In Lori’s Living Room

 

i love these words wrtten by Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of the magazine The Nation:

"Our effort shouldn’t just be about making politicians into allies; it should be about making allies into politicians. We need the activists, the marchers and movement makers to run. And we need it to happen this year. As we fight to get corporate money out of politics, we must fight to get the things that are bigger and stronger than corporate money into politics."

Lori Compas is one of those “movement makers” who decided to make her first run for public office—for the seat of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, no less. I was in her living room last Saturday with other volunteers, jotting hundreds of handwritten thank-you’s on postcards she will mail to her contributors. Meanwhile other volunteers went door to door knocking on their neighbors’ doors.

It’s time again for action. The recall elections for for Governor Walker, Lt. Governor Kleefisch, and four Republican Senators have now been certified and set—the primary on May 8 and the general election on June 5. We can be proud of the great job collecting millions of signatures on six different recall petitions. Here’s how we did:

•  Of the 540,208 signatures to trigger Walker and Kleefisch recalls, at least 900,938 valid signatures were turned in for Walker with slightly less for Kleefisch. The validity rate of signatures came out to just under 97% for the Walker recall and 96% for Kleefisch, despite accusations of fake names and fraud.

•  At least 18,282 valid signatures out of 20,735 were turned in against Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, more than the 16,742 needed.

•  At least 19,142 out of 23,712 turned in against Sen. Van Wanggaard were valid. They needed 15,353.

•  At least 18,657 out of 20,907 valid signatures were submitted against Sen. Terry Moulton. Circulators needed 14,958.

•  At least 18,511 valid signatures out of 21,022 were submitted against Sen. Pam Galloway. They needed 15,647 signatures.

It’s time for Wisconsin People Power again! This time around we ask our neighbors to pay attention and vote in the upcoming elections, to volunteer to help, and to give a donation if they can. To beat millions of dollars pouring into Governor Walker’s campaign chest, we need thousands of volunteers to rev up and join the “fight to get the things that are bigger and stronger than corporate money into politics.”

It will be a delightful task to visit doors over the next two months—the weather is so much nicer than it was when we collected all those signatures. Visit http://www.unitedwisconsin.com to learn about events and opportunities for you to become a movement maker.