The latest news: No sooner does the Government Accountability Board certify the recall petitions against a handful of state senators, but one of them (Pam Galloway, who represents my district), resigns. She cites multiple family health crises as her reason, and insists that she isn't quitting because of the recalls and that she would have won anyway. Maybe, maybe not, but the timing is certainly fortuitous, and I could easily see how for an enthusiastic, dedicated public servant (which I think Galloway probably was, although I'm sure her detractors would immediately question to whom she was dedicated), already faced with highly stressful personal circumstances, news that your district has decided to force you into a recall election might be the straw that breaks the camel's back and/or determination. I wish her the best, but I can't say I'm sorry to see her go, especially since her absence gridlocks the senate and makes it all the more likely that local Democratic representative Donna Seidel will bag the seat.
So that was exciting, and today's news was even better: apparently jealous of being left out of the party, WI conservatives are launching some recalls of their own ... against themselves. That's right; in addition to collecting signatures against Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, northwoods conservatives are trying to recall Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center. Every liberal activist in the state is giggling, I'm sure.
The reason for the recall is a bit piddly, although God knows enough fuss has been made over it. To summarize for non-Wisconsinite readers: a Florida company wanted to open an iron mine in northern WI, but first they wanted a timetable set for the currently open-ended approval process by the WI DNR. Which I think is perfectly reasonable; they're not going to invest time or money until they at least know how long they're going to be waiting. State Republicans whipped up a bill to simplify the appeals process and touted it as a big job-creator; Democrats and conservationists complained it went to far. The key vote came down to Schultz, who was not appeased by the concessions Republican leaders made for his support and scuttled the bill; the company has since given up on the plan. I've not been paying much attention to the nuts and bolts of this story (because, regardless of the stakes, arguing the minutae of mining approval regulations sounds like no kind of interesting that I know of), so I can't say who, if anyone, I think is in the right. I just don't care enough.
But apparently some people do, leading to this recall effort. I think it's silly, and I think that - even in districts that lost potential jobs because of this - nobody is going to rile up enough fuss over mining regulations to overthrow an incumbent official.
What was interesting to me is something my dad said while discussing this with me and Granddad this afternoon. He said that this is what he was afraid of when the recall hullabaloo got started: that every vote would be grounds for a recall, and we'd be forced into a constant election season. The only solution he saw was to change the recall mechanic to make it harder for frivolous crap like this to get off the ground, and if we can't manage to do redistricting in a non-partisan manner, I don't think there's much chance of doing something about this; the only solution I see is for Wisconsinites to grow up, which won't be happening any time this election cycle, methinks.
In the mean time, I can't wait to see what turns up next.
For the record (and here's the part where I'm actually testing out an opinion): while I'm all for recalling Walker, and signed the petition accordingly (although my signature will probably be disqualified since I wasn't registered to vote at the address I was living at the time), I think the rest of the recalls, Republican and Democrat alike, are essentially frivolous. Walker has shown an ongoing pattern of running roughshod over opposition points of view in pursuit of an agenda that doesn't even pretend to be about the best interests of the state, of which the collective bargaining law is only the most blatant example. He is a disaster and needs to go.
But the others? Even those who supported the collective bargaining hackjob, with which I vehemently disagree? Not really. Single-issue voters are bad enough; single-issue elections are a joke. While I have no love for the Fitzgeralds and their ilk, they are merely the henchmen who enact the leader's will. If an issue needs to be determined by a public vote, we have a mechanic for that. It's called a referendum. That, and the next scheduled general election, is the appropriate venue for rage about collective bargain, mining regulations, and who-the-devil-knows what else. If I'd resided in a district that mounted a recall election last summer, I would have voted against it no matter who was being recalled.
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P.S. A couple of the posts that I never got around to posting, and have now shelved probably for good, were about the collective bargaining law, the fooferaw around it, and why it made me unexcited to teach in Wisconsin. I decided to scratch them partly because they're no longer even remotely timely; partly because it's probably not wise, even with my full name removed from this profile, to complain about teaching in a state while applying for jobs in that state; but mostly because it really doesn't matter: I need a job, and the chances that I'll be in a situation where I get to pick between otherwise comparable job offers in WI and another state is vanishingly small. If I HAD posted on that topic, however, I would have another point to add: Wisconsin teaching licensure is absolute crap. It requires more steps and demands jumping through more hoops than any of the other applications I've filled out, and it gives you less in return: a one-year non-renewable license that requires me to take another test, possibly further coursework, AND go through the application process again before they make it even pretend-official. By contrast, Minnesota's licensure application was so simple that I was embarrassed to have taken as long as I did to get around to it. The more I think about it, the more MN seems like the best-case scenario for job hunting. We'll see how that goes.
P.P.S. How bout this? Two posts in quick succession, and only a day or two out of date at that? Not too shabby. Let's see if this keeps up.
