After Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill to limit
collective bargaining for many public unions, efforts are afoot
to recall 16 state senators – eight from each party – by the
summer. A recall drive of unprecedented scale is underway, with
32 efforts targeting 16 state senators involved in the three-
week budget standoff between Senate Republicans and Democrats.
In the 103 years since Oregon first adopted the recall process,
only 13 state legislators have been recalled nationwide. The
campaigns – against eight Republicans and eight Democrats – have
been infused with money and energy from outside the state,
making the movement “a national event” that could drive momentum
for similar efforts in other states, says Joshua Spivak, an
expert on recall history at the Hugh Carey Institute for
Government Reform in New York. IN PICTURES: Wisconsin Capitol
protests Others agree that the Wisconsin recall drive is unique
in American history. “In Wisconsin, nothing like this has ever
happened; in terms of the US, noth