GUESTBLOG
May 19, 2013
The Toxicity Index
By Bill Kraus
The toxicity level in the state capitol has never been low, but its recent rise may be unprecedented.
It started on its upward course during the bellicose years when the two tough, smart, uncompromising leaders Scott Jensen in the Assembly and Chuck Chvala in the Senate ordered an end to the casual camaraderie that had characterized those two bodies for years.
The public show in both houses had been somewhere between bitter and vitriolic, but the after hours was where the deals were made and the rhetoric toned down. The watering holes were off the record and populated by seemingly irreconcilable partisans from both sides. Breaking bread together was common, neither encouraged nor frowned upon.
The respect for the trade and its practitioners was evident despite the disputatious nature of the institutions.
In the winter of 2011 and the recall rants that followed camaraderie was out the window and the toxicity level went ballistic. The issues that were the worthy subjects of debate and disagreement became personal. “He said, she said,” escalated to, “If he [or she] is for it, I’m against it.”
Compromise and civility were history. Ideological purity and rigidity reigned.
The toxicity level reached 100.
One respected veteran of the legislative wars predicted, “It will take 30 years to get over this.”
I asked the journalists Patrick Marley and Jason Stein, who had reported on the wars of 2011 at the time and revisited and updated them in their admirable book, where they thought the toxic index was. They thought it was still high, but dropping ever so slightly.
A good sign.
A better sign is the informal survey taken by a newly elected member of the Assembly who said that a good third of the group that came in in 2012 said their constituents had been vocal and firm about their desire to see if not peace a lower level of conflict in that chamber.
Organized sociability was common in the last third of the last century where a series of governors brought presumed enemies together at the executive residence for drinks and dinner along with citizens, administrators, academics, and others who didn’t belong to the same clubs or hang out at the same taverns in their home venues either.
These soirees have been more rarely used in the new millennium and hardly ever as an antidote to the rising toxicity downtown.
And Washington is reputably as bad or worse. A new member of Congress has said that there has been one social occasion since November when an event in DC brought the partisans under the same roof. A long series of Wisconsin governors would have told the president, if asked, that he might have followed their example and hosted more than a few of those kinds of occasions himself.
What we need is a sociologist to creative a Toxicity Index along with the criteria used to measure the intensity of the affliction. The questions should go beyond attendance at official occasions. Co-sponsorship of legislation would be a factor. Hanging out together in the off hours at places where guns are figuratively left at the door, and all who enter are welcome and comfortable. Talking to, instead of at, each other. Even freeing whatever free spirits there are in today’s legislators from caucus control.
It’s not against the rules for cabinet secretaries to invite legislators out for or to their homes for dinner.
Driving to work together. How many deals were cut by the carpoolers from central Wisconsin on the way to and from Madison in the not-so-distant past?
Does that 10 percent approval rating bother anybody? Outsiders are asking why they should respect people who don’t respect their trade or each other. It’s a legitimate question.
[write a letter]
GARVEYBLOG
May 19, 2013
Zielinski leaving
By Ed Garvey
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski is leaving his post with Democrats. He has been the party's spokesman for three-and-a-half years, according to party chair Mike Tate, but was demoted after a couple of statements. One compared Scott Walker to Jeffrey Dahmer and a second one suggested that he does not fully suport a woman's right to chose abortion.
The WSJ remained silent on his compensation. No mention of a severance package, and no indication if the party has hired a replacement or if they have named someone. Is it true that the party will pay $120,000? C'mon! This is serious business not bean bags. We have a right to know all the facts.
Mike Tate still refuses to tell us his compensation package. Will hell freeze over first?
[write a letter]
ARTICLE
May 19, 2013
Fighting Ed
By David Giffey
Ed Garvey is retiring from the practice of law and will now spend even more time competing in other arenas.
[write a letter]
GARVEYBLOG
May 18, 2013
Was there a deadline?
By Ed Garvey
We were told by a source that the chairmanship of the Wisconsin Democratic Party will be handed to Mike Tate again. Who decided? Apparently Mike Tate, the current chair, decided to set yesterday as the deadline for applicants to file for "his" job.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there does it make a noise? Asked another way, if Mike Tate is the only Democrat who will qualify for the job of chairman, who will decide his compensation, priorities and plans? Well, apparently the answer is Mike Tate.
I don't really know Mike Tate, so it is hard to tell if he knows what he is doing. Some of the tasks are obvious: candidate recruitment; fund raising; framing the issues for debates; expanding the party base. What is he doing to prepare for a right-to-work campaign in Wisconsin? Where is the master plan for the party to become relevant? What grade should we give this well compensated employee of the party?
I can say that I have received hundreds of fundraising requests from Mike Tate but never a request for my position on policy. Hells bells, I can't even find out what he is paid. The Democratic Party appears to be out of gas. Time for an internal debate on the direction of the Democratic Party--third party or second!
[9 letters]
GARVEYBLOG
May 17, 2013
A second Party
By Ed Garvey
Fighting Bob believed in weak political parties. For example, he believed that the people should nominate candidates for office, not the party bosses. If Fighting Bob, his son Phil (note: this post originally identified Phil as Robert's brother), and his wife Belle could see us now they might change their minds a tad.
Sit before reading the following. I have been badgering Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate to post his compensation package online. He refuses to do that and will not disclose his compensation to party members or media who call the Democratic Party office. I have an idea that his compensation package is quite generous. A former elected official is also in the dark, but she said "rumor has it" his pay is in six figures plus insurance and memberships in some exclusive clubs paid for by the Democrats! (Milwaukee Athletic Club and North Hills Country Club.)
Here is the straw that broke the camel's back. Tate announced that he will run again, but won't tell Democrats or the media when the election will be held, when the filing deadline is, etc. Imagine trying to recruit someone really good and when asked how much she would be paid is told that it is none of her business!
We were told yesterday that the filing deadline for the two-year job is today. Yup! Today. Notice? Nope! We called the party but we were only allowed to talk with an intern who knew almost nothing--by design. I asked if a notice had been sent to Democrats and he didn't know.
More rumors. After Graeme Zielinski compared Walker with Jeff Dahmer people were outraged and Tate gave the impression that Zielinski was suspended or fired. When Zielinski said he was not really in favor of abortion, some caution flags went up. He went into hiding.
More rumors. He (Graeme) has been making $60,000 per year, but is now moving on and the party has hired a person to replace him with a salary of $120,000. (You can't make this stuff up!)
Why do I suspect that Tate's pay is high? If he was not earning a big salary he would not be fighting so hard to keep the job. And he might be telling us he is making a big sacrifice.
Paul Wellstone was fond of saying "we are the democratic wing of the Democratic Party." What wing in Tate in?
[8 letters]
ARTICLE
May 16, 2013
No expiration date
By Dave Zweifel
In Bangladesh and Wisconsin, we need unions now more than ever.
[1 letter]
GARVEYBLOG
May 14, 2013
Retire?
By Ed Garvey
I never imagined retirement, but tomorrow I will officially retire from the practice of law. I will not "retire" from Fighting Bob. In fact, I hope to spend more time on FightingBob.com.
We had a great evening recently to thank volunteers for all their hard work on Bob Fest 11.
Mark your calenders for number 12. Kickoff September 6 and Fighting Bob Fest on September 7.
Just thought you should know.
[5 letters]
ARTICLE
May 14, 2013
A second party
By Ed Garvey
Democrats can win statewide races in Wisconsin--if they run.
[2 letters]
GARVEYBLOG
May 13, 2013
Annoying!
By Ed Garvey
Whenever I look back on the third year of Obama's presidency, looming over me will be a picture of Harry Reid. Why? Because he refused to reform the filibuster rules. The result is that Obama's nominees are not being approved. Federal judgeships remain unnfilled, EPA and many other top job openings are slowing the work of the administration. Reid is doing more harm to Obama than the GOP. Big mistake Harry, big mistake.
I remember When Russ Feingold voted in support of lots of Bush nominees saying that the president deserves to appoint his team. So much for that bull.
Let's pressure Reid to get with it.
[3 letters]
GUESTBLOG
May 12, 2013
What's so great about being governor anyway?
By Bill Kraus
The question the reporter asked was whether being on the list of presidential prospects would damage the governor’s chances for re-election to that office.
He had an easy answer: of course not. He was right. Those who love him would be proud of his national prominence. Those who hate him want him to go away. Period.
It’s the wrong question.
The harder question is whether his run for re-election in Wisconsin will help or hurt his status as someone with national potential and prospects.
It very well could.
He could lose in 2014. The demise of WEAC, one of the 500-pound gorillas, notwithstanding, the Democrats are not likely to nominate another reluctant or wounded contender, and out of the wreckage of the ill-considered and mostly failed recall adventure they still have those one million names and email addresses.
He could win narrowly when he needs to win overwhelmingly.
He is, after all, pretty much a one trick pony. Putting aside the fact that he fixed an unfixable budget, the thing that got him a place on the national stage was showing how to kill the public sector unions by shutting off their money flow.
This was done without blinking in the face of a major protest which makes it even a larger propellant to national reknown. It has brought him adoring audiences everywhere, a sure route to money if he cares about money, and a place on the early GOP shortlist.
He may not be another Calvin Coolidge, who rode breaking the Boston police strike to the vice presidency, but he’s definitely a potential latter day reincarnation of that phenomenon.
Unless he has unfired ammunition in the other barrel of his two-barrel shotgun, like school choice, he could use the first two years of what would be his second term to ride his pony to every corner of the country in search of votes, money, and admiration.
Would this be a better, more productive use of his time than slugging it out with a fractious Legislature across the whole public agenda--including and especially school choice--in hopes of enhancing his already prominent reputation and stature?
Silly question.
Is he thinking about moving to the national stage?
He’s writing a book.
His electoral record is an amazing combination of good timing and unremitting good luck. He took out a flawed county executive in a solidly Democratic County. His natural enemies underrated his popularity and overrated their candidate to give him a second term there. He rode a Republican tsunami against a reluctant opponent to the governor’s office. A wise and wary collection of independents and Democrats who thought recall was a worse idea than his retention gave him a victory in that misguided election. All of this adds up to an assertion or illusion of unbeatability.
And, best of all, he knows about grabbing brass rings as they whistle by, and hasn’t missed one yet.
Is he likely to let this one pass?
I wouldn’t bet on it.
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