Scott Fitzgerald Requests Citizen Assistance in Ensuring He Is Legally Recalled

Open Letters from Sarah Niemann Hammer, Julie Wells and John Clark

Republican Senate Majority leader Scott Fitzgerald was so shocked to find himself the victim of an outrageously successful recall effort that he leaped at the earliest opportunity to make the public petition records "extra" public by posting a searchable pdf of the signatures on his campaign website. He calls on citizens to "verify" that their names are "not on the signature list" to recall him and asks that they contact his staff (by emailing contact@votefitzgerald.com) if they are.

This generous request presents an opportunity for the 20,000+ citizens in Senate District 13 to verify that their names do, indeed, appear on the recall petitions that were submitted to the GAB and to thank the good Senator for providing this public opportunity to ensure that he is lawfully recalled.

One such citizen, a recall organizer who has already been the target of harassment and attacks of vandalism, took advantage of this opportunity to thank Senator Fitzgerald:

Dear Senator Fitzgerald and staff,

I appreciate that like other Republican Senators facing recall you have posted a searchable pdf on your website so that people can "verify" if their name is on the petition.

I'm sure you would like to know that sincerely hardworking citizens such as myself are less than amused that you've chosen to take time and resources to make this public record information "extra" public by making it searchable.

Being the recipient of 4 flat tires during the recall efforts did not deter me from working tirelessly to successfully expose who you truly are; that is a senator who does not have the interests of his constituents in his best interest, and this "scare tactic" will not deter the more than 20,000 concerned citizens of SD-13 who signed your recall petition and feel as I do.

Perhaps instead of wasting tax payers resources, such as the more than $18,000 in per diems you used for food and gas to travel an hour to and from work last year, you could use your remaining time in office to finally put the interest of the people in your senate district above the interests of yourself, for once.

Yes, I signed AND circulated petitions to recall Senator Scott Fitzgerald,

 Sarah Niemann Hammer

And this one from Julie Wells, the woman who filed the papers with the Government Accountability Board to recall Scott Walker, who happens to also be a constituent of Senate District 13:

Dear Senator Fitz, 

I want to thank you for the opportunity to be sure my signature is still on the petition I signed to recall you. I would have liked it a lot better however, had you listened to the concern of these voters and redacted the addresses. As you know there are a lot of people in this state who do not see anything wrong with harassment and intimidation of other people who do not agree with them. I hope none of them take it a step further and actually harm anyone. I circulated petitions and had more than one person concerned that they could lose their job if their boss found out. Did you think about the battered women living in shelters for fear they may be killed if found? I think not. I would have felt more trusting of you had you chosen not to put the addresses online. Your supporters could verify that their name is not on the petition without the address. Did you do this as a way to intimidate? One can only wonder. This just proves that you still do not think about ALL the people you were elected to represent, only those that blindly follow you. I have already received my first intimidating email about the recall. I will be forwarding all that I receive to you so that you might get the true picture of what life is like on the outside. Thank you for reinforcing my reasons and my desire to recall you!

- Julie Wells

This letter comes from another SD13 resident, who thanks the Senator for helping the recall effort by posting this volunteer database and doing all the data entry work (I'm wondering myself if this shouldn't earn the Senator one of the coveted "I HELPED RECALL FITZ" buttons):

Dear Senator Scott Fitzgerald,

Thank you Senator Fitzgerald for posting a searchable data base on recall petitions. You just saved the wonderful volunteers who along with myself, worked so hard to recall you, a lot of work in our own data base, to help find more volunteers to work in the election campaign against you. 

I was also concerned for myself that in all the hard work, that I may have forgotten to sign. Now I see that I did indeed sign the petition to recall you, so I thank you again. I also was so happy to see a couple of my friends that are swing voters had also signed the petition, this made me even more confident that the recall effort will succeed. 

Senator Fitzgerald, your attack on the hard working people of Wisconsin and misrepresentation of the constituents of Senate Distract 13 is heading in the right direction, your Recall.  Senator Fitzgerald your pink slip is coming.

Sincerely,
John Clark

Thanks to Sarah, Julie and John for sharing their wonderfully open letters! Readers in the other senate districts might also consider taking the opportunity to verify that their names are being counted in the petitions:

• In Senate District 21, you can check the petitions here and send your thanks to Van Wanggaard here or call (262) 930-6503.
• In Senate District 29, you can check the petitions here and send your thanks Pam Galloway here or call (715) 305-4331. 
• The website of Senate District 23 incumbent Terry Moulton seems to be stuck in some kind of fundraising-only phase, but you can send your thoughts to the Senator at Sen.Moulton@legis.wisconsin.gov.
• And, again, those in Senate District 13 can find their names in the petitions here and send their thanks to Scott Fitzgerald here or by calling (608) 257-8035.