State Senator Dan Kapanke at a "Stand With Walker Rally"
I hope Scott Walker is quaking a little in his Koch-funded boots right now, because the snowball effect is heading straight towards him in January 2012.
La Crosse area Democrats say they will file petitions today with enough signatures to trigger a recall election of Sen. Dan Kapanke, one of eight Senate Republicans targeted over votes to curtail collective bargaining rights for public workers. If approved, it would be just the fifth recall election of a Wisconsin legislator.
Recall organizer Pat Scheller said volunteers have gathered more than the 15,588 signatures needed and that they plan to take them to Madison after a noon rally today at La Crosse City Hall.
It is expected to be the first completed of 19 active recall efforts registered between Feb. 24 and March 2 against 16 senators.
Kapanke did not return messages Thursday, but has said the recall is “part of the process.”
“I love campaigns. I just didn’t think I’d do one every year,” Kapanke said Saturday at the opening of a La Crosse County GOP headquarters.
He has defended his vote for the bill, which stripped most collective bargaining rights from state, municipal and school workers, as a necessary step in balancing the state’s budget while minimizing layoffs.
The filing comes just before the halfway point in the 60-day window the recall committee had to gather signatures in the district.
Contemplate the anger of LaCrosse area voters right now: it took them less than 30 days to gather 15,000+ signatures to recall Kapanke, and several others are nearing completion too. A poll commissioned by DailyKos showed Kapanke with a Disapproval rate of 55% and would lose to a generic Democrat 41-55. Of course, an actual election with an actual Democrat may prove to be something else entirely, especially because you know that Koch money will be funneled into these Republicans' campaigns.
