recall Archives

Wisconsin's New Aristocracy Is on the Ballot

By ACRU Staff|2012-04-27T09:21:45-04:00April 27th, 2012|

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Public Policy (CCPP) Peter Ferrara was published April 26, 2012 on Forbes.com.

Our Founding Fathers carefully eliminated in American law every special legal privilege of the old aristocracies of Europe. They strongly favored instead equality under the law, later enshrined in the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, which means not equality of result, but that everyone plays by the same rules.

A recall election for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is scheduled for June 5. But on the ballot that day will effectively be whether we should […]

Texas Hold 'Em Unfolds in El Paso

By ACRU Staff|2011-10-02T23:17:20-04:00October 2nd, 2011|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published October 3, 2011 in The Washington Times.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue spoke for many politicians on Tuesday when she suggested suspending congressional elections for two years to give the politicians a free hand without voter input.

“You want people who don’t worry about the next election,” Mrs. Perdue, a Democrat elected in 2008, said to a Rotary Club gathering. Although a tape of the speech reveals that she made the statement in a serious manner, she later insisted she had been joking.

But the insularity of elected officials is […]

Wisconsin Showdown

By ACRU Staff|2011-02-23T09:45:51-05:00February 23rd, 2011|

This column by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara was published February 23, 2011 on The American Spectator website .

Nationwide, state and local government workers are paid on average 45% more than private sector workers, with an average hourly wage of $26.25, and $13.56 in hourly costs for benefits, for total hourly costs of $39.81, or $80,000 per year on average. This is true in Wisconsin as well. Indeed, the Manhattan Institute’s E.J. McMahon reports that for public school teachers in Milwaukee, the annual cost of family health coverage is $26,844, for which the teachers currently pay nothing.

Yet, state and local government workers are […]

Time to Recall AWOL Lawmakers

By ACRU Staff|2011-02-22T16:41:05-05:00February 22nd, 2011|

This column by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara was published February 22, 2011 on FoxNews.com.

Newly elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has moved expeditiously to propose legislation to close the state’s $3.6 billion budget deficit. But that legislation languishes in the state legislature because the Democrat minority in the state Senate has fled Wisconsin, depriving the Senate of a quorum to conduct business.

Wisconsin held an election in November, and the voters granted the Republicans a 19-14 Senate majority. But under the state Senate rules, a quorum of 20 is needed to conduct business. By refusing to even participate in Senate […]

Recall Sheriff Dupnik

By ACRU Staff|2011-01-17T11:03:24-05:00January 17th, 2011|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published January 14, 2011 on The Washington Times website.

A lot of people are wondering what to do about Clarence Dupnik, sheriff of Pima County, Ariz. He’s the left-wing lawman who shot off his mouth and blamed everyone to the right of President Obama for the Jan. 8 massacre in Tucson. Last April, he boasted that he would not enforce S.B. 1070, the state’s immigration enforcement law, which he called “racist,” “stupid” and “disgusting.” In September, he accused Tea Party members of being bigots.

Name-calling is one thing. More seriously, Sheriff […]

Reckless Congress Makes Case for Recall

By ACRU Staff|2010-12-20T10:41:01-05:00December 20th, 2010|

ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight wrote this column appearing December 17, 2010 on The Washington Times website.

If ever a Congress epitomized the need for more accountability, it’s the 111th lame-duck gang. Sorry, that’s unfair to gangsters. With most Americans distracted by holiday plans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, has sprung another Christmas surprise, vowing to ram through a far-left agenda in the waning days of 2010. Last year, he put a giant lump of coal in Americans’ stockings with Christmas Eve passage of Obamacare.

This year, he has tried to force through a pork-loaded $1.1 trillion spendathon, […]

New Jersey Supreme Court Rules State Constitution's Recall Law Unconstitutional

By ACRU Staff|2010-11-19T16:27:10-05:00November 19th, 2010|

ACRU will file amicus brief when case involving effort to recall Sen. Robert Menendez is appealed to U.S. Supreme Court.

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled 4-2 on Thursday that a provision in the state Constitution providing for recall of all elected officials, including Congressmen and U.S. Senators, was unconstitutional, overruling a unanimous lower court decision..

“This decision sets up a perfect test case over whether we the people in America will enjoy the freedom to maintain the continuous democratic accountability provided by recall, which is now essential to maintaining a functioning democracy in our country,” said American Civil Rights Union General Counsel Peter Ferrara, […]

NPR: All PC Things Considered

By ACRU Staff|2010-10-25T19:21:05-04:00October 25th, 2010|

ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell wrote this column appearing October 22, 2010, on the World Magazine website.

National Public Radio is a monument to political correctness. Its acronym might better be thought of as “not professionally responsible.” It is not a left-leaning organization. The Leaning Tower of Pisa leans. NPR has fallen over completely for the “progressive” agenda. It is supine. Horizontal. And the actions of NPR president Vivian Schiller in firing Juan Williams are just the most public example of NPR’s bias.

Juan Williams has done more than any other journalist to chronicle the history of the civil rights movement, to show the […]

ACLU Outrage: Illinois Recall Proposal "Unconstitutional"

By ACRU Staff|2010-10-23T16:02:50-04:00October 23rd, 2010|

By ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight

Buckling under constituent heat to deal with corruption exemplified by the multiple-count indictment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), Illinois legislators gave final approval on Oct. 15 to put a recall of governors law on the November 2 ballot.

The ACLU is rattling its sword, warning that the measure would lead to expensive litigation, which is the ACLU’s standard way of pressuring public officials without even filing a lawsuit. Illinois ACLU Legal Director Harvey Grossman suggested the legislature start over with a new draft, according to the Associated Press. The recall law is expected to pass, however.

Recalling Senator Kent Conrad

By ACRU Staff|2010-10-20T19:33:08-04:00October 20th, 2010|

Tea Party organizers in North Dakota go to court today in their attempted recall of four-term Sen. Kent Conrad. Oral arguments were heard this morning in the North Dakota Supreme Court in the case of RecallND v. Jaegar arising out of the refusal by North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaegar to begin the recall process upon the proper filing by The Committee to Recall Senator Conrad. The Committee is seeking a court order to allow the recall process to proceed.

The issue of recall of United States Senators is now before two state Supreme Courts, as oral argument was heard in May before the New […]

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