(The following appeared on the Los Angeles Times website on March 2, 2011.)
LOS ANGELES — In the latest escalation of the state’s battle over public employee union benefits, Wisconsin Democrats initiated an effort to recall Republican state senators who back Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposals.
“In 60 days you can take Wisconsin back by recalling the Republican senators who have decided to push Scott Walker’s divisive attack on the rights of workers and his assault on schools, universities and local communities,” state Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate says in a letter seeking funds for the recall campaign.
Wisconsin is one of only a handful of states that allows voters to unseat sitting lawmakers. Under state law, an elected official can be subjected to a recall campaign only if he or she has been in office for one year.
Republicans control the Wisconsin Senate with 19 of 33 seats. If Democrats successfully recalled three of the eight Republicans they are targeting, they would retake control of the chamber. Tate pointed out that one was elected by a margin of just 184 votes, another by just over a thousand.
The full story appears at www.latimes.com.