Today is the official beginning of the summer of the recall in Wisconsin. I suspect turnout will be light, and in the races where “plant” Democrats (Republican operatives) are running against “real” Democrats, victory will be claimed by both sides. The “plant” Democrats can already claim a measure of success, in that they’ve forced this recall primary election.
The state’s largest newspaper (The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) has editorialized against the recalls, saying the intention of the recall election was not to express dissatisfaction with legislation passed or sponsored by any candidate, but rather should be used only for extreme moral turpitude, in an instance so heinous that it seems prudent to attempt to remove the offender from office before the next regularly-scheduled election.
However, our laws are all subject to interpretation, and what constitutes moral turpitude to one person may constitute vision and courage to another.
Personally, I don’t have a horse in this race; I don’t live in a district where a state legislator is being recalled. And, I live in a part of Dane County not formerly represented by Joe Parisi, so I don’t even have a “regular” election to deal with.
I’ll just have to wait and see if the organizers of the Walker recall maintain enough steam to actually get enough signatures to force his recall, after he’s been in office for a year.
So, in the meantime, my only counsel to those of you who have a recall or a recall primary election to deal with, is to vote every time you’re given the chance.
Your simple act of voting sends a message far stronger than just determining which candidate will win. Voting scares the hell out of a lot of politicians, whose job security depends on hordes of voters not caring enough to vote.
No comments:
Post a Comment