There are several recall efforts already underway and they are organized by locals.

Every state has their "only the folks in this state know what they're doing" type of folks, but in WI, it's actually a real concern. The way the Gore campaign staffed WI with outsiders resulted in problems that reverberated for years. And as far as independent expenditure groups, there are plenty in WI that are funded decently and are already up and running and hiring. (They were anyway for the April elections. The application deadlines at that link have passed but the group just posted a bunch of job listings to several progressive job email lists I'm on, so they might be in the next phase of hiring.)

Existing recall efforts:

http://recallharsdorf.com (will be functional soon)

http://recallalbertadarling.org/

If you know of any others, please post below...

UPDATE: Think Progress on the recall petitions already circulating per the Democratic Party of Wisconsin



Today, a group of Wisconsin voters took the first step towards invoking this recall process. According to a Wisconsin Democratic Party e-mail that was obtained by ThinkProgress: This morning citizens from around the state took the first steps by filing recall papers against key Republican Senators who have stood with Scott Walker and pushed his partisan power grab that will strip thousands of middle class teachers, nurses, librarians and other workers of their right to collective bargaining. And we learned just last night that their disastrous budget that will cut millions from our schools and universities. . . . Make no mistake, these Republican Senators are vulnerable to recall for their radical partisan overreach. Senator Randy Hopper won his last election by just 184 votes. And Alberta Darling won her last race by only 1,007. By recalling just three of the eight Senators [Democrats] are targeting, [Democrats] can regain control of the Senate.

Under Wisconsin law, supporters of this recall effort now have 60 days to collect an amount of signatures “equal to at least 25% of the vote cast for the office of governor at the last election within the same district or territory as that of the officeholder being recalled.” The amount of signatures necessary to trigger a recall will vary from district to district, but will range from about 15,000 to 21,000 signatures per recalled senator.

And what you need to know about a recall:

UPDATE: Republicans on recall efforts...



according to The Hill newspaper, the GOP ATM machine in Washington will likely be tapped to help fund the Republican-sponsored recall effort. Republican State Leadership Committee President Chris Jankowski said his group will "do whatever it takes to protect our incumbents."

FYI, there are April elections for the WI State Supreme Court. This diary explains why that's important: http://www.dailykos.com/...!

SEIU is also going to help with a signature gathering effort. http://action.seiu.org/...

Official site for recall effort: http://www.recalltherepublican8.com/

The site has a form where you can sign up to gather signatures. The direct link is here . They are gathering signatures this weekend. Right now there's a focus on these six:* Randy Hopper* Dan Kapanke* Sheila Harsdorf* Alberta Darling* Robert Cowles* Luther Olsen

These are probably their top targets. The other 2 haven't been added to the volunteer form yet.

