December 6, 2011 The Walkerly Reader Edition Three
- A Little Chequamegon Bay Newsletter (send news for Edition Four to Mary Rehwald by December 11) By our next Edition, we will have a larger readership.) An informal update from the Chequamegon Bay Committee to Recall Walker.
This newsletter has now become a blog directed to people who live in Ashland and Bayfield Counties, so you can check it out any time you want online at our blog at http://walkerlyreader.blogspot.com. On the blog you can sign up to have each post emailed directly to your email box. Please consider sharing the blog posts on your Facebook or Twitter page and/or sending the link to someone else.
Please volunteer for this Saturday’s Dec 10 blitz in Ashland!
There will be an Ashland Citywide Recall Signature Blitz this Saturday. Volunteer a few hours and make a big difference to the recall effort!
When: Saturday, December 10, 2011
Where:Ashland Recall Office, 316 W. Main St, Ashland, Wisconsin
When: Saturday, December 10, 2011
Where:Ashland Recall Office, 316 W. Main St, Ashland, Wisconsin
What: We’ll be knocking on pre-screened doors in Ashland to ask people to sign the recall petitions.
Bring a clipboard.
We'll meet in the Ashland Recall Office at 9 and noon for a brief training and then take to the sidewalk. Special guest Rep. Janet Bewley will be joining us at the 9 am session.
Please RSVP so we have enough hot chocolate and maps for you, and feel free to forward the invite to your friends. Call the office at 715 817 6567 or sign up on Facebook - it's an event on the Chequamegon Bay Recall Facebook group's page. Wendy Kloiber (715-682-5097) is coordinating this effort. Many thanks to Wendy! This blitz will be as successful as Washburn’s was last week.
The Score…4377 and still counting….
This past Friday was a great day for us. - we actually met the full campaign goal for Ashland and Bayfield Counties of 3500 on December 2 – those signatures came in after just18 days, so we averaged 194 signatures per day, and we are still bringing in close to those averages. Then on Decembere 6 (today) our total moved 450 more signatures up to a total of 4377 petitions for Governor Walker! Yes, fans, that’s another 450 signatures in just 3 days. Are we rocking or what? (We don’t have the total for Rebecca Kleifisch)The number of signatures surged over the past week, due in part to all of your various good efforts. especially the door-to-door Washburn effort that generated 220 signatures alone. EVERY SIGNATURE COUNTS. CARRY THOSE CLIPBOARDS UNDER YOUR ARMS WHEREVER YOU GO, AND IF YOU WEAR THE RECALL WALKER: ASK ME HOW BUTTON, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO FILL UP YOUR PETITION SHEETS DAY AFTER DAY. WE HAVE JUST OVER 30 DAYS LEFT TO TURN IN ALL YOUR PETITIONS. (We would like them returned to the Office by January 6, so we can add them up and send our last mailing to the Madison office on January 10 before the January 17 statewide deadline.
This past Friday was a great day for us. - we actually met the full campaign goal for Ashland and Bayfield Counties of 3500 on December 2 – those signatures came in after just18 days, so we averaged 194 signatures per day, and we are still bringing in close to those averages. Then on Decembere 6 (today) our total moved 450 more signatures up to a total of 4377 petitions for Governor Walker! Yes, fans, that’s another 450 signatures in just 3 days. Are we rocking or what? (We don’t have the total for Rebecca Kleifisch)The number of signatures surged over the past week, due in part to all of your various good efforts. especially the door-to-door Washburn effort that generated 220 signatures alone. EVERY SIGNATURE COUNTS. CARRY THOSE CLIPBOARDS UNDER YOUR ARMS WHEREVER YOU GO, AND IF YOU WEAR THE RECALL WALKER: ASK ME HOW BUTTON, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO FILL UP YOUR PETITION SHEETS DAY AFTER DAY. WE HAVE JUST OVER 30 DAYS LEFT TO TURN IN ALL YOUR PETITIONS. (We would like them returned to the Office by January 6, so we can add them up and send our last mailing to the Madison office on January 10 before the January 17 statewide deadline.
