Dominique Noth, Editor of the Milwaukee Labor Press, sends us this report: 
Glenn Grothman’s chief enemy seems to be his own big mouth. YouTube videos of the Senate GOP’s designated media spokesman are exposing in detail his demeaning attitudes toward working women, his ferocity against unions and his scorn at anyone who stops working to have babies.
A grandmother who does live in Grothman's district has made it her mission to make every woman hear the last minute of his Tea Party diatribe about working women. “Not a solitary woman will vote for him if they hear that,” she said.
More immediately, a deeply motivated recall effort has launched against him. However uphill the effort may be, its organizers are determined and their ranks are growing. On April 16, hundreds of the self-proclaimed SLOBS, picking up on a derogatory term Grothman used about his own constituents who oppose him, gathered for a rally in the heart of Grothman country, Grady Park in Saukville.
Only these SLOBS have flipped the meaning of the term. It now stands for Support of Labor Over Billionaires and it has made Grothman’s attitude the butt of more jokes. One speaker, state Sen. Chris Larson, noted with amusement that only in Grothman’s world “does free speech have a dress code.”
Another speaker, state AFL-CIO leader Stephanie Bloomingdale, charged up the crowds with calls not to allow Grothman to demean and demonize their working class roots.
With signs, trucks and the energy the stems from conviction, the rally used the speakers as a launch-pad for even more signatures, setting up canvassing, intersection signage and door to door signups.
The effort is not going on in isolation. Not only are recall campaigns at work against other GOP senators, and three have already succeeded, a surefire GOP Assembly district is under immediate attack.
On May 3 in a special Assembly District 60 election – one of three assembly districts nestled within Glen Grothman’s state senate district – a little known badly outnumbered Democratic candidate named Rick Aaron takes on an even lesser know opponent with a big advantage in this region, an R rather than a D after his name on the ballot.
The post is vacant and historically regarded as so secure GOP that Gov. Walker had no hesitation about tapping its occupant, Mark Gottlieb, to be his new transportation secretary, figuring that nothing bad could happen to the seat.
Though traditionally outnumbered 5 to 1 by Republicans in the district, Aaron emerged strongly from the Democratic primary and is now proving a pointed, prepared combatant on the issues that directly affect the district, which relies on private and public workers seeking fair treatment for the children and their seniors, issues that Aaron has emphasized.
He may also have a couple of special weapons. One is that he is hip-deep supporting something Walker hadn’t envision, that energized recall campaign against Grothman that is within shouting distance of rounding up enough signatures by May 2 to force the GOP mouthpiece to defend himself in a late summer election. Aaron’s speeches resonate with residents when he embraces the working people that Grothman called slobs and slackers.
Need we point out that every signature landed in Assembly 60 for the Grothman recall is also a pretty likely vote for Aaron? That makes this lazy special election something to watch.
Aaron has no illusions. The former teacher, musician, union member and now advocate for seniors is candid about how his race is even more an underdog battle than, say, someone with a hard-to-remember multi-syllabic name like Kloppenburg, who also came out of nowhere to scare the pants off the GOP.
Assembly 60 includes portions of Port Washington, Cedarburg, Grafton, Newburg, Trenton, and Saukville, a region the Republicans have taken for granted. The special election is Tuesday, May 3.
To volunteer for recall campaigns click here.
(Photos: All photos taken on 4/16/2011 in Saukville, WI. Photo Credit: Dominique Paul Noth)
