WDH: Galloway Will Defend Her Record

WDH

Proponents of a recall election against state Sen. Pam Galloway, R-Wausau, have 60 days to gather at least 15,647 signatures to force an election.

Nancy Tabaka-Stencil, a Rib Mountain resident named as the petitioner on documents filed with state election officials, said the effort was spurred by Galloway’s support for proposals of Gov. Scott Walker, including the controversial law limiting public employees’ collective bargaining abilities.

“Really, to pick a single issue (that encouraged a recall effort) is hard,” Tabaka-Stencil said. “Their actions have hit a lot of people hard.”
Galloway, who worked as a surgeon specializing in breast cancer before running for election, said today that the recall is “inappropriate” because she hasn’t done anything illegal. She expects to face an election and said she plans to defend her record, including the changes to public employees’ collective bargaining authority in Wisconsin Act 10.

“I have done exactly what I said I would do when I campaigned,” Galloway said. “My commitment was clearly prioritizing the needs of the taxpayers. That’s what I’ve done, either through Act 10 or balancing the budget without tax increases.”

The effort to recall Galloway and two other Republican state senators began today, piggybacking on a recall attempt against Walker. Galloway said she expects Walker’s own efforts to prevent or win a recall election, including television ads already airing in Wisconsin, will benefit her.

In central Wisconsin, volunteers will gather signatures supporting recall elections against both the governor and Galloway, Tabaka-Stencil said.

Republicans held onto a one-member majority in the Senate though Democrats gained two seats in the fall recall elections.

Galloway is perhaps best known for leading the push to pass legislation allowing Wisconsin residents to carry concealed weapons, but Tabaka-Stencil said that proposal alone would not have prompted a recall election.

“If concealed carry was the only issue I had with Senator Galloway, I would not be recalling her for that alone,” she said.

State Sens. Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls and Van Wanggaard of Racine also were targeted for recalls. All of the recall efforts are backed by the state Democratic Party.

The petitions were filed electronically shortly after midnight Tuesday, the same time as paperwork was submitted to recall Walker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Press Release: In defense of Senator Galloway’s review of medical excuses

In defense of Senator Galloway’s review of medical excuses

2/22/2011
Contact: Evan Nehring, Republican Party Marathon County PR Chair, rpmc.wi.pr@gmail.com
February 22, 2010 (Wausau, WI) –

Marathon County Democrats have criticized Senator Pam Galloway’s review of on-street medical excuses given at recent Madison protests, saying this review is unfounded and unnecessarily accusatory. We find that the photographic and video evidence online raises serious concerns.

The Atlantic reported Monday a conversation with the head of Wisconsin’s Center for Bioethics:

After viewing the videos at my request last night, Dr. Arthur Derse called me up exclaiming, “Holy mackerel! It’s much worse than it looked in the paper. I’m stunned, absolutely stunned.” Dr. Derse is the Director of Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “When all’s said and done, it’s really the profession of medicine that has the black eye in this case,” he says.

There is no question these doctors are masking political opinion in the white coat of the medical profession, Dr. Derse believes. “The videos are pretty damning.”

It’s sad, but what puzzles me most is how in the world three of the four physicians I can identify from these videos and other media reports are faculty members of UW’s Family Medicine department, and one is a senior resident in that same department. It’s a good training program, committed to providing sorely-needed primary care doctors to the state of Wisconsin. It teaches professionalism, and its faculty are supposed to model integrity. What were they thinking?

They’ve managed to belittle a public trust between physicians, employers and patients. A doctor’s sick note is a serious document. It represents an employer’s desire to verify through a respected, independent, medically qualified third party the fact of an illness and the true need for convalescence. In the videos now circulating online, we witness multiple members of a noted family medicine department trash one of the well-recognized rights and privileges of their profession, with little forethought as to the consequences.

If Director Derse holds this incident worthy of review, we believe Senator Galloway’s simple request to have the situation looked at is the only responsible position.

Both supporters and opponents of Governor Walker’s budget repair bill clearly recognize the significance of the legislation. We are asking that its passage or failure to pass be guided by our constitutional and legal guidelines.