It was the best of gubernatorial races; it was the worst of gubernatorial races.
The nice thing about this year's gubernatorial race is that it was really easy to see the bad choices. Heck, they even sometimes took themselves out of the race. And now we have a zombie campaign of a guy who can't decide if he's in or out - or even who he really is.
But it is also a very difficult choice because we are fortunate enough to have not one, but two, great candidates in Mandela Barnes and Francesca Hong. They are both wonderfully progressive. They both have very similar platforms, including making the rich finally pay their fair share of taxes; fully funding schools; universal childcare; making healthcare more affordable; and workers' rights.
There are only a few subtle differences between the two, and that is probably due more to semantics than to actual differences. Hong is stronger on AI data centers, whereas Barnes is more focused on affordability issues and workers' rights.
Before I go further, let me state this as clearly as I can: if either Hong or Barnes wins the primary, they will have my full support in the general election. I would be happy and eager to vote for either one. In fact, it would have been ideal if one of them ran for Lt. Governor. That would be the dream ticket of a lifetime.
But who to vote for in the primary? I've thought about this long and hard, going back and forth between the two of them.
I have finally decided to cast my ballot for Mandela Barnes.
Let me explain why. The only real difference between the two of them is experience. They are both fearless. They both are strong on their positions and can go toe to toe with Tom Trumpfany.
But the thing is, based on what I've seen, I think Hong will be able to stand her ground. However, I know that Barnes can do it. Barnes has shown that time and again by standing up to Scott Walker and taking on Ron Johnson, coming within a breath of beating RoJo. Even Ben Wikler said that the DNC dropped the ball by not showing up for Barnes.
Furthermore, Barnes has shown he is unafraid of the establishment. He became a state rep by beating Jason Fields, who was known as Robin Vos's favorite Democrat. He also stepped up and ran against then State Senator Lena Taylor, who had sold out her constituents more times than I can count. And he's had to deal with attacks from the Democratic establishment during this election cycle, even before he formally announced his campaign.
So, while I am voting for Mandela Barnes in the primary, I am ready to support either of these wonderful people in the general.
WISGOP launched an attack on Democratic gubernatorial candidates Mandela Barnes and Francesca Hong on social media yesterday. The only problem was that it wasn't Barnes:
Hey, what do you expect? Republicans think that all Black people look alike.
It shouldn't be surprising, however. They have a long history of racism and being wrong about almost everything.
ADDENDUM: It should be noted that the image the Republicans used was Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who is also running for governor. However, Crowley is more closely aligned with the Republicans than his own chosen party.
Four months and six candidates after Governor Tony Evers announced that he would not run for reelection, former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes entered the race to be Wisconsin's next governor and became the instant frontrunner. He kicked off his campaign with this introductory video:
Barnes is charismatic, is a good friend of Labor, and has decent name recognition, which is probably the reason for his frontrunner status. But that is not to say he is going to have clear sailing to the governor's mansion.
His entrance into the race has set the Republicans into a foaming-at-the-mouth panic. Tom Tiffany, who is the frontrunner for the Republican Party, has been blowing his racist dog whistle until he's blue in the face. But then again, that seems to be Tiffany's only plank in his campaign.
But Republican opposition is to be expected.
What is really disappointing and disconcerting is the whisper campaign among Democrats that started long before Barnes even announced. They cite Barnes' loss to Ron Johnson in 2022. They acknowledge that Barnes came within one percentage point, about 26,000 votes.
But what they don't dare mention is that while RoJo had billionaires like Diane Hendricks and Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein. What they also don't mention is that neither the DNC nor the DPW came through for Barnes.
Given that information, it's obvious that Barnes did pretty damn good to get as close as he did with no help and against nearly insurmountable odds.
The fact that someone would start this kind of crap only tells me that they don't have a lot of faith in their candidate. And if they don't have faith in their candidate to win in the primary, odds are he wouldn't do well in the general election either.
It is a new day in Wisconsin with the end in sight finally of the Scott Walker reign. Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes will be the next Governor/Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. Scott Walker will be forced to do something he has not done since getting kicked out of college - find a job not on the taxpayer dime. Apparently the same fate has been bestowed upon Rebecca Kleefisch but she appears to be a comet, completely disappearing, but showing up every four years.
The Democratic Party also won the US House but lost seats in the US Senate. The Blue wave turned into some occasional heavy rain storms but in too many other areas no rain in sight. It was like being in the winter in Alaska, no sun, no rain and hell mostly froze over.
However we need to look at Wisconsin, what went right, what went wrong and how do we fix it.
The first thing we need to do is acknowledge the successes. Very few seats were uncontested(although still room for improvement) and there were some incredible candidates on the Democratic Ticket, who unfortunately did not win, but it is important that they do not disappear from the fight.
Secondly and best news of the night, Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes are the new leaders of Wisconsin. Along with Josh Kaul, Sarah Godlewski and Doug LaFollette swept the statewide races (More on this later).
Gone are the days of Scott Jensen having final say on all maps, and bills. No matter what else happens, that was a net positive.
Josh Kaul winning is also a net positive for the people of Wisconsin. Brad Schimel might be the most partisan person ever born. He is the former Waukesha Attorney General that the GOP changed the law for, so they could move their trials. to his court room. Schimel is known for giving Republicans a slap on the butt and saying "Go Get Em Tiger" to any major Republican that crosses his path. That and not being bothered to test rape kits.
Doug Lafollete also won easily, but I knew that when Nation consulting decided to find a Democrat to primary him, ensuring his victory in this election cycle.
