DownWithTyranny!: Wisconsin Recall Voting Starts Tuesday With Fake Primaries

The first phase of voting in the Wisconsin recalls comes Tuesday... yes, this Tuesday, July 12. These will be the primaries the GOP forced by running fake candidates. A good example is in the Green Bay area where Democrat Nancy Nusbaum should be facing off against right-wing Republican incumbent Robert Cowles of Allouez. Instead the GOP has managed to insert former state Assemblyman Otto Junkermann, a Republican, onto the Democratic primary ballot. If Junkermann wins the primary, he admits he'll drop out of the race and give Cowles a free ride. The GOP did this in all six districts where Democrats are trying to replace Walker stooges. The other Republicans running in Democratic primaries are Gladys Huber opposing Sandy Pasch, Issax Weix opposing Shelly Moore, Rol Church opposing Fred Clarke, John Buckstaff, opposing Jessica King and James Smith opposing Jennifer Shilling.

The following week, July 19, voters in three districts held by Democratic senators will vote, one general and two primaries. On August 9 the general elections in the first six races, where Democrats are challenging Republicans, will be held and a week later, August 16, the remaining 2 general elections take place. It's a mess that few voters understand-- which is exactly what the GOP was counting on when they did everything in their power to make it a mess.

In all, there are 6 Republican tools of Scott Walker with enough petition signatures to be recalled and there are also three Democrats with the requisite number of signatures. Neither of the two most hated politicians in Wisconsin are on the ballot, not Governor Scott Walker nor Congressman Paul Ryan. But, as you can see from these brand new videos from Sandy Pasch's campaign (the one up top and this one below), the Walker/Ryan essence is exactly what these elections are all about. Sen. Alberta Darling is an especially vehement supporter of both Walker and Ryan.

August 9 is d-day, though-- the day many Wisconsin voters will decide if their state is going to continue down a fascistic path or turn around and embrace democracy again. Blue America has a page dedicated to that day and our six progressive candidates will need all the help they can get between now and... 30 days from now. Even a $5 or $10 contribution, aggregated with lots of other $5 and $10 contributions, could make the difference. And then we'll deal with Scott Walker and with Paul Ryan after that, Walker with a January recall effort and Ryan when we replace him in November 2012 with Rob Zerban.

UPDATE: More GOP Dirty Tricks

Greg Sargent also covered the Wisconsin recalls today. In his Washington Post column he pointed out that "allies of Wisconsin Republicans are growing so desperate that they’re resorting to sleazy dirty tricks in their last-ditch bid to help the GOP hang on to the state senate." He also pointed out that Republicans are allowed to vote in Democratic primaries and are expected to turn out on Tuesday and vote for the fake candidates.

Allies of one of the top GOP targets in the recalls, state senator Randy Hopper, are circulating flyers in his district trying to get out the vote for the fake Dem in the Democratic primary against his Dem opponent.

You can view the flyer, which was found and passed along by We Are Wisconsin, right here. It urges voters to go out to the polls to vote for one John Buckstaff against the real Democrat, Oshkosh deputy mayor Jessica King, a strong candidate against the vulnerable Hopper.

The flyer is the work of a group that calls itself “Patriot Advisors,” which is registered as an opponent of the real Dem, Jessica King, and an ally of the fake Dem candidate, John Buckstaff, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board tells me.

Buckstaff, even though he’s running in a Dem primary, is an 81 year old Republican and donor to ... GOP state senator Randy Hopper.

And here’s the real rub-- the flyer is geared towards getting Republican voters to go out and vote in the Dem primary. It does this by claiming that real Dem Jessica King is a union stooge and that Buckstaff will “roll up his sleeves and work with Governor Walker to eliminate special privileges for government unions.” This, in a Dem primary!

For Wisconsin GOP allies, this takes tampering in Dem primaries to a whole new level.