By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — While Wisconsin’s unprecedented gubernatorial recall primary election Tuesday offered few surprises, one GOP strategist said it tapped into the pent-up energy from Republicans, who have been forced to stand on the sidelines too long while their embattled governor was under assault.

Read the full story

By Kirsten Adshead | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — The stage is set, the players chosen. Let the all-out battle begin.

Gov. Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett are set for a rematch of the 2010 gubernatorial election, this time in the June 5 gubernatorial recall election.

Read the full story

By Kirsten Adshead | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — Twenty years after the Clinton-Bush presidential race made “It’s the economy, stupid” a national catchphrase, Wisconsin Democrats have at least co-opted the concept.

As voters head to the polls Tuesday for the historic recall primary elections, the economy is the most important issue on their minds. And it’s an issue on which Democrats are winning, albeit marginally, according to the Marquette Law School poll released last week.

Forty-six percent of the registered voters polled listed job creation as the most important issue. And more respondents said Democrats would be better at creating jobs than Republicans, 46 percent to 44 percent, with 4 percent saying there’s no difference between the two parties.

Individual voters, of course, may have personal reasons for supporting a candidate.

Ronald Brewster, a New Auburn retiree, supports Milwaukee Mayor Barrett  in the gubernatorial recall because he said he believes the Milwaukee mayor is the most electable among those competing in the Democratic primary.

Brewster also is angry at the Wisconsin Education Association Council, which quickly endorsed former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk after she got into the race in January.

“I’m a teachers’ union member, but I’m pissed off at the union for picking someone before the primary,” he said.

Anna Marie Dickrell, of Milwaukee, attended a campaign event for Gov. Scott Walker last week in Oak Creek and said she has liked the governor since his days as a legislator.

“I think when he says something, he is clear and concise, and I like what he wants to do, the direction he’s been taking Wisconsin in,” Dickrell said.

But the poll indicates that June 5 recalls involving Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four state GOP senators will be about far more than the controversial collective bargaining changes last year that became the impetus for the recalls.

Respondents approve of Walker and the Republicans’ actions of last year, with 49 percent saying that, long term, Wisconsin is better off because of the changes that have been made, versus 44 percent who said the state was worse off.

What will happen when polls open Tuesday morning?

“Tomorrow is up to the voters to decide,” said Charles Franklin, the University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist who leads the Marquette poll. “I prefer not to make predictions.”

Other results from the Marquette poll indicate:

Looming trouble for Falk 

Losing in the poll to Barrett, 21 percent to his 38 percent, might not be Falk’s biggest, or only, concern.

Falk’s favorable and unfavorable ratings have improved since Marquette’s January poll. But while her favorability among those polled has risen from 19 percent to 26 percent in that time frame, her unfavorable rates rose from 25 percent to 43 percent, jumping 14 points from March to April alone.

A conflicted electorate

Slightly more people like Walker than approve of how he’s handling his job. Forty-eight percent had a “favorable” impression of the governor, while 47 percent approved of his job performance.

Respondents split equally, at 48 percent, over whether they favored or disfavored the governor.

Wisconsinites also are conflicted on taxes.

Forty-eight percent of those polled said they preferred lower taxes and fewer services, while 44 percent preferred higher taxes and more services.

But when it came to asking about specific cuts to some of the state’s big-ticket items, like education and health care, 66 percent opposed cutting state aid to public schools and 58 percent opposed limiting the number of people eligible for BadgerCare, which helps provide health coverage for low-income families.

A conflicted party?

What began as a Democratic Party and organized labor reprisal against the Walker-led Act 10, which stripped most collective bargaining for most unionized public workers, has evolved over time.

Now, Democrats seem to have shifted the reason for recall, from collective bargaining and program cuts to the economy and Walker’s and the Republican’s so-called “War on Women,” a chastising of legislative changes Democrats believe negatively affect women.

In an interview with Mother Jones magazine, Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Graeme Zielinski downplayed the importance of the anti-union provisions in Walker’s budget repair bill in the Democrats’ broader recall strategy.

“Collective bargaining is not moving people,” Zielinski said in the article.

Those ‘undecideds’

In a closely watched, tight election, much attention has been focused on the few people who haven’t decided whom they prefer for governor.

The number of undecideds polled actually has increased from 2 percent to 4 percent during the past few months, according to the Marquette poll.

Who are these people? What do they want in a governor? Do they dislike the concept of recall elections? Do they find it hard to distinguish among Walker, Barrett, Falk and the other candidates? Can they simply not find a candidate they like?

In the end, it might not matter much.

