Save Wisconsin: A Journal of Tea Party Patriots' Activities

Week 1: Tea Party Patriots from around the country joined local tea party groups and other local and national liberty organizations in Wisconsin last week. Our message is simple: it is time for senseless recalls in Wisconsin to end. 

Joined by patriots from Seattle to Miami, Los Angles to Philadelphia, last Saturday I settled into home base Wisconsin for the next three weeks with Wisconsin State Coordinator Mike Hintze and TPP Support Staff Coordinator Linda Parker a team of volunteers coordinators. We began organizing our efforts for door-to-door neighborhood walks to talk to voters about the recall and its effect on representative democracy. We began in Milwaukee, Brookfield and New Berlin.

Sunday, the first shift of volunteers flew into Milwaukee and Monday morning at 9:00 am we began our first round of door to door walking. On Monday and Tuesday, volunteers completed walking lists for Brookfield and New Berlin, we got our system down, and routines began to firm up.  In the first three days, thirty out-of-state volunteers knocked on 1,200 doors. 

By Wednesday afternoon, we had finished walking in those two areas and were ready to deploy our volunteers into Racine and Watertown, two of the four state senate districts where State Senators are being recalled. We also had a shift change in volunteers and had to say good-bye to several of the people who  walked the first few days. One of those volunteers would have stayed longer but had only 72 hours notice before heading to Wisconsin to get back to work. Another said she was using vacation time to help in Wisconsin. She was torn between staying longer and holding the vacation time until later in the year. We decided she should hold onto the vacation time because we may need volunteers to assist again in the weeks leading up to November’s Election Day.

A young man from Georgia named Justice was due to return home last Wednesday, but chose to stay through the end of our walking rather than leaving after the first shift. He is volunteering on a campaign for State Legislative candidate Trey Kelley. Trey understands the need for volunteers in Wisconsin right now and told Justice to stay.

After completing door walking in Brookfield and New Berlin, we shifted to Watertown and Racine. So far, we have knocked on approximately 3,000 more doors in these areas. Pam Wohlschlegel, Tea Party Patriots Florida State Coordinator and  Diana Reimer, Pennsylvania State Coordinator are manning the fort in Watertown while Karen Bracken from Chattanooga Tea Party in Tennessee and Amy Brighton from Medina Tea Party Patriots in Ohio are keeping the Racine Coordinator Center running.

On Friday in Watertown, I spoke with several Wisconsinites. One voter did not like the current office holders but he still thought they are supposed to serve their full term. We are finding that regardless of how a person feels about the candidates, four out of five voters want the recalls to end; they are tired of the constant campaigning and elections. After more than two years of campaigning, can you blame them? We elect representatives and elections have consequences. There are plenty of people elected who I do not like or agree with but they have been duly elected and have a term to serve.  I have the opportunity to vote them out at the end of their term. 

If these recalls succeed, where will they end?  Will the Democrats then recall more Republicans in Wisconsin? Will the GOP retaliate and recall Democrats?  Will recall threats spread to other parts of our country? Will we as citizens allow special interest to twist recalls into yet another political scare tactic?  I am thrilled to hear voters in Wisconsin are also concerned about these questions and do not want this chaos to spread. 

Check back tomorrow as I report on what motivates our volunteers to help, where we’ll be next, and the not so surprising trends we’re seeing. If you are interested in joining us in Wisconsin to go door-to-door or if you can make phone calls into Wisconsin from your home, sign up at TeaPartyPatriots.org/Wisconsin.