Not a terrible night but things could/should have been so much better. Let's dig a bit deeper.
1. I love that we beat Scott Walker as much as the next person, BUT we need to stop declaring total Victory. No one won last night. When the nation projects a Blue Wave and we pick up one seat it is not a successful night.
2. The Democrats are still using the Gerrymandered seats to dismiss the numerous defeats across the board. Yes, I am not naive enough to think that gerrymandering does not make a difference. It was unbelievably unethical how they gerrymandered the state.
It is also impressive.
The GOP nationally, and locally, realized that power is fleeting and elections are cyclical and decided to change the rules. They had a multi level plan, but one of their main action steps was understanding the importance of local elections and in turn, being able to rewrite the maps. You can be so much more successful when you pick your voters, instead of relying on the voters to pick you.
The problem though is this is the fourth straight election where we have had to play by the same rules and lines The Democrats have a good number of people who make alot of money, and have during every one of the last four elections, and yet they can not seem to figure out how to win an election anywhere. In Wisconsin that is - seems our brethren in Kansas have figured out some secrets.
3. The WISDEMS have never been able to stop chasing the money. Moneyed donors are pheromones to Wisconsin Democrats. Understanding that you need money to run (unfortunately) but if you chase the money you are running from very thing that you need to win. The real winners of this election cycle are the consultant class once again. Their checks are in the bank. They will be on vacation, enjoying some much needed downtime, while we sit here and watch the lame duck session bring Wisconsin even further down the rabbit hole.
How do we win? We can break that down also!
1. Look Deep Inside.
The first thing to do is form a committee and take a deep deep inside look into what happened. Nothing off the table, do not worry about feelings hurt and ask and demand raw honesty. A few years ago, the WISDEMs did form a committee but it was laughable as it was mainly intended to push the blame on everyone but themselves. On this committee you need some WISDEM party members and some people who refuse to pay dues but are liberal/progressive activists etc.
Then they need to interview and listen to, every candidate on the D side of the ballot, activists, party members etc... With such questions as What re your impressions of being a candidate, what were the successes, what were the failures, what would be your advice to future candidates, what would you need to run again, what were the success and failures of the help you received from the WISDEMS, etc...
Then let's start building an infrastructure that uses the advice given.
2. Get over yourselves. We still, even after the fiasco of electing the Donald, have too many party party members that think because they pay their $25 that have "stars upon thars". They truly believe that paying $25 makes their opinion matter more, they are more liberal/progressive/smart/logical/pragmatic etc... We have to understand that if we rely only on the dues paying members of the party then we will continue to lose every single election.
It is time to welcome all people in. I understand that you pay your $25 and you want extra privileges, you get to vote for the chair and attend meetings where people talk down to you, and can attend an annual picnic. Take those privileges and enjoy but when it comes time for election, lets open the doors and welcome everyone. Here is a suggestion, maybe open the door for a $5 membership fee, it allows you access to so many more people.
3. Chill on the direct mailers. We have to stop running elections like its 1972. We can reach people in so many more (less expensive) ways than killing trees and filling recycle bins.
3. STOP PAYING CONSULTANTS! What in the world have they won? We have to have this conversation after every single election, for some reason. Its like Groundhogs day every two years in WI. We run a campaign, exactly like the last campaign and then when we get beat and whine about the maps and tell each other how great we are.
A consultant is by definition, a professional who provides expert advice. The rules for the last 8 years have been the exact same, and so have the results. You would think that having four straight chances at something you could eventually start having some success.
Hire the right campaign coordinator and go from there. Get someone with skin in the game, instead of a mercenary. Stop with the conflicts of interest. I documented numerous times that Mary Burke's campaign was run by someone who owned a lobbying firm. Nothing to see here. A partner at Nation Consulting is the DNC Secretary. We can not keep having so many Blurred Lines and wonder why we fail.
4. Use Wisconsin Businesses. How many candidates are spending tens of thousands of dollars on Amazon, Uber, Printers in DC or New York, Firms from DC, New York, San Francisco, etc... The message of I am going to protect small business in WI, I just have no interest in using them, is one that does not play well. Yes Republicans do the same thing, make sure and point that out as often as possible.
The deadbeat dad meme and multiple arrest record of Randy Bryce was too much to overcome as Bryce lost to Paul Ryan's Chauffeur by 13 points. The problem was that these overcome able problems should have been addressed at the beginning of the campaign and not made it look like the campaign was trying to hide something or surprised that the allegations came out. Making the impact of the ridiculous accusations substantially more than it should have been,
As someone who used to work for a multi national company, we all know that when ever Wisconsin comes up in a conversation at the GSG, they all have plenty of redneck/hick jokes ready to go. It is hard to then from thousands of miles away, tell someone who they would never associate with in public, how to win over voters in Janesville, Racine and Elkhorn WI. Bryce's comms director grew up in DC and New York, and now was in charge of communicating with people in Clinton, Mukwonago and East Troy. Which leads to Bryan Steil in Congress and I would guess some very nice holiday bonuses at GSG.
Yet the real resistance in the Dem Party these last few years, have been the Democratic Insiders resisting anything that Progressives no party approve have done. I know as being part of a Progressive blog(there are not many of us left), we get more pushback and resistance from inside our own party than anything the Republicans throw at us.
As I have pointed out on more than one occasion, the GOP has their network of radio, tv and blogs and use them all. At anytime you will heard a perpetual stream of candidates on their shows or giving interviews. Anytime they want to push something or start a message for the echo chamber there they are. No questions asked.
