By Tere Dunlap and The Associated Press
MADISON - Sen. Dale Schultz,
R-Richland Center, is one of the latest Wisconsin elected officials being targeted for recall, and he's taking it in stride.
Recalls are a "sign of the times," he said Monday. "All legislators accept them as a fact of life now."
Paperwork to recall Sen. Schultz, from the 17th Senate District, and Sen. Bob Jauch,
D-Poplar, from the 25th Senate District, was filed with the state Government Accountability Board on Monday.
Dan Curran of Dodgeville filed papers with the board authorizing him to create a committee to explore recalling Schultz.
Shirl LaBarre of Hayward filed paperwork for authorization to start collecting recall signatures against Jauch.
The two Senators opposed a bill that would have helped a Florida company open a large iron mine in Wisconsin's north woods, and LaBarre and Curran say their actions cost the state jobs. Both LaBarre and Curran are affiliated with the Citizens For Responsible Government Network, which works to elect conservative candidates.
Schultz said the bill would not have created a lot of jobs immediately, perhaps not for three or four years.
But he was more concerned about and unwilling to compromise on two important issues in the bill: Contested case hearings during the permitting process and new additional authority for the Department of Natural Resources to make environmental changes.
Schultz took the position that the burden of proof in contested cases should land on the DNR's shoulders, not the citizens'. He also objected to giving the DNR additional authority, which allowed "wholesale filling in of stream and wet areas," he explained.
"The other 18 items, I was willing to compromise, that's fine," he said. "But not the most important two."
While Schultz is sticking to his position on the mining bill, AB 426, he said he is "sick about the fact" that the upcoming recall election costs will top as much as $100 million, in addition to the regular election costs.
"That's just what I've heard," he said, "and of course, most of that, about 80 percent, is coming from outside sources."
Schultz said "527s" "put an unbelievable amount of money" into Wisconsin elections.
A section of the Internal Revenue Code, Section 527, which covers political organizations, provides a loophole through which political contributions by corporations, unions, industry groups and other organizations are not subject to the size or source limits of the Federal Election Campaign Act.
LaBarre needs 15,270 names to force Jauch into a recall election. She has 61 days to collect them, starting Monday.
Schultz's opponents would need 14,545 signatures to recall him.
"We're looking for jobs in Wisconsin," said Curran, a retired salesman. "We feel it was a vote, because they didn't want to give credit to Gov. Walker for (creating) jobs."
The filings underscore the lingering anger over the mining bill's failure in the Senate.
The mining bill would have reworked Wisconsin's permitting process to help Gogebic Taconite open a giant iron mine just south of Lake Superior in Jauch's district.
The company claimed the project would create hundreds of jobs for economically repressed northwestern Wisconsin and Republicans touted the bill as their signature job-creation legislation this past session. Environmentalists came out in force against the plan, saying the mine would destroy one of the last pristine regions in the state.
The bill bogged down in the Senate earlier this month. Republicans held a one-vote majority in the chamber at the time. Schultz, a moderate, joined with Jauch and other minority Democrats in opposing the measure.
Jauch and Schultz both complained the bill would have eliminated public challenges to preliminary permit decisions and jeopardized the environment. Together they introduced their own legislation, but GOP leaders refused to consider it and instead offered to make a number of concessions that they hoped would bring Schultz back into the fold. Schultz didn't budge, and the bill died when the Senate adjourned for the session on Thursday.
Gogebic Taconite officials have since said they are abandoning their plans in the state. Last week the company notified state regulators it would withdraw its exploration license.
LaBarre and Curran marched into the GAB offices Monday morning with the paperwork, a sign that read "mining is our history, mining is our culture, mining is our future" and a giant cardboard check made for $70,000 made out to a fictitious character named Joe Ferrous. The check was stamped with a faux order from Jauch ordering the bank to stop payment.
"People are very angry about this in the northland," said LaBarre, who runs a plumbing business with her husband and who unsuccessfully ran for an Assembly seat in 2008 and 2010. "Sen. Jauch did not listen to the majority of his constituents and we've had it. ... He threw us under the bus."
Walker has promised to create 250,000 private sector jobs by the end of his first term, a pledge that could easily become a liability on the campaign trail if he can't deliver.
The governor told reporters during a news conference in Milwaukee on Monday that Republicans tried to compromise with Jauch and Schultz, but to no avail. He added that he's getting tired of recall talk.
"I'd like us just to get to a point where we don't have to worry about recalls," Walker said, "and focus on how do we move our state forward."
