A Few Notes Now That the Recall Dust Is Settling

Looking back on the last few weeks it's been fun to meet and talk with lots of people, the good, the bad and the ugly.  Most were pleasant.  Many thanked me and my companions for what we were doing.  One young man is going directly to heaven for bringing me a hot chocolate when I was freezing to death!  Many people asked if they could sign more than once, most knowing they could not.
Two people asked me who Walker was.
One woman asked me what all this was about.  She was elderly and walked with a cane.  I told her it was about the Walker recall and she said very indignantly "Oh!!  I don't need a walker!" and stomped off before I got a chance to clarify what I meant.
One man took pictures of us and our vehicles and said, "This is so you'll know where to send the bill when I trash your stuff."  We called the police and they said they were going to issue him a warning.  Luckily one of us had the presence of mind to take his picture and a picture of his vehicle and the police would have no trouble contacting him.
On Wednesday I collected signatures at Potowatomie.  Other people had gone there too and were treated well by the casino as long as we stayed on the sidewalk.  The woman I met there did very well and I did OK too.  We left about 3pm.
I was walking back to my car when a man came up to me (as I was trying to get my recall signs off) and said "Can I ask you a question?"  I said, "Sure."  He said, "How much are they paying you!"  When I said nothing he said well everyone of you is getting $8 and hour.  I said I didn't know anyone who was getting any money at all.  Then he said I suppose you approve of Governor Doyle's handling of the economy.  I said I didn't know much about Doyle and he told me Doyle ran up the state's debts into the trillions and went off muttering how we were a bunch of f..ers.  I never got a chance to state my views but I guess that's par for the course for talk radio aficionados.  Of course he said the teachers are all getting paid $100,000 a year after I said I was a teacher; and that's when I heard that we are all a bunch of  f...ers.
The woman with whom I was collecting saw me and gave me a ride back to my car.  I vented and we laughed.  We both realized that we would really miss collecting as that had been our focus since November 15th and hoped that we would continue the friendships started because of the recall effort.
I had a dream in November that we got over 1,000,000 signatures.  I don't know yet if this is true but am hoping it is!  At least many more people are becoming aware of important issues and how we all can get involved and make a positive difference to our social and physical environment.
I'll be partying on January 17th when the recall numbers are announced!  Kudos to all of you who worked so hard to make this happen!!

Darling Recall Note

Hi everyone,

Just a note on the Darling Recall. My son and I were collecting signatures in Mequon when we were accosted by a dog-walking man who challenged us verbally leaning over us and yelling in a threatening manner. He was yelling about who pays taxes and would we want them to move out of state just because the taxes were raised. He also made the point that charter and catholic schools were a better and viable option to the public schools. I said "We respectfully disagree." and moved on. I told my son this man's stance was interesting. I had done my student teaching at Pius, a school he specifically mentioned as being superior to public schools. A math contest that year was distributed to supposedly all catholic schools and only catholic schools. The one PUBLIC school the contest was mistakenly distributed to WON the contest to the chagrin and embarrassment of the catholic schools. I hope all goes well with you! HAPPY NEW YEAR and may the best recall candidate win!

Esther

Esther is a 94 year old, totally with it woman, whom I called on a phone quest for Lazich signature recalls.  This was before Lazich's disastrous town hall meetings where she insisted that the Capitol Chaos phrase was correct (FOX NEWS)  and that the Walker Administration was NOT trashing education.  Having been in the Capitol and seeing the considerate behavior of all there, chaos was the antithesis of the term I would use.  Lazich poo-pooed the idea that her administration trashed education.  What do you call promoting charter schools over public schools and eliminating over 800 million dollars from the school budget?
Esther said she very much wanted to sign the recall petition but whispering ("We don't talk about money or politics here.")  I met her in the Walgreen's parking lot ("..if her car would start...") and she told me she was happy to sign as she would not be able to live where she did were it not for her husband's union!
Even though we lost that battle. Esther is a great example of what we can do if we try!
I admire her and it's partly for her and especially for all of us who respect democracy to fight on!

I'm hoping you will all share your recall stories here!  I've been a part of the good, the bad and the truly ugly!