The recall process transitions

Round one of recall winding down: what's in store for round two?

Recall petitions are set to be delivered to the state's Government Accountability Board (GAB) next week, which means the first round of the recall process will be completed. It's unknown at this point how many signatures are yet collected, but both the Democratic Party and United Wisconsin are confident that the number will far exceed the required 540,208 needed to initiate a recall election.

So what's set to happen in the next part of the process? "Round two" will likely see three important aspects within it: educating the public, agreeing upon a candidate to challenge Walker, and fighting off legal challenges posed by Republicans.

With regards to that last bit, the state GOP is going to challenge many of the signatures found within the petitions. That will take many hours, if not weeks, of work -- and taxpayer dollars, thanks to a ruling by a conservative court in Waukesha County that has determined that the GAB must take an active role in weeding out the "fake" names. That ruling goes against state statutes, which place the burden upon those making the challenges, not the board itself.

The process of challenging petition signatures will likely extend the process beyond the timeline as proscribed by law. While the GOP is hoping that this will give them more time to fend off such a challenge, it may actually be beneficial to Democrats as well.

The Democratic Party has yet to push forward a strong candidate that most everyone can agree upon. Moderate state Sen. Tim Cullen has thrown his hat in, but his policy positions hardly inspire confidence in the eyes of the progressive base of recall organizers and volunteers.

Some names being thrown around include state Rep. Peter Barca, state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, former U.S. Congressmen Dave Obey and Steve Kagen, current U.S. Congressman Ron Kind, and others. Each candidate brings with them positive aspects that could help them win; each also has weaknesses that may or may not help them during the campaign.

Whomever Democrats choose, it should be someone that can deliver both a progressive and a populist message, that can reach the base of support as well as connect with most of Wisconsin overall. Walker has done a good job alienating most of the state, so this shouldn't be too difficult to do.

That candidate also has to be a good messenger -- he or she will need to be able to convey to the public why it is exactly that Gov. Walker is unfit to continue to serve. The third aspect of this next round of the recall will be our message, of why removal of the governor is absolutely necessary. This in itself won't be too difficult to achieve either.

If you're a Wisconsin resident, you're undoubtedly to be affected by Walker's "reforms." Walker touts his jobs record (claiming he created 16,000+ jobs in his first year), his cutting of taxes, and his ambitious Act 10 (the removal of collective bargaining rights) as giving localities the "tools" necessary to fix the state's economic mess.

But each of these claims come with a required disclaimer. The jobs added during his first year in office came about during a time when his predecessor's budget was still in play -- during Walker's budget, we've seen nothing but net job losses in every single month since it was passed.

Taxes that were cut were for corporations and the wealthy, while poor working-class Wisconsinites actually saw their taxes go up (property tax mill rates, on average, also went up).

And the major savings from Act 10? They came from the financial aspects of it -- increasing the contributions that public employees pay into their benefits packages -- and not necessarily the elimination of bargaining rights. Even then, many school districts across the state still depended on using federal dollars, due mostly to budget cuts from Walker (which created over a billion-dollar shortfall for education).

So where is it exactly "working?" At every point that Walker says he's succeeded, it comes with a caveat, a small (yet important) aspect of an issue that he's hiding from the people of this state. When that information becomes commonplace, when the people of Wisconsin start to understand that the words coming out of Walker's mouth don't reflect the true picture of problems the state is facing, it will be easier for the recall to become a successful endeavor.

The first round of the recall process is likely to be successful in gathering the required number of signatures (and then some). When we depart from that point in the process, we will need to know exactly what it is that must be done in order to make the entire thing a success. Picking a good candidate that can beat Walker, informing the public about Walker's purposeful assault on Wisconsin families in favor of corporate interests, and ensuring that we are up to task on defending each legal challenge that Republicans may make will all be major aspects to the second half of the process.