Curmudgeon's Corner

What Drives The Recall Election Now?

Posted by Al Campbell on May 12, 2012

Wisconsin, Political, Economy

Is ‘collective bargaining’ the driving issue in the recall election or is it not the driving issue?  There was an early and concerted effort to frame collective bargaining as the issue, and then any mention of that phrase was almost accidental and jobs and the economy became the new defining issue until that, too, blurred.

Now, with the well-timed release, and purely coincidental Journal Sentinel front page exposure for the second day running, of the video of Governor Walker talking with Diane Hendricks, CEO of ABC Supply, it seems that collective bargaining is again the most important single issue.  Now we are being barraged with Tom Barrett claiming to be “flabbergasted”, a claim that I can subscribe to in his case.  He is no doubt a very nice man, but he does, in my opinion, leave a great deal to be desired so far as being a candidate for Governor of Wisconsin.  The man who shot the video claims to be no ‘Michael Moore’, but seems to be relishing his few minutes of fame nonetheless.  Contact with millionaires is again the featured epitaph to be uttered under one’s breath.  I continue to be amazed that a billionaire like George Soros is wonderful to chum with while chumming with a mere millionaire like either Koch brother or Diane Hendricks is a mortal sin.  But I digress.

There has been an undercurrent of the left hand and right hand in the Democrat’s recall election strategy not knowing what each other is up to.  Maybe that relates to the realization that Barrett got no “bounce” from the primary election and is now polling 5% behind Walker.  Maybe there is realization that something has to be done to get Barrett’s polling numbers up since this race is over in about three weeks.  Maybe there is realization that the turn-out for Walker will be very solid as it was on primary day if not even greater than those numbers.

There has been a seemingly concerted effort on the part of traditional liberal players to sully the image of Walker.  That begins with the Journal Sentinel’s relentless efforts at positioning Walker as the Darth Vader of Wisconsin from front page stories to Politifacts findings.  It continues with the threat that ‘another shoe will drop’ from DA Chisholm’s office any time now just to add to Walker’s woes.  This two-year old witch hunt has drug on far longer than would’ve ever been the case if this were aimed at a Democrat office holder.  There was ample opportunity for such goings-on during the Doyle era and nothing ever saw the light of day.

Even more subtle, but probably just as effective, is the constant ginning up of stories about the dysfunctional Wisconsin Supreme Court.  It is obviously dysfunctional but there are competing theories as to where that dysfunction came from and who among the Justices is most responsible for that dysfunction.  There seems ample blame to be shared.  That this would shade the recall race seems a reach but that is the hope of the opposition as seen in the repeated stories on the subject.

National ‘big labor’ is reeling from the vote in the primary after having pumped tens of millions of dollars into Wisconsin to ward off the threat that Walker will survive.  These unions must’ve cringed when Barrett defeated Falk (really he soundly thumped her) who had pledged her very political soul to the unions.

All this recall fever originated from the effort to end the heavy dominance of organized labor in public sector unions versus the taxpayer.  It was all about collective bargaining.  But now it seems that maybe collective bargaining isn’t quite the draw that it was earlier thought to be.  Now it seems that there is a none-too-difficult-to-see approach of throwing anything and everything against the wall seeking that which appears to be stickiest.

The jury is out, and the contest early in June is yet to be adjudicated in the ballot booth.  But, at the moment, there seems disarray in the Democrat hierarchy in Wisconsin.  And I confess that I earnestly hope that continues to be evident.