If you want to be a Republican, be a Republican. You are not going to get that from any of the blogs I know or Crute. However we are all progressive, have similar goals and can help push the right message. If your feelings get hurt because we criticize something that we disagree with, then you are in the wrong business. Instead of having the lets work together when we agree attitude, it comes back to The Sneetches. How dare you question us, we have "stars upon thars" and you need to know your place!
When they do take a break from fighting With progressing outlets, it is usually to complain that they do not have enough money or exposure.
Crute spent an extended period explaining this recently on his show. I highly recommend checking it out for an insiders view of what happens within the party.
It is hard to complain about lack of coverage and people not knowing your candidates when you have built in outlets to reach people and you treat them worse than your opponents because they are mad that you do not agree with them 100% of the time.
6, Study successes all over the country (there were some).
In Kansas they beat the Trump candidate easily, and the best advice they gave is "run your campaign" not always chasing and responding to your opponent(which I felt the Evers campaign did a very good job of).
In Texas, Beto O'Rourke unfortunately lost his race, but there are lessons to learn from his enthusiasm and positivity. He also emphasized no corporate PAC money.
In Kentucky, Veteran Amy McGrath had a very high profile in this election thanks to her original campaign video.
Ms. McGrath, was urged by the DCCC to got hard and negative at her opponent and she refused to get slimy. Congrats on her for that, but there is a difference between going slimy and answering BS attacks. Good for Ms. McGrath, we will hear from her again. One thing that I have always found interesting, the reddest states and thee hardest core Republicans who wrap themselves up in the flag and have changed their middle name to "support the troops" are never scared to smear a veteran if it will help them win an election. It was Paul Ryan's SuperPac that did the smearing of Ms. McGrath.
Boy are we quick to anger at Pete Davidson for making a joke about a Veteran but then hold The Donald and Paul Ryan up on pedestal as they attack vet after vet. Party over People.
7. PROMOTE the Hell out of the bottom of the ticket.
Notice that the four candidates that the Democratic Party outright supported won. That is not a coincidence. Check out their generic lit piece and wonder why we only picked up one seat.
If the down ballot member running is an afterthought to The Democratic Party, why wouldn't they be with you? Another example, President Obama came to Milwaukee for a GOTV rally and look who was on the stage.
Know who isn't on stage? Julie Henszy. Who is Julie Henszy you ask(and shouldn't)? She ran for Leah Vukmirs old Senate seat outside of Milwaukee and lost to Drunken Dale Kooyenga by around 2000 votes. A few kind words from Obama, could have gotten more people out to the polls for her and maybe been the last minute adrenaline shot need to push even further across the finish line. We will never know though because the bottom of the ballot is insignificant to party insiders.
For example, while Julie Henszy wasn't on stage, our old friend Tonya Bjork was backstage getting pictures with President Obama and her kid. It is much more important to pat each other on the back, and tell each other how great they are, than it is to win elections. Until that changes we will continue to be in the minority.
The correct response here would have been to have it go as it did and at the end bring up everyone who is on the ballot that could make it there that morning and introduce them and let them get a team picture with president Obama. We ran some great candidates and a team pic with Obama would have shown the Dems to be a much different party than their opponents.
Drive big turnout in the lower ballot races, and that will trickle up. Drive big turnout in the top of the ballot and the Democrats win, and no one else does.
8. Can we finally admit, that many people are left behind in this economy?
I have found, since the Hillary campaign really started this, that too many good liberals want to show everyone how "Woke" they are. It usually starts out with someone saying something that is not politically correct but comes from a good place. Then instead of having a conversation about it, the WOKE superstars start attacking. They save their venom for people that are mostly on the same team because they all their friends to know how inclusive they are and want to be at the forefront of flogging the "bad liberal".
Let's look at it another way. We are all in this together. If you are an African American female, you head out into our current world with alot of strikes against you. If you are a single white mother who is trying to work and raise kids on your own with the rising costs of healthcare etc...you also have strikes against you. Instead of comparing "woes", lets join together and start eliminating those strikes against everyone.
White Privilege is a very real thing, but not everyone who is white has the same amount of privilege in this country. If you are living in a mostly rural, mostly white area and the factory, your family has worked at for generations, just closed down, you do not want to be preached at about white privilege. Sure you can send your son out into the world and be pretty sure he will come back if he gets a speeding ticket, but you also send him out knowing if the car breaks down you do not have the money to fix it.
The white family, that was working at the closing Beechworth Windows in Ladysmith, and the African American family in Grover Heights Milwaukee and the Latino family in Cambria all have more in common than not. Let's focus on our commonalities - healthcare, good education for the kids, a roof over your head, a job that pays a fair wage and where you can be safe at, the ability to buy healthy, fresh food, have transportation and can maybe take a vacation every year or so. These things transcend race and each of the families have too many obstacles, although they may be different, to get their slice of the American Dream pie.
9. Grow with the times.
I admire that so many Democratic candidates worked so hard doing doors upon doors. I question the effectiveness of it though. I would guess that except for maybe some married women whose husband was gone, Robin Vos has not knocked on a door in years, yet he runs the show. I think doors are still important but there has to be more. I do not have the answer but it is out there.
We also need to figure out more ways to reach people in (free) social media platforms.
Stop fighting yard signs. Yard signs do not vote but they are like mini billboards that you can place all over your district,. Which beats actually having to spend limited resources buying billboards. They also help start conversations between neighbors. The conversation between neighbors is what will change the world.
Use the WISDEMS platform to push all candidates not just the top of the ticket.
