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Politics & Government

Recall Effort Attracts More Than Union Workers

Suburban mom says it's wrong to place the burden of state fiscal repair on the middle class.

Chris Marshall acknowledges she is in a tax bracket that should make her a rock-solid Republican and a supporter of state Sen. Alberta Darling.

Instead, she is a founding member of Mequon Moms Against Darling.

“It started with a group of women I know,” said Marshall, a mother of four who works at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “I think they (Republicans) went too far with the cuts they’ve made. The whole tone has been punitive and ugly and on the backs of the middle class.”

Marshall said if she and other high-income residents of the state paid just 1.7 percent more in taxes, the budget woes would be fixed.

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“I don’t think I pay too much in taxes,” said Marshall. “We should give a little to take the pressure off those who are tapped out, to take some of the burden off the middle-class workers.”

Marshall has spent much of her free time recently at the Recall Darling headquarters at 6807 N. Green Bay Ave, Glendale, the former home of Sonia’s Subs & Sweets.

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She is one of scores of volunteers working to unseat Darling, a River Hills Republican who has served in the Wisconsin Legislature for more than 20 years, including 18 in the Senate.

Recall organizers have until May 2 to collect 20,343 signatures. Leaders declined to say how many signatures they have garnered so far but they are confident they will meet the deadline.

Darling, chairwoman of the Joint Finance Committee, strongly supports Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, a measure that strips union-represented public employees of their collective bargaining rights. He and the Republican majority in both houses of the Legislature say the move is critically needed to close the state budget deficit and give municipalities the tools to control their spending.

In addition to stripping public employees of their rights, the Walker legislation will have a devastating impact on public education, said Marshall.

“My third-grader is already in a class of 31,” Marshall said.

Darling is one of eight Republicans and eight Democrats who are the subject of recall efforts resulting from the brouhaha over the legislation.

Just three-and-a-half miles away from the recall headquarters, Darling supporters are working to fend off the challenge. They opened an office at 311 W. Silver Spring Drive, a former florist shop, Ziarletti fiori di Mari. Volunteers, including nearly a dozen Republican college students, have been staffing phone banks this weekend.

The Darling campaign would not allow Patch to interview those who were volunteering on her behalf.

However, Andrew Davis, Darling's campaign manager, did speak about the efforts to recall the senator.

“We believe we have an opportunity to stop this recall,” he said. “We are taking this very seriously and are trying to get our message out.”

The message is that the Republicans won the November election, winning not only the governor’s seat but also both houses of the Legislature. The Democrats had controlled all three before the election. The change of power was a message that the voters endorsed the Republican call for putting the state’s fiscal house in order and growing the economy, Davis said.

Keith Schmitz, a Shorewood activist supporting the recall, disagrees.

“The Republicans won the election based on a promise to create jobs,” Schmitz said. “They were not elected to enact every right-wing fantasy. This legislation has nothing to do with creating jobs. They never campaigned on end collective bargaining. It’s a blatant bait and switch.”

Laurie Wolf, the chairwoman of the North Shore Republicans, said phones at the Silver Spring Drive headquarters were ringing off the hooks.

“People are saying, ‘We can’t let this happen!’ ” Wolf said of the recall. “They are outraged by what the unions are doing. We won the election in November and now they want to undo it.”

Darling won a hard-fought race against Democrat Sheldon Wasserman in 2008.
Democrats point out that Darling won by about 1,000 votes. Davis, Darling’s campaign manager, said that even a narrow victory by a Republican in 2008 was impressive.

“She won despite the Obama Democratic tsunami,” Davis said. “Alberta is still the same Alberta who won that election. She hasn’t changed.”

Marshall, the Mequon mother turned activist, disputes that.

“She was a moderate,” Marshall said. “She was never all that popular with the conservatives in her party. She was on the board of Planned Parenthood at one time. She doesn’t talk about that anymore.”

Marshall accused Darling of making misleading statements when she said that the recall effort had hired college students to circulate petitions.

“I ran into her in the parking lot of TJ Maxx the other day,” Marshall said. “I told her that she wasn’t telling the truth about that. I challenged her to name one paid canvasser. She couldn’t do it. I told her to look at me – I am working on the recall. None of us are being paid.”  

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