Devin Remiker Purchases DPW Chair, The Establishment Sighs in Relief

Devin Remiker

I was never much impressed with Ben Wikler.  He was from Wisconsin, or so I'm told, but left the state in 2010 when the going got tough with Scott Walker's assault on the working class to take a job in Washington, D.C.  He then fled Washington about the time the Orange Shitgibbon won his first election.  He then bamboozled everybody in the Democratic Party of Wisconsin with a lot of flash to get elected.

But now with the election of the Rancid Kumquat and big races coming up next year, Wikler got the old itch to get going before the going got tough and decided he was done as DPW Chair.  Now, don't get me wrong. Wikler proved himself to be one helluva fundraiser.  He brought in laudible amounts of cash.  But he didn't know what to do after that. 

Under Wikler's lead, Democrats lost one statewide seat, failed to oust Ron Johnson, failed to oust Drunken Van Orden (twice), and alienated many union people. He did his best work when he gave out the ton of money he raised and then got the hell out of the way.

But when Wikler announced his intent to not run again, three people put their hats in the ring.

Two of them, Devin Remiker and Joe Zepecki, were consummate establishment men and neither were going to rock the boat, much less fire people up.  When the race looked too close to call, Wikler broke yet another promise.  Instead of remaining neutral as he said he would, he endorsed his right hand man, Remiker

Then during the state convention this past weekend, Remiker borrowed a page from Wikler's playbook by dazzling the crowd with a nonconventional menu:

Yeah, nothing says Wisconsin like escargot.  Where's the brats? Where's the deep fried cheese curds?  

But one thing really caught my eye.  After successfully buying the chairmanship, Remiker said this:

Remiker told press following his acceptance speech Democrats need to work on messaging that connects with voters and winning back the union organizers and working class. 

“I think we have to show up everywhere year round,” Remiker said. “I think for some folks there’s trust we have to rebuild to show that Democrats are the party that’s going to fight for the working class.” 

He said he would focus on a smooth transition by connecting with grassroots party members and then starting work on capturing energy for next year’s elections. 

Remiker did not say how much he spent on his campaign to lead the state party, just that he “spent enough to win,” and that it was “certainly not” more than $100,000. 

Admitting that you have a problem is a good first step.  But it is a problem you can't bribe your way through.

Stay tuned because there's more.  There's always more.