WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Dems: Recall "beyond legal challenge"

Madison - Democrats seeking to recall Gov. Scott Walker filed more than a million signatures Tuesday, virtually guaranteeing a historic recall election against him later this year.

It would mark the first gubernatorial recall election in Wisconsin history and only the third one in U.S. history. Organizers Tuesday also handed in 845,000 recall signatures against Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, as well as recall petitions against four GOP state senators, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau.

The sheer number of signatures being filed against Walker - nearly as many as the total votes cast for the governor in November 2010 and about twice as many as those needed to trigger a recall election - ensure the election will be held, said officials with the state Democratic Party and United Wisconsin, the group that launched the Walker recall.

"It is beyond legal challenge," said Ryan Lawler, vice chairman of United Wisconsin. "The collection of more than one million signatures represents a crystal-clear indication of how strong the appetite is to stop the damage and turmoil that Scott Walker has brought to Wisconsin."

Walker has said for weeks - and reiterated again Tuesday - that he expects a recall election. Some supporters have echoed that sentiment, and said Tuesday they also considered an election inevitable.

But party officials, frustrated for weeks by reports of people signing petitions multiple times, said they'll still deploy thousands of volunteers to analyze the signatures for irregularities or problems.

"We may want to make sure that Wisconsin voters are not disenfranchised," state Republican Party spokesman Ben Sparks said.

Democrats said they removed an undisclosed number of signatures that were duplicates, illegible or seemingly fake. They acknowledged other problem signatures likely will still turn up, but they expect the effort to hold up easily.

The filing marks a milestone following Walker's controversial legislation last year ending most union bargaining for most public workers. However, Democrats have huge logistical hurdles: There is no candidate yet for them to rally around, and Walker has been able to raise unlimited funds from supporters across the country since the recall effort began.

The governor was scheduled to have a New York City fundraiser Tuesday afternoon hosted by Maurice Greenberg, the founder of troubled financial services corporation American International Group. Walker said through a spokeswoman he was too busy for interviews - although he made time for supportive national and local talk show hosts.

The governor's office did release a statement saying he looked forward to talking to voters about how he had eliminated a $3 billion budget deficit over two years without leaning heavily on tax increases. "Instead of going back to the days of billion dollar budget deficits, double digit tax increases and record job loss, I expect Wisconsin voters will stand with me and keep moving Wisconsin forward," his statement said.

Election officials estimate the statewide recall election against Walker could cost the state and local governments $9 million. That figure is for one statewide election only and could rise substantially if there is a primary needed to pick a Democrat to run against Walker or if any Senate recalls are held on different dates.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel