MONROE - Gov. Scott Walker's recall battle has officially begun, and some Green County residents have joined in the efforts.
The Monroe headquarters of United Wisconsin was a flurry of activity Tuesday, as efforts to collect signatures on petitions to recall Walker got started across the state. The recall effort was prompted after Walker's controversial budget repair bill, which took away collective bargaining rights for public workers, was passed last spring.
Monroe is just one of three recall headquarters in Green County. The others are in Brodhead and Belleville.
In the windows of the Monroe office at 1211 17th Ave., posters went up - a large blue one marking the office as an official recall headquarters for United Wisconsin PAC; a pink one announcing "Walker: Your Pink Slip is coming," from the AFSCME union of state, county and municipal employees; and a small white, hand-made Recall Walker sign, a reflection of the grassroots level of involvement.
Inside, Barb Woodriff, Monroe, co-chair for the Monroe team in Green County, was more than a little busy managing an unknown number of volunteers, who seemed to stream through the door at a constant rate at noon, and back-to-back phone calls on her cell phone.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know how many volunteers we have," she said.
Woodriff said she is even getting calls at her home from people asking how they can help and where to sign a petition.
The blue United Wisconsin and red Democrat pins worn by recall supporters are bringing people "out of the woodwork," coming up to her on the street and asking for petitions to sign, she said.
Amy Sloan, Monroe, a volunteer petitioner, was braving the brisk fall winds Tuesday morning at a mobile station, which is a folding table, at 6th Avenue and 8th Street, on the city's west side.
Door-to-door efforts may be taken up eventually, but for now, mobile stations give volunteers "more bang for the buck," she said.
Monroe teams are organized into about 12 mobile stations around town, including on the Square, and near schools, the library and the post office.
"(Volunteers) will be out every day, whenever we can get staff," she said.
Woodriff and Sloan has been involved with the recall since March.
State-wide, petitioners need to collect more than 540,000 signatures to force a recall election for Walker. Green County recall volunteers are looking for about 6,000 signatures, according to Woodriff.
"We hope to have this wrapped up by Christmas," she added.
Support for Recall
Enthusiasm for and against the recall is evidenced by the answers people are willing to give about their position on Walker and the efforts to fire him.
Woodriff said Walker's "whole approach" to governing is devastating to the state. She is looking for civility in the state's government that will work to build consensus.
"He and folks who fund him have torn our state to shreds," she said Tuesday.
"Get the Koch brothers (Walker supporters, Charles and David Koch, who co-own Koch Industries Inc.) out of Wisconsin government, and start working together again, neighbor to neighbor," she said.
Sloan had several reasons behind her effort to recall Walker.
"I am disgusted with the $1.6 billion cut to public education, because I have a son who attends public school," she said.
Sloan said the size of her son's class increased and now has 23 students.
"How can we ask our teachers to reach and to teach with that mass of kids? Education is a right, not a privilege," she said.
Sloan also said $600 million in cuts and an increase in eligibility limits for Badger Care have disqualified her and about 65,000 other people for its benefits.
"The premium for a single woman with two children went from $10 to over $100 a month, and if you're one day late, you're kicked off and have to wait one year to get back on," she said.
"Thank you, Scott Walker, I won't qualify now," she added.
Sloan said she also "stands in solidarity with every public worker.
"Public workers are the backbone of our community," she said. "If you have clean roads and schools, your garbage picked up, safety, fires put out, you can thank a public employee."
Support for Walker
While United Wisconsin began its recall petition drive this morning, in person and online, a counter move also began. The Republican Party of Wisconsin launched Stand With Governor Walker, the official fundraising website for Gov. Walker's recall battle.
Not all residents in Monroe, either, were happy to see the petition efforts come to town Tuesday.
Some downtown business owners declined to comment, noting a clash earlier this year with union workers and efforts to boycott businesses believed to support Walker.
Other residents were not so bashful about their stance.
"It's hard not to support Gov. Walker considering all he has done for Wisconsin," said Marilyn Jegerlehner, Monroe. "Major companies have either moved to Wisconsin or expanded their operations creating jobs, even in these bad economic times."
According to Jegerlehner, under Walker, the tax levy has decreased by more than $47 million this year compared to, on average, increases by $181 million each of the past five years.
"Walker's reforms are keeping an extra $228 million in Wisconsin property taxpayer's pockets," she noted. "269 school districts have a property tax levy lower or the same as last year, with 200 school districts that not only lowered their levy but cut their mill rate. With tools given to school districts under Walker, the median student-to-teacher ratio this year is 13.5 to 1 which is excellent."
"It would be a disaster to lose Gov. Walker," she added.
Monroe City Alderman Michael Boyce also voiced his support, saying he firmly believes school districts and municipalities can manage their responsibilities for their employees without collective bargaining, with "a strong salary, solid benefits and solid pension plan ... and a level of trust" between employees and their employers.
"I support Gov. Walker, because of the unrestrained debt and spending levels in Wisconsin that are primarily made up of unsustainable pension obligations," he said Tuesday. "We all can see what happens, as in Europe, when your unsustainable debt limit is made up of pension obligations. What's happening in some countries is what is happening in Wisconsin."
Walker's budget reforms, Boyce said, are having the intended effects in school districts and municipalities, referencing a recent survey of school district administrators, a controversial survey whose results have competing interpretations from Walker's supporters and opponents.
Regardless of the budget effects, Boyce said the recall effort is simply a political maneuver.
"The recall petition is an abuse of the (political) process," he said. "It should be used for malfeasance, misconduct, felony, (or) misappropriation of funds. If a recall is used for political purposes, the results will be even more fractures in the political process."
