Both Simac and Hunt insist that they came up with the idea to form the committees independently and that the groups are not part of a coordinated effort from national Tea Party advocates. "It came from our own noggins," Simac says.

The recall effort would require that the committees collect over 15,000 to 20,000 signatures, according to the organizers, which they say won't be a problem. "I've been bombarded by phone calls from people asking what we can do," Simac says. "Everybody is really angry. We want to let our Senator know that he needs to be so kind as to come back to work. That is what he is getting paid for."

Simac says she runs a horse riding camp in the summer and will probably have to cancel the first week because schools will extend their end date to make up for missed days this week. "These three days have cost me $15,000 personally," she says, adding that she has no sympathy for those protesting the loss of public employee benefits and collective bargainning rights. "The unions have gotten way too big for their britches," she says.

That refrain is echoed by Hunt, who complains teachers in the Kenosha school district have bloated salaries and benefits. "We can't go on like this," he says. "What is being proposed is really quite reasonable. Most people in the state support it."