Robert Arquette, our Bayfield County Coordinator, is challenging us to reach a goal of 6,000 signatures for Ashland and Bayfield Counties. Can we make it? I know we’ll get the bronze or silver from the look of things right now, but, hey, LET’S GO FOR THE GOLD!!! So the next announcement is a big one, too.
What’s Working…
The Washburn blitz last Saturday was a door-to-door success. Here is a report from Colleen Geisen who was the lead organizer:
“Hi. All in all we gathered about 220 signatures today! I turned in 189 today and the rest will be turned in my individuals later that were still working the doors (including mine). Thanks for the voter id info. Deb. There were some handed out. And Becky was going to mail someone a copy that requested some info. and she didn't have any left. So, it was helpful. The extras of everything is in a box for Wendy at the Ashland office. Wendy Kloiber and I talked today and she knows all the details from the day and has the list of what to work with, what went well etc. Many many people had already signed in Washburn today, few said no, but politely for the most part. One angry phone call tonight at my home, (but I hung up). We had about 28 volunteers and great comraderie today! I'm glad we did it. It seems like it was a lot of work for 220 signatures, but I think it's just cool to have done everything in Washburn and to know we covered the city well!
Other things that have been working (send your stories to mary.rehwald@gmail.com and she will put them in next week’s Walkerly Reader): Jim Oakley switches from the Post Office to the Library. Jo Bailey and her team have frequented the Post Office steps. Mary Rehwald recommends carrying your petition wherever you go and asking people you pass on the street – daily successes, including one doctor’s visit where she captured 10 in the waiting room. The Washburn door-to-door Blitz on December 3 was very successful – 220 signatures were collected by a hardy group of 28 volunteers. And thank you so much to everyone patiently waiting with big signs at town dumps, in front of stores, gas stations, and grocery stores.
We have a new Office Coordinator! Kathy Tenney has stepped forward to be our new Office Coordinator. Here is her message: “Hi folks, here is a description of what my role in the office has evolved into. As many of the roles/cross over roles are, mine is not typical of what one might think an office coordinator does. Mine has evolved as to what’s needed as we go along, what I can and can't do. I set the office up spatially and created work stations bringing in tables and chairs from my studio. I'm there at least six days a week from around noon to 5 or later as needed. I know how to and do many of the tasks. Others tasks I don't do at all. I delegate them to others who do know how and want to do them. Sounds chaotic and sometimes it is, but all in all it works very well, and things run smoothly. I work well and enjoy an environment with dynamics such as we have. Folks step up and things are getting done, cooperatively, carefully, thoughtfully and timely. Volunteers coming in for the first time are given special and patient attention. We still need someone as a volunteer coordinator. I'm thinking this role could work well if a group of folks took it on together. Mary has gathered and is creating lists of people who want to help and the list is long. So we need someone or a small group to take on this task ASAP. Please step up. The task is too much for me, Mary, Kaeleen, or the few others who are have taken on roles. So again, please step up if you can. Call Mary Rehwald if you want to do this (715-682-4662). Were a little over half way done and we are doing great, the numbers are better than expected and the volunteers are highly motivated to keep it up until Jan 6 when all petitions must be back in the office. We mail the final ones out from Ashland January 10. I really look forward to meeting those of you if I haven't already. What a great group of folks we all are.
Onward and upward,
Respectfully, Kathy Tenney” (office # 715-817-6567)
Onward and upward,
Respectfully, Kathy Tenney” (office # 715-817-6567)
5. Fundraising!
We are seeking donations to keep our office open through the Recall Election. Are there 20 of you out there that can commit $35 a month until the election takes place? This would pay for our $700/month expenses to keep it open. Two have stepped forward – ir there are others, please call the office and let them know. We currently have just over $1,000 in our account and have the office rent paid through January 11.
We are seeking donations to keep our office open through the Recall Election. Are there 20 of you out there that can commit $35 a month until the election takes place? This would pay for our $700/month expenses to keep it open. Two have stepped forward – ir there are others, please call the office and let them know. We currently have just over $1,000 in our account and have the office rent paid through January 11.
