Tighten Up Recalls? You Must Be Kidding!

The Pubbies, never known for adroit public relations, have a new idea.

Republican leaders in the Legislature said Monday they would consider introducing legislation this fall to make it harder to recall state officials.

Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) said the upcoming recall elections had launched the state Senate into "full campaign mode" and was slowing down the legislative process.

Life is just awful, ain'a?

"I have never been a fan of recalls (of lawmakers) on either side of the aisle - especially for a vote," said Fitzgerald, referring to how single votes - such as passing legislation that strips public employees of most of their bargaining rights - can trigger recall efforts.

Too bad. Voter/taxpayers like the idea--and if they can come up with (literally) thousands of like-minded signatories, maybe the vote was a bad one.

Here's another laugher:

[Republicans] said the situation has already slowed down the legislative process as senators fight recalls and some members of the Assembly run for Senate seats.

Darling, herself a subject of a recall, and Fitzgerald said legislation to speed environmental reviews of a proposed iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin was never introduced, in part, because lawmakers didn't have enough time to study it before the budget passed.

Gee. The Capitol is open; aides are present; you can't work?

Here's the deal: you ran for office, you win. You vote wrong, you could get tossed.

In the private sector, we call it "getting FIRED". Get used to it, Robin.

UPDATE: Jay Weber buys into the Vos line and declares that "only a pattern of 'bad' votes or personal conduct issues" should trigger a recall.

Well, Jay: in the case at hand, the 'single vote' was about a very substantial change. Regardless of your position on the change (we both agree that it was the right thing to do), this is not tiddlywinks here.

Weber, contradicting himself, then posits that the Petak recall was 'OK' because Petak voted wrong--once! But THAT recall was 'OK' because Petak's constituents organized it. He seems to think that if the Unions organize a recall it's bad--even if they obtain 10,000++ signatures from constituents.

Hey--it's what he said, folks.