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RECALL RALLY DRAWS TENS OF THOUSANDS TO CAPITOL
WPR News - Recall rally draws tens of thousands to Capitol
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Monday March 12, 2012
by Gilman Halsted
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(MADISON) Members coalition of state labor unions say they're optimistic about outsing Governor Scott Walker and four Republican state senators in recall elections. Tens of thousands of people gathered at the state Capitol this Saturday heard that message in both songs and speeches. Gilman Halsted reports.
Rally organizers say more than 60-thousand people turned out, and police estimated 35-thousand. People carried banners and signs bearing the initials of more than a dozen unions. From the podium, Ed Woodley, a first-grade teacher from La Crosse, accused Governor Walker of lying about budget cuts enacted a year ago that cut back public dollars for health care and pensions for public workers.
"I know that the people working around me, cooking the food, cleaning and repairing the building, driving our fire trucks, providing our police protection, tending to our water supply and making sure our food is safe to eat have always worked for that form of pay," he says. "It was not free. Stop the lie!"
But amidst the cheering union members carrying Recall Walker signs was a lone supporter of the governor, carrying a black sign that read, "Support Scott Walker, not union thugs." David Willoughby, a Milwaukee swim instructor and former U.S. Marine, held his sign as he begged to differ with the sentiment that surrounded him.
" Me, personally? I don't think there should be any pensions," he says. "No one is paying for my retirement plan. I put into my own. What makes them think that they're special and they should have other people pay for their retirement plan? No."
Willoughby says Governor Walker is a brave reformer, but his opinion was drowned out by everyone else at the rally who cheered the chorus of a song performed from the stage, "Wisconsin stands tall the day Scott Walker is recalled."
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