After all of that, and plenty more, an endorsement from me is far from a surprise. However, this endorsement is different. It is not I endorsing Tony Evers, as much as it is some of the people who know him the best.
Even early on, however, I noticed that not everything was as it should be. At more than one Cabinet meeting, the secretary of the Department of Administration, Mike Huebsch, told us never to send him or the governor any electronic documents of consequence, and to avoid the use of our state-issued cellphones. “If you send me an important report electronically, I won’t open it,” I remember him saying, “and if you call me on your state phone, I won’t answer it.” If we had any important documents, they were to be “walked over” and hand-delivered to the governor’s office. As a result, open-record requests by the media or political opponents would be almost futile. This lack of transparency would be a hallmark of the Walker administration.
Evers may lack polish and seem boring at times. But electing a lifelong educator instead of a professional politician should appeal to many voters tired of the bickering and partisan games at the state Capitol. Change is needed at the top after eight years of Gov. Walker sowing division, undermining good-government protections, and skimping on basic services such as roads while running up debt. The State Journal endorses Evers for governor in the Nov. 6 election.
Even though, some of the most qualified people in his administration endorsing his opponent should be enough, however, as we know there is always more.
As 7 investigates has previously reported documents show one of the governor’s main aides in 2012, Alex Ignatowski, received a letter from Racine County Judge Richard Kruel expressed shock over the treatment of a Racine County juvenile housed at Lincoln Hills, and held onto that document for more than one month.
Judge Kruel’s letter to Gov. Walker was written one year after the governor’s 2011 budget closed most of the state’s youth prisons, causing all of the state’s juvenile offenders to be moved to the Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake Schools in Irma. Opponents of the move have argued this decision led to years of problems inside the youth prisons, including inmate and staff injuries, under Walker’s leadership. Full statement from Gov. Scott Walker to 7 Investigates 7 INVESTIGATES : You have personally said you did not order a cancellation of the independent review into Lincoln Hills? GOV. WALKER: I did not. 7 INVESTIGATES: You did not? And no one on your staff did, as well? GOV. WALKER: To my knowledge, no. 7 INVESTIGATES: Have you Investigated that at all. GOV WALKER: No.
After eight years, we see that Scott Walker has an interest in, and does one thing very very well - Fundraise!
Wisconsin, we deserve more!
Please join me in voting for Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes on Tuesday November 6th.
Time to restore, honesty, character, decency, morality and virtue back to the Governors Mansion!
PS: One last observation. When was the last time you saw Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch working together? Could it be that he does not respect her and she does not fit into his Republican climbing ambitions?
As this election season is coming to a frantic close, public education is still a top issue and we keep hearing that the current occupant of the Governors mansion is the "Education Governor".
Sometimes the evidence is so strong that it is hard to see. There is an exhibit 1, on how much of an education Governor that Scott Walker truly is along with the WISGOP, right in the small town of Darien, WI - population 1,580. While they still celebrate Cornfest(and who doesn't) one thing they no longer can celebrate is their local elementary school.
The Delavan-Darien school board voted to close Darien Elementary School—the only public school in Darien—after the 2017-18 school year and approved 16 teacher non-renewals, bringing the total number of non-renewals to 39. This is after a $3.5 million referendum on the April 3 ballot, failed by more than 500 votes.
Rep. Amy Loudenbeck: “Madison politics can be a bit like herding goats. It’s hard to get everyone moving in the same direction, when everyone is talking at the same time and no one is really listening. I’m Amy Loudenbeck. Whether it’s fighting for quality health care options, increased funding for education, or more workers in our district; I’ll listen to your concerns and be your voice in Madison. It doesn’t matter what your breed of politics is, Wisconsin is better when we all work together.”
I know it is silly season but we need to start holding politicians accountable for their actions and their votes. There are some major problems
1. fighting for quality health care options - By fighting for, she means turning down a billion dollars in medicaid money to help insure fellow Americans.
What else is in Ms. "fighting for funding for education" Loudenbeck's district? The shuttered Darien elementary school and 40 laid off teachers. Luckily for the children of our state, while most other school districts in her district have had to go to referendum to survive(because Amy appears to be losing that fight) and many of these districts soundly support their local public schools.
That is why it is IMPERATIVE that we change the culture and the leadership in Madison.
If you care at all about public education and do not want to see your local school next, please join me in voting for Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes.
However it can not stop there. We need to send him a legislature that actually wants to govern. We need to start voting out the false friends of education and vote in real public servants!
Keyes, 31, has worked as a physical therapist for Beloit Health System since 2015. Her practice has an emphasis on sports injury rehabilitation. She provides medical coverage at area high school sporting events and is in her third season as a volunteer assistant coach for the junior varsity football team at Beloit Memorial High School. She serves as strength and fitness coach for the team. She was captain of the rowing team at the University of Iowa and was first team All-Big Ten in 2008. She won a variety of sportsmanship and academic awards from the Big Ten. She was a bronze medalist in the USA Weightlifting National Collegiate Championships in 2009. Keyes is a founding board member of a Stateline area food cooperative and has an extensive record as a volunteer for various organizations during the last decade. She is married to a teacher and the couple has a young daughter. “Wisconsin needs people in the Assembly who will work for us, not the political donors,’’ Keyes said. “I have a young family and I want to make Wisconsin the best place possible for all families.’’
It is time the 31st Assembly district was actually represented by someone who wants to do what is best for the people in her district and not whatever Robin Vos tells her to do. Imagine if the 31st had a representative in Madison, who actually wanted you to have heath care and fully funds our local schools.
You can make it happen on Tuesday, November 6th, with a vote for Dr. Brittany Keyes!
