That’s not what those who wrote the recall law thought. The Fitzgerald's are determined to keep the Republicans in power, so they're willing to change the rules as they go along to protect their tight grip. Nothing
more.
WKOW: "In order to launch a recall against an elected official, there must be a valid reason to do so," Rep. Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee) told the Assembly Committee on Campaign and Election Reform. Rep. Farrow and Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) proposed a constitutional amendment that would only allow the recall of elected officials that have been charged with a serious crime, or are suspected of committing state ethics violations.
Democrats on the committee disagreed, arguing that policies like Governor Scott Walker's restriction on collective bargaining should be reason enough.
"Do you see outwardly how bad it looks, especially in light of everything that's going on right now that you want to institute a constitutional amendment that basically repeals the right of the people?", asked Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee).
But the dense mass that fill the heads of the conservative fringe don’t seem to get it. They truly refuse to comprehend how power mad they’ve become taking over the majority.
"The right of the people to recall an individual will be available to them," answered Rep. Farrow. "But it should be for a purpose."
WKOW:
If the statewide protests and nearly two million signatures on recall petitions don’t send some kind of message, then what more can be said.
Farrow's comment that "In order to launch a recall against an elected official, there must be a valid reason to do so," is obviously now a GOP talking point, as almost identical language has been used by Sen. Dale Schultz. There is no "must," of course. Unless you intentionally distort the plain meaning of the Wisconsin Constitution, and the implicit meaning of the recall petitions themselves. The GOP is going to try to legislate its way out of this mess, before the fact. No way the Constitution could be changed that fast, but they'll use the future prospect of changing it to campaign against it now, and sue in court some more, and scare signees. These guys have, in Kurt Vonnegut's phrasing, become unstuck in time.
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