Wisconsin Republicans Fear Reynolds Route

Wisconsin Republicans are prepared to dump State Senator Tom Reynolds, District 5.

Charlie Sykes posts: THURSDAY, March 2, 2006, 9:34 a.m. REYNOLDS, OVADAL, AND THE POPE:

...Here is the link to the website of Rev. Ralph Ovadal in which he says that the late Pope John Paul II was a "minister of satan."

Ovadal's church is one of Senator Tom Reynolds' printing clients and sources of his income.

I asked him if he intended to continue his association with Ovadal's group. He said he would, although he claimed he was unaware of Ovadal's comments on the Catholic Church...
...The left has been onto the Reynolds-Ovadal story for sometime (and I expect planned to use it in the November election. Former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin wrote about it last December and again, here... (emphasis added, of course)

It is well documented that Reynolds is a loose cannon and cavorts with the most cynical people. Reynolds was soundly exposed for his homophobic views by Watchdogmilwaukee who also asked:

Doesn’t it just make you want to ask Reynolds—‘gee Tom, you are WCU’s printer, don’t you see anything inherently wrong with doing the printing for a group calling the late Pope John Paul II a “Minister of Satan”?

That was because of Reynolds' association with bigoted zealot Ralph Ovadal, who claims to be a man of God, which we covered twice:

Tom Reynolds Takes on Homos and the Pope and More Tom Reynolds: Wisconsin State Senator and Catholic Church

I do not attribute any of Ovadal's tirades to Reynolds.  Reynolds has every right to print Ovadal's screeds. Reynolds can associate with whomever he pleases. None of this means that Reynolds subscribes to Ovadal's claim that Catholicism is "a doctrine of devils " and "that it is impossible to follow both the pope and Jesus."

However, as a public official closely associated with Ovadal, Reynolds has an obligation to the people of his district and Wisconsin to tell us where he stands. And the press has an obligation to pursue this story.

With that as background, the Wisconsin radical right-Republicans were in a quandary about what to do with Reynolds next fall.  He voted perfectly on every issue, but there was his refusal to denounce Ovadal's anti-Catholicism. 

Then Reynolds took another turn this  week as he refused to submit to the Gard-Doyle compromise on expanding school choice in Milwaukee.  As Charlie Sykes told us:

SENATOR TOM REYNOLDS AND THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA

...Despite repeated opportunities, Reynolds refuses to commit his vote for the choice compromise, which means that (given the total Democratic cave-in to the unions), Reynolds could be the swing vote that scuttles the deal...So far, the reviews aren’t favorable:

...Chip and Dale are wondering whether this is guy who is championed by conservatives on other issues.

Either way, I sure hope the so-called conservatives in this town come out and point out when Tom Reynolds is wrong as strongly as they defend him. He is wrong this time...

...Peter DiGaudio surveys the landscape and concludes:

Nothing like being a maverick. But sometimes being a maverick makes you simply wrong. And a flake. Reynolds has a reputation for being rather quirky. It's time for not only his constituents but all Choice supporters to contact Reynolds and tell him to do the right thing. Milwaukee's children depend on it...

By time you read this post, Reynolds may well have cast his vote for school choice, but it may not be enough to save him.

I listened to the entire Sykes interview of Reynolds and came to following conclusions:

• Reynolds distanced himself from Ovadal's anti-Catholicism by identifying it as an isolated view within Christianity.
• Reynolds never came out and directly criticized Ovadal's bigotry.
• Reynolds made it clear that he was in complete agreement with the gay-bashing piece he printed from Ovadal.
• Sykes did his best to pin Reynolds down on the school choice vote, but failed to get the elusive State Senator to commit.
• Sykes is uncomfortable with Reynolds, and if:
  • Reynolds votes for school choice expansion, Sykes can endure another term for the bizarre Republican.
  • Reynolds votes against school choice or causes it to go under, Sykes will be leading the charge to find a new nominee for the Republican Party.

In any case, if the Republican Party doesn't get him, his own District will.

Comments

[Charlie Sykes]

You deserve credit for being ahead of the curve on this. Nice job. Good analysis. As strange as it may seem, I think we've found something we agree on.

[Paul]

Charlie: I enjoyed the interview you did with Reynolds. From his answers and the tone of his voice it sounded to me like he was ready to support expanding choice but obviously could not succumb to pressure from you on a public show. Given that it was only a few hours later until his statements and vote, my guess is your message got through to him--that significant conservative support would abandon him in a primary if he failed fo come through.
From my viewpoint: drats.

Lets see if we can find at least one more common view sometime before this year ends. Have you noticed what F.I.R.E., the companion conservative friends to the ACLU has been doing on the free speech front?