Only 50 days from the election and Rebecca Kleefisch has come out of hiding and still has not seen her shadow.
Many of us political junkies woke up to Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch on Capital City Sunday and it was the most embarrassing eleven minute interview I have ever witnessed.
Ms. Kleefisch sounded great if she was a junior telling the loca news team what great events that they had planned for homecoming week.
Unfortunately, for the State of Wisconsin, she is one breath away from being our Governor.
That scares me.
Quick Question: When was the last time you heard anything about Rebecca Kleefisch?
My answer: When she held a closed door meeting with a bunch of Walker Donors and used the famous line:
“We want to know how we can love you more,” Kleefisch told the group of about 30 executives, managers, accountants and others during the 1-hour, 40-minute session. 1/3/2014
On March 2, 2010, Rindfleisch wrote to Keith Gilkes, who was running Walker's gubernatorial campaign: "I'm REALLY beginning to dislike [Kleefisch]."
On March 16, Rindfleisch's "dislike" had turned to disgust. She wrote to a fellow campaigner for Davis: "She makes me sick."
Gilkes himself was no fan of Kleefisch. On June 30, he wrote to Rindfleisch: "We are not touching anything to do with Kleefisch -- she is radioactive and not worth the time. Brett should work on Mayor [David] Ross and turn it into a two person race to kick her ass."
On March 15, Kathleen Kiernan, who was associated with the Davis campaign, wrote: "YUK.... I cannot see how anyone can take this woman seriously."
Another woman working on Davis' campaign wrote: "tell you what, she could be a one-woman circus that's for sure!"
OUCH. There is a reason why Scott Walker gives her no responsibility and keeps her in hiding until election season. He can not stand her. Now he is wishing she was still in hiding.
GLENDALE - GOP Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch on Monday accused her opponent of kneeling during the national anthem at a public event last month but said she did not see it herself and was unable to name any witnesses who did.
Kleefisch claimed the kneeling incident happened at the opening of the Wisconsin State Fair at a ceremony Kleefisch and Barnes attended. In an interview, Barnes denied it happened and said "the whole damn program would have stopped" if he had taken a knee at the event.
"I was around so many people. I was right next to the cameras," Barnes said. "This is too stupid to respond to."
Yes it is too stupid to respond to, but Barnes did anyway, and he could not have responded any better.
"This is like me saying my neighbors saw her buying a tiki torch at Menards," Barnes said in a text message.
That should have been the end of it, but Rebecca has not learned the age old advice of when you are in a hole, STOP DIGGING!
Instead Kleefisch put the cherry on top of the crow she keeps eating.
But here’s the thing: the National Anthem is not like tiki torches. It’s a big deal that matters. (Just like abortions are not like tonsillectomies.)
Yes the National Anthem is the antithesis of the tiki torch. You sure got that one right!
Now Rebecca, my neighbors told me you were buying tiki torches...is that true?
A couple final things.
* If Rebecca was truly surprised at the question that Emilee Fannon asked her about Mandela, that means that she is not allowed anywhere near the strategy sessions of the "Friends of Scott Walker".
* Will there be a debate between the two Lieutenant Governors this time? Rebecca Kleefisch has ducked the prior three and it is time she met Mandela Barnes in a debate for the whole state to watch.
Send them both a Tweet. @Rebeccaforreal @theothermandela #RKdebatethistime
Scott Walker is feeling rattled and it's really starting to show. Polls are showing that Walker has consistently been trailing his Democratic opponent, Tony Evers.
So what does Walker do? He takes a page from Trump's playbook and tries to attack Evers on Twitter using Evers' running mate, Mandela Barnes:
Tony Evers’ running mate says “Take a knee.” Does Evers share that belief or does he believe that everyone should STAND UP for the national anthem out of respect for our Veterans and service members? pic.twitter.com/0zT9X4tO7H
If Barnes' name rings a bell, it's because he got booted from Walker's presidential bid announcement because he refused to be the token black person on stage with Walker. And this is while he had a Russian operative there. Russian spies are OK, uppity black men are not.
But Walker thinks so little of black folks that he won't even utter Barnes' name, much less address him directly.
Then he goes a step further and attacks all the NFL players that think the way African Americans, especially the young men, are being treated in this country is wrong:
Tony Evers’ running mate says “Take a knee.” Does Evers share that belief or does he believe that everyone should STAND UP for the national anthem out of respect for our Veterans and service members? pic.twitter.com/0zT9X4tO7H
What the hell is up with that bitmoji? Is that supposed to be Walker? If it is, the caricature has way too much hair.
But Walker blew his dog whistle on the wrong guy. Barnes isn't the kind of guy to keep quiet and he fired a strong retort to Walker:
Feel free to @ me next time. Also, your president should learn the words. Also, shows you just don't get it. Also, you could have served in THREE wars, why didn't you stand up then? https://t.co/yTunbMWzmc
Barnes follow up with sending a second tweet with this picture:
In an apparent effort to make Walker look like the smart one, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca "Blinky" Kleefish had to chime in with a tweet that not only makes no sense but is a complete lie:
My opponent has made clear that he believes in kneeling for the National Anthem. In fact, WI neighbors have told me that they have seen him do exactly that. https://t.co/knyWcObyz3
Besides blowing his dog whistle at the wrong guy, he really picked the wrong topic to try to attack with. Putting aside Walker never having served himself, his track record for veterans is as deplorable as he is.
