Gov. Scott Walker; Source: Gateway Technical College, Flickr

Starting Tuesday, Wisconsin Democrats and labor groups will start an effort to gather more than 550,000 signatures by mid-January on a petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker.

Walker earned the ire of unions when he pushed a law eliminating collective bargaining rights for public workers earlier this year. Democrats are also planning to recall Republican state legislators, although they haven’t announced their targets, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The fight is increasingly contentious, with some Democrats fearing that Republicans might gather signatures on Walker petitions only to destroy them, and the Republican Party setting up an online “integrity center,” according to the Journal-Sentinel.

“The site allows Walker backers to submit photos, videos and complaints to the Republican Party. The purpose of the site is to protect voters who “suspect foul play by Wisconsin Democrats or big government union bosses,” said a statement from Stephan Thompson, the party’s executive director.”

The recent labor union defeat of a similar anti-collective bargaining law in Ohio energized labor forces, Bloomberg reports. A number of large rallies are planned across the state in coming weeks.

Recent polls have shown the state split on the recall effort. Walker has been rocked by a corruption investigation involving top staff members.

No Democrat candidates have yet entered the race, although the Daily Mail reports that a number of politicians are jockeying for the slot behind the scenes—possible candidates include former Sen. David Obey and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union and Stand Up! Chicago performed a “mic check” at the beginning of Walker’s remarks that continued for several minutes, despite attempts by others at the breakfast to stifle the statements.

It’s an outrage and a shame that we sit here at this fancy breakfast to listen to someone who has wreaked havoc on the lives of working families. Governor Walker has vilified unions and insulted the 99 percent who depend on living wages and adequate benefits to support their families while on the payroll of the right-wing billionaire Koch brothers.

It is not so different from our own state where corporations and bought-off politicians clamor to find ways to grant a $100 million tax break to the Mercantile Exchange, one of the most profitable companies in the state, while social services are being slashed, while workers’ pensions are being threatened and homelessness, poverty and joblessness continue to rise. The CME has already taken $15 million of our TIF dollars. That’s our tax money that would have gone to help students in the Chicago Public Schools.

It is ironic that we give Governor Walker free rein to say what he wants while the Mayor has ordered the arrest of over 300 people in Occupy Chicago who have simply tried to express their rights to freedom of assembly. The bottom line is that Governor Walker is out of touch with America, and working people will not honor anyone seeking to undermine our lives for the benefit of the 1 percent.

Demonstrators then repeatedly chanted, “Union busting is disgusting” and “we are the 99 percent.”

Watch:

Only last week, roughly 100 Iowans gathered outside of a West Des Moines hotel to demonstrate against Walker, who was delivering a private message at an event sponsored by The Heritage Foundation. Both Walker and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad have maintained that they are not anti-worker and that they are trying to protect the middle class.

A poll released Sunday found that a majority of Wisconsin residents disapprove of Gov. Scott Walker’s performance in office, although state residents split on whether he should be recalled.

The survey by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute mirrors results six months ago. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed strongly or somewhat disapproved of Walker, while 42 percent somewhat or strongly approved.

The poll also found Wisconsin residents had grown less pessimistic about the economy in the last six months.

“There is a rising sense of optimism, and tempers that were flaring in March are subsiding a bit,” said University of Chicago Professor Will Howell, who directed the poll, in a statement. ”Interestingly, this is has not redounded to the benefit of the governor.”

Howell said Walker could benefit if the recall effort came to be about the economy or recall elections rather than his performance in office.

And in the battleground state of Wisconsin, the poll found high support for Pres. Barack Obama, 54-42, with Obama beating all Republican challengers by at least 10 percent.

Gov. Scott Walker; Source:Flickr, Gateway Technical College ;

Wisconsin Republicans are moving to strengthen their position as a likely recall of Gov. Scott Walker by Democrats nears.

Walker’s chief of staff resigned Friday to head up Walker’s recall campaign, according to the Associated Press.

Keith Gilkes, who presided over Walker’s attempts to change the collective bargaining rights of state workers, will be replaced by Walker Deputy Chief of Staff Eric Schutt.

It’s not the only step being taken by Republicans in the run-up to the expected recall attempt, which could start as soon as 95 days from now.

On Wednesday, Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature announced that they’re seeking to give Walker authority over the procedures for recall elections, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The move could threaten policies put in place by the state’s Government Accountability Board, like online distribution of recall petitions and the ability of students to use their college IDs to vote.

