Darling in the Fight of Her Political Career

(Update: The article has been updated to reflect the disorderly conduct citation issued to Curtis Bach has since been dismissed by Judge Christopher Lipscomb on April 14. Bach was ordered to pay $50 in court costs.)

State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) has faced tough elections during her 21 years in the Legislature, but nothing compares to the recall campaign she’s facing right now.

“I’m a fighter,” said Darling, 66. “I respect the right of the voters to recall, but in the end, I hope everyone remembers my record and that I’m trying to protect the taxpayers.”

In the middle of her fifth term in the Senate, Darling has just opened a campaign headquarters at 311 W. Silver Spring Drive in Glendale. She plans to soon open a second office in Menomonee Falls in the sprawling 8th District, which also includes Whitefish Bay, Shorewood and Fox Point.

Recall organizers to get new home

But Darling is not the only one opening a campaign office as part of this battle.

Kristopher Rowe, the leader of the effort to recall Darling, said his group is moving from borrowed space in Shorewood to rented offices in Glendale.

Since March 3, hundreds of volunteers have fanned out through the district collecting signatures on recall petitions, mostly on weekends. Rowe declined to say how many signatures have been obtained, but said he was confident that his group would exceed the required 20,343 needed by May 2 by 5,000 to 8,000.

“We definitely have some work to do,” said Rowe. “But the response by volunteers has been overwhelming. We had 75 people come in on Sunday when it was raining and snowing.”

The campaign is something of an American Facebook revolution.

Rowe, a 32-year-old Shorewood resident who does not belong to a union, said he was spurred to action by Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s bill aimed at fixing the biennial budget deficit. The bill stripped public sector union workers of most of their collective bargaining rights.

With virtually no political experience, he created a Facebook page advocating for Darling’s recall. Within less than a month, more than 5,000 viewers said they “liked” the page. More than 1,000 have volunteered to help with the effort.

“She’s out of touch with her district,” Rowe said of Darling. “She’s head of the Joint Finance Committee. This bill is a divisive attack on the rights of workers.”

Darling says taxpayers are top priority

Darling counters that she is doing she was elected to do – protect the interests of the taxpayers and take the steps needed to help the economy grow.

“Did you know of every dollar MPS (Milwaukee Public Schools) spends, 74 cents is needed to cover legacy costs?” Darling said.

She said President Franklin Roosevelt did not give federal employees the right to collective bargaining because it was contrary to the general good. John Kennedy gave federal workers bargaining rights but Jimmy Carter revoked them, using Roosevelt’s logic.

Rowe said Darling has not lived up to her reputation as a moderate who has tried to work with Democrats.

“I remain the same person who the voters elected,” Darling said. “I have always been a fiscal conservative.

“This is simply not a good environment to try to do consensus building," she said. "There is not another side willing to work across the aisle."

Not so, said Rowe.

“Neither she nor the Republicans were willing to come to the table," he said. "The campaign was energized when they pulled a fast one the first weekend of our campaign.”

Rowe was referring to the committee vote that paved the way for the Senate to vote on the budget repair bill without the need for the 14 Democrats who fled to Illinois. That committee vote is being challenged in the courts as an Open Meetings Law violation and the issue may be decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Things starting to heat up

Both Rowe and Darling complain that the passions of the campaign are overflowing.

Rowe said he had been accused of being a Chicago transplant, taking his orders from the Obama administration. He said he’s a native of Green Bay – “I have my birth certificate if there are any ‘birthers’ out there who don’t believe it” – and that while he knocked on doors to encourage students to vote for Obama, he said his role was minor.

“I was a full-time student in Green Bay and waiting on tables part time,” he said. “I might have given his campaign $10. I didn’t have much money to spare.”

Darling said she had been told that some of the recall petitioners were being paid, but Rowe denied the charge.

Darling said she has received death threats and has had to be escorted into the Capitol by guards.

Indeed, an undercover police officer assigned to watch the Republican headquarters in Glendale resulted in an arrest – but the man charged was a Darling supporter.

According to the police report, Curtis Bach, 45, of Whitefish Bay, was driving when he spotted two canvassers. He summoned the women and one of them, Mary Morris, asked if he wanted to sign the petition.

The undercover officer said she heard Morris respond “great” and then hand the clipboard to Bach, who was still in his car. A verbal altercation occurred and Bach started to drive off but Morris was still struggling to get the clipboard. Bach was later cited for disorderly conduct, a city violation. The citation was dismissed April 11 by Judge Christopher Lipscomb.

Rowe said there was a second incident in Menomonee Falls in which a canvasser was punched. That could not immediately be confirmed.

Darling acknowledged that the recall effort is a serious challenge but said she refuses to focus on it.

“If this is what people consider serious misconduct, I accept that,” she said. “Whatever happens happens. I put my faith in the big guy.”