Under Walker's watch, the King Veterans Home in central Wisconsin has suffered from severe staffing shortages, systemic neglect of the veterans living there - sometimes leading to death, and much needed funds being diverted to fill budget gaps elsewhere:
Democratic state lawmakers are calling for a federal investigation into a state-run veteran's retirement home in Waupaca County after a media report was published alleging negligence towards veterans and surplus funding being diverted from the facility.
"It is absolutely tragic and heartbreaking to learn that due to the failed leadership of Gov. (Scott) Walker and legislative Republicans, our veterans' homes are providing substandard care to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving our country," Democratic leaders Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) and Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said in a joint statement.
The report from the Capital Times, a Madison-based weekly newspaper, stated the facility is experiencing staffing shortages, allegations of negligence from family members of veterans, and cost-cutting.
Even before then, Walker was using a supposed fund supposedly for veterans and their families as a cheap campaign gimmick. To make matters worse, Walker authorized one of his top aides to steal from this fund to buy things like personal vacations and a campaign website for Walker.
My advice to the gentle reader is to stock up on some popcorn but even worse and dumber things are coming from Walker's campaign. There will be more. There's always more.
Labor day is typically the home stretch for election season and baseball season. Unfortunately in Wisconsin, we have too much election season and not enough baseball.
While I believe the Milwaukee Brewers will end up in the wild card game, lets focus on the election season and what to expect.
The race between Tony Evers and Scott Walker will steal most of the headlines, with just a few left over for the Tammy V Leah race.
The race that will be the most interesting is the Governors race. I truly believe, at this moment, that this race can go either way.
Let us take a look at what to expect.
* Why Scott Walker can win:
Typically the incumbent always has the best chance to win. Walker is a two term incumbent and a career politician.
While not having many, one of his strengths is to perpetually stay on message and never stray. Walker has the ability to speak and speak without ever saying anything and the incredible ability to say things that are patently false without ever breaking a sweat.
Walker has also learned how to play the media. After 8 years as Governor, he knows that they will print anything he wants them to print, no questions or fact checks asked.
Walker also has a humongous advantage in money. When you add the "Friends of Scott Walker", Club for Growth, Republican Governors Association, WISGOP, and countless other PACS, SuperPACS, out of state billionaires, slimy casino owners, etc... all spending money hand over fist to make sure their employee continues running the state.
The right wing echo chamber. While Chuck Sykes isgone from the radio and an imbecile is running his old website, there is still a right wing echo chamber pushing hate, ignorance and racism that too many people listen to. The Mark Bellings, Vicki Mckennas and Dan O'Donnells of the world are still there whipping up the fear to far too many people.
Finally, apathy. Wisconsin has been stuck in perpetual election season, and now that we are in the final stretch, the negative and disgusting ads will be flying non stop. They are meant strictly to turn people off from voting and getting involved. If they did not work, they would not spend millions running them. Voter apathy has helped many a crappy politician continue in their careers.
* Why Scott Walker can lose:
Scott Walker is a career politician and people are sick of career politicians. So sick of career politicians that they have started electing reality TV "stars".
Walker, has been on the state stage for 8 years (and on the national stage for 8 seconds) and people know him. To know Scott Walker is not to love him. You realize that once you see beyond the incredible ambition that there is no there there. An empty husk that stands only for Scott Walker and what is best for Scott Walker, Wisconsin and its citizens are not even in his radar.
Public employees, and unions. Scott Walker has made a career of making enemies of public employees and union members. Eventually the chickens come home to roost.
He gambled hard on divide and conquer. It worked well, but after 8 years the people of Wisconsin have come to realize that their neighbor the teacher or snow plow driver is on their side and the politicians in WI, especially the Governor are not.
Finally jobs. While Scott Walker runs around touting his amazing unemployment stats, people in WIsconsin are not seeing it. Yes people have jobs, sometimes they have 2-3 jobs at a few hours a week desperately trying to make ends meet., The ones who do have good living wage paying jobs, are both working too many hours and are scared that the next communication from their company is the one that says they are closing the doors.
By the way, Scott Walker still has not created the promised 250,000 jobs in WI.
* Why Tony Evers can win.
This is a public education election, and Tony Evers personifies public education in Wisconsin. There is a reason Scott Walker has tried to rebrand himself as "the education Governor", and has run ad after ad about how much he loves public education.
The people in Wisconsin, much to the WISGOP surprise, have been passing education referendums at an almost 80% clip and now they are understanding what the damage of Scott Walker $1.5 billion cut to education has done to their local school.
Scott Walker, basically enacted Tony Evers education budget, because he was worried that Tony would be his opponent and wanted to neutralize the public education part of the race. He failed.
Secondly, Mandela Barnes. Mandela is an up and coming star in Wisconsin politics and the perfect partner on the Tony Evers ticket. I would highly recommend that Tony come up with some actual responsibilities and make Mandela a true partner, and not the figurehead, money sucking position it is now.
Tony also has a huge advantage in character. Unlike his opponent, Tony is a good man of character, ethics and integrity. Tony is not full of ambition, Tony is not using Wisconsin to run for President, advance his career in the party, or use it to fundraise and increase his bank account.
Tony wants what is best for Wisconsin. period. End of sentence.
What is best for Wisconsin right now is electing Tony Evers Governor.
* Why Tony Evers can lose:
M O N E Y. Money makes the world go round, and it also buys hours of negative nasty ads. Scott Walker has unlimited money, Tony will have a decent amount but nowhere near as much. It is not insurmountable but it will be an obstacle.
The Democratic Party. In a state which leans blue, where Progressives were born, which has a history of being involved in politics, the Democratic party has a history of losing elections.
