Once again the petitions are being signed for another recall election to take place. This recall, however, is the first to take place that is not in response to the events that took place here in Wisconsin back in February 2011. State Sen. Bob Jauch, a Democratic senator from Poplar, Wis., is under fire for opposing a mining bill that would have created the ability for a Florida mining company to mine in Ashland and Iron County. The mining company was speculated to have brought about 2,800 jobs to the area, according to the Superior Telegram.

The prospective loss of these jobs is the reason given by petitioners that Jauch should be recalled. While I have been in support of the recalls thus far, this particular recall seems to be lacking sufficient reasons for why it should take place.

This biggest problem I see in this effort to get Jauch recalled would be in the numbers. Republicans hold a majority in the Assembly and in the Senate; they obviously have the numbers in their favor to get any bill they want passed, and in the new hardline political Wisconsin we live in, controversial bills tend to get passed down party lines. Clearly, someone who is not a Democrat must have done the unthinkable, crossed party lines and voted “no” on this bill. Enter Sen. Dale Schultz.

Schultz, a Republican from Richland Center, voted “no” on the mining bill, which effectively ended its passage. Schultz, as reported by TMJ4, stated that he would be willing to vote for the bill, “as long as it doesn’t contain an onerous contested case provision and these environmental changes without a thorough robust and transparent discussion that I think all of us need to listen to.” As one can see, Schultz merely wants the people in charge of this decision to sit down and have a discussion on the best way to handle this issue, an idea I am inclined to agree with.

Another reason why this recall could be considered a sham would fall on its organizer, Shirl LaBarre. LaBarre held early on in her recall campaign that she would neither go door-to-door nor stand on a street corner to collect signatures. Instead, she had decided that creating a Facebook page is good enough to get the word out, telling the Superior Telegram, “You can have a luncheon with 25 people and maybe they’ll tell an additional 25 people, but one message on Facebook can reach thousands of people.”

This to me seems like a lazy way to collect signatures, since posting your name on Facebook doesn’t count in quite the same way as a signature on a petition. Now, in LaBarre’s defense, she did recently begin to hold rallies for her recall effort.

For the individuals who opposed this bill, one of their main reasons is that it did not protect the environment to their satisfaction. I think in this whole process people forget that this is a bill that would affect all of Wisconsin, not just the people in Iron and Ashland County. This is a bill that would make it easier for mining companies to ignore the environment while they strip the land of its natural beauty and resources.

The individuals involved in recalling Jauch need to look into this issue more than anything else and ask themselves if they are willing to let Wisconsin’s wetlands become Wisconsin’s wastelands.

Jared Mehre ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in political science.