Paul Soglin: Waxing America

"How dumb do they think women are?"

"How dumb do they think women are?" were the first words Sara said to me after the announcement that John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate. As was reported from many sources, McCain's VP pick stirs excitement, bafflement among women,:

McCain's strategists do hope that Palin will help McCain attract disaffected Democratic and independent women who supported Hillary Clinton in this year's long and bitter Democratic primary contest.

There is a problem with the strategy, just as there is with the Republican sideshow featuring disaffected former Hillary Clinton Wisconsin delegate Debra Bartoshevich.

Bartoshevich, once a Clinton delegate from Wisconsin, is now the star of a Republican 'attack ad' appealing for Clinton supporters to abandon Obama.

'I have spoken to a lot of Democrats who are the same as I am. But they are not ready to come out,' she said. She added that she was going public to encourage them to jump ship too. 'I want others to feel that they can come out,' she said.

There are two problems with this strategy. The first is drawing a conclusion from anecdotes rather than hard data. Bartoshevich and her 'lot of democrats' are anecdotes, not fact. There is no evidence that there is significant movement to McCain by Hillary Clinton supporters.

Which leads to the second Republican problem.

It is a huge leap of faith to conclude that because a significant number of Democratic and liberal leaning independent women voters supported Hillary Clinton, that they are going to drop their core beliefs and vote for a Republican ticket simply becasue it features an NRA, anti-choice woman.

As Sara Soglin said, "How dumb do they think women are?"

The Oskosh Northwestern on Chancellor Wiley and WMC

The Northwestern in Oshkosh has a great editorial in Wednesday's newspaper on the current controversy sparked by the Madison Magazine article by UW Chancellor John Wiley. Wanted: Wiley's guts before exit interview

Whether you're running for the Wisconsin legislature, seeking a chancellorship in the University of Wisconsin System or at home, worrying about job security, hoping Wisconsin can turn its economy around, do yourself a favor: Read outgoing UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley's September "Madison Magazine" essay called "From Crossroads to Crisis.

The Northwestern basically endorses the observations of the Chancellor and the newspaper's criticism of him is that he did not go far enough or fast enough in terms of sharing his sentiments with the public.

As someone who held public office for many years and often offended, I understand the need for timing in these matters. A public official must be aware that the environment of our state capitol is one of recrimination and payback. Wiley had to make a judgment call as to when the value of his criticism would be maximized and the negative consequences to those he served minimized.

Certainly any commentary by him prior to 2006 would have been premature. At that time. while  Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce  (WMC) was operating at full throttle, they were not in the public eye and the Chancellor's comments would have fallen on deaf ears.

Now we have the discussion, and the public is listening. It is not too late to address the concerns raised.

What we need right now are some business leaders, those who know better, to speak out. Unfortunately, a code of silence within the business community encourages dissidents to hold their tongues.

On another matter, The Northwestern noted that the Chancellor admonished WMC but not WEAC:

Wiley's essay also fell short in failing to criticize the entire sphere of third-party influence blocking Wisconsin's way. The WMC is one enormous political player. The Wisconsin Education Association Council is another. Both are cash flush. Both, often corrosive.

I find a significant difference between WMC and WEAC. I admit that my opinion may be colored by my politics, but the issue ads purchased by WEAC are far more accurate than the poisonous, deceptive commericals aired by WMC.

There is a second more significant difference between WMC and WEAC.

WEAC's funds come from its Wisconsin members. WMC's funds, predominately, come from out of state corporations like Home Depot, Wal-Mart, General Electric, and insurance companies. It is estimated that for every $4 million raised by WMC, between one half and two-thirds comes from these out-of-state corporations.

 

 

It Is Time To Think About the Parents.

There is no question that parents have a considerable influence on the academic success of their children. Parental educational level, involvement in parent-teacher conferences, encouraging reading at a young age, and disciplinary approaches all have an outcome on the child's academic achievement and success in life.

While schools and communities can develop strategies to compensate with mentoring or after school programs, there is no substitute for full parental engagement.

I was critical of some of the pundits like Mark Belling and Charlie Sykes who bemoan the situation but never have a solution.

An important contribution to the discussion comes from Rick Esenberg's most recent post: The water and air is just fine here.

