11/25/05: Effort aims to get referendums on troop withdrawal

Effort aims to get referendums on troop withdrawal

Ever since the United States invaded Iraq, Chuck Baynton has looked for ways to oppose the military mission - speaking out, joining marches, writing politicians.

Now, with the war raging on, the retired doctor from Whitefish Bay hopes to take his protest to a new level: voting.

"I feel very frustrated," said Baynton, who has joined a movement aimed at giving residents in several Wisconsin communities the chance to vote on whether U.S. troops should pull out of Iraq.

Petition drives are under way to hold troop withdrawal referendums in spring in Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, Shorewood, Whitefish Bay and more than 20 other communities throughout the state.

Subjecting the war to popular referendum is an idea that originated on the East Coast, but it has caught on in other parts of the country as casualties in the 2 1/2 -year-old war have continued to mount.

"Public attitudes about the war are changing pretty rapidly," said Steve Burns, who is working on a petition drive in Madison. "We've done all this work because we want the voters to have a say."

The Madison group is one of the first in Wisconsin to reach the needed threshold for a referendum, presenting the city clerk with more than 18,000 signatures calling for a troop-withdrawal measure on the April 4 ballot.

Under state law, any referendum question can be brought before voters in a community through a petition signed by at least 15% of the number of voters who turned out locally in the most recent election for governor.

But whether an issue of war or peace should be subjected to the whim of an election day turnout is no easy question.

"You cannot have John Q. Public running the military," said Ray Lawrence, commander of a VFW post in Algoma, another community where petitions have been filed for an April 4 referendum.

Like other supporters of U.S. policy in Iraq, Lawrence believes troops should remain there until President Bush's objectives of democratic reform are achieved.

Patty Reiman, chairman of the North Shore branch of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County, said that while she has no particular objection to holding a referendum, she would not vote to withdraw the troops.

"There's so many positive things happening in Iraq," she said. "I want to see us stay in there and get done."

Supporters of the petition drive say they harbor no illusions that passing ballot initiatives in Wisconsin would change U.S. foreign policy.

But the thinking is that if enough communities hold referendums and voters agree that the U.S. should pull out, members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation might turn against the war.

"We're saying to the politicians: 'It's OK to oppose this thing,' " said Keith Schmitz, who is leading the petition drive in Shorewood.

With 850 signatures needed to call a referendum in Shorewood, Schmitz estimated that he and his fellow volunteers have collected about 600.

The Whitefish Bay group reports having 675 signatures out of 1,000 needed, while Wauwatosa activists have collected 800 of 3,100 signatures needed.

Supporters have staked out shopping centers, walked door to door, and worked the crowds at other large gatherings in hopes of promoting the referendum movement. In some settings, the effort has caught the attention of some who support the war.

"We had a few people engage us in debate," said Michael Duffey, who is coordinating the Wauwatosa effort.

Once a petition drive is started, organizers have 60 days to collect the required number of signatures.

If the petitions are valid, local elected officials must either schedule a referendum or pass a resolution calling for U.S. troops to come home.

In Milwaukee, organizer Ruth Weill says volunteers have only 8,000 to 10,000 of an estimated 21,000 signatures that must be submitted to the city clerk's office by Tuesday.

Weill said that even if the effort falls short in Milwaukee, the signatures will be presented to the Milwaukee Common Council in hopes that aldermen will still consider a resolution calling for an end to the war.

Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. For more information about the referendum movement, go to www.wisconsintroopshome.org.