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A little late with this one as I’ve been ill a bit. One of the joys of being a diabetic.
By Chris Bowers Mon May 09, 2011 at Dkos
The first two recall petitions have been verified in Wisconsin:
Independent state reviews of the petitions to recall Republican Senators Randy Hopper and Luther Olsen found enough valid signatures to force an election, a Wisconsin Government Accountability Board spokesperson said Monday.
GAB staff verified 23,127 signatures to recall Hopper, R-Fond du Lac, and 22,381 signatures to recall Olsen, R-Ripon, spokesperson Reid Magney said.
Petitioners needed 15,269 signatures to recall Hopper and 14,733 signatures to recall Olsen.
This is just the beginning—verifications of the other four petitions Democrats filed against Republicans are on the way.
There are already Democrats in both of these campaigns. Oshkosh Deputy Mayor Jessica King is challenging Randy Hopper, and State Representative Fred Clark is matching up against Luther Olsen. We've added both candidates to the Orange to Blue page.
Let me reiterate the stakes in this campaign, as well as the similar campaigns in Ohio and Michigan. If we lose, political observers will continue to believe that there is no reason to take either labor or the netroots seriously as political forces. No matter how big the protests and no matter what the polls say, there are no real consequences to passing laws that make public sector labor unions illegal. And then Scott Walker clones will start winning all over the country.
This is a turning point for workers in our nation's history. We either immediately demonstrate that what Scott Walker and his buddies are doing is political suicide, or there will be basically nothing to stand in the way of people like the Koch brothers. Please, contribute $5 to Jessica King and Fred Clark now.