Wisconsin State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) told the Associated Press that the change would give the ”governor control of the chicken coop, so to say.”

Walker opponents would need to collect 540,000 signatures in 60 days to spark the recall election.

Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, has told supporters that although he’s still considering seeking an elective office in the future, he will not appear on any 2012 ballots.

“This was a difficult decision, as I thoroughly enjoyed my tenure in the State Senate and the U.S. Senate, and I know that progressives are eager to reverse some of the outrageous policies being pursued by corporate interests at both the state and federal levels,” wrote Feingold. “I am also well aware that I have a very strong standing in polls should I choose to run again for the U.S. Senate or in a recall election for governor. After 28 continuous years as an elected official, however, I have found the past eight months to be an opportunity to look at things from a different perspective.”

The Wisconsinite lost his reelection bid during the 2010 elections, and announced in February that he had formed a grassroots PAC, Progressives United, which is primarily intended to push back against the U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC.

He has also been teaching law at Marquette University Law School — something he told supporters “was a joy” — and has penned a book that is slated for publishing next February. It traces how the U.S. has “too often lost our way as a nation in responding to the 9/11 attacks and related issues,” and he plans to speak throughout the nation on the topic in 2012.

“The one thing many of us did not anticipate at the outset of this year was the extreme assault on the working families of Wisconsin in particular and the nation as a whole,” he wrote. “I was happy with some of the results of this year’s Wisconsin state senate recall elections, and I was glad to be able to play a small role in supporting all of the Democratic candidates.”

In 2012, he says he’ll work for the reelection of President Barack Obama, but following the actions of Gov. Scott Walker, he says he also understands that “retaking the state governments from these corporate-backed operatives” must be a priority.

“The entire political climate is more infected by the domination of very wealthy individual and corporate interests than perhaps at any time in our nation’s history. That is why I founded Progressives United, an organization devoted not only to overturning the Citizens United decision but to challenging those involved in the political process who, for short-term political gain, are willing to seek and accept unlimited corporate contributions. This practice should be strongly opposed regardless of party and regardless of whether I otherwise support these candidates,” he said.

“In many ways, this is the overriding political struggle of our time. It is more important than whether or when one person runs for office again. That is why, at this time, I am devoting my primary political energy to this cause and this organization.”

Wisconsin Democrats failed to win the three seats necessary to take control of the state Senate in recall elections Tuesday.

Democrats won only two of the six recall contests, which were sparked by dissatisfaction with laws passed by the legislature and Gov. Scott Walker that took away public sector workers’ collective bargaining rights.

Democrat Jennifer Shilling of LaCrosse beat incumbent Republican Dan Kapanke. And Jessica King of Oshkosh unseated Republican Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac. The rest of the challenged Republican incumbents — Sen. Robert Cowles, Sen. Alberta Darling, Sen. Luther Olsen and Sen. Sheila Harsdorf — retained their seats. Democratic lawmakers still face two recalls by Republicans next week.

Capital Times Associate Editor John Nichols said in an editorial that unseating two Republicans in Republican territory amounted to a victory for Democrats. The new 16-17 margin in the senate, he added, might not mean failure for Democrats because Republican Sen. Dale Schultz voted against Walker’s removal of public sector collective bargaining rights, and  he could further ally himself with Democrats.

The recall contests were controversial and attracted millions of dollars in outside spending, with money coming from the union group We Are Wisconsin, as well as conservative groups like the Club for Growth Wisconsin and business groups.

It’s likely that the next step will be a recall of Walker himself, according to Milwaukee Public Radio. Walker opponents will need to gather 500,000 signatures starting in November, with a filing date in early January.

The Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee has expanded school choice in the Badger State, increasing the income eligibility threshold in Milwaukee while adding a new voucher program in Racine County.

The committee rebuffed Gov. Scott Walker’s plan of totally dismantling income restrictions, instead increasing the ceiling from 175 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL) for a family of four to 300 percent. Married couples with two children can earn $7,000 beyond that 300 percent. Currently, 175 percent of FPL translates into $39,113 while 300 percent is at $67,050.

Meanwhile, the county of Racine, where polls showed the public supported school choice by a slim margin, will see the program similar to the one in Milwaukee by this fall. Children of families earning 185 percent of the poverty line will receive eligibility, with the number of students who could participate capped at 250. The following year, the income threshold rises to the level equal in Milwaukee and the number of vouchers distributed will go up to 500. By 2013, there will be no limit placed on students of families who meet eligibility.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports there are 20,189 students enrolled through the voucher program in Milwaukee out of 22,500 available. The number of students who could take part in the Milwaukee program will be unlimited under the new terms hammered out by the Joint Finance Committee. Even under current rules families whose incomes are above 175 percent of FPL could keep their kids in the program. Families that previously qualified whose financial fortunes were buoyed were still eligible if income did not surpass 220 percent of FPL.