Paul argues that it is futile to blame parents without supporting "any recognized programs to break the cycle" as if there was is written somewhere in the annals of natural law a principle that all social problems must have a government solution. I'm all for anything that will restore public safety in the city and reverse the demise of marriage and the rise of a culture that disparages middle class values. What I am not optimistic about is the idea that government can do what your family will not and that prosperity can simply be created by public spending. (emphasis added)

I am perfectly happy if this work is done by the private sector. It can be performed by private for- profit businesses, non-profits, the two of them together, or even the two of them in combination with the public sector.

The point is someone needs to do it. If I understand Rick correctly, he acknowledges that some kind of positive intervention needs to be taken.

I will be the first to acknowledge that government programs in this area failed.

Many have succeeded. The successful ones include partnerships between the public sector, non-profits and the private sector. They are referenced in the posts below.

For a review:

What Do We Do About the parents - Incarceration - Especially Blacks ...Every time we hear right wing analysis about societal problems, whether it comes from Mark Belling or his protege, Charlie Sykes, the rant is about the parents. The not so unsubtle message is that drug addled, unwed inner city residents, authority dissin' and probably black, are incapable of rearing their children.

and

From Rick Esenberg,

Shark and Shepard: Inconvenient truths?...Second, we probably can't expect urban school districts like MPS to do much better without changing the family environments of a large proportion of the students. Indeed, it seems, much of the additional resources that urban districts call for seem to be needed so the school can do for a child what her family has not.
The problem is that government does a lousy imitation of a family. It may take a village to raise a child - I think it does - but the state is not the village.

Is it the water or the air in Milwaukee?...There are ways to fix the problem. Blaming the parents and leaving it at that is no solution.

Negative Convention Coverage

As I reviewed the stories coming out of Denver I was struck by the cynical nature of the headlines about the Democratic Convention. Here is a sampling:

Edgy Dems await Clinton - Already defeated and now confused, delegates supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton pleaded Tuesday to know ...

Clinton Backers Confused - lead for same story as above

A convention comeuppance for Bill Clinton ...Bill Clinton was supposed to beam at the side of his wife at the Democratic convention as she was crowned their party's presidential nominee. Instead, he will have reason to wince ...

Tough crowd for Obama: Women Feel Robbed -Barack Obama faces no greater challenge this week than to unite disappointed women Democrats behind his candidacy...

Angry Clinton supporters toast McCain roast Obama...But the 54-year-old Democrat joined several other Hillary Clinton supporters, along with volunteers and officials from John McCain's campaign, at a Happy Hour for Hillary. The event, sponsored by the Republican National Committee ...

These were not the only headlines to show up in the past five hours, but they are representative of a significant number of stories from an assortment of news services ranging from AP to CNN.

There are plenty of positive and neutral headlines such as Previewing her speech, Clinton urges supporters to back Obama and Clinton's Night in Denver, but not the speech She Wanted to Give

It will be interesting to see if the Republican Convention gets similar coverage.

Frankly, I do not think the Democrats have much to complain about it since the problems are real, but they will have an axe to grind if similar Republican sores are not exposed in Minneapolis.

John Wiley's Bipartisan Criticism Needs Some Sunlight

Lost in the spotlight of University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley's comments about Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) that appeared in Madison Magazine, From Crossroads to Crisis , was this observation:

I also had plenty of opportunities to meet with legislators. A depressingly large number of those meetings began with a monologue about how all the state's problems were caused by the policies and positions of the other party, and how things would get better quickly if we just came out publicly in support of their own party's position.

Too often, the tirades were accompanied by a warning of dire consequences if I spoke in public opposition to measures I felt would harm the university, or a sharp rebuke if I had recently committed the sin of thanking a member of the opposite party for helping the university with some issue.

Until a couple of years ago, I was also frequently warned or threatened about the need for "the university" to get more involved in providing campaign contributions if we expected any sympathetic reactions, as if I had any role in telling university employees whom to support. That practice, at least, seems to have stopped, probably because of a number of felony convictions for similar behavior.

I know this to be true. When I served as the mayor of Madison from 1973-1979, I was never troubled by suggestions that the adoption of legislation favorable to the city of Madison would require me to arrange the delivery of campaign contributions from my friends to various political committees designed to elect the members of one party or the other to the legislature.

