Republicans against recalls? Are you kidding?

This story kinda...in a big way, disputes the Republican argument that these recalls are frivolous and only warranted if the elected official acts in an unlawful way. Here's my old blog post that seems more relevant today, considering the outrage over Walker's "one issue" recall. See if you remember the following effort to recall Gov. Jim Doyle:

July 31, 2009: Doyle Recall Effort Suspended. Group now wants to have a Recall election around the 2010 election.

From the category “You can’t make this stuff up:” 

Based on advice from CRG Network, Wisconsin affiliate Wisconsinites Interests Now (WIN)has suspended its Doyle Recall Exploratory operations...

Their excuses for not succeeding in their recall efforts are many, but with a saturation of local and syndicated conservative talk hosts, they have the nerve to blame the media for censoring them. It never occurred to them that maybe even conservatives thought these guys were crazy? 

The recall exploratory effort has met with media censorship and, in several instances, a media “brown-out” that has impeded dissemination of information to interested parties throughout the state.

WIN publicized a self-imposed goal of recruiting 10,000 volunteer circulators by September1, 2009 as part of a strategy to recall Doyle one full year ahead of the end of his current term. This recruiting goal would have doubtlessly been achieved but not within a time frame that would remove Doyle within the one year goal. 

For a fledgling group with no previous political organizing experience to attract 6000 volunteers from across all 72 Wisconsin counties bodes well for conservative grassroots action.

WIN feels compelled to hold to the same standard it sets for politicians – do not lie to your constituents about your plans! 

Oh so noble. And full of it too. 

Along those same lines, Sly in the Morning posed this question about an effort to recall both Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl in 1997 about an abortion bill:



Regardless of whether Scott Walker signed the recall efforts, did Feingold or Kohl do anything "illegal," the new standard now touted by our Republican hypocrites.

According to Uppity Wisconsin:

In 1997, he supported the "First Breath Alliance," which was a group that tried to recall Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold.  Why?  According to their website at the time:

We are First Breath Alliance, a Wisconsin state-wide, non-profit alliance of independent citizens dedicated to recalling our two pro-abortion U.S. senators, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl. Feingold and Kohl have consistently voted against the right to life of the unborn. A recall would force a special election which could unseat one or both senators.

The effort fell short by approximately 30,000 signatures, but Walker was rewarded for his help to the organization by being one of only three statehouse campaigns to receive a share-- $697.42-- of the group's remaining funds.