The paper also reported that Rep. Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) said raising the limits runs counter to the Milwaukee program’s original intention of helping low-income children:

“This was a program designed to help those who are disadvantaged, not those who are wealthy,” Grigsby said. “This is nothing but profiting off children.”

In a brief interview with Dr. Howard Fuller, one of the architects of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which began in 1990, the professor of education at Marquette told TAI he supports loosening the income restrictions. He advocated for a compromise between Gov. Walker’s office and those who wanted to preserve the program’s low-income and working class bona fides. Asked whether the new earnings cap belies the voucher movement’s original intentions, he said, “I don’t know who constitutes middle class anymore. It [serves] low-income and working-class families.”

Fuller explains he decided on the 300 percent threshold after noticing the state’s low and moderate-income health care plan, BadgerCare Plus, covers families up to that same percentage of FPL. While he did not take part in the backroom writing of the bill, he says he received calls from lawmakers and Gov. Walker’s education team.

In Pennsylvania, state senators are trying to pass a voucher program that would eventually set income limits at 350 percent of FPL. Groups hostile to the legislation call that eligibility requirement too high.

Prof. Fuller and the Wisconsin governor have worked together when Walker was county executive of Milwaukee. Fuller tells TAI they’ve been friends for years, but the two have not spoken since Walker took office as governor. He also made it clear he supports neither major political party, calling himself an independent.

The evening budget hearings at the Joint Finance Committee were a raucous affair. About 25 people were escorted out of the chamber by state troopers, writes JS, and details of protestors shouting at Democrats were described as well.

Lawmakers on the committee hope to finalize the full budget by Saturday, with full legislative debate scheduled for June 13. Six GOP state senators are under threat of undergoing recall elections for supporting the Republican governor’s controversial spending cuts and tax breaks.

Reports are surfacing that Scott Walker is now preparing his next assault on the democratic political process in the State of Wisconsin.

Following the lead of Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder, Walker is said to be preparing a plan that would allow him to force local governments to submit to a financial stress test with an eye towards permitting the governor to take over municipalities that fail to meet with Walker’s approval.

According to the reports, should a locality’s financial position come up short, the Walker legislation would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so.

Such a law would additionally give Walker unchallenged power to end municipal services of which he disapproves, including safety net assistance to those in need.

Forbes said legislation to do this would be submitted in the Wisconsin legislature in May.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker conceded Thursday at a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that major elements in the Wisconsin law denying collective bargaining rights to public worker unions don’t save the state any money.

Following a line of questioning from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Walker said that the provision requiring unions to hold annual votes in order to keep union representation saves no money for Wisconsin. Walker went on to say that the voting provision and the one preventing unions from imposing mandatory membership fees were worker protection efforts and meant to provide workers with “the right to choose,” rather than an attempt to fix Wisconsin’s budget, despite being elements of what Walker termed his “budget repair bill.”

ThinkProgress has a partial transcript of the exchange:

KUCINICH: Let me ask you about some of the specific provisions in your proposals to strip collective bargaining rights. First, your proposal would require unions to hold annual votes to continue representing their own members. Can you please explain to me and members of this committee how much money this provision saves for your state budget?

WALKER: That and a number of other provisions we put in because if you’re going to ask, if you’re going to put in place a change like that, we wanted to make sure we protected the workers of our state, so they got value out of that. [...]

KUCINICH: Would you answer the question? How much money does it save, Governor?

WALKER: It doesn’t save any.

After this heated back-and-forth, Kucinich requested that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the committee chairman, allow a Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau report (PDF) to be included in the official congressional record. The Fiscal Bureau is a nonpartisan financial oversight agency comparable to the federal Congressional Budget Office; its report states that nothing in Walker’s collective bargaining provisions has any fiscal impact on the state of Wisconsin. This is contrary to Walker’s earlier claims that the bill is a budgetary matter and would, for example, lessen the burden on taxpayers to fund public pension plans.

Issa denied Kucinich the right to insert the document in the record without further committee review, arguing that it’s standard protocol to do so when committee members haven’t yet seen a given document. Kucinich was outraged, but the document ultimately made it into the record.