March 12th

A good chance? We’ll see with the state supreme court election.
Basically, I think that the 8 republican senators who’ve been targeted should all be very worried (with one exception who has a personal base of support in his district, and against whom the recall effort may unconsciously pull its punches). The Dem tagets have little to worry about (the point of the anti-Dem recall efforts is to divert time money and attention from the Rep recalls, not to actually succeed in recalling them). The question is Walker. Personally, I am not at all optimistic about recalling Walker, but it is worth a try. And if a draft Feingold campaign gets started in a serious way, that would make it more feasible. The calls for a general strike have receded, and that just wont happen — the recall efforts have to be the focus. Who stands in those elections for the Dems is an issue too, though –will they find candidates who are solid on these issues? (which all the current lot are now, but weren’t necessarily before the beginning of this).

What’s worrying me is this–won’t they just change the law to make a recall impossible? Wasn’t there talk of making recalls impossible unless the politician in question had committed a crime?

Admittedly, doing that would be obviously self-serving and massively unpopular, but they could probably just rely on time and inertia to get away with it.

Frowner, it’s in the state: constitution. The last sentence of the clause reads: “(7) This section shall be self-executing and mandatory. Laws may beenacted to facilitate its operation but no law shall be enacted to hamper, restrict or impair the right of recall.”

Whew! So I guess I was just hearing rumors. I’ll pass this along when I hear it again.

How would candidates be chosen? Despite all attempts, I’m not sure anyone has devised a way to choose candidates in a way that is immune from public or activist pressure. The big question is who to pressure and how. I certainly wouldn’t suggest leaving it the existing party structure.

Also, as important as the recall efforts are, if all of this energy gets redirected into electoral politics, it would be a shame. The last few years have amply demonstrated the importance of organization in politics, and the overemphasis on elections. The right is going after unions and other aspects of progressive infrastructure because those things matter. Electing Democrats is an important part of the response, but it should only be a part.

Brett Bellmore: too much energy has been devoted to strategically deviced, short-term election winning aims. Focus on building a movement, with a solid organizational base. Election success will be one of its causal outputs.

Harry–Agreed, though I think I’m a little more hopeful about a citizen funded campaign (and think of the message that would send nationally — a prospect that might increase Feingold’s interest in participating). Another concern is how to maintain the momentum and make sure that by next January this hasn’t all blown over (as predicted by Walker). Maybe the combination of winning the state supreme court election, taking back the senate through recalls in the summer/fall, and a Feingold announcement would do it. Could he announce his intent to run before the signatures are gathered?

I also agree with David that it’d be a shame if we focused 100% of our attention on the recalls. Economic boycotts are important. And of course the rallies, which provide an energy nothing else can. Turning them into an easier-to-maintain monthly event or perhaps periodically scheduling them around key events could go a long way towards keeping the movement alive. And after all, it’s only going to get more and more pleasant to march on the capitol as spring approaches!

I found the following in your previous post very perceptive: “…this is just the beginning of a much less spectacular and sexy movement that can reach far beyond the capitol into the cities, towns, and villages of Wisconsin”. Recall elections are indeed important (equally important: finding replacements with The Right Stuff ), but this piece of legislation is chock-a-block with measures-that-must-be-opposed, and opposed massively, e.g. sale (closed bid) of 37 public power plants; sale of the northern woodlands (timber, mineral deposits); decimation of BadgerCare; conversion of the WRS to 401k form (to be managed out of Wall Street) [neatly summarized today by Michael Hudson on counterpunch, and I bet there’s lots more where these came from]. Each of these items – which taken as a whole signify not just the intent to strip labor of its rights, but to strip the state itself of its commons – will require concerted, informed, and long-term efforts.

It seems important that such efforts – data-gathering, writing, intensive educational outreach to, as you said, “the towns and villages” of the state – be undertaken on all fronts, nearly simultaneously – what a massive coordination effort! [Not to mention the need for extensive coordination with other Midwestern/Rust Belt states where similar legislation is concurrently being introduced.]

