Working people hit one right out of Miller Park: Moments ago, they submitted 1 million signatures supporting a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker (R), exceeding the total number of signatures required by 460,000. Walker last year pushed to abolish the rights of public employees to collectively bargain for a middle-class life. Overall, Walker’s policies are killing 18,000 jobs a year in Wisconsin, according to a recent report and more than 27,000 jobs have been lost since he signed the budget last year.
Interestingly, Walker received 1,128,159 votes in his 2010 election.
Working families also turned in 123 percent of the required signatures against Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who was thought one of the more challenging leaders to recall.
There also are enough signatures to force recall elections for the state’s lieutenant governor and two other state senators. The Wisconsin elections board will need to verify all the signatures.
Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, said Wisconsinites want to recall Gov. Walker to:
put an end to his disastrous agenda and stop his attacks on working families. Putting corporate allies above the people of Wisconsin has led to months of job loss and a compromised economy.
Walker is giving $2.3 billion in new tax breaks to corporations and his rich cronies.
Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, applauded union and community members whom she said have been gathering signatures “at union halls, grocery stores and bowling allies.”
Last February, when Gov. Walker announced his plan to bust public sector unions and the middle class, a spark was lit and the people of Wisconsin began to take notice of Gov. Walker’s real agenda. This is a governor who crippled the rights of workers, raised taxes on the poor, compromised our children’s education and made it harder for Wisconsinites to vote. The signs are clear, his agenda is not working and the people of Wisconsin won’t stand for two more years of Gov. Walker.
