FLASHBACK: No Arrests, Outrage Over Destruction of Holperin Recall Papers

Original Post: Media Trackers

By Collin Roth

In the wake of the overwhelming outrage over a West Bend man’s destruction of a recall petition, it might be useful to consider the behavior of pro-union activists in Merill, Wisconsin that defaced and tore up a petition to recall Democratic State Senator Jim Holperin. A video produced by those gathering signatures distinctly shows a ripped petition with “F*** You” written across the paper. According to recall organizer Kim Simac, those gathering recall signnatures were surrounded by a group of pro-union activists when the incident occurred. In the aftermath, activists can be heard on a bullhorn continuing their now familiar refrain of “This is what democracy looks like!”



In this particular case, Merill Police Chief Seubert explained the situation to WSAW in Wausau:

He says officers were in the area, but investigating other complaints before they were even made aware of the ripping of the petitions.

“We know they prevented or made it very difficult for people to obtain the signatures however I only had five officers as well and to try to break up this group would have been impossible for us,” Chief Seubert said.

He added that there was no violence that any of his officers witnessed, just boisterous and perhaps intimidating people.

As for the female suspect accused of writing profanity on the petition while ripping it, is being pursued by police.

“It’s property. It’s someone’s property so at the very least it’s destruction of property. We are checking to see what violation of election laws might be involved here,” he said. According to recall organizer Kim Simac, the local District Attorney would not press charges in this case.

Too bad liberal group One Wisconsin Now wasn’t offering their $10,000 reward for to “combat recall petition attacks” when this incident occurred.