Wisconsin citizens collect required signatures to recall St. Sen. Wirch, D-Pleasant Prairie

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4/4/11, "Campaign to recall Wirch says it has enough signatures," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Tom Tolan

"The head of the campaign to recall Sen. Robert Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie) says the group has gathered enough signatures to force a recall election.

Dan Hunt, chairman of Taxpayers to Recall Robert Wirch, says his organization has "well over" the 13,537 signatures required to force Wirch into a recall election, though he said the group still has a goal to collect 18,000, in case some of the signatures are disqualified. He said it's likely the signatures would be filed with the state Government Accountability Board next week.

"Let the voters of Senate District 22 decide whether Senator Wirch was justified when he left the Senate to flee to Illinois," Hunt said in a statement, referring to a tactic used by Democratic state senators to stall a vote on Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill. After three weeks, Republicans stripped the bill of items that made a Democratic presence necessary, and passed it without Democratic votes.

The group seeking to recall Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse) is the only one of 16 recall campaigns against eight Republican and eight Democratic state senators that has filed its signatures with the state. About 21,700 signatures were filed Friday, well over the 15,588 needed to force an election.

The GAB has 31 days to certify the signatures after they're submitted, and if they're found to be sufficient, it can set an election for six weeks later -- but that schedule could be slowed by court challenges, or by request from the GAB.

We've left a message with Wirch's office seeking a comment on Hunt's announcement. "

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Another recall petition effort was sabotaged:

3/15/11, "Thugs destroy recall petitions" Press Release, via WTMJ

Merrill, Wisconsin – "Leader Kim Simac and volunteers for the Recall Jim Holperin Committee will hold a press conference tomorrow at 12:00 pm at the Lincoln County Courthouse

• This is the location of the conflict between Recall Petition Signers and Union Protesters last Thursday, March 10, 2011.

The petition rally was originally scheduled at a local Merrill restaurant but was relocated after the proprietors received many phone calls and felt they needed to back out. The committee then set up in front of the Lincoln County Courthouse to offer citizens an opportunity to sign their names to the petition. Over 1,000 calls had been sent out the previous day notifying area residents of the petition rally.

Upon arrival, members of the recall committee were encircled by union protesters carrying signs and a leader with a mega phone who began chanting and ranting loudly. They packed in tightly around the petition collection table so as to prevent those attempting to sign from doing so. At one point, a pro union protester, pretending to be interested in signing the petition,

• wrote profanity across a partially collected petition form,
  

then began ripping up the completed petitions that were in close proximity.

The policemen who were there, and who were standing in close proximity to these events as they unfolded, did nothing to assist those collecting the petitions as they were being destroyed,

• despite such an action being a Felony under Wisconsin law.
  

Police also did nothing to clear the walk way for citizens that wanted to sign the petitions. Recall Committee members received many phone calls the following day from Merill area citizens who stated that they showed up to sign the petition,

• but were too afraid to get out of their vehicles and approach the recall table.

Kim Simac, leader of the recall effort, who has also received numerous personal threats, has now declared that enough is enough. “Tomorrow we begin taking the necessary steps to put a stop to this kind of behavior.” Simac stated. She went on to say: “The people of the 12th District of Wisconsin can not and will not allow this thuggery and bullying to continue. As honorable citizens, I believe we all have an obligation to stand up for the rule of law,

• which is why I am taking this action.”"

via Gateway Pundit