DAVID SHUSTER: This has not been a very good day for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Not only did recall supporters meet their petition deadline, but they delivered half a million more petitions than they needed.
Members of the U.S. House returned to Washington, D.C. today and were given a loud message from hundreds of Occupy protesters yelling at them on Capitol Hill.
President Obama's continuation of the civil liberties policies begun under George W. Bush — well, that has prompted a lawsuit by progressives.
And it was two years ago today when Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens declared that the decision by the conservative majority in Citizens United was, "at war with the views of generations of Americans." Today, the war over campaign spending took an intriguing turn.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHUSTER: It was nearly a year ago when people in Wisconsin first marched into the capital in Madison to protest Governor Scott Walker's union bashing. Over the summer, recall elections were held for those legislators who helped steamroll Walker's bill. Two months ago, on November 15, the effort began to collect signatures to prompt a recall election of Walker himself.
And in our fourth story in the "Countdown" — today those signatures were turned in. There are nearly a million of them, nearly double the required amount. The petitions were delivered to Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board this afternoon at 3pm local time. And it came to Julie Wells, a Wisconsin grandmother and factory worker who triggered the recall, to announce how successful it was.
(Excerpt from video clip) GAB AGENT: And what are you total numbers of approximate signatures?
(Excerpt from video clip) JULIE WELLS: Approximately a million.
SHUSTER: That's right. According to recall supporters, over one million Wisconsinites signed petitions to recall Scott Walker, nearly double the necessary 540,000 needed. In addition to recalling Scott Walker, enough signatures were also collected in order to force a recall election of Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and four Republican state Senators including Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. All together, the total number of signatures collected is more than 1.9 million.
Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board now has 60 days to verify the signatures. However, due to the overwhelming amount they are expected to petition a judge for an extra 30 days. Oh, and just in case you were wondering where the governor was today? As the signatures were delivered, Governor Walker was at a fund-raiser — here in New York.
Joining us now from Madison, Wisconsin is Graeme Zielinski, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Graeme, thank you for your time tonight.
GRAEME ZIELINSKI: Howdy, Dave. Thanks for having me.
SHUSTER: What was the reaction from you and other Democrats in Wisconsin when you knew you had collected over one million signatures in your effort to recall Governor Walker?
ZIELINSKI: Well, I think it would be the same reaction as finding that your kid throws left-handed at 100 miles an hour. I mean, it was an incredible reaction, and I don't think anybody saw this coming. I know Scott Walker — who is probably enjoying a nice showing of "Wicked" tonight on Broadway — I know he didn't see it coming.
He was poo-pooing it for weeks — for months. His right-wing little echo chamber here was demeaning the process, insulting the people who stood out in the cold, people who left Thanksgiving tables to circulate these petitions. They didn't see this coming. And now it has happened.
SHUSTER: What does it say, that Walker wasn't even in the state as the signatures were delivered?
ZIELINSKI: Well, it says that he was reporting to his East Coast masters. I don't think he works for the people of Wisconsin. He is not even from here. His values aren't from here. These weird policy proposals he brought to our state — imported from D.C., imported from California, imported from New York — these aren't Wisconsin things. This guy is a phony. He's always been a phony. And I think the people of Wisconsin, a million strong, showed out today and rejected him, rejected him entirely.
He has tried to say the fact that we don't have 5.6 million signatures is a reason that he is popular. Look, he has been running millions of dollars in ads, sponsored by the Koch brothers and these other weirdo groups. And it has not helped him. The meter has not moved in his direction at all.
In fact, the meter has gone the other way since the recall happened. He's been in full campaign mode. His message is failing. The little petri dish that they wanted to make Wisconsin into, that jar is busted. The people of Wisconsin went to the Government Accountability board and showed, in force, why they are going to replace him eventually.
SHUSTER: The million signatures, while it's impressive, it also almost exactly matches the one million votes that Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett received in 2010 when he lost to Scott Walker. So, why should folks outside of Wisconsin see these signatures as an indication that Scott Walker will be recalled, when the one million votes against him were not enough to keep him from getting there in the first place?
ZIELINSKI: Well, I don't think that's the right standard. Number one, Scott Walker was singing an entirely different tune, had a clean garment of a record when he came in. He lied to the people of Wisconsin. People have had about a year of this guy lying his rear end off. And they have seen it, not just in the attack on worker's rights, but in cuts to education, cuts to health care. Weird stuff like making sure seniors and black people can't vote. So, they have a record now.
But not only that, this million people that signed it represent only a fraction of the people that are going to vote against him eventually. So, the game has changed entirely for Scott Walker. If you think a million people — it's the biggest recall in the history of this country, per capita. It represents more people participating per capita than what happened in Ohio, than what happened in California with Gray Davis, than what happened in 1921 with Lynn Frazier, some guy named Lynn Frazier. It's the biggest recall in the history of our country.
And if Scott Walker thinks this is good news, that a couple hundred thousand more didn't sign the recall position against him, then I guess he better stay in New York, watching his musicals.
SHUSTER: You were also able to get enough signatures to recall the lieutenant governor, as well as four senators. With such a short time until the election, will there be enough time for voters to get to know all of the Democratic candidates running, especially in these small races?
ZIELINSKI: Sure. They are not Scott Walker. End of story. That's it. I'm not trying to be glib. This is going to be a decision between somebody who supports the Scott Walker agenda — cuts to education at a record rate, jobs lost for five months in a row, crazy handmaiden to Koch brothers, and some very bizarre ideas that have never been tried out here before — or people who stand for working folks, people who standing for grandmothers in Elkhorn, people who stand for retired postal workers in Cudahy, people who stand for hunters up in Shawano. This guy doesn't get it. This guy is not one of us. And people of Wisconsin understand that. They have been lied to again and again and again by this guy.
And now look — on the day, on one of the most important days in the history of the state of Wisconsin, he is out with, I guess, one of the founders of AIG, one of the guys that took our economy hostage to begin with. So, he doesn’t listen to the people of Wisconsin. But he sure will listen to people with deep pockets who can fund his weirdo agenda.
SHUSTER: Graeme Zielinski, who is the communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Graeme, thanks again for coming on.
ZIELINSKI: Thanks, Dave. I know you went to Michigan, but thank you so much.
SHUSTER: Go Blue. But that's okay, I like Madison as well. Thanks, Graeme.
Watch 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' live each weeknight at 8/7c on Current TV.
Find Current on your TV.
