MADISON - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is appealing to out-of-state donors to keep Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate.

Last week, news outlet Newsmax talked to Walker in Florida about his plans to raise money nationwide for a new endeavor from the Wisconsin Republican Party called Frontline Wisconsin, which aims to support Wisconsin's eight GOP state senators who face recall efforts.

Sixteen state senators - eight Democrats and eight Republicans - face potential recall elections as part of the fallout from the political battle over Walker's collective bargaining changes and public union reform measures.

Walker did not previously talk to local media about his plans to seek out-of-state for money for state senators.

In an interview Monday with Wisconsin Reporter, Walker relayed concerns of national union money influencing Wisconsin politics.

The governor reiterated that point Tuesday when he said, "I've said you've got big, government union money coming in from Washington and, I think, grass-roots activists coming in from across the state and across the country."

Brad Courtney, chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, said the governor was drumming up national support to help maintain the voice of Wisconsin voters.

"He's not going to turn his back on the people of Wisconsin," Courtney said in reference to Walker. "Special interests and big union money are being spent trying to redo an election. We have a majority in the state Senate, and we're just trying to defend ourselves."

Telephone calls and emails to the Wisconsin Democratic Party were not returned Tuesday.

Courtney said he did not know what kind of travel Walker would do to support Frontline Wisconsin.

Two recall campaigns already have collected signatures - one to recall state Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse, and the other to recall state Sen. Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac. The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board is checking the validity of the signatures on the recall petitions.

The Democratic Party contributed two-thirds of the $58,000 received by the two campaigns, with about $23,000 going to a relatively new political action committee that is attempting to recall Republican senators.

The state is experiencing an unprecedented wave of recall petitions because of the partisan battle over collective bargaining and union organization.

During the past few months, Walker and most Republicans have backed legislation that would limit collective bargaining with public employee unions to wages up to inflation and require most state employees to contribute a greater portion of their paychecks to their pensions and health care. Police and firefighters at the state and local levels would be exempt from the changes.

Thousands of union workers protested at the state Capitol and 14 Senate Democrats left Wisconsin for three weeks in order to stall action on the legislation. After initially waiting for them to return, GOP lawmakers attempted to pass the proposal without their out-of-state colleagues.

But the legislation took another twist last month, when Dane County Court Judge Maryanne Sumi halted the implementation of Walker-backed legislation because of an allegation that top Republicans did not provide enough public notice of a committee meeting. The judge has ordered both sides to produce legal arguments next month.