CRG recalling Doyle? Not exactly

Understandably, there was some confusion today over just what Citizens for a Republican Governor (former Citizens for Responsible Government) were announcing in a top line Journal Sentinel story.

The headline said: Recall group aims to grow, take on Doyle

Nowhere in the story does it say CRG wants to recall Doyle. But it doesn't say much of anything about its plans for Doyle, except the headline, where putting "recall" and "Doyle" in such close proximity may have made it seem that way.

That was enough to confuse the Associated Press, which sent this story on its radio wire:

UNDATED (AP) - A conservative group that claims credit for forcing a number of county executives across Wisconsin to step down, is hoping to parlay their success into a recall effort of Governor Doyle.

The conservative group is called Citizens for Responsible Government. It's forced Pewaukee Mayor Jeff Nowak to step down, and it's been trying to get Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz (shihz-LEH-vich) to do the same.

Now C-R-G is hoping to extend its pitch for fiscally conservative policies by organizing a recall of Governor Doyle.

The group is facing an uphill battle. The group expects it will need a least a (m) million dollars to organize a recall effort, but it has less than five-thousand dollars right now.

C-R-G executive member Orville Seymer says he's frustrated that there has been little action on a proposal to limit state and local tax revenue.

A later AP story didn't mention the recall:

Populist group hopes to build statewide base

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Citizens for Responsible Government, a populist group that has been involved in a number of local campaigns during the last few years, plans to begin a large-scale membership and affiliate drive after the holiday season, its executive administrator says.

Chris Kliesmet told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the CRG network aims to have "boots on the ground" in all 72 of Wisconsin's counties and raise a war chest of $1 million from a membership base of 10,000 people.

"We've had so much focus on issues locally," he said. "At some point in time, you have to make a strategic decision to stop fighting brush fires and look to build a dam upstream."

He said the organization now has a couple thousand people as members, but there is no dues-paying process and no statewide database of CRG supporters. The Journal Sentinel said the most recent campaign finance reports show the network has $4,863 in its bank account.

et cetera