This focus on the banks take up the message pushed by National Nurses United, which produced "Blame Wall Street" signs that have become favorites at the mass rallies in Madison, Milwaukee and other cities.
The economic pressure on the banks and businesses that back Walker becomes all the more important at a time when the Citizens United v. FEC ruling gives corporations a go-ahead to spend freely on behalf of candidates that do their bidding.
And that gets to the politics of the moment.
The first fight will come April 5, when Wisconsinites will choose a state Supreme Court justice. Incumbent David Prosser has aligned himself with the right-leaning judicial-activist majority on the High Court -- a majority that favors corporate power almost as explicitly and consistently as does the US Supreme Court. Prosser says that, if re-elected, he would vote on the court as an aggressive and unapologetic "judicial conservative." He is, as well, a former legislative leader with close ties to Walker.
Prosser's challenger, veteran Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, has taken a different direction. She promises to serve as a judicial independent who is interested in restoring the integrity of the court and following the rule of law -- as opposed to the partisan demands of the governor's office.
The national special-interest groups that have aligned with Walker will help Prosser, as they know that their agenda will face court challenges. Progressives will need to counter the out-of-state money with in-state grass-roots campaigning. But with hundreds of thousands of newly energized foot soldiers, that won't be nearly as hard as it would have been just a few weeks ago.
The same goes for special elections (the primaries will be April 5 and the elections will be May 3) to fill three state Assembly seats vacated by Republicans who went into the Walker administration -- those of Mark Gottlieb, Scott Gunderson and Mike Huebsch. Some political insiders want to focus solely on the Huebsch seat in western Wisconsin, as that district has tended to back Democrats in recent national elections. But if the movement that has developed in opposition to Walker's anti-worker, anti-community, anti-schools agenda is to mean anything, it must compete beyond the traditional boundaries. That's especially true in the Gunderson district, which includes sections of western Racine County that are home to many union members who work at state facilities in the region.
And what of the recalls?
There will be plenty of them. Tea partisans are already putting their Koch brothers funding to use, plotting to challenge Democrats such as Senator Bob Wirch, D-Kenosha, in the southeast, and Senator Jim Holperin, D-Conover, in the north. They might even go after a renegade Republican, Senator Dale Schultz of Richland Center. Progressives will need to be active in all those races.
But the recall initiative will be primarily offensive, not defensive. Every Republican senator who votes for the bill and is eligible for removal will likely face a recall race. Activists are already organizing to support these efforts. The only real question is: Where to begin? The answer is with state Senator Alberta Darling, R-River Hills. She's a co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, making her a lead player in Walker's budget battles. More importantly, she represents a district that has long leaned Democratic when it comes to national politics. In addition, she has a ready-made challenger in former state Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, who came within 2,000 votes of beating her in 2008.
Ultimately, the movement politics that has developed since February 12 will seek to replace three Republican senators, and in so doing to restore the system of checks and balances that is so sorely needed in a state that is now being battered by the worst excesses of one-party rule.
But the process of restoring democratic governance must begin somewhere. And beating the point person for Walker's draconian budget would be a good start to any recall drive -- a drive that, if it realizes its full potential, could target the governor early next year, when the timeline for his possible removal (after he has served one year in office) kicks in.
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