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Never before in American history has one state experienced as many state recalls of legislators as Wisconsin. In just the first year of office, it now appears the Wisconsin’s Governor, Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch are headed for a certain recall election this summer. In a stunning grass roots demonstration of voter engagement, nearly 2 million petitions have been collected in just 60 days to recall Walker, Kleefisch, and four Republican Senators, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau. The total necessary of signatures to recall Walker was 540,208 or 25% of all votes cast in the November 2010 election. Over a million signatures were collected to recall the Governor alone. The total amount of signatures collected is the largest recall effort in United States history.

Approximately 3000 pounds or 1.5 tons of petitions were delivered to the state Government Accountability Board (GAB) today in Madison, Wisconsin as hundreds cheered as box after box were carried into the GAB offices. A long line of fluorescent-vested volunteers lined a pathway for representatives from Wisconsin’s 72 counties to deliver recall petitions.

Mike Tate, head of the Wisconsin Democratic Party commented, “This is the biggest day of my career.”

Lisa Sheldon from Janesville, delivered petitions from Rock County in a wheelchair as she recovers from a foot injury. Sheldon proudly said, “There was no way I was going to miss this. The whole country is watching history being made today. We did it!”

Alice Anderson, Debra Vaughn, and Carolyn Fisher stood shoulder to shoulder holding Recall Walker signs. Fisher, in a quiet but passionate voice said, “We are so excited, we are proud. We need to keep hope alive. She concluded, “The Governor picked the wrong state to do this!”

In the GAB offices, stacks of boxes holding millions of signatures quickly grew. In a press conference, Kevin Kennedy, GAB Director and General Counsel said, “We have a big job ahead of us. “ Kennedy continued saying, “This is historic. It is an honor for me, for my staff to be part of this democratic process. Democracy will get a chance to have a voice, and now we must commit to the job of following the process.”

It will be a daunting challenge to count nearly 2 million petitions. The GAB, which runs state elections, is planning to transport the petitions to a separate state building which will be guarded by Capitol police until all the petitions are electronically scanned. No specific date was given for a possible completion date. A video web site is being created for the public to view the petition review process.

As the sun set behind the state Capitol, the crowds left the frigid Wisconsin downtown to attend a special United Wisconsin sponsored victory party at the Monona Terrace. In a scene which resembled a Democratic National Convention, approximately 3000 people gathered to celebrate the petition collection victory. On this night many Wisconsin citizens took time to celebrate an unprecedented and historic event. Up next, legal challenges and a looming recall election. The country will be watching. Stay tuned. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-732641?hpt=hp_bn1]
I'm TICKLED to see the backlash against the Republican's overreach happening all around the country, and this is the neatest one. I've said it over and over; for some reason I can't grasp, the Republicans seemed to think their gains in 2010 gave them carte blanche to restructure state and federal government to their agenda. I'm thrilled to see the American people fight back in so many states, but Wisconsin is the neatest. Go America!

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Congratulations to whoever had "less than two months" in the "conservative overreach" betting pool. There was never a question about whether the Republican Party, awarded huge political gains last year by voters, would let ideology outstrip political reality. The issue was when.

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At least 1 million people signed petitions to force him from office, nearly as many as the 1.1 million who voted for him in 2010. If the board finds at least 540,208 of the signatures are valid, Wisconsin will become only the third state to consider ousting a governor.

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Wisconsin may be the best Big Ten state on the football field, but when it comes to job creation in the midwest, Gov. Scott Walker has made Wisconsin a big loser.

To put things in perspective, Iowa added 13,300 jobs over the past year, Minnesota added 19,600 positions and Illinois added 61,900 jobs. Michigan has added 47,600 positions...

Wisconsin has a jobs deficit of 205,200 -- the difference between the number of jobs now and the number it needs to regain its pre-recession employment, according to the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/blog/2011/12/gov-walkers-job-creation-r
ecord-lags-behind-other-midwest-state.html noted that manufacturing jobs account for about 9,000 of the roughly 20,000 private sector jobs that have been created in the state since he took office.

He acknowledged the figure is short of his campaign promise of adding 250,000 jobs during his first term.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wisconsin lost 9,700 jobs in October (the largest decrease in the nation) and 12,400 in September. During the summer, however, Walker touted the estimated 9,500 jobs gained in June.

Walker pledged to boost the economy by cutting taxes, regulations and spending, and he mocked states that took a more "balanced approach" by boosting revenue, Dexter said. Now some of those states - including Illinois, which gained 30,000 jobs in October - are seeing more growth than Wisconsin.

Walker signed a bill to expand the so-called Jobs Now Tax Credit. Under the bill, which the passed the Legislature in October with large bipartisan majorities, the maximum amount of credits the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. can issue as part of the program will increase from $5 million to $10 million beginning in the 2013 fiscal year. The credits are available to employers that add jobs paying at least $20,000 or $30,000, depending on the employer's location. The tax credit program originally was enacted during the administration of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. http://www.leadertelegram.com/news/front_page/article_31423954-2097-11
e1-ab91-0019bb2963f4.html about some facts from a CONSERVATIVE source: Wisconserve, "The Voice of Wisconsin's Conservative Majority"?

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Welcome to Scott Walker’s Job Tracker!

Throughout his campaign, Scott Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs for Wisconsin. Here at WisConserve, we’re keeping track of Walker’s numbers with our Scott Walker Job Tracker. The tracker begins with Walker’s first month in office, January of 2011.

*All information comes directly from the Department of Workforce Development who release a seasonally adjusted monthly report of jobs and unemployment from the previous month.


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January, 2011
Jobs Created: 6,200

Unemployment: 7.4%

Grand Total: 6,200

February, 2011
Jobs Created: 5,200

Unemployment: 7.4%

Grand Total: 11,400

March, 2011
Unemployment: 7.4%

Jobs Created: 9,800

Grand Total: 21,200

April. 2011
Jobs Created: 2,300

Unemployment: 7.3%

Grand Total: 23,500

May, 2011
Jobs Created: 900

Unemployment: 7.4%

Grand Total: 24,400

June, 2011
Jobs Created: 12,900 (Greatest Monthly Total Since September, 2003)

Unemployment: 7.6%

Grand Total: 37,300

July, 2011
Jobs Created: -8,400

Unemployment: 7.8%

Grand Total: 29,900

“As with the statewide employment estimates released last week, the local preliminary data for July show
the impact of the national economic slowdown is reaching many parts of Wisconsin,” Secretary Baumbach
said. “Despite these challenging times, several metro areas experienced job growth during the month.
Additionally, we continue to see record numbers of postings on www.JobCenterofWisconsin.com, with the
total surpassing 34,000 in recent days.”

August, 2011
Jobs Created: -2,300

Unemployment: 7.9%

Grand Total: 24,700

“Even during these challenging times for our nation’s economy, Wisconsin has added manufacturing jobs
over the month and, since December 2010, has outpaced the nation’s rate of manufacturing job growth by
more than double,” Secretary Baumbach said. “And while Wisconsin showed a slight drop in private-sector
job totals during August, we’ve created a net 29,600 private sector jobs this year, reflecting a rate of growth that is stronger than the nation’s. Overall, we are on a positive path and we expect to see continued improvement over the long term.” http://wisconserve.com/scott-walker-job-tracker-keeping-track-of-wisco
nsin-job-creation/ doesn't include, as cited above, that Wisconsin continued to hemorage 9,700 jobs in October (the largest decrease in the nation) and 12,400 in September. That would mean, in essence, that as of October Wisconsin had "created" (after job losses) a grand total of 2,600 jobs...WHEEEE! No doubt jobs were added over the holidays so that figure no longer holds true, but those are the facts.

Then one could look at jobs that were lost or will be lost because of some of his policies:

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9,900 private sector jobs. According to the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future, “cuts in public worker compensation will lead to the loss of $660 million a year in economic production in the private sector.”

• 950 one year jobs in Wisconsin’s wind energy industry for 12 wind farms in various stages of planning.
“The Governor’s proposal would in essence shut down wind energy in the state," said Denise Bode, CEO
of the American Wind Energy Association.

• 2,300 construction jobs for 5 years and more than 200 permanent jobs lost when Governor Walker gave
$810 million to other states instead of upgrading Wisconsin train lines for freight and passenger service
between Milwaukee, Madison and elsewhere which would have been a major economic growth engine in
the region. This will lead to additional secondary job loss not counted in this release.

• 1,000 teachers, specialists and staff members at schools in the Racine, Kenosha, Germantown, Milwaukee,
and Wisconsin Heights School Districts who were forced to layoff employees as a result of state funding
cuts.

• 1,030 state-level jobs lost to budget cuts to many vital services. http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/111017husley.pdf are cites for all those figures provided on the webpage.

There IS no debate about his jobs record, it's all there for anyone who chooses to look, rather tha lie about it. Check the sources, go the Bureau of Labor Statistics for yourself; those are the facts.

ETA: This has nothing to do with anything, I just found it ironic:

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A poorly-placed billboard touting Gov. Scott Walker's (R-Wisc.) job creation record has been removed, Wisconsin Radio Network reported Thursday.

The billboard, which featured a picture of Walker next to the text "Creating Jobs for Wisconsin," was placed in front of a General Motors factory in Janesville, Wisconsin that shuttered in 2008. Thousands of workers at the factory and GM suppliers lost their jobs when the 86-year-old factory closed, and the ripple effects were estimated to cost a total of 10,000 jobs in the area.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, an influential corporate lobbying group, paid for the advertisement, along with several other billboards in Rock County. However, according to the Wisconsin Radio Network, the billboard company that owns the space chose the location of this particular sign. The company removed the sign within 24 hours, after pictures of the billboard began appearing on local blogs.

The sign blunder is not the only mishap plaguing Walker, who faces a possible recall election. Last week, a Walker appointee and former aide were arrested on felony embezzlement charges. The arrests were part of an ongoing investigation centering on individuals who served under Walker's time as as Milwaukee County executive.

to do with Walker currently, but the blunder is funny (tho' not for all those who were laid off and are now reminded....)

Posting all of this because I GIVE a shit on this issue. Walker's agenda was a template for all the Repub Governors and legislators who were swept into office in 2010--which by the way, was a BRILLIANT move; they couldn't do much federally, so put people in power in states and go for it! If Walker's agenda had succeeded, his example would have been followed by Republican governors and legislators across the country--some already had. So I'm glad to see he'll probably be stopped in his tracks, and just the number of signatures they've gotten and the uproar over all he's done has served well as a warning to others seeking to overreach. I hope they're successful, along with all the other recalls, amendments and "repairs" goint on in many states right now.