Now they have done it again. They hired the campaign manager for Russ Feingold's latest loss, to come up with a strategy to win WI. Yes they decided to hire the campaign manager for one of the most popular politicians in Wisconsin history, who led his candidate to a loss to one of the dumbest politicians in Wisconsin history to help Tony Evers win.
While there are no words for the perpetual rewarding of incompetence, it is also not surprising. You see lots of people being hired onto the Evers team, whose experience comes from the Hillary or Burke campaigns. Without relitigating those candidates, their campaigns were run horribly. Why anyone would think this is a good idea, is beyond me but it is.
The media is also an obstacle to overcome. They are used to 8 years of taking dictation for Scott Walker. The night Tony won, Walker put out an ad falsely claiming that Evers should have taken a license from a teacher in Middleton that he had no jurisdiction to take.
The media, instead of asking why his first ad was negative against his opponent when Walker has said he was going to run a positive issues oriented campaign only, treated the story like there were two legit sides to this story. There is not.
Voter apathy. Anger gets people to vote and get involved. Hard core Republicans are always angry. They, with the help of right wing radio and politicians, understand that every thing bad that ever happens to them is the fault of the PC liberals.
They get a sliver, a flat tire, lose their job, run out of gas, burn their toast and it is the liberals fault and they need to get out and vote to make sure they never burn their toast again.
The Democrats on the other hand need a reason to vote. They need to be in love with someone who mostly respects their views to get out and vote for them. The ads Scott Walker will run will mostly be made to keep you from falling in love with Tony Evers so you stay home on election day.
Now my advice, on how we win in November.
Decide today that you like Tony Evers, he is not perfect and there will be things that he has done and will say(we will really consider tolls?) but understand that no matter what he does or says, he is better than Scott Walker on his worst day. |
Secondly, ignore the party. They will do and say things that are head scratchers because too many in power care about staying in power, and not winning elections. We care about winning elections, so ignore the stupid things the party does and will do and work to get Tony/Mandela elected the best way you know how. Talk to your friends and family about how important it is to vote and especially how important it is to elect Tony.
Finally, and this is the most important way to change our state, if you are going to work for, or donate to a candidate, pick your local (or a local) race for state Assembly or Senate.
If you have a race in your district for either Assembly or Senate(or both), understand that it IS a competitive race.
Your candidate can win. Period.
There will be many people who think they are experts, who will tell anyone who listens, that only certain seats are winnable. That is not true. We will not win them all but we absolutely can win some of the "unwinnable" seats.
The best way to win statewide, is to win district wide. If we can steal some seats we are not supposed to with local candidates that no one expects, not only will Madison be more representative of the people, but the increased Democratic turnout in these districts are what will push the upper part of the ballot over the edge.
Like an economy, we will win these races from the ground up not the top down.
We will be addressing some of the down ballot races between now and the election here at CogDis.
Stay Tuned but for now, lets be prepared to talk to our neighbors like our kids futures depend on it!
I attended my first Wisconsin Democratic Convention this weekend and wanted to share a few thoughts.
1. The Voting has to get better!
People were lined up way early on Saturday morning to vote for chair. Congrats to Martha Laning, David Bowen,Meg Andriesch,Mandela Barnes and Khary Penebaker, for being elected to leadership positions in the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Now lets lead the party into the 21st Century and make sure in two years, party voting looks completely different.
First, let us look at the results.
Laning - 722
Kennedy - 569
Finch - 50
Donovan - 48
-----------------
Total -1839
Vote total needed to beat Scott Walker last election - 1, 259, 163
Vote Total needed to win Assembly District 14,723
Ok you get the idea, we need more people involved. The more people involved, the more people who feel they have a stake in the party and the more people who feel they have a stake in the party, the more people will participate. The more people who participate, the more elections we win.... See what I did there
So how do we fix it.
1. We need a way for everyone to have a vote. Designating certain people as delegates and others as not, to decide the future of the party, is not the way to do it, If you are a member of the party, you should have a vote as to who is the head of the party. Period.
2. At the very least, everyone who attends the convention, pays their money to be a member and then pays even more for the convention should have a vote! No excuses for this. '
3. There has to be an APP or a way to vote online, with a code or at your local county party if you can not make the convention etc... While you are at the convention, two boxes at a time for each CD is archaic. Give people their one ballot as they walk in the room and then let them vote and have numerous boxes all around the room to put yours in. We would raise bloody hell if this happened at regular elections and rightly so!
** As a quick aside, to worry about Republicans joining and screwing with the vote, that is an impossibility. The numbers do not add up! Secondly, do not tell me its a priavte club and they do not have to follow those rules, and then be mad when so many people walk away and vote third party.
4. Another problem was the candidates WORKED THE LINES! How is that even acceptable? When we minimize the waiting times to vote, this will be somewhat fixed but it also needs to stop.
5. WISDEMS staffers. This is a problem that numerous people who talked to me at the convention brought up. There was a group of people, staffers, who showed great enthusiasm for Martha, during the speeches, and were strategically placed in front of the cameras, and brought a decent amount of votes.
Now I am not blaming Martha's win on this, but it is something people noticed. DO they truly think Martha was the best choice, or was Martha being re-elected their best chance to keep getting paychecks? I would propose that anyone who gets paid by the WISDEMS can not vote in the election, with the one exception of the current chair(while they get paid they also are answerable to the voters, the staffers are not). I would be more flexible on this if the voting was opened up, but when you limit delegates, then you give them an incredible amount of power.
