Darling Recall Supporters to File 30,000 Petition Signatures

The organizer of a group working to recall Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) confirmed it will file nearly 30,000 signatures Thursday, well over the little more than 20,000 the group needed to spark a recall election.

“It’s is an amazing day because we have reached 30,000 signatures,” Organizer Kristopher Rowe shouted to a large crowd of supporters.

Rowe confirmed the number of signatures on their recall petitions in the minutes leading up to the big announcement, the group had planned for noon in Kletzsch Park in Glendale.

Rowe and supporters will make the trip to Madison Thursday and submit the signatures to the state’s Government Accountability Board, the Madison-based state agency that oversees elections. The agency will have 31 days to review and verify the signatures on the petitions, which would mean that an election could be held in mid-July. However, a court challenge or other factors could delay the election.

Neither Darling nor her campaign manager could immediately be reached for comment.

Canvassers have been collecting recall signatures since March 3. The deadline for returning the signatures in is May 2, and 20,343 are required to force a recall election.

spoke at Thursday’s rally calling the 30,000 signatures highly significant and a decision on whether he or state would run against Darling for control of the 8th District, will be made in the next couple weeks. The district includes Menomonee Falls, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood and Fox Point.

“It will really just be sitting down and talking,” Wasserman said. "We have to take a good look at the district and make a decision."

Darling, a Republican Senator who has served on the Legislature for 21 years, was targeted because of her support for Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, a measure that eliminates many collective bargaining rights from state-employed workers.