'Recall Walker' Campaign Gets Off to Roaring Start in Wisconsin

CWAers Sign, Circulate Petitions to Unseat Anti-Worker Governor

Just after midnight Nov. 15, CWA Local 4603 Vice President Clinton Rodgers was one of the first Wisconsin voters to sign a petition to recall anti-union Gov. Scott Walker.

Below: CWA members and other Recall Walker activists march through Walker's Milwaukee neighborhood, where even some of his neighbors have yard signs supporting his ouster.

At 12:05 a.m. Tuesday, with a long line of happily sleep-deprived Milwaukee residents behind him, CWA Local 4603 Vice President Clinton Rodgers became one of the first Wisconsin voters to sign a petition to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

"In my neighborhood, which is near the recall headquarters in Milwaukee, there were about 300 people waiting to get in the door and sign the petition at midnight," Rodgers said. "People were excited. Everyone wanted to be the first to sign."

The midnight petition parties throughout Wisconsin kicked off the campaign to recall Walker, an anti-union governor who began attacking public workers' collective bargaining rights as soon as he took office last January.

Within days, thousands of public and private sector union members, a broad range of activist groups and community members — even some Republicans — joined in round-the-clock protests at the state capitol in Madison. Wisconsin Senate Democrats even fled the state to try to stop Walker's anti-collective bargaining bill from being pushed through the legislature without due process.

Walker's public approval has plummeted with his pursuit of tax breaks for the rich, and wage, benefit and social service cuts for everyone else. A new poll this week shows that 58 percent of voters want him recalled.

Funded by the infamous billionaire Koch brothers and other corporate donors, Walker began fighting the recall with expensive ads during Green Bay's Monday night football game.

On Tuesday, CWA members and hundreds of other activists gathered at 5 p.m. at a school near the Walker family home in Milwaukee. Even some of his neighbors displayed "Recall Walker" signs in their yards, Rodgers said.

"We marched to his block, chanting the whole way, things like 'When I say recall, you say Walker,' and 'Union-busting is disgusting,'" he said. "About five of his neighbors had tables set up in their yards with petitions."

The Recall Walker campaign has just under two months to collect 540,208 valid signatures — 25 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. Rodgers said the campaign's wants to gather at least 800,000 signatures to ensure that there are enough valid ones to put the recall on a statewide ballot next spring.