Sunday, December 11, 2011

54-year-old Stoughton Man Cited For Disorderly Conduct Over Recall Walker Volunteer Confrontation In Madison

Recall Walker volunteers collected signatures on Friday near W. Cleveland Ave. and S. 43rd Street in Milwaukee. Volunteers throughout 42 counties are about 1/3 away from collecting 540,000 signatures to force a recall election.

Photo: HNG

Madsion police cited Walker supporter after dispute with Recall Walker volunteer outside Woodman's.

By H. Nelson Goodson
December 11, 2011

Madison - On Thursday, Earl A. Gluth, 54, of Stoughton was cited by Madison police for disorderly conduct over a confrontation with a 41-year-old woman volunteering for the Recall Walker campaign. The police report states, Gluth confronted three recall Walker volunteers near a sidewalk outside on the east side of Woodman's store and began to get pictures of them while collecting signatures. He commented to the 41-year-old woman that he was going to post the photos on a website. Gluth then went to where the volunteer's had their vehicles parked and began to take photos of their license plates and said, he would find out where they lived.
The woman took out her cell phone and was about to take a photo of Gluth, but he swung his hand around knocking both her phone and recall signature petition clip board to the ground.
Her cell phone was reported broken, but she managed to recover the damaged back part of the cell.
She followed Gluth into Woodman's and Gluth could be seen in a store surveillance video inside pointing his finger at the woman and saying something.
Gluth alleged and told the investigating officer that the woman had hit his eye with the cell phone and had injured it. The officer stated, that he "inspected the man’s eye and found it looked just like his other eye, not overly bloodshot, no evidence it had been touched," according to the police report.
Two other Recall Walker male volunteer's ages 62 and 64 were also questioned by the officer. Their statements collaborated the woman's description of what had happened.
The officer decided to arrest and cite Gluth.
Democrats involved in the recall confirmed, that they're about 1/3 away (180,000 signatures) from collecting the minimum of the required 540,000 signatures to force a recall election against Republican Governor Scott Walker before the January 17 dateline. They collected 300,000 signatures in just 12 days in 42 counties in Wisconsin, which 1,000 signatures were gathered per hour, according to organizers.
In an e-mail last week, the Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate stated, the Recall Walker effort needs to raise $150,000 by next week or the recall won't happen and some of the 42 recall offices around the state would have to shut down due to operational over costs. Most likely, some recall offices might close, but the recall effort will continue, according to volunteers. The Wisconsin GOP says, it's Tate's tactic for the Democrats to raise funding.
In an unrelated incident,  Jeffrey G. Karnitz, 30, was charged on Thursday with one felony count for election fraud in Washington County. He is accused of defacing or scribbling off signatures from several recall Walker petitions on December 4. Karnitz faces at least 18 months in jail, two years supervision and up to $10,000 in fines, if convicted.
In another recent recall Walker incident, Mary Jean Dezurik, 68, of Thorp was arrested in Chippewa Falls after she stopped in an area where recall Walker volunteers were collecting signatures. On December 2, she got out of her vehicle and grabbed a Recall Walker petition and ripped it, according to Chippewa Falls Police. The petitions might have been blanked.
John Kidd, one of the recall Walker volunteer's who witnessed the incident told WEAU dot com, that an officer shortly after stopped Dezurik and told her, if she admitted to ripping the petition, no charges would be filed. Dezurik refused to admit it and was then arrested. She faces a felony charge with a penalty of three years in prison and $10,000 in fines, if convicted.
The case is pending and Dezurik has yet to be charged in that incident.

Anyone wanting to sign a recall Walker petition can visit any of the southeast indoor offices from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at:

  • 1370 S. 74th Street, Suite 106, West Allis
  • 1027 S. 5th Street, Milwaukee
  • 7984 W. Appleton Ave., Milwaukee
  • 312 W. Broadway, Waukesha
  • 5535 6th Ave., Kenosha
  • 2100 Layard Ave., Racine
  • 616 Droster Ave., Burlington

For other offices in the state or down load a recall Walker petition go to link: http://ow.ly/7uvZn

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