While Franklin said it’s difficult to say much about undecided voters because so few of them were polled, he indicated that they tend to be less interested and involved in politics and they tend to be younger.

“Usually those undecided late in a campaign are ultimately less likely to vote in the end,” he said.

Excommunicated

The political involvement and conflict of the past year seem to have taken a toll on conversation and civility. Twenty-nine percent of respondents said there is someone they’ve stopped talking to about politics due to disagreements over the recall or the governor.

The poll of 705 registered voters was conducted by phone between April 26-29. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. For the 451 respondents who said they would vote in the Democratic recall primary, the margin of error is 4.7 percentage points.

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — Just about every soldier has grumbled — to himself — about an order. Relatively few openly defy them.

But what happens when a service member promotes the dismissal of the commander-in-chief?

In the case of Wisconsin Army National Guard Chief Warrant Officer Nathan Weier and others like him, seeking a change of command appears to be a democratic right.

Weier, of Dodgeville, signed a petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker, according to Verify the Recall, an online database of the 900,000-plus recall signatures. His superior, in an interview with Wisconsin Reporter, confirmed Weier signed the petition.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Rules of engagement

Under military regulations, Weier is not prohibited from signing recall petitions or putting up a sign in his yard promoting the recall and political ouster of Walker — each Wisconsin National Guard member’s commander-in-chief. The governor remains the top commander until guardsmen are federalized, called to serve, for instance, in war, as Weier has.

“An active duty soldier or airman can exercise their constitutional right to vote, or weigh in like any other citizen to express an opinion,” said Col. Julio R Barron, Staff Judge Advocate for the Wisconsin National Guard. “When a warrant officer signs a recall petition, he or she is exercising their constitutional right.”

Military rights and prohibitions relating to political activities are spelled out in the U.S. Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, Political Activity of Military Members.

In short, a member of the military is, like the citizens they serve, free to register, vote, and express a personal opinion on political candidates and issues.

“It is DOD policy to encourage members of the Armed Forces … to carry out the obligations of citizenship,” the directive states.

But service members are not allowed to engage in political activity while in uniform, or otherwise aligning any branch of the armed forces with partisan issues or contests.

“Anything that gives the implication that the military is taking a position on a political party,” Barron said.

Beyond that, the directive admonishes any “activity that may be reasonably viewed as directly or indirectly associating the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security” with a “partisan political activity” shall be avoided.

An emailer to Wisconsin Reporter, and the Wisconsin National Guard, believes the act of signing a recall petition is not acting in the spirit of the military’s prohibitions on political activity.

Act of disobedience?

The anonymous sender, who identified himself only as John Doe and claims to be an ex-Marine, said Weier and other service members who signed recall petitions against the governor are exhibiting a breakdown of military discipline.

“Back in my day if you didn’t care for a Commander one kept opinions to themselves,” the emailer wrote. “Signing a public document (recall) is not right per DOD directive 4.1.2.3”

The rules cited prohibits the publication of partisan political articles, letters, or endorsements signed or written by a service member that solicits votes for or against a political party, candidate, or cause. This is different than a letter to the editor, which is allowable.

Barron and other National Guard officers, again, said the directive’s prohibitions would not apply to recall petitions.

Weier, a 13-year member of the armed services and Iraq War veteran, recognized in the past for exceptional service, said he is floored that anyone would call him out when he knows many other guardsmen who have signed the recall petition.

He said he signed the public document, off-duty, out of uniform, as citizen Nathan Weier, not Chief Warrant Officer Weier, and that he never told anybody, not even his wife, about his action.

While he said he may disagree with the governor’s policies, as a Wisconsin resident he respects his commander-in-chief.

“If the governor called me up right now, I’d do everything he says,” Weier said. “He is my commander-in chief. As a civilian, I exercised my right.”

Outside the lines

Some members of the military, however, have exceeded their rights.

Case in point: Jesse D. Thorsen, was reprimanded after he appeared on national television in his military fatigues and endorsed Republican Ron Paul’s presidential campaign after the Iowa caucuses.

Thorsen, an Army reservist serving with a Des Moines unit, told CNN he supported Paul’s noninterventionist foreign policy. Paul called him on stage Jan. 3, and Thorsen said, “We don’t need to be picking fights overseas.” The reservist called Paul a rock star and called for supporters to pick up the pace in campaigning for Paul.

Then there’s Gary Stein, billed as the tea party Marine, who received an other-than-honorable discharge after his Armed Forces Tea Party Facebook was found to serve as an anti-Obama forum.

“As an active-duty Marine, I say, “Screw Obama,” and I will not follow the orders from him — all orders from him,” Stein told CBS News.

