Posted on 12/24/2011 4:17:16 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Leaders of the state's largest teachers union and the state employees union met privately with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett this week to discourage him from running in possible recall election next year against Gov. Scott Walker.
But Barrett rebuffed the union bosses.
According to an email obtained by No Quarter, Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell, WEAC Executive Director Dan Burkhalter and other top union officials had a face-to-face meeting with the Democratic mayor on Monday to discuss the potential Walker recall race.
"Despite attempts to communicate the issues you laid out very clearly in our meeting on Saturday, in our judgment the meeting did not convince Mayor Barrett that he should not run in a potential recall election," Bell wrote Thursday to her board members and UniServ presidents.
Insiders say the union officials are hoping to clear the field for former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk to take on the first-term Republican governor in the spring. Also attending the meeting was Marty Beil, executive director of the Wisconsin State Employees Union and an open critic of Barrett.
At least one other union leader was upset with WEAC and Beil for discouraging Barrett - or anyone else - from considering a possible recall run.
"That's certainly not a unanimous view in the labor community," Jim Palmer, head of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said of the effort to force Barrett out of the race. "What everybody wants is a candidate to defeat Scott Walker. That should be our primary objective."
Patrick Curley, the mayor's chief of staff, issued a statement saying his boss is focused on Milwaukee and his mayoral re-election contest in April. It appears that Barrett will face only minor opposition.
"The recall campaign is a grass roots, citizens initiative that still has a few chapters to be written," Curley said in the statement. "Tom respects and supports the thousands of Wisconsinites who have made this a true democratic effort."
That is consistent with his remarks at a Wednesday news conference in which reporters repeatedly asked Barrett if he would run in a recall election. He repeatedly dodged the question.
"I'm a proud candidate for mayor of Milwaukee," Barrett said, adding, "I don't know what the future holds" for the prospects of a recall election.
Frankly, it's not surprising that the state teachers union and the Milwaukee mayor do not see eye to eye on the recall race.
WEAC opposed Barrett's plan a couple of years ago to take control of the troubled Milwaukee Public Schools. In his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, the statewide teachers group didn't make independent expenditures in support of his campaign, as it did for a number of Wisconsin lawmakers.
In her email, Bell, who could not be reached for comment, urged top WEAC officials to press the case for Barrett to sit on the sidelines in a recall contest. Walker defeated Barrett by 52% to 47% in the 2010 general election. That marked the second time Barrett was beaten in a bid to be governor.
"We continue to pursue the message on other fronts, but could use your assistance in telling the story from your perspective and with your reasons, to those with whom you have connections that might be more effective in delivering that message to the Mayor," Bell wrote.
Bell then told her union brethren what Barrett had said at his Wednesday press conference announcing his re-election bid for mayor.
"Mayor Barrett has not signed a recall petition," Bell wrote. "He said he might sign. 'In all likelihood' he will sign. REALLY? Wisconsin citizens – our members – are standing in the cold to gather signatures and Mayor Barrett is undecided?"
Earlier this month, the United Wisconsin coalition said more than 507,000 signatures had been collected in just 30 days. They need 540,208 signatures to force the recall election sometime in 2012. Petitions are due Jan. 17.
The effort was spurred by anger over Walker’s proposal effectively ending collective bargaining rights for public workers.
As part of its effort to push Barrett aside, WEAC officials began circulating a polling memo on Thursday that suggests Falk and former U.S. Rep. Dave Obey have as good a chance as Barrett to unseat Walker.
"After introducing balanced information about Walker and each Democrat, Kathleen Falk is able to move the vote more towards her than Obey or Barrett," says the memo from Anzalone Liszt Research, a national Democratic firm that polled 601 likely recall voters on Dec. 12-15 for WEAC.
"Though Barrett has the highest name ID to start with, voters are familiar with him and he is limited in his ability to gain voters. Falk gains the support of key target groups including independents, women and seniors."
Other Democrats, however, were dismissive of the memo, suggesting that other private polls show Barrett is a better position than Falk.
"The difference would be he wins, she loses," said one well-connected Democrat. "All his negatives are known, and people still want him over Walker. Falk is much more of a wild card."
