The Government Accountability Board this morning certified the recall elections against Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, setting the stage for May 8 primary elections, if necessary, and June 5 general elections.
The board also ordered recall elections against four Republican senators.
The GAB found 900,939 valid signatures were collected on petitions seeking to recall Walker, and about 808,990 were collected on petitions seeking to recall Kleefisch. The minimum needed to trigger a recall was 540,208 signatures for each of them.
The GAB had already found enough valid signatures were collected on petitions to recall Sens. Scott Fitzgerald, Van Wanggaard, Terry Moulton and Pam Galloway.
Walker was targeted for recall after he pushed through a law that revoked collective bargaining rights for most state workers.
The Friends of Scott Walker campaign communications director Ciara Matthews issued the following statement regarding the GAB’s ruling: “We have long said that we anticipated the election process would move forward. Now it is time for voters to examine the choice they will be faced with in June. We believe a majority of Wisconsin voters will stand with Governor Walker’s record of laying the foundation for a more successful Wisconsin while moving the state forward and against the Democrats’ failed policies that would take Wisconsin back to the days of a $3.6 billion budget deficit. Voters are not prepared to reverse the tremendous progress the Governor has made by prematurely ending his term in this $9 million power grab by out-of-state special interests.”
Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, said, “Today is another historic day in democracy for the state of Wisconsin. The G.A.B. has certified nearly 1 million signatures to recall Gov. Walker, Lt. Gov. Kleefisch and four antiworker State Senators. The lies and spin of fraud and fake signatures were proved to be propaganda from Gov. Walker’s campaign.”
For ongoing coverage of the recall elections, visit WisPolitics.com, a media partner of BizTimes.