He also said he would not salute President Barack Obama, that he’s the economic enemy, the religious enemy, a domestic enemy.

The Wisconsin Army National Guard has noted a few incidents, mostly previously unreported, of soldiers crossing the line of regulation between political rights and prohibition.

Lt. Col. Jackie Guthrie, the Guard’s director of public affairs, said a couple of years ago during Democrat Gov. Jim Doyle’s second term, a young soldier wrote obscene comments about his commander-in-chief on his Facebook page.

The soldier identified himself as a service member and wore the uniform on his profile page.

“It (the complaint) was given to his command. He was a very young soldier,” Guthrie said, noting the service member was counseled about the rights and wrongs of political speech in the military.

A service member from Wisconsin was disciplined for making a political speech in La Crosse, Barron said.

But the officers said the incidents of political activity violations among service members are rare.

Guthrie acknowledges there’s a lot of confusion among the public about the political rights and privileges of military members.

Public service

The directive doesn’t prevent part-time soldiers from running for political office.

Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls, a Republican, was first elected to his post in 2002. He has served in the National Guard for 34 years.

Nehls said every service member has the right to express themselves politically, whether their pro-Walker, anti-Walker, Republican, Democrat or any other party member — as long as they do so within the confines of military code.

He said he doesn’t see any partisanship in the armed forces, and that “99.9 percent” of guardsmen keep politics out of their service.

“We don’t wear our party affiliation on our uniform; we wear the American flag on our right shoulder,” he said.

By Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — As the calendar nudges closer to Tuesday’s recall primary elections, the national media hones its attention on the Badger State for what’s being called the second most important U.S. election of the year.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie joined Gov. Scott Walker to stump in Wisconsin earlier this week.

“America is going to find out the answer to what is more powerful: The people or the money (and) special interests from Washington, D.C.? Wisconsin will answer that question,” Christie said at a campaign stop in Oak Creek.

Campaign fundraising reports

Plenty of money is going around for what’s being called the most expensive election in Wisconsin history. Walker pulled in $13.1 million in first quarter fundraising, bringing his total since January 2011 to more than $25 million.

His top opponents, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, raked in just under $1 million and $831,508, respectively. Barrett’s fundraising totals his first 25 days in the race, while Falk has campaigned since the mid-January reporting date.

As for fundraising in the other recall races, those involving four state senators and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch:

• The campaign for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, raised $231,287 with $427,373 on hand. Lori Compas, a Fort Atkinson Democrat who faces a “fake” or “protest” candidate in next week’s primary, raised $104,622 and has $85,000 on hand.
• The report for GOP Sen. Terry Moulton, of Chippewa Falls, raised $102,631.42, neck and neck with his opponent, former state Rep. Kristen Dexter, D-Eau Claire, who reported she had garnered $102,289.37 with $47,000 on hand. Moulton has $195,530.78 on hand.
• The campaign for state Rep. Jerry Petrowski, of Marathon, the Republicans’ choice for a fill-in for former state Sen. Pam Galloway, of Wausau, after she resigned, raised $86,512.91 and finished the first quarter with $78,819.16 on hand. His opponent, state Rep. Donna Seidel, D-Wausau, was the only Democratic candidate of any recall to out raise a Republican counterpart. Seidel raised $97,125.70 and finished with $36,776.26 on hand.
• State Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, raised $130,657.26 and has $191,033.13 on hand. His opponent, the former state Sen. John Lehman, of Racine, raised $103,744.46 and had $93,750.50 on hand.
• Kleefisch’s campaign raised $540,562.20 and finished the quarter with $424,855.94 on hand. Democratic opponent Mahlon Mitchell raised $135,563.07 and has $98,949 on hand. The other Democratic opponent, Ira Robins, raised $2,160.32 and had $9.66 on hand.

Candidates hit the trail

Barrett was joined on the campaign trail by the retiring U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl earlier in the week for his “Restore Wisconsin Values Tour.”

Falk kicked off a 36-county “Grassroots Express” tour of the state Monday.

Marquette Law School in Milwaukee released updates to its state political poll showing Barrett with a decisive lead over Falk heading into the final week of campaigning before the primary election, which will be held Tuesday.

Falk earned endorsements from the state’s top labor unions, but the poll indicates Barrett has been more palatable to Wisconsin voters thus far. According to the poll, however, 16 percent of respondents said they haven’t yet made up their minds for the Democratic primary.

Meanwhile, some are criticizing Wisconsin’s use of electronic voting machines as the historic recalls, scheduled for June 5, near.

GAB : Recalls to cost $16M