Wisconsin recall opponent ping
What a bunch of crybabies! I hope it gets colder for them.
I am all for Walker becoming our POTUS.
As we can see, this is all about the children.
Here is hoping this stupidity fails to get sufficient signatures to trigger a recall. Misuse of money just doesn’t get anyone’s attention, especially in WI.
I heard recently that the teachers are getting students to sign the petitions.
In most states where signatures are needed to trigger some action, they must be certified, ie no duplicates, real addresses, not already deceased, etc. Here’s hoping the certification is thorough, and accurate.
Leaders of the state's largest teachers union and the state employees union met privately with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett this week to discourage him from running in possible recall election next year against Gov. Scott Walker. But Barrett rebuffed the union bosses.
City governments should work to have good relationships governments upstream.
While Barrett was mayor and Walker was the county executive, Barrett refused to appear in public with Walker. It came across as petty and small.
I’m hoping that Barrett has grown up a bit in the past year - he has plenty of work to do in Milwaukee without engaging in childish publicity stunts.
Hah! You're not from 'round here, are you?
The "certifying authorty" (gag) is a group of lefty has-been judges known as the "Government Accountability Board". Their official position is that Mickey Mouse, Adolph Hitler, and an X would be considered as a valid petition signatures so long as the accompanying address is somewhere in the state of Wisconsin.
Fortunately, there will be an examination of the names through the combined forces of several Tea Party groups. We have many thousand volunteers who will be digitizing the petitions so that they can be scrubbed for duplicates and faux signers.
You don't have to live in WI to volunteer -the work will be done from home and can be accomplished anywhere you have a computer with an internet connection. Click here.
Also know that Governor Walker is able to accept UNLIMITED campaign contributions to fight this attack. This is truly a worthy cause for conservatives everywhere.scottwalker.org
We have been subjected to recalls of all Republican lawmakers since Governor Walker's election. If the Dems succeed in this attempt, they will turn the entire nation into a maze of perpetual elections to oust anyone they deem has committed the sin of "Governing While Republican"
Not a chance...he's the same as ever. Milwaukee might as well have a potted plant for Mayor.
The thing is, though, Governor Walker's Act 10 saved Barret's @ss because it gave him the tools to make a major disaster of a budget less so. He knows it, but he will never admit to it.
Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board has already said that they will not be able to check for fake and duplicate signatures - and that they may not have enough time to full count the signatures.
They’re saying that Walker is responsible for making sure the process is clean - on his own dime.
As we can see, this is all about the children.
Anyone these days who sats they’re “for the children” had better be smoking...
If the Dems succeed in this attempt, they will turn the entire nation into a maze of perpetual elections to oust anyone they deem has committed the sin of “Governing While Republican”
Fortunately only in states dumb enough to allow recall of a duly elected official.
On the other hand isn’t this what they do best anyway?
Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board has already said that they will not be able to check for fake and duplicate signatures - and that they may not have enough time to full count the signatures.
Holy Geez. They are talking out loud about criminal corruption and they are admitting they are part of it? Grand Jury time.
Hah! You’re not from ‘round here, are you?
I won’t say fortunately, because I manage one trip a year to your beautiful state for the aviation extravaganza at Oshkosh.
Governor Scott Walker rose to his position only after serving as Milwaukee County Executive, a position he won after the successful RECALL of Tom Ament, a democrat who did major damage to the County by lining his pockets and those of his cronies with millions of tax dollars. What Ament did was technically legal, but an outrageous abuse of power.
Our recall laws were written at a time that no one on either side of the fence would conceive they would be abused as they are now.
Our recall laws were written at a time that no one on either side of the fence would conceive they would be abused as they are now.
Evidence, I would say, that there is such a thing as too much law.
Nice, although the Oshkosh area is not nearly as beautiful as some other spots.
In "ancient times", the EAA museum was located in my neck of the woods. Having three brothers, I was dragged there on a number of occasions :) It's possible I even crossed paths with my future husband who was often there with his brothers.
You should find the IL, MI and IN ping lists and every FReeper should sign up for this.
The success of Republicans in WI will bring pressure to bear on other states, particularly IL. If WI’s economy improves v. IL, it will give us a chance to win in IL.
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