My humble thoughts on education, politics and sports as well as reaction to those talking heads on the radio.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Who will be the next Jensen?
Attorney Mike Maxwell has joined these gentlemen in trying to suceed Scott Jensen in the 98th Assembly district. In what looks like a re-run of the Dan Vrakas assembly seat, all candidates are falling over each other in an attempt to be the "most conservative".
Maxwell may, however, provide Zipperer with a bit of a challenge for the Republican money and endorsements.
Bloggers are conceited, meanspirited and... hold on, now, what does this button do?
I have a confession to make. I thought most of you were pretty much jerks. Either that or my writing ability is almost nonexistent (which still may be the case). A couple of you who I have praised or pointed out in a post were particularly jags.
Let me explain. Computers are new to me. However, I love to write and I love politics. Hence, my interest in creating a blog. But goodness gracious... 5 months of occasional posts and not even one comment. Certainly not from one of the regcognized blogs.... but not even from the local guys who seem to keep tabs on each other even if they come from opposite viewpoints. Not one stinking comment. Geez, my writing really sucks!
Then came the problem. I like to start a post while reading other's work, then finish it off later. The post, however, shows up at the time or date I started the draft. For example, tonight's three posts are about five or six posts back because I started them a while back.
The solution? Simply press every tab on the screen. There HAS to be a way to fix this and put the last post published on the top of the page. While I haven't found out that quite yet.... GUESS WHAT I DID FIND?
20 comments. Just sitting there in a file, waiting for me to approve their posting on my blog. Some from as far back as four months ago.
So to those of you who critiqued, disagreed or even just acknowledged my attempt to post something worth reading here, I apologize for ignoring you. For those I've cursed under my breath because you comment EVERYWHERE but here... my bad. Who knows what I'll uncover under a different tab next week.
PS I even received a comment from the one and only Dennis York. And I big-timed him... blew him off completely. Beautiful
The Recess Supervisor takes a swing at many of the conservative pundits who are trying their best to explain away the Nelson win . The Supervisor is particularly hard on Jessica McBride, who seems to think that whenever a Democrat wins the public was somehow duped. I would expect more thought out analysis from someone of her ilk.
Rich Zipperer (R)Pewaukee has hit the streets running in his attempt to win the Assembly seat vacated by Dan Vrakas. A press releaseis touting his opposition to any tax increases while he is in the Assembly.
Unsubstantiated reports also have the candidate from the 98th signing another pledge to "do whatever John Gard says, regardless of what is good for my district".
If these reports are true, Zipperer becomes the 200th consecutive republican candidate to sign this pledge...
Peter wins this week's award with a thought-provoking post on the dumbing down of our school systems. Many sites had the math joke but his take on the direction our public schools are taking puts him over the top.
I rarely agree with Peter on educational issues but here he's right on target...
As reported on numerous local blogs, the Waukesha County Board voted to reduce it's size to 25 members tonight. This is another HUGE victory for the Waukesha Taxpayers League. For reasons stated in this post, I believe the County Board made a mistake tonight.
Could the WTL deliver the signatures needed to force a referendum? We may never know... but I have suspicions that they weren't that close...
The local blogs are filled with theories and jokes trying to explain away the suprise result of tuesday's election. Some are valid, while others border on the insane. So in my best David Letterman voice, I give you the top ten reasons Larry Nelson is the next mayor of Waukesha.
10. Larry Nelson is a fantastic and tireless campaigner. His enthusiasm and optimistic view of Waukesha even impressed Dean at Musings.
9. Nelson absolutely destroyed Nischke in the forums. Even the presence of Jeff Wagner couldn't level the playing field.
8. The campaign turned in the last ten days and Nischke had spent all her money. As James Wigderson pointed out, while the editorials for Nelson rolled in and the publicity stunts (live sign-holders) started working, Nischke's campaign was in debt.
7. Nischke was constantly on the defensive. Her flip-flop on the size of the council never really ended, with her last few mailings still touting the idea. Her strongest lit piece was on Nelson's aldermanic record but she never really explained what her vision for Waukesha was.
6. The teacher variable. With 30 years of teaching under his belt, one can only guess at how many voters have sat in Mr. Nelson's classroom or met with him at conferences. His ability to speak in front of a crowd was a real benefit as well.
5. Waukesha hasn't had an outsider elected Mayor in at least 15 years. Lombardi, Opal, Vrakas and LaPorte all came from the Aldermanic ranks.
4. The conservative base stayed home. Others have suggested that they took the win for granted. I disagree. I'm not so sure that Ann has rock solid support from the base. There are rumblings from her time at the Waukesha YMCA. Some question her leadership at the Chamber. It wasn't passiveness, it was apathy.
3. The Waukesha County Republican Party has lost it's political power in Wisconsin. I'll wait while you get over your laughing fit... but it is true. Schober, Davis, Engeleiter... Farrow, Huelsman, Rosensweig... Dreyfus...These names, to the politically astute, bring memories of control, effectiveness and independence. They were leaders in their time who helped shape the direction of our State. The resignation of Scott Jensen brought an end to that era. We are now represented by the many faces of John Gard and Charley Sykes. Do what the bosses say even if it isn't in the best interest of your district. Show an independent streak and you'll find yourself in a primary (Rosensweig) or simply harrassed out of office (Huelsman). Now we're left with a bunch of second-rate politicians that are the Republican version of Jerry Klezcka. Take orders, do nothing and stay in office. Meanwhile, the future of the State is decided somewhere between Sun Prairie and Pestigo. The County is still conservative enough that you can throw an empty suit in an election and win it. The City, however, is apparently not.
2. History does repeat itself. Is this really that big of a suprise? When was the last time a conservative was Mayor of Waukesha? Carol Lombardi is certainly no conservative and probably leans more left than anything. Carol Opel was clearly a Democrat. Even the irrepressible Paul Vrakas seemed to me to be much more moderate than his son. It's been 20 years, folks. Why did we expect anything different?