MADISON - Sen. Dale Schultz,
R-Richland Center, is one of the latest Wisconsin elected officials being targeted for recall, and he's taking it in stride.
Recalls are a "sign of the times," he said Monday. "All legislators accept them as a fact of life now."
Paperwork to recall Sen. Schultz, from the 17th Senate District, and Sen. Bob Jauch,
D-Poplar, from the 25th Senate District, was filed with the state Government Accountability Board on Monday.
Dan Curran of Dodgeville filed papers with the board authorizing him to create a committee to explore recalling Schultz.
Shirl LaBarre of Hayward filed paperwork for authorization to start collecting recall signatures against Jauch.
The two Senators opposed a bill that would have helped a Florida company open a large iron mine in Wisconsin's north woods, and LaBarre and Curran say their actions cost the state jobs. Both LaBarre and Curran are affiliated with the Citizens For Responsible Government Network, which works to elect conservative candidates.
Schultz said the bill would not have created a lot of jobs immediately, perhaps not for three or four years.
But he was more concerned about and unwilling to compromise on two important issues in the bill: Contested case hearings during the permitting process and new additional authority for the Department of Natural Resources to make environmental changes.
Schultz took the position that the burden of proof in contested cases should land on the DNR's shoulders, not the citizens'. He also objected to giving the DNR additional authority, which allowed "wholesale filling in of stream and wet areas," he explained.
"The other 18 items, I was willing to compromise, that's fine," he said. "But not the most important two."
While Schultz is sticking to his position on the mining bill, AB 426, he said he is "sick about the fact" that the upcoming recall election costs will top as much as $100 million, in addition to the regular election costs.
"That's just what I've heard," he said, "and of course, most of that, about 80 percent, is coming from outside sources."
Schultz said "527s" "put an unbelievable amount of money" into Wisconsin elections.
A section of the Internal Revenue Code, Section 527, which covers political organizations, provides a loophole through which political contributions by corporations, unions, industry groups and other organizations are not subject to the size or source limits of the Federal Election Campaign Act.
LaBarre needs 15,270 names to force Jauch into a recall election. She has 61 days to collect them, starting Monday.
Schultz's opponents would need 14,545 signatures to recall him.
"We're looking for jobs in Wisconsin," said Curran, a retired salesman. "We feel it was a vote, because they didn't want to give credit to Gov. Walker for (creating) jobs."
The filings underscore the lingering anger over the mining bill's failure in the Senate.
The mining bill would have reworked Wisconsin's permitting process to help Gogebic Taconite open a giant iron mine just south of Lake Superior in Jauch's district.
The company claimed the project would create hundreds of jobs for economically repressed northwestern Wisconsin and Republicans touted the bill as their signature job-creation legislation this past session. Environmentalists came out in force against the plan, saying the mine would destroy one of the last pristine regions in the state.
The bill bogged down in the Senate earlier this month. Republicans held a one-vote majority in the chamber at the time. Schultz, a moderate, joined with Jauch and other minority Democrats in opposing the measure.
Jauch and Schultz both complained the bill would have eliminated public challenges to preliminary permit decisions and jeopardized the environment. Together they introduced their own legislation, but GOP leaders refused to consider it and instead offered to make a number of concessions that they hoped would bring Schultz back into the fold. Schultz didn't budge, and the bill died when the Senate adjourned for the session on Thursday.
Gogebic Taconite officials have since said they are abandoning their plans in the state. Last week the company notified state regulators it would withdraw its exploration license.
LaBarre and Curran marched into the GAB offices Monday morning with the paperwork, a sign that read "mining is our history, mining is our culture, mining is our future" and a giant cardboard check made for $70,000 made out to a fictitious character named Joe Ferrous. The check was stamped with a faux order from Jauch ordering the bank to stop payment.
"People are very angry about this in the northland," said LaBarre, who runs a plumbing business with her husband and who unsuccessfully ran for an Assembly seat in 2008 and 2010. "Sen. Jauch did not listen to the majority of his constituents and we've had it. ... He threw us under the bus."
Walker has promised to create 250,000 private sector jobs by the end of his first term, a pledge that could easily become a liability on the campaign trail if he can't deliver.
The governor told reporters during a news conference in Milwaukee on Monday that Republicans tried to compromise with Jauch and Schultz, but to no avail. He added that he's getting tired of recall talk.
"I'd like us just to get to a point where we don't have to worry about recalls," Walker said, "and focus on how do we move our state forward."