We encourage people to contribute to our efforts – this is a grassroots effort, and expenses for supplies add up quickly. We have set up a fundraising donation can in the Office. Anyone who donates $10 or more should tell us your address. If you donate more than $100, we will need to know other information. Call the Office (715-817-6567) for requirements. Checks should be made payable to the Chequamegon Bay Committee to Recall Walker. Our mailing address is: Walker Recall Office, 316 W. Main St., Ashland, WI 54806 THANK YOU CONTRIBUTORS. Every dollar counts. Every vote counts.
Images, poetic justice & stories Including the poem “Was the Night Before Recall”)
Here’s an image for you to enjoy and think about. Does anyone want to organize something like that up here? Share your ideas with Kaeleen Ringberg, our Regional Director (715-817-6567).
“Was the Night Before Recall”
by Steven P. Senski
‘Twas the night before Recall, and all through the state
Of Wisconsin were voters who scarcely could wait
The papers were Xeroxed and readied with care
In fond hopes of the signatures soon to be there
The children were slumbering, home safely from schools
Which were gutted and cut by Republican “tools“
With our “Recall Scott Walker” sign sunk in our lawn
My wife and I planned to arise with the dawn
And set out, door to door, to those neighbors we knew
Who were just as disgusted at Scooter and Crew
When down from the street there arose such a blast
I thought, Lord, what new hell has the GOP passed?
The November air, once so chilly and quiet
Was filled with excitement; could it be a riot?
A storm, it was breaking; not one from the sky
But a groundswell that rose with a hue and a cry
When what to my wondering eye appear’d thence
But a figure in black from a century hence
He marched with a fist raised in manner defiant
While his workers upon ev’ry word were reliant
“On Wausau! On Oshkosh! On Point and Milwaukee!
On Kenosha and Ashland! Yes, you too, Pewaukee!
To each office and home, till you reach one and all.
Now sign away, sign away, sign to Recall!”
They came from their neighborhoods, came from their jobs,
They came, though reviled as thugs and as slobs
They came from Menasha, Monona and Merrill
They came, for they knew that their state was in peril
There were Waukesha folk, not a lot, it was plain
But they worked with resolve like their county was Dane
Now who was their leader, this fiery speaker
Who roused them when they should grow sullen or weaker?
His clothes were familiar, his stance, it was steel’d
But the night kept his features being revealed
I awaited the point when mayhap we would meet
As he solemnly marched up my once-sleepy street
Then…a turn! Now a streetlamp! Epiphany in light!
And we saw Bob La Follette returned for the fight!
This was no fragile ghost, but substantial in power
That grew from his minions, was fed by the hour
And at last I could see, and with joy understand
That the Progressive Spirit returned to our land
Then our gaze finally met, dear old Bob’s and my own
And for one beat in time, we were two souls alone
He gave me a smile, I returned it in kind
Though one living, one not, we were of the same mind
As I saw tears a-forming from tired old lids
I held my wife close, and we thought of our kids
For this task to be done wasn’t for here and now
But for those to come after, so they would see how
We must always be wary and watchful and wise
For greed and corruption takes any disguise
And when given the chance, shapes the world to its wishes
But Wisconsin’s not open to those avaricious
Bob La Follette, he knew it, and now we do too
Though the task is historic, we must see it through
Then Bob gave me a nod, and the night closed around
As he slipped from my view, making nary a sound
But I heard him exclaim as he marched out of sight,
“Happy Recall to all! Never give up the fight!”
Steven P. Senski
This week’s Walkerly Reader contains information gathered by Mary Rehwald.
Fact! 14,000 Ashland and Bayfield County voters voted in the 2008 Obama election - 68% voted Democrat. Those numbers dropped about 24% in 2010.
And finally, new circulators can be trained at the Office during our regular hours, 9 to 7 (M-F) and 10 to 6 (Sat/Sun).
And finally, new circulators can be trained at the Office during our regular hours, 9 to 7 (M-F) and 10 to 6 (Sat/Sun).
