I was happy to hear the good news that the "New Berlin United for Strong Schools" failed to gather enough signatures to force a recall election. My friend Matt Weiss and his fellow school board members Jennifer Eitel, Tim Cramer and Donna Rathsack should be proud of themselves as well as their volunteers who spared New Berlin this unnecessary attempt to overturn the last election's results.
I am, however, a little disturbed to hear Gerianne Prom, an organizer for the petition drive, state that the organization will not make the recall petitions public. Furthermore, if I were a signatory to the recall petition, I would be furious to hear another organizer, Kim Acheson, state that the petitions would be used as a "database" for next Spring's elections. If the reports in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel are correct, signatories have a right to be upset and they should demand accountability from the petition organizers.
A signatory to a petition of recall is clearly stating they wish their preference for a recall to be publicly known to the targeted public official. A phantom number of signatories without names and addresses attached will carry as little weight with a public official as an anonymous e-mail sent from out of state. But a petition with the signatures capable of verification by the general public will not only have more of an impact on the target of the petition, but on the signatory's fellow citizens as well.
Furthermore, petition organizers have a responsibility to the public at large to assure them of organizers' intentions by offering the petitions for public inspection even if the effort falls short. It is only in this manner can the public see for itself the methods used to gather the signatures and the validity of the organizers' claims.
Finally, the organizers made no claims ahead of the signature gathering that the lists created would be used for future political activity. The signatories thought they were signing a petition to have a recall election, not to join a political database and telemarketing list for some shadowy group of left-wing activists to use as they please.
The organizers of the recall efforts should renounce any effort to use the petitions for political purposes other than their original purpose. Furthermore, they should make the lists public so the people of New Berlin can see how "New Berlin United for Strong Schools" gathered the signatures and whether the organizers claims can be trusted.
Failing to do so should call into question the motivations of "New Berlin United for Strong Schools" and whether they really believed in their stated cause or if they were just hoping to add to Democrat Party databases and telemarketing lists.