6. Please Martha, David, Meg and Mandela - Fix the voting system for next time.
Now the rest of the convention, thoughts and suggestions.
I understand that there has to be party business, I understand that the long time electeds need to have their ego stroked and have to speak, I understand that its cute to have cutesy slogans and themes,
* However, I would have one theme at every convention - Win the next election. Anyone who plans to be in a race coming up, should have 3-5 minutes to speak. They do not need to be introduced fancily, or any music played, just a quick introduction. That allows Democrats from all over the state to meet the people who might/will be running for major offices.
Tammy should have spoken for sure, and anyone running/thinking of running for Governor, anyone running against an entrenched Republican, etc... 3-5 minutes max! Then people can seek them out for more information as the convention goes on.
* If we can eliminate the two hour wait to vote, that will open up more time for breakout sessions. Maybe something like speed dating where you sit 8 people at a table and have different candidates, party members, etc...move around every few minutes to introduce yourself and answer questions. Make everyone feel they have a voice and are being heard.
* More interaction is what is needed to keep people involved, and interested.
* Sorry, I have no suggestions on how to make resolutions and by-laws more exciting.
* I heard Sachin Cheda and Nation Consulting was there working behind the scenes,...I don't think the people could be more clear that we need to rid ourselves of these toxic high paid consultants. If they are involved the state loses.
* There were some very good people running for these offices. It is imperative that the people who did not win their races be an integral part of the WISDEMS going forward, Eric Finch, Bryan Kennedy, Joe Donovan, Adam Brabender, Luke Fuszard and Peter Peckarsky all brought many strengths to the table and we need all of their skills going forward!
The best line of the whole convention was this one from Eric Finch:
Eric Finch, chair candidate at #DPW2017, tells crowd to take the anti-Scott Walker bumper stickers off and put on one for their candidate.
I agree whole heartedly, dump the old recall signs and stickers and lets look forward not backwards!
* Finally, we found out something that anyone who read the Walkerdocs, already knew. That the opposition, the WISGOP is run by a bunch of immature fools with the creativity and wit of a 12 year old math wiz.
The WISGOP put this billboard up (although not sure where because i never saw it):
But thats not all. They vandalized cars all over the parking lot by putting this(which they did not have permission to use) on windshields:
But Wait there is more:
The WISGOP spent all hours of the night, stalking the WISDEM members and putting this under their door. Kind of very creepy if you ask me!
Two years ago, former DPW Chair Mike Tate did the best thing he could ever have done for the party....he decided not to run for reelection. Tate saw the writing on the wall. After years of failure, losing control of every aspect of the state government, people wanted a change.
So Tate slunk off to become Boss Abele's personal toady while the party's future was up for grabs between Tate's hand-chosen successor, Jason Rae, and outsider, Martha Laning. The people voted for the only chance for change and elected Laning to be the new chair.
Unfortunately, everyone's hopes were dashed when Laning proved herself to be no better than Tate. To be fair, Tate had sabotaged the party so much that it was going to get worse before it got better. But the only positive move that Laning has taken in the past two years was the hiring of Jason Sidener to be the political director.
Which leads us to this year.
Another election is coming up. Laning and her vice-chair, David Bowen, are running for reelection. While Laning has been a disappointment, Bowen has continued to show the strong leadership that we have come to expect from him, The second vice-chair, Jeff Christensen, has chosen not to seek reelection.
Opposing the incumbents is the ticket of BAM - Bryan Kennedy for chair, Amanda Stuck for Vice Chair and Mandela Barnes for Second Vice Chair,
Bryan is the mayor of Glendale and is a good union man, having been president of the AFT.. He is fairly progressive in his attitudes and, more importantly, his actions match his words when it comes to these policies and attitudes. He also has great organizing skills and a plan on how to make the DPW much more effective and to actually gain some seats.
Amanda Stuck is the State Representative from Appleton (yes, Appleton!). I had the chance to briefly to briefly talk with her and I am very, very impressed.
Democrats spoke at length against the measure. Rep. Amanda Stuck, D-Appleton, said the bill will lead to lower wages for workers and lower-quality work on public projects.
Stuck said Republican lawmakers with "soft hands and round bellies" voting in favor of the bill could not do the work her husband, a steelworker journeyman, does.
She told me last night that she is frustrated at how the Party has being useless at best and a hindrance at worst for candidates. She said that the Party needs to stop treating candidates with contempt in order to grow the base (I would add that this would help in building the bench as well). She is disappointed that so many people have a negative image of the party but she understands why they do and wants to fix that. She said that she is tired of having people's rights trampled because the Party can't get their act together enough to even offer resistance.
The ticket's candidate for Second Vice-Chair is Mandela Barnes, a former state representative from Milwaukee. I've known Mandela for years and can fully attest to his positions on every issue that are important to progressives, from racial and gender equality to workers rights. Barnes was the guy that got kicked out of Walker's presidential bid announcement when he declined to be the token African American on stage. He also is not afraid of taking on the establishment as evidence when he went up against Boss Abele's favorite senator, the sellout Lena Taylor. In fact, it was when Barnes announced his candidacy that I had reversed my decision to stay out of this race.
Needless to say, I feel very strongly about endorsing the BAM ticket for this upcoming election to lead DPW out of the political wilderness. So much so that I did something that I never ever thought I would do - I actually joined the party to make sure that my voice was heard from the inside as well as out and would not be so easily dismissed by the Establishment Democrats.
I urge my fellow Democrats who are hungry for a change to join me in supporting Bryan Kennedy, Amanda Stuck and Mandela Barnes to lead our party out the miasma it is currently in.
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