24 Wisconsin communties vote against Iraq war

My home state of Wisconsin lived up to its historical antiwar reputation when 24 communities reputiated the neocons war in Iraq.

That number includes cities as big as Madison and small as Exeland in the Indianhead region where I live. Granted it only represents 325,000 people out of a state of 5.3 million and the vote totals in many places were very close, hardly overwhelming sentiment either way. It clearly shows how divided the country is. If a place like Madison is against the war then there are many in Milwaukee that would support a pullout. If small towns like Frederic, Amery and Exeland are opposed to the war then other would be too (especially where I live because it was once a stronghold of the old Progressive Party). And likewise if a Republican, religious conservative stronghold like Watertown is still in strong support of the war then so are many other communities like it, although in some GOP communities, like those in Door County, the vote totals were again, close and Sturgeon Bay voted decsively to pull out.

This was a big win for the Green Party and hopefully it will show other third parties in the state where they can make their impact through this referendum process on a whole host of issues. I hope more take advantage of it.

Here's the story on last night's vote from the Wisconsin State Journal (www.madison.com)

---Sean Scallon


24 communities want troops brought home now; 8 are opposed
By GEORGE HESSELBERG

Wisconsin communities Tuesday sent a message through blunt referendums that they want American troops brought home from Iraq immediately.

From the tiny northern village of Exeland to Madison, voters tapped a seldom-used referendum opportunity to consider a version of the question: Should the United States bring the troops home now.

Madison served up the largest yes vote, and Watertown the largest no vote.

The effect of the referendums, which drew national and international media attention but carry no official status, depends on which side is answering the question.

The "Bring the Troops Home Now" side was jubilant Tuesday night, celebrating an organizing effort and promotion buttressed by the state and national Green Party and from the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

Packed shoulder-to-shoulder in Hawk's, a State Street bar, supporters noisily cheered a buoyant Janet Parker as she stood on a chair to shout the returns from several small northern communities with double-digit voter turnouts.

"What counts is seeing a democracy in action," said Parker, "and many of these returns are in communities where Bush won in 2004."

Opponents, such as the "Vote No to Cut and Run" group based in Madison, said a referendum is a poor way to determine policy and that a call to bring the troops home immediately is bad for morale both on the homefront and the battlefront.

Of the early returns, Bill Richardson, a leader of the Vote No group, said, "This is a fraction of a fraction of the public, a very small sample."

The group hosted a more subdued gathering at the Esquire Club, where Richardson sipped a beer and said the referendum victories "don't mean much. . . . It's the agenda of the Green Party wanting to embarrass the president."

Parker noted, however, that the referendum victories reflect recent national polls showing a growing disenchantment with the war and the president.

The Bring the Troops Home Now organizers countered accusations of being manipulated by a national agenda by pointing to the grass-roots efforts necessary under a seldom-used law to get the referendum on ballots. But they also agreed they want the Wisconsin results to feed a national movement to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

Steve Burns, a director of the WNPJ and leader of the Bring the Troops Home Now group, traced the state's anti-war referendum organizing effort to June 2005 and the hope to emulate anti-war campaigns in the state of Vermont.

"We sat here in this cramped (State Street) office and wondered if we could do that here, and with our loose connections, we decided to go out and test the waters," he said.

The communities with ballots represent 325,000 of Wisconsin's 5.3 million residents.

The variations in the wording of the referendums cover mostly timing. "Now" and "immediate" were the keys, though several of the questions extend the direction to "begin withdrawing . . . and continue steady withdrawals" and "begin an orderly and rapid withdrawal . . ."

At least 51 state service memBers have died in Iraq, three in Afghanistan. More than 18,000 Wisconsin troops, active duty and reserves, have served or are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Richardson also worried that victories for the anti-war referendums might be misinterpreted, since spring election turnouts are historically small, and a referendum passed may not mean a mandate delivered.

Scholars generally applauded the process, if not the product, of the unique state referendum, noting it put the public on the ground floor of a policy debate and sent a direct message from voters to elected representatives.

In a unique case of dueling loyalties, voters in Evansville narrowly approved an anti-war referendum, 444 yes to 425 no, and by an even smaller margin turned down a proclamation supporting the president by 397 no to 386 yes.

The question will live on in future elections, as Ozaukee County and the city of Milwaukee have anti-war referendums on the November ballot, and organizers have promised to add to the list.