If we were to have a blizzard, covering all the city, today would yet be a lovely day. There are, of course, some individual losses for which there is no human recompense, but for the community, no day is more restorative, and so more welcome, than an election day. Today will be a bit sweeter,…
Elections
Elections, Politics, Recall
Video for the Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I posted earlier about the Democrats’ recall forum on 4.25.12 at UW-Whitewater. I’m not a Democrat, but it was an event well-worth attending. All four Democratic candidates for governor, and other office-seekers, were there. For my posts on the evening, see The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater and The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater (Compas…
Elections, Politics, Recall
The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater (Compas and Jorgensen edition)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
I wrote yesterday about the Democrats’ recall forum, focusing on the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor. (See, The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater. ) Below is a summary of two other candidates’ presentations: Lori Compas, running in the 13th Senate District against Sen. Maj. Leader Scott Fitzgerald, and Rep. Andy Jorgensen, now representing the…
Elections, Recall
The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Below are remarks originally published on 4.30.12 at Daily Adams. I’ll post separately with remarks on other candidates who attended, but are not seeking statewide office. On Wednesday night, 4.25.12, Wisconsin’s Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor (and a few other Democratic candidates) attended a forum at UW-Whitewater, in Whitewater, Wisconsin. I’m a resident…
Elections, Recall, Unions
The Wisconsin Unions’ Doomed Primary Pick
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Kathleen Falk, the choice of every Big Labor board in Wisconsin, received fewer than half the votes in a Democrats’ straw poll in her home base of Dane County. It’s hard to overestimate how telling this is: union leaders are sure she’s the best candidate to take on Walker, but even Democrats she knows aren’t…
Daily Adams, Elections, Recall
Are Kathleen Falk’s union backers the best thing that ever happened to rival Tom Barrett?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the Wisconsin recall battle, could Tom Barrett have any better asset than the unions who favor Kathleen Falk over him? Nietzsche would say no: Any union criticism of theirs that doesn’t kill him actually makes him stronger. Falk trails the late-entering Barrett for the race to challenge Scott Walker, and she’s desperately willing to…
City, Elections, Hip & Prosperous, Politics
Hip & Prosperous through Political Clarity
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Most people don’t think about a contest for a single council district when they’re thinking about ways to make Whitewater hip and prosperous. In fact, political races — and how we describe them — make a big difference. Not just a race, but the way we describe it (or any other contest), matters. It’s the…
City, Elections, Uncategorized
Political Recap: The Whitewater Council Races
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The spring primary for Whitewater’s Common Council ended about as one might have thought. The at-large seat broke for Kidd, Abbott won comfortably in her district, and the Binnie-Hartmann District 4 race was very close (probably closer than one would have guessed). One would expect an incumbent or establishment candidate to prevail in Whitewater, and…
Elections
Whitewater League of Women Voters’ Candidates Forum
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here’s a recording — still timely — of the Whitewater League of Women Voters’ Candidates Forum from March — originally posted here on March 19th at noon. League of Women Voters: Candidates Debate 3/10/2012 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo. Embedded above is a recording of the March 10th candidate forum among candidates…
Elections, Recall
Recall Organizer Lori Compas’s Declaration Speech
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Embedded below is a video of recall-organizer-turned-candidate Lori Compas declaring against Sen. Majority Leader Fitzgerald in Wisconsin’s 13th District. Despite Sen. Fitzgerald’s numerous challenges to petition signatures, I’d guess a recall election in his district will happen. (It’s a partisan video, from SSWIDTMS. Compas’s remarks are my only interest; the origin of the video isn’t…
Elections, Recall
Assessing Walker and Barrett as Debaters
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Among the Democrats who might challenge Gov. Walker is one who challenged him in 2010. Milwaukee’s Mayor Tom Barrett ran and lost in a 1,128,941 to 1,004,303 tally. Barrett may run against Walker in a recall, so here’s an assessment of Barrett and Walker as debaters in the 2010 campaign. There’s more to write, another…
Elections, Recall
Lori Compas Declares Recall Candidacy Against Sen. Majority Leader Fitzgerald
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Compas led a recall petition drive against Sen. Fitzgerald, and she’s now declared her candidacy for the13th Sen. District. I’ve no idea how the race will go, but it will be worth following. (I’ve written a bit about Compas & Fitzgerald previously. See, Sen. Majority Leader Fitzgerald’s 12.19.11 Open Office.) The always-solid Mary Spicuzza reports…
Elections, Politics, Recall, Uncategorized
Assessing the (Current) Recall Challengers’ Public Speaking
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
As I write, there are three declared challengers to Gov. Walker, should there be (as there will be, really) a gubernatorial recall race. More will enter, but for now it’s Kathleen Falk, Hari Trevedi, and Kathleen Vinehout. I’ll consider their presentations at the challenger-friendly Fourth Annual Grassroots Fest Candidate Forum held February 18, 2012 in…
Elections, Politics, Recall
Reviewing Kathleen Vinehout’s Initial Campaign Steps in a Recall Race
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Many Wisconsinites have never heard of Kathleen Vinehout, a Democratic state senator representing western Wisconsin’s 31st Senate District. (Vinehout lives in tiny Alma, population 781.) She, like all her partisan senate colleagues, left the state in 2010 to prevent a quorum. She was not, and is not, as well-known as some of those who left…