Even those who barely follow politics couldn’t avoid seeing
Wisconsin constantly in the news last year. It started with
Governor Scott Walker’s much-needed Budget Repair Bill, which
curbed bargaining rights for many public-sector employees. A state
Supreme Court race (considered a referendum on Walker’s bill) and
state Senate recall elections followed. But despite tens of
millions of dollars and hours of drum beating (literally-by
protesters), the public sector unions failed on all three counts to
gain the upper hand in Wisconsin.
But give them credit for trying yet again in 2012, as it appears
an actual recall of Gov. Walker will take place. The implications
of that election reach far beyond Madison: If Walker loses, it will
have a chilling effect on much-needed reform. Either other
responsible governors and state legislatures will address the
massive burden of public-sector salaries and pensions, or they
won’t. Wisconsin continues to be ground zero in the battle between
the right and the left over the proper role and size of
government.
Tim Dake, leader of the Wisconsin Tea Party group Grandsons of
Liberty, is well acquainted with the excitement. His introduction
to the Tea Party movement was actually somewhat humorous: “My wife
and I attended the 2009 Tax Day protest in Madison, Wisconsin,
fully expecting to get arrested—that was the first event in which
we got involved. We attended a few more around Wisconsin after that
but were surprised that none took place in Milwaukee,” Tim told me.
“We decided that as the state’s largest city, Milwaukee needed to
host an event, so in late July we got four people together and
began planning for a Constitution Day rally. We drew between 10 and
15 thousand people to the lakefront in what is still the state’s
largest rally.” But afterward, Tim realized that Wisconsin needed
more than just sign-waving. “We were looking to create change and
not just protest. That change means legislative and electoral
change.” So he helped organize a conference of likeminded groups
that created a legislative agenda—a wish list that eventually grew
to about three dozen items.
And then the drama hit. “We knew that the union fight would be
messy. In anticipation of their dis-pleasure with Walker’s agenda,
we secured the permit for April’s Tax Day in the week following the
No-vember 2010 election. So we saw the reaction coming, but not the
timing, with the union protests in February and March of 2011,” Tim
said. “As a group, Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty worked with the
other groups (and American Majority) statewide on the ‘I Stand With
Walker’ rally.” But that was just the start of the Tea Party’s
efforts. Within days, Tea Party leaders began collecting signatures
to recall three Democratic state senators who abdicated their
responsibilities and fled the state in hopes of denying Republicans
a quorum. And it just kept going. “We set up a PAC to raise funds
for the recalls of the Democrats. We ran radio and television ads
for not just the recalls but also for GOTV [get out the vote] for
the April elections. We worked on the recount for Wisconsin Supreme
Court Justice David Prosser,” Tim said.
Despite a hectic 2011, the movement is not backing down in 2012.
When the public sector unions claimed to have collected more than a
million signatures to recall Walker (roughly twice the number
needed to trigger a vote), Tim and others decided they weren’t
going to simply sit back and take it. “In response to the unions’
and Democrats’ efforts to derail the Walker agenda through the
recalls, we created, in partnership with another Wisconsin group
and a Texas group, the Verify the Recall online effort,” Tim told
me. “This project was created to provide citizens a method of
participating in the recall process and to ensure clean
elections.…We no longer trust government agencies to carry out
their tasks without bias.” Using the project’s website, people
working from their own homes can enter petition signatures into a
database that checks their validity.
More than 12,000 people signed up to participate as of February.
“Conservatives believe that protecting Walker translates into
protecting the conservative agenda and movement,” Tim said. “Lose
Walker and his momentum, and the unions and socialism reign
supreme; protect Walker, and treat it as a public mandate to forge
ahead.”
When I asked what he thought about the Tea Party movement, Tim
said, “The movement is in a precarious transition state presently,
nationally and in Wisconsin. It is under pressure from the GOP, the
media and some national organizations. The GOP was both impressed
with the ability of the Tea Party movement to exert pressure
successfully in 2010, and it was concerned because of the choice of
some candidates that were not in line with the GOP message and were
therefore ‘rogue,’ and because of the ability of the movement to
‘go its own way.’” He added, “Since the 2010 elections, two key
developments have changed the relationship between the Tea Party
and the GOP: attempts by local groups to ‘take over’ their county
GOP chapters—either amicably or hostilely—and counter-attempts by
the GOP to co-opt the local groups. A showdown is inevitable.”
To make matters worse, as Tim relates, “Some national
organizations have begun to exercise more influence over the local
groups through funding, providing speakers and candidates, and
through con-tractual efforts. Consolidation for the purpose of
securing funding and electoral victories in 2012 is driving the
competition between these organizations. The local groups are
getting caught in the crossfire and being pushed to take a
side.”
Of course the national media is doing the movement no favors by
all but cheering for its demise. “The media is looking for a
guarantee from the Tea Party of the same electoral success as in
2010. If this is not promised, the media writes that the Tea Party
is dying or is already dead. If the success is not delivered, then
the same pronouncement will be made. This is causing some to think
that their groups have to justify their existence by focusing on
the elections,” Tim said. “The lack of an acceptable conservative
presidential candidate appears to be, in the eyes of the media, a
reflection on the strength of the Tea Party and is therefore a
failure of the Tea Party and yet another harbinger of the
movement’s demise. In Wisconsin, several groups, ours included,
have written off the presidential race to focus on the
all-important open U.S. Senate seat and the ongoing recall
efforts.”
Because of Tim and others like him, the Tea Party movement in
Wisconsin is robust. It’s moved from simply rallying, to doing
legitimate political work that will bring real change. As more and
more Tea Party leaders head in that direction, the movement will
continue to evolve. But one thing is clear: Tea Parties will have
an impact for years to come.
