RACINE COUNTY — This year could easily be called the year of the recall elections.
More than six months of the year was dominated by headlines and public debate about the statewide attempts to recall the governor and state senators. It especially hit home here in Racine County where state Sen. Van Wanggaard, a Republican who represented Racine, was successfully recalled, changing the majority of the Senate — at least for a few months.
These recalls and recall attempts are the third top story of the year as voted in a poll of Journal Times newsroom staff and counting down to New Year’s Day. Stories are selected on the basis of public interest and news value, not positive or negative impact.
Following the passage of Act 10 in 2011, which essentially eliminated collective bargaining for most public employees, residents started collecting recall signatures last November.
At the time, many thought they would never be able to collect enough signatures to hold a recall of our state senator, much less our governor. But in early January, several hundred people drove to Madison from all over the state to deliver approximately 1 million signatures to the Government Accountability Board demanding a recall election. After much scrutiny, a recall election was set in motion. What followed was months of intense campaigning, reports of vandalism, accusations from both sides and fake candidates trying to delay the elections.
When June 5 finally came along, after months of nonstop ads, Gov. Scott Walker was announced the winner quickly after Milwaukee mayor and Democratic opponent Tom Barrett conceded early in the night.
But here in Racine County, residents were still on the edge of their seats waiting to see who would win the 21st District Senate seat — the race between Wanggaard and now-Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine. Even after midnight, our county was waiting for results to come in. Wanggaard had been leading most of the night, but as the results from the City of Racine slowly came in, that changed. That close race led to a recount and a series of allegations of misconduct at the polls. But in the end, Lehman won back the seat that he previously held before the fall 2010 election and gave Democrats back control of the state Senate, at least temporarily. (They later lost it after the November elections.)
While the state and countywide recall elections dominated headlines, Racine County also had two other successful recalls. One was for Elmwood Park’s President Audrey Viau, because of concerns about how she ran the village that came to light after a Walmart store was proposed. The other was for Raymond town supervisor Joe Pohlhammer, whom his opponent said didn’t listen to the people or attend meetings.
(1) comment
were are the blue fist fools un, granny, and 2b make excuse for their butt whipping their boy barrett received.
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