor of Wisconsin.

Walker thought he was talking to a patron, conservative billionaire David Koch, but thanks to the amateurish management that seems to be a hallmark of his governorship, he was instead being punked by an impostor from a liberal Web site.

In the recorded call, Walker praised a centrist state senator, Tim Cullen, as "about the only reasonable one" among the 14 Democratic legislators who fled the state to deny Walker the quorum he needs to destroy Wisconsin's public-sector unions. But when the fake Koch offered to call Cullen, Walker discouraged him: "He's pretty reasonable, but he's not one of us. . . . He's not there for political reasons. He's just trying to get something done. . . . He's not a conservative. He's just a pragmatist."

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Minnesota’s Keith Ellison: Wisc. Governor Walker acting like a “dictator”

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.)

 

 

Politico reports:

Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said Wednesday that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is acting like a “dictator.”

Ellison said that Walker, a Republican, should negotiate with union workers, who have agreed to pay more for health benefits as long as they can keep collective bargaining rights.

Walker is “basically taking on the position of a dictator,” he told reporters. “Because he says he won’t negotiate. That is something that is not in the spirit of a public servant, who just won’t even talk. He is putting himself in a position of being extreme, radical and reckless. And he’s going to fail.”

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