The Monroe headquarters of United Wisconsin was a flurry of activity Tuesday, as efforts to collect signatures on petitions to recall Walker got started across the state. The recall effort was prompted after Walker's controversial budget repair bill, which took away collective bargaining rights for public workers, was passed last spring.
Monroe is just one of three recall headquarters in Green County. The others are in Brodhead and Belleville.
In the windows of the Monroe office at 1211 17th Ave., posters went up - a large blue one marking the office as an official recall headquarters for United Wisconsin PAC; a pink one announcing "Walker: Your Pink Slip is coming," from the AFSCME union of state, county and municipal employees; and a small white, hand-made Recall Walker sign, a reflection of the grassroots level of involvement.
Inside, Barb Woodriff, Monroe, co-chair for the Monroe team in Green County, was more than a little busy managing an unknown number of volunteers, who seemed to stream through the door at a constant rate at noon, and back-to-back phone calls on her cell phone.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know how many volunteers we have," she said.
Woodriff said she is even getting calls at her home from people asking how they can help and where to sign a petition.
The blue United Wisconsin and red Democrat pins worn by recall supporters are bringing people "out of the woodwork," coming up to her on the street and asking for petitions to sign, she said.
Amy Sloan, Monroe, a volunteer petitioner, was braving the brisk fall winds Tuesday morning at a mobile station, which is a folding table, at 6th Avenue and 8th Street, on the city's west side.
Door-to-door efforts may be taken up eventually, but for now, mobile stations give volunteers "more bang for the buck," she said.
Monroe teams are organized into about 12 mobile stations around town, including on the Square, and near schools, the library and the post office.
"(Volunteers) will be out every day, whenever we can get staff," she said.
Woodriff and Sloan has been involved with the recall since March.
State-wide, petitioners need to collect more than 540,000 signatures to force a recall election for Walker. Green County recall volunteers are looking for about 6,000 signatures, according to Woodriff.
"We hope to have this wrapped up by Christmas," she added.
Support for Recall
Enthusiasm for and against the recall is evidenced by the answers people are willing to give about their position on Walker and the efforts to fire him.
Woodriff said Walker's "whole approach" to governing is devastating to the state. She is looking for civility in the state's government that will work to build consensus.
"He and folks who fund him have torn our state to shreds," she said Tuesday.
"Get the Koch brothers (Walker supporters, Charles and David Koch, who co-own Koch Industries Inc.) out of Wisconsin government, and start working together again, neighbor to neighbor," she said.
Sloan had several reasons behind her effort to recall Walker.
"I am disgusted with the $1.6 billion cut to public education, because I have a son who attends public school," she said.
Sloan said the size of her son's class increased and now has 23 students.
"How can we ask our teachers to reach and to teach with that mass of kids? Education is a right, not a privilege," she said.
Sloan also said $600 million in cuts and an increase in eligibility limits for Badger Care have disqualified her and about 65,000 other people for its benefits.
"The premium for a single woman with two children went from $10 to over $100 a month, and if you're one day late, you're kicked off and have to wait one year to get back on," she said.
"Thank you, Scott Walker, I won't qualify now," she added.
Sloan said she also "stands in solidarity with every public worker.
"Public workers are the backbone of our community," she said. "If you have clean roads and schools, your garbage picked up, safety, fires put out, you can thank a public employee."
Support for Walker
While United Wisconsin began its recall petition drive this morning, in person and online, a counter move also began. The Republican Party of Wisconsin launched Stand With Governor Walker, the official fundraising website for Gov. Walker's recall battle.
Not all residents in Monroe, either, were happy to see the petition efforts come to town Tuesday.
Some downtown business owners declined to comment, noting a clash earlier this year with union workers and efforts to boycott businesses believed to support Walker.
Other residents were not so bashful about their stance.
"It's hard not to support Gov. Walker considering all he has done for Wisconsin," said Marilyn Jegerlehner, Monroe. "Major companies have either moved to Wisconsin or expanded their operations creating jobs, even in these bad economic times."
According to Jegerlehner, under Walker, the tax levy has decreased by more than $47 million this year compared to, on average, increases by $181 million each of the past five years.
"Walker's reforms are keeping an extra $228 million in Wisconsin property taxpayer's pockets," she noted. "269 school districts have a property tax levy lower or the same as last year, with 200 school districts that not only lowered their levy but cut their mill rate. With tools given to school districts under Walker, the median student-to-teacher ratio this year is 13.5 to 1 which is excellent."
"It would be a disaster to lose Gov. Walker," she added.
Monroe City Alderman Michael Boyce also voiced his support, saying he firmly believes school districts and municipalities can manage their responsibilities for their employees without collective bargaining, with "a strong salary, solid benefits and solid pension plan ... and a level of trust" between employees and their employers.
"I support Gov. Walker, because of the unrestrained debt and spending levels in Wisconsin that are primarily made up of unsustainable pension obligations," he said Tuesday. "We all can see what happens, as in Europe, when your unsustainable debt limit is made up of pension obligations. What's happening in some countries is what is happening in Wisconsin."
Walker's budget reforms, Boyce said, are having the intended effects in school districts and municipalities, referencing a recent survey of school district administrators, a controversial survey whose results have competing interpretations from Walker's supporters and opponents.
Regardless of the budget effects, Boyce said the recall effort is simply a political maneuver.
"The recall petition is an abuse of the (political) process," he said. "It should be used for malfeasance, misconduct, felony, (or) misappropriation of funds. If a recall is used for political purposes, the results will be even more fractures in the political process."