Petitions to Recall Governor Delivered in Wisconsin
Jan. 18, 2012
Opponents of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on January 17 delivered more than 1 million signatures to the state election board in Madison, the capital, to force a recall election to remove Walker from office. The stacks of petitions, which weighed more than 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms), included about twice as many signatures as needed. The Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections in Wisconsin, will review the petitions, which could take months.
Walker was elected in 2010 as part of the Tea Party movement that resulted in conservative Republicans gaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives and several governors’ mansions. The petition drive began two months ago, largely in response to a law pushed by Governor Walker that ended nearly all collective bargaining rights for the state’s unionized public employees. (Collective bargaining is the negotiation about wages, hours, and other working conditions between workers organized as a group and their employer or employers.) The governor also cut spending for education and other programs while lowering taxes on businesses. Tens of thousands of people voiced their anger over the legislation by participating in massive protests at the state’s Capitol Building in March 2011.
There have only been two successful gubernatorial recalls in U.S. history: against North Dakota Governor Lynn Frazier in 1921 and California Governor Gray Davis in 2003.
Additional World Book articles:
- Industrial relations
- Labor movement
- North Dakota (History–The Early 1900′s)
- Back in Time 2003 (State government)
- Back in Time 2010 (State government)
