Recalling the last 60 days...reflections from Ryan Wherley

 

Recalling Walker...

the Proudest 59 Days of My Life

by Ryan Wherley

Ryan posted this reflection as a facebook note. Republished here with his permission.

I just returned from the Dane County West Recall Office in Madison after submitting the last of my signatures. Although my door-to-door canvassing yielded no additional tallies this evening, I tried my hand at phonebanking and collected my final two signatures by contacting a friendly couple  and driving with petitions in hand to meet them at their house. After weeks of nice weather, the icy roads and plunging temperatures were a shock to my system.  Nevertheless, meeting and speaking with so many politically engaged indivduals made my final night a satisfying one.  Although I collected far fewer signatures than what I had initially hoped to gather, my final total submitted was 138 signatures to RECALL WALKER AND KLEEFISCH!!

This has been an exhilarating experience from start to finish, full of memories that will stay with me forever.  Taking off the Recall Walker Volunteer lanyard for the final time turned out to be suprisingly bittersweet for me, after expending so much time and energy devoted to the cause.  Thank you to all of my friends and family from around the country (and some in foreign lands) who have expressed their love, encouragement and support for what I've been doing over the past 59 days.  That positive response has kept me going, whether I've known you my entire life, only met you through Facebook groups or merely received a Democra-beep as you drove on by.  A big shout out to Erin Warner for helping me collect 20 sigs outside of the Willy St. Co-op on a cold November night, and to Rose Sime and the Middleton Action Team for providing me with locations to canvass during the final push, after my avenues had been exhausted and my signature tally had ground to a screeching halt.

 I am freakin' pumped for next Tuesday, when the Committee to Recall Walker turns in their vast quantity of petitions to the Government Accountability Board, officially triggering the RECALL OF SCOTT WALKER!! My guess is that we have over 750,000 signatures, but regardless, I am extraordinarily proud of my fellow Badgers...let's hope for a huge number on that historic day!  Finally, I can sit back and wait for all of the inevitable legal challenges to run their course.  But no matter how many attempts the Republicans make to slow this freight train down (and we all know how much Scotty LOVES trains) the movement is not going away...we're only gaining momentum.

An election campaign is imminent (only question is who will rise up to defeat our tyrant?) and Walker's days as Governor of Wisconsin are winding down.  I look forward to the next phase of this battle, and all of the challenges and excitement it will provide.  For the moment, I need to rest...after all, there's a big ass celebration to attend at the Monona Terrace on Tuesday evening!  Solidarity Wisconsin...FORWARD!!!

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