In debating, clash is neither a hostile encounter nor an English punk group. Anyone who was ever a high-school or college debater knows that debaters define clash between two sides as adversaries’ discussion of the same claims or topics, simply from opposing points of view. That means clash is a good thing: both sides are…
Politics
Politics, Press
The Last Newspaper Gubernatorial Endorsements You’ll Notice
by JOHN ADAMS •
We’ve eight days until this gubernatorial election, and it’s been quite the battle. However happy or sad you’ve been with ’14, here’s one thing you likely won’t notice in ’18: newspapers’ political endorsements. That’s because print newspapers either won’t be around by ’18, they won’t be making endorsements by ’18, or their few remaining readers…
Corporate Welfare, Development, Local Government, Planning, Politics
Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights?
by JOHN ADAMS •
JANESVILLE—The city of Janesville is losing its second economic development staff member in as many months. Ryan Garcia, the city’s economic development coordinator announced his resignation effective Nov. 15, according to a city release Wednesday… Via (subscription req’d) Janesville economic development coordinator resigning @ Janesville Gazette. Perhaps the economy-meddling, big-government conservatives at the Gazette will…
Humor, Libertarians, Politics
That’s Pretty Darn Funny, Actually
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve heard that some Republicans, including radio host Charlie Sykes, are upset that a few Democrats tweeted suggestions for good things Mary Burke might have said about Scott Walker in the first gubernatorial debate. Among those tweets was a suggestion from Lori Compas, formerly a state senate candidate, and currently a photographer and leader of…
Politics, Weird Tales
For Rock County, the (Grand Old) Party’s Over
by JOHN ADAMS •
What happens when a political party slips into a permanent minority within a community? For Rock County, it means that the party – no matter how strong statewide – runs bottom-tier candidates. The WISGOP dominates state government, but in nearby Rock County, a blue-tinted electorate means they’re stuck with few candidates who can win. Only…
Elections, Gubernatorial Race 2014, Politics, Poll
The Marquette Poll for 10.1.14
by JOHN ADAMS •
The latest Marquette Law School Poll is out today, with just over a month before the gubernatorial election. The last poll was 9.17.14. The 10.1.14 poll has Walker 50, Burke 45 with likely voters, and 46-45 to Walker’s favor among registered voters. The race is now just outside the poll’s statistical margin of error. I’ve…
Business, Marketing, Politics
Roger Goodell could swing a gig in Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at Esquire, Ben Collins writes (accurately) about Roger Goodell as “a visual representation of everything wrong with corporate America squeezed into one empty suit made of blood and money.” See, Roger Goodell, World Class Client of Crisis Communications Experts, Still Needs to Resign.” Collins can be confident because he saw Goodell’s 9.19.14 news conference. …
Planning, Politics, Press, Wisconsin
Goat-Level’s Not Enough
by JOHN ADAMS •
Political bloggers – left, right, libertarian, etc. – often find themselves critiquing the ill-considered proposals that government, business, labor groups, and a fawning press insist are for everyone’s good. That’s certainly true in Wisconsin – we have an active blogosphere running the whole political spectrum, and united (if in little else) at least in a…
Elections, Politics
On Vetting Candidates: Be Sure to Check “Social Media.” You Know, on the Inter-Webs
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Wisconsin’s 44th Assembly contest, nineteen-year-old GOP candidate Jacob Dorsey has withdrawn following discovery of his numerous racist and bigoted posts on social media. The episode is now a national story. (Bashing blacks, gays, even Abraham Lincoln…Dorsey kept busy. One additional, much smaller matter: he even suggested in a tweet that Utah was his favorite…
Politics, Poll, School District
The 9.17.14 Marquette Law School Poll (and Our Schools Referendum)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Charles Franklin’s latest Marquette Law School Poll is out today, with polling on the governor’s race, attorney general’s race, and on several key political issues. Although the Wisconsin gubernatorial election is a huge topic within the state, there’s not much polling on it beyond the Marquette Poll. The poll has its critics, too. Democrat Ed…
Police, Politics, Press, University
The Politics of Informants at UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
In a well-ordered community, there should be an accord between good policy and good politics. That’s not yet Whitewater, and this post will address the political implications of using confidential informants. (For a review of policy, please see yesterday’s How Rural Wisconsin Campuses Coerce Students into Becoming Drug Informants.) 1. Police Leadership. There’s almost no…
Culture, Development, Marketing, Politics
The Bad Bet Placed on an Eternal 2004
by JOHN ADAMS •
Some local proposals, in Whitewater or nearby places, look like they were designed by someone from 2004. Some in that year assumed that local residents would support public funding for any designated purpose, that claims of job-creation would be swallowed whole, that the press would support those claims relentlessly, that press support would make a…
Marketing, