FightingBob.com’s editor and publisher has some questions for the people who run his party. As a former candidate for statewide office and as a long-time member, he is confused about the decision making process at the top. Maybe you are as well.
An open letter to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin
By
Ed Garvey
Dear Wisconsin Democratic Party Officials,
Despite having won two Democratic primaries, one to challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Robert Kasten in 1986, and the other to win the right to take on incumbent Governor Tommy Thompson in 1998, and despite having been an active Democrat since the early 1960s, I find that, oddly enough, I remain ignorant about how the party functions. I figure that if I don’t know how you operate, thousands of good solid Democrats throughout the state don’t, either. So, I write to you today as an editor of a new Web magazine, FightingBob.com, and as a confused Democrat, in the hope that you will help us understand what is going on, who is in charge, and how decisions are made.
Now, some will say, “Hey, the Republicans are fair game as well. Why not address the same questions to them?” My answer is simple: I am not a Republican. Besides, I don’t expect that party to accept democratic principles.
FightingBob.com would like to publish your responses.
1. Your Winter 2003 newsletter, The Wisconsin Grassroots Democrat, has a “New Faces” section. We are introduced to the new executive director of the party, Kimberly Warkenin, who traveled all the way from Oregon with a prior stop in Iowa before taking over.
Q. Who selected Ms. Warkenin? Was there a statewide search to fill this key position? Were Wisconsin Democrats given a chance to apply? If not, why not? The Congressional Districts are scheduled to meet this month and next. Why not let the delegates select between two finalists? You know, a vote.
Q. You said that Steve Kean, the person she is replacing, is moving on to “less hectic” projects. Are those his words? (While I’m at it, whatever happened to his predecessor? Was he looking for peace and tranquility as well?) Or did Governor Doyle order a changing of the guard? If so, why not say so? We are adults.
2. In the last week of October and the first week of November 2002, more than $1.2 million was donated to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from a variety of Wisconsin sources, including Mathy Construction, Miller Brewing, and some of Wisconsin’s Native American tribes (See FightingBob.com February archives.) We have been made to understand that this money came back to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to help in the gubernatorial campaign.
Q. Who made the calls to the donors to attend the Chicago soiree where the money was supposedly raised? And how could you be certain they wanted all the money they gave to the national party to be returned to Wisconsin?
Q. Was the chair of the party involved in making the arrangements for the Chicago fundraiser? If not, who was?
Q. How does that “laundering” work? Does the money go from a bank in Wisconsin to a bank in Washington, and then get returned to a bank account in Wisconsin? In other words, is there a paper trail? You know, cancelled checks and the like? If there is no paper trail, where was the money deposited when it was returned to our state party? Is there an audit available to party members?
Q. Now that I think about it, I haven’t received a financial report from the state Democratic Party for about thirty years. Am I off the list? Do you normally send out a report?
Q. When the money came back to my party, did it all go to the Doyle campaign? If so, who made that decision: you, the DNC, or the contributors themselves? How did you know that the contributors wanted all the money to go to that campaign instead of the attorney general race or state Senate and Assembly races?
Q. If any of the more than $1 million went elsewhere, where did it go and who made that decision?
3. I understand that there is a conduit for money to Democratic causes named the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, or DLCC. I’ve seen their one-room office in a building across the street from the DNC offices. It is my understanding that about $400,000 was sent to Wisconsin by the DLCC in 2000, and even more in 2002.
Q. Where does the DLCC get its money?
Q. Who decides which races will receive their money? Who, in other words, is the liaison with the DLCC from our party?
Q. I understand that Wisconsin has a DLCC representative who is one of the aides charged in the Senator Brian Burke case. His name is Raghu Devaguptapu. Is that true, and if so what does he do and how was he appointed? I haven’t seen him in “New Faces.”
Q. Will the McCain-Feingold law outlaw contributions from DLCC in 2004?
4. Finally, could you please explain what in the world is going on in Milwaukee? That was a Democratic stronghold and now it seems to be anything but that.
Thank you in advance. We look forward to your responses and we assure you we will publish them.
Confused, in Madison,
Ed Garvey
April 3, 2003
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Ed Garvey is editor and publisher of FightingBob.com.
