Boss Abele Pulls Some (Purse)Strings For Torhorst

Apparently realizing that Dan Abele Adams is a lost cause, Boss Abele has decided to focus on trying to salvage the race for his other hand-picked candidate, Tia Torhorst.

Like Adams, Torhorst has been caught repeatedly misrepresenting herself to the voters and needed a boost.
So Boss Abele pulled some purse strings for his aide and got former US Senator Herb Kohl to give a generic endorsement for Torhorst.

At first, I was surprised at the endorsement.  Kohl is not one to often give endorsements and when he does, it's usually just for a big race, such as a statewide race or a federal race.

But it started to make sense when I realized that Abele and Kohl have a tight relationship because of the Milwaukee Bucks and the plutocratic dream of a new arena for the lackluster team.  Cementing the relationship even further is the fact that John Zapfel, who currently Abele's Deputy Chief of Staff, was a former legislative aide to Kohl.

There's a few strings for Abele to pull to get Kohl to say something nice about Torhorst.

The laugh line about this though is the reaction that Abele got when he gushed over the news on Facebook:

Notice the box with the names of the people that liked it.  Those are all either Abele's people, most of them his employees.  It's like Boss Abele is demanding the same kind of loyalty that Scott Walker requires from his people.

Fortunately, the good people of Assembly District 10 have a candidate that will represent them and not Abele.  Please make sure to get out the vote on Tuesday in support of David Bowen.

Endorsement: David Bowen For Assembly District 10!

Award winning reporter Dominiqe Paul Noth has done a fairly comprehensive analysis of the Democratic primary for Assembly District 10.  While the gentle reader really should read Noth's column, I would offer my take on this race, which, for all practical purposes, is going to determent the next state representative for this district.

This race is unique due to the fact that while it is a Democratic primary, it shows three factions that exist in the party and opens the debate to which would best serve the constituents.  This race also has some serious dynamics that will surely come into play in these final four weeks before the primary.

David Bowen

The first candidate, and the one that I am supporting, is Milwaukee County Supervisor David Bowen.  Bowen's supervisor district overlaps part of AD 10, so Bowen has already a good understanding of some of the issues that are important to the people living in the district.  Furthermore, Bowen has already been acting in the best interest of the people in the district.

Bowen has picked up where his predecessor, Eyon Biddle, left off and has been an active supporter of the Ready to Work Program, which has already helped many unemployed people gain the skills they needed and have landed jobs that average a family supporting wage of $15 per hour. Likewise, Bowen has been the leader on the passage of the living wage ordinance in Milwaukee County.

Bowen has been spoken highly and supported by US. Representative Gwen Moore and State Representative Evan Goyke.  Most significantly, he has been endorsed by Representative Sandy Pasch, who is the current representative of that district.

The next candidate is Bria Grant.  Grant is the education privatization candidate and is being propped up by sell out Senator Lena Taylor, who's probably looking for one more payout from the education profiteers before she is bounced out of office herself.

The third candidate in this primary is Tia Torhorst, a member of the Abele Party.  Abele is having her run because he wants to increase his "sphere of influence" in Madison, meaning he wants people that will introduce and pass things he wants when he can't get his way in Milwaukee County.

Even though she claims to be "progressive," in reality, she is about as progressive as her boss.  She had fought hard against the Ready to Work program, trying to kill it all along the way.  As Noth notes in his column, this isn't the only thing she is trying to mislead people on:

Her literature points out that she is the only candidate living in the district and is the best spokesperson for public education, knowing how highly regarded public schools are in Shorewood and that MPS’ Rufus King is one of the nation’s highest rated high schools.

Such campaign statements  raise eyebrows, particularly “the only candidate with a child in a public school in the district.”  That has to be parsed carefully.  By “district” she means Shorewood, which doesn’t yet have the voucher schools and diverse options and confusions the city part of the district contends with. And the hint that the other candidates are “carpetbagging”?  Bowen represented part of the district on the Milwaukee board and is moving into a house in the community.  Grant says she does her main work in the district. Since Bowen is a bachelor he doesn’t have a child in any school. Grant has a child entering an MPS school in the fall.

Noth also accurately points out that she was more than willing to testify in Madison in favor of limiting representative government in Milwaukee County.  How is that progressive by any stretch of the imagination?

Even though Bowen is obviously the only worthy candidate, this race will be anything but a cakewalk for him.

Even though his supervisory district does overlap with part of AD 10, there is a lot of people who are unfamiliar with him, especially in the Shorewood area. Besides the challenge of just getting his name and his positions out there, he is also facing an uphill battle in regards to money. Grant will have the financial backing of the education profiteering special interests. Torhorst, who already boasts of her fundraising skills, is getting a lot of direct and indirect support from her boss, Chris Abele.

To learn more about Bowen, check out his website and his Facebook page.  To help Bowen overcome the big money of the school profiteers and the plutocrats, please give what you can to his campaign.