WHY SUCH LOUSY GOVERNOR CANDIDATES?
Over 30 years ago I moved away from Wisconsin. When I left the state I thought that our governors were about average for U.S. states. After a few years, I was watching TV in Kansas City and saw an interview with the Governor of Wisconsin, Tommy Thompson. I was absolutely shocked. I thought to myself, "Wow, the people of Wisconsin have made a terrrible mistake in electing this guy. He is a buffoon at best." I sure was wrong, He was re-elected. Now having moved back to Wisconsin, I still cannot understand why that guy was ever elected to anything. He is an embarrassment to this state.
Perhaps it was Thompson's drinking. Perhaps it was his womanizing. And with the revelations coming out about other state governors, especially Republicans like Thompson, perhaps my opinion of governors was too high from the beginning.
In any case, the two Wisconsin governors since then have not offered much improvement. Do I have to mention Scott McCallum to prove anything? And I have been very disappointed with the current governor, Doyle. And Scott Walker and Mark Neumann announcing that they will run may even be a step backward. Walker, when serving in the state legislature, did everything he could to deny the city of Milwaukee anything. And Neumann blatantly said in a prior election that he would never knowingly hire a gay person. Walker further wanted to give just about everything publicly owned over to private operators as Milwaukee County Executive. And Neumann's comments have not given any indication that his bigotry has lessened.
The Democratic Party nationally and statewide has blundered its sweeping election success in 2008, and has been timid, stupid, and given over to responding to lobbying groups and not the people. While the Republicans have always been lackies for big business buying their votes, the Democrats have been shamefully inadequate in representing the people who sent all politicians a message in 2008. Democrats have been deaf and blind not to realize that message. Both parties act as though their election and/or re-election is solely dependent on getting money from power groups, pressure groups, and business favoritism. Paul Wellstone and Russ Feingold have been elected and re-elected carrying a progressive agenda. Unfortunately Wellstone of Minnesota died in a plane crash. But the biggest offices in the state and nation are available to progressive politicians if they are true to the people.
It is time for Wisconsin voters to demand a higher quality person to fill the office of governor. We cannot settle for a dunce or a puppet for power groupings.
