Walker recall campaign reaches key threshold

But organizers want to send at least 720,277 names to the state by the deadline, Jan. 17, both as a show of strength and to provide a cushion should officials disallow some of the signatures. Organizers garnered the minimum in just over a month.

“Wow!” the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO said on its blog. “If everyone pitches in we will have the grassroots people power to combat Walker’s big moneyed corporate backers like the Koch Brothers.

“A new report released by the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future shows the ripple affects of Walker’s policies will cost Wisconsin over 18,000 full-time, private sector jobs a year. This report is a stark reminder of why we must recall Walker. In Wisconsin, we need jobs, not a governor who puts corporate special interests above the 99%.”

The effort to recall Walker began after he pushed through legislation destroying collective bargaining rights for 200,000 state and local government employees. Two Republican state senators who backed the anti-worker measure already have been recalled.

Walker and his allies have spent at least $3 million so far to fight the recall, according to media reports.

Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt said, “Our challenge will be to get the message out” about the harm to workers and Wisconsin from Walker’s law “when he’s got millions of dollars to misrepresent it.”

Once the petition drive ends and the recall is certified, labor and its political allies face another task: Finding a credible foe to oppose Walker on the recall ballot. Names mentioned include former Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold, who narrowly lost his seat in the 2010 GOP sweep, and former House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, who retired from Congress that year after 41 years.

Neuenfeldt said it’s too early for specific names, but labor has one criterion for Walker’s foe: “We’re going to look for the person who is strongest in restoring the workers rights that were taken away.”

This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.

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