Re: Democratic candidates: I too was very impressed by your student Cory Mason. Another person I heard speak yesterday who seemed extremely well-informed, well-spoken, and able to connect with his audience was Jim Goodman, a member of the BoD of Family Farm Defenders and FarmAid.

WiscKE – Hopefully it won’t just be citizen funded, but people power driven, along the lines of what Margaret Weir and Marshall Ganz (pdf) delineate. Of course, money matters, but often it is used to buy things that could also be provided through mobilized people. Things like canvassing, house meetings and the like are powerful tools – they are disfavored not because they don’t work, but because they do not reinforce the power of elite power brokers or increase the wealth of high priced consultants (who make more money the more is spent on tv ads – one of the worst incentive systems imaginable.) Note too that this sort of campaign would work organically with the other types of activities you mention.

If Walker isn’t recalled then he can veto any repeal of the law, can’t he? So the unions stay broken.

I think making him repeatedly veto repeal, especially of the giveaways, will, as the village elders say, ‘heighten the contradictions’ in a most salutary fashion.

David – Great point, I should have said people driven as I didn’t mean to limit our efforts to financing. I haven’t had time to read the Weir and Ganz chapter yet, but your suggestion raises the question of how do we bring together the newly energized people of Wisconsin and those who have been thinking about these questions for a long time. Wisconsin today seems like the perfect testing ground for a people-powered movement, but how do we bring the interested parties together to do this in a way that maximizes our chances of success? As a non-union member, I see the need for an umbrella organization that is inclusive of and responsible for advocating for the economic well-being of all workers and their families in all arenas and at all levels — a people’s answer to the Chamber of Commerce. But I’m sure there are better and more thought-out ideas out there along with the expertise necessary to pull them off. My biggest fear is that without a unifying entity, we’ll all eventually go back to our previous state of — as Bruce Wilder put it — quiet, desperate resignation.

I’m proud to be your neighbor!

In Solidarity…

Oh no, not Land O’Lakes!

Thanks for sharing your account of yesterday’s big rally in Madison. You asked if there were any other personal accounts and to let you know. I’ve been writing in my blog about my experiences with this whole ordeal. I invite you to read it and share it with others. I think it’s important for us to capture our experiences with this very historical event. I hope other people are documenting what they’ve been going through as well!

My account of yesterday’s rally can be found at: http://reallifemusings.blogspot.com/2011/03/biggest-madison-wi-rally-yet-march-12.html

My blog homepage is: http://reallifemusings.blogspot.com

You ain’t seen nothing yet. Look at what is about to become law in Michigan.

Cue interwar Newfoundland.

[crap] …, and are systematically and deliberately targeting all Democratic/liberal groups, it’s hard to have a rumor that isn’t something that they’d do.

You ain’t seen nothing yet. Look at what is about to become law in Michigan.

I realize this is probably whistling past the graveyard, given the Wisconsin rumblings about legislatively altering a constitutional recall provision, passing a stripped-down bill through the WI senate and then possibly reinserting things into the version the Assembly passed, etc, etc, etc. But is there anything in the Michigan constitution that would prohibit the governor from unilaterally dissolving municipal governments and seizing their assets? I mean, I know Mr. Bellmore will decry it as a power grab by big government, overturning the will of municipal electoral majorities and trampling property rights, but are there any black-letter legal obstacles?

oops: senior citizens, not cities.

The Atlantic is saying that the recall Darling campaign already has enough signatures for a recall, and I have heard this as well by word of mouth. The Committee to Recall Darling isn’t declaring victory. Does anyone have any information on this? If this is true than the effort to recall at least one Republican Senator here in Wisconsin will have succeeded in under two weeks. But is it true?

#39 “the end of the Tea Party moment.” This would appear to be its end in the one sense, we may hope in the other. (digby):
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/tough-nerds-and-tyrants.html

As far as recalling Walker is concerned, I’m actually much more optimistic than Harry – largely because of the utter lack of political skill that he has demonstrated. He won’t reach out to moderates; he’ll continue to behave outrageously; and he’ll proudly trumpet his unwillingness to compromise. This is where the Fox bubble becomes a liability: they really don’t know that the extreme right is a minority (albeit a larger one than the left.) By next January I expect active corruption and cronyism to be part of the mix, and they’ll still be actively whacking the hornet nest to prove their collective manhood.