All that changed when I returned to office in 1989. As the 1990's advanced it became obvious that the best interests of my constituents and the people of Wisconsin were secondary to those whose checkbooks were aimed at legislators. Our legislative successes of 1990 soon came to an abrupt halt.

With only one exception, the Madison area legislators were beyond reproach. And although I supported his primary opponents twice,  Fred Risser is not that exception. He was always a model of integrity and propriety when it came to separating campaign matters from the public agenda.

I also learned that the constituents of political opponents were to be used like Napoleonic cannon fodder. If a legislator was to cross someone who had more power and influence the price was usually the elimination or cutback of a project or service in the offending legislator's district.

Perhaps a new confident generation of leaders can end these practices in the next session of the legislature.

Mike Huebsch Should Read the La Crosse Tribune.

The discussion about the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) deservedly received statewide discussion. As the La Crosse Tribune notes, this is an issue that impacts the entire UW System, not just the Madison campus: Madison’s politics of attack also hurts campuses around the state:

UW-Madison bears the brunt of the legislative attacks, but other campuses throughout the state — including La Crosse — have also suffered.

UW-L has had to absorb millions of dollars in budget cuts, affecting its programs.

The Tribune editorial board is correct on two points. First that this is not just a Madison issue and secondly that both parties have to overcome their partisan wrangling when it comes to governing:

One of the legislative attacks it had to absorb was the refusal of the State Senate Democrats to hold a vote on a financial aid proposal that has sailed through the Assembly on a voice vote without controversy.

Democrats did that because their leader objected to an earlier tuition increase proposal for UW-L.

While the  affront perpetrated by the Democrats was a procedural one which caused no long lasting damage, it would be wise to recall Sam Brown's sage advice, "Never offend with style when you can offend with substance."

In the meantime La Crosse area Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (Rep-West Salem) needs to take the editorial to heart and pledge that if he is re-elected, and if he should continue as majority leader that he will not reappoint Representative Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater) as chair of the Committee on Colleges and Universities.

Making the pledge now is most appropriate considering the role Nass played in demeaning education throughout the state.

 

McCain Commercials Despicable

The words, "Joe Biden" were barely uttered by Barack Obama and the McCain assassin squad was slotting the new television commercials attacking the Democratic presidential candidate's selection for a running mate.

Suddenly Hillary Clinton, probably the only Democrat in the United States more despised by Republicans than her husband, is the McCain poster-child for a woman scorned.

From despicable to vile, from insipid to tragic, there are not enough adjectives to describe the McCain campaign's desperate attempt to narrow the gap with the Democratic front-runner.

From Willie Horton of two decades ago, to the WMC Supreme Court advertisements of 2007 and 2008 it is clear that these campaigns are run by Karl Rove and a new generation of his toadies.

While John McCain, with a straight face tells the nation that Joe Biden is an honorable leader, his campaign spend millions on a message void of content or substance.

It would be nice if someone, in either party, won a campaign against this type of vile trash and showed that content and substance can triumph.

I hope Joe Biden and the Democrats do not emulate this kind of trash when the Republicans select their vice presidential candidate.

I imagine if Hillary Clinton was the Democratic candidate for Vice President, Karl Rove would be orchestrating a campaign alleging that she fathered an illegitimate child.

Bicycle Ride August 23. Vice President.

This morning's ride was on and off, but finally I embarked on a jaunt around Madison. The clouds were ominous so I ruled out the planned trip to Mt. Horeb. Sara does not retrieve me with her sag wagon operation more than five miles from home base. Especially when she is spending the morning replastering the kitchen and bathrooms ceilings, damaged by last winter's roof leaks and the subsequent spring rains. Yes, she did it all herself.

I headed west and then circled back to the Arboretum, crossed Fish Hatchery and Park Street with the plan to do Lake Monona counter-clock wise. I stopped to help a couple headed to the Alliant Center for the pottery show; the were trying to figure out the best route to cross John Nolen Drive.

The Lake Monona Loop was uneventful, except that there was lots of activity as neighbors prepared for the annual Orton Park festival. Many of them, capitalizing on the crowds, were running their own garage sales.

As I passed one house I noticed all of the adult materials spread out in the driveway, drab, mostly browns, blacks and some tans and greens.

