Gov urges GOP to take recalls seriously

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and other Republican leaders urged party members at their annual convention Saturday to take seriously the threat of losing control of the state Senate through recall elections.

Six Republicans and three Democrats are targeted for recalls starting as early as July 12. Democrats need to pick up three seats to take control of the Senate from Republicans. If that happened, the Republican agenda would come to a grinding halt in the Statehouse, where Democrats currently are unable to stop Walker's proposals from passing.

Walker, speaking to about 1,000 Republicans at a Wisconsin Dells resort, said the only thing that could stop the GOP's momentum in the state are the recall elections.

"For the next two months, you shouldn't think about any United States Senate seat, you should think about protecting six brave senators and picking up three others," Walker said.

All nine of the senators were targeted for recalls because of positions they took earlier this year on Walker's proposal taking away most collective bargaining rights from public workers. The Republicans voted for it, while the Democrats fled to Illinois for three weeks in an ultimately vain attempt to stop it from passing.

The law is tied up in the courts and has not taken effect yet.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said he thinks Republicans will actually pick up a seat through the recalls, but he also extolled the party faithful to not take them lightly. He said the recalls have made the state Senate the bulls-eye of a national political battle.

"The other side is already measuring the drapes," he said.

Members of the state's Republican congressional delegation also said they were focused on the recalls.

U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner said Republicans must stay on message in order to sustain the wins they made last year. Republicans won control of the Senate, as well as the state Assembly and the governor's office, last year.

"We need to be prepared, we need to stay on focus and we need to stay on message," Sensenbrenner said.

Walker defended his proposal, saying it will improve public education by allowing high-performing younger teachers to be rewarded rather than have to abide by terms of contracts that reward seniority. His proposal takes away nearly all collective bargaining rights from teachers and most other public workers, while also forcing them to pay more for health care and pension benefits which equate to an 8 percent pay cut on average.

The protesters, as well as the fleeing Democrats, were frequent targets of derision at the convention.

"It's been a long time since I've been around this many people who weren't chanting and yelling, sometimes at me," Fitzgerald said. "And I also got to tell you, you all smell a lot better too."