…I suppose I could type up a first-hand account if anyone really wants another one, but it wouldn’t add anything to what’s already been said. I was the one with the sign saying “Governor Walker: 42 cubic feet of ego surrounded by reality” — my personal favorite was “Governor Walker, Take a Hike!” — next time I’ll remember to bring a camera.

There were quite a lot of folks at the St. Patrick’s Day parade (Sunday) trying to organize a meeting that, if I understood correctly, would be the basis for a non-electoral counter-movement against the Citizens United decision and pro-corporate politicians generally (anyone who got their pink and lime green handouts, feel free to correct me). Not sure if that’ll take off, but if anyone visits their first meeting it’d be great to hear how it goes.

Does anyone have any solid information on the protest in Green Bay (where Walker was on Sunday)? I wasn’t able to drive up and participate, and the Press-Gazette had zilch. It would be great for protesters, even just a handful, to show up wherever Walker happens to be going, keep the streak alive, keep enthusiasm bubbling until recall is possible. I hope that happens, & I’m happy to chip in this summer!

I think Marc is spot on. Last Wednesday evening when I heard the Republicans were going to force the vote through, I assumed they’d be strategic enough to let the one or two Senators most vulnerable to recalls vote no — a move that would have allowed passage of the bill while effectively ending our best recall opportunities. But they didn’t. Has to give you hope.

Salient, I didn’t get a handout. Do you (or any other readers) have any more information on the group/upcoming meeting? Are they associated with Progressives United?

First of all, with respect to Michigan — the proposal is to start imposing state income taxes on pensions. That’s something that nearly all other states already do. Why should those fortunate enough to receive pensions pay no state income taxes while those withdrawing money from 401K’s in retirement have to pay? This is particularly unfair since pensioners are generally better off than those relying on 401K accounts.

As for the emergency manager provisions. Do you have any idea of what the cities (and especially the school systems) are like in Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and Saginaw? Detroit Public Schools, for example, have lost more than half of their students in recent years. And the projection is that student numbers will decline by another 1/3 by 2014. If that happens that will mean DPS dropping from ~150,000 students to about ~60,000 in about a decade. This shrinkage is at a rate much greater than the population of the city itself. If the city of Detroit is as disaster, we need to think of a new word to describe the state of DPS. Maybe a bankruptcy judge wielding the power to abrogate contracts would be a better approach than granting those powers to an emergency manager, but somebody’s going to have to do it — the money is just not there to continue with business-as-usual in these cities and school districts.

Unions all over North America have cooperated with management in downsizing as manufacturing has died while trying to take care of their membership as best they can. It’s not mysterious or unreasonable.

It may not be mysterious or unreasonable, but in these cases it may be a slow enough process that bankruptcy is the result and a judge assumes the same emergency powers to terminate contracts. The way school financing works in Michigan is that state funding is on a per-student basis. This was done in the 1990s to equalize funding between rich & poor districts, which was a good thing. Also in Michigan, there are charter schools and open enrollment districts, so students can leave failing public schools for better nearby districts or charters. Which is also a good thing for students and families. But these changes have made it possible for struggling districts to enter a death spiral where a loss of students leads to a loss of funding which leads to even worse services which leads to even more students leaving. And that’s what has been going on in the Detroit schools for years.

My take (from 50 miles west in Ann Arbor) is that the alternative is probably not normal downsizing negotiations, it’s bankruptcy. That may be better, but it will mean bond defaults, damaged credit ratings, and increased borrowing costs. It’s not just Snyder making dire predictions of bankruptcy — Granholm was saying the same thing before she left office. We’re going to see either emergency powers or municipal bankruptcies, probably starting with Hamtramck.

Ok, now I understand why you guys aren’t worried about any of the Wisconsin Democrats being recalled….

Whoops, my <sarcasm> tags didn’t paste. Apologies if anyone is thereby led to follow the link in #54 to “Union Thugs Destroy Recall Petitions.” In the future, I’ll stick to using the manual codes.