The front yard was a sea of pink. The right wing family values crowd should take note that even in Madison's extreme far left radical Sixth District, little girls grow up in a sea of pink and occasional purple.

As usual the closer to the center of the city, the greater the number of helmet-less riders.

As you probably know by now, Obama did not tap me for vice president. I suppose two Hyde Parkers was one too many.

Campaign Posters: Stealing Good Stuff - Truckin' on Down to the Polls

Dave Medaris, Isthmus,was sorting through his stuff and came up on an old Soglin for mayor campaign poster, Souvenir keeps on truckin'  - Rediscovering a vintage Soglin campaign poster

Laying eyes on it took me back to 1971, when I was 11 years old and going door to door, delivering Soglin campaign brochures on the near west side.,,The poster, with the counterculture icon Mr. Natural urging voters to RUSH RIGHT ON TO THE POLL — was aimed at UW students. It was authorized and paid for by the Students for Soglin Committee, 458 W. Gilman, Molly Berigan, treasurer. 

Actually the poster was from 1973 since that was the year we had the campaign office on West Gilman Street.

Yes, though the name is spelled differently, Molly is related to the Berrigan Brothers, Daniel and Philip, war resisters who did so much in the 1960's and 70's.

Dave Medaris contacted Molly Berigan as well as Genie Ogden who were two of six core members of both the 1971 and the successful 1973 campaigns. The others were Peggy Phillips who recently passed away, Dave Clarenbach, Dick Wagner, and Hank Lufler.

There were a few adults in 1971, mostly centered in Crestwood and led by Sophie Zermuehlen who was married to Don at the time and their neighbors. John Patrick Hunter was always lurking about, but kept his distance since he was a reporter for The Capital Times. Helen Vukelich was also deeply involved in 1971 as she was in 1973.

I digress.

The 1973 poster that Genie and the crew worked on with  Mr. Natural was a rip off from underground comic book author Robert Crumb.

But it was actually based on an earlier poster created by David Chandler in 1970 who worked with the crew at the Williamson Street print shop, Revolutions Per Minute (RPM).

Chandler used a bit more than Mr. Natural in his callous disregard of existing copyright laws.

 

The American eagle was lifted from the back of an infamous album* released a few years earlier.  That is not your father's olive branch clutched along side the American Flag.

While the 1970 poster designers for the aldermanic candidate were creative enough, the 1973 rip-off artists showed the greater moderation required of a more serious and mellow mayoral candidate.

I have fond memories of those campaigns. I am glad the others do too.

*Sorry, you have to figure it out for yourself - I am not providing any clues. Someone should be able to identify the album.

WMC, Buchen Behaving Badly; Boldt Boxed

When I met with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) Board of Directors President Tom Boldt November 19, 2007, our conversation, like our telephone call the previous month was polite, respectful, and to the point.

Bolt was committed to WMC's Issues Committee and their election strategy. He knew I was not going to stop my efforts to reveal who paid for the WMC issue ads and that I was going to hold his board responsible since they authorized and spent the money for the TV advertisements.

The discourse has been tough. Others joined in.

Clullen construction joined TDS and Foley and Lardner and left the board and the organization. Now we hear from UW Chancellor John Wiley and over-the-top WMC government relations officer, Jim Buchen.

Now Tom Bolt has a problem. He can either support Buchen and further alienate the majority of WMC board members who have no stomach for these shenanigans, especially when their businesses are named, or he can disavow Buchen reaffirming the belief that at least two WMC staffers, Buchen and Pugh, are out of control.

In any case, it is no secret that we are please at the Original WMC Watch as are ourfriends at One Wisconsin Now with their WMC Watch.

Buchen took Wiley's localized Madison article and made it a state wide issue. He did it fast and furious.  This is not the kind of attention that moderate businesses appreciate.

Our response will not be fast. We will continue to engage WMC members in creative and constructive discussion. We will be supportive of those who wish to leave as we will also encourage those who believe they can change the organization and its culture.

In the meantime Dave Cullen who took his company out of WMC two months ago must be feeling pretty good about escaping this disaster.

We have a large playing field.  Consumers of member companies. Directors of member companies. Newspapers and the electronic media outside of Madison and Milwaukee. College students. Farmers and small businesses.

And  large Wisconsin businesses that realize that WMC does not know how to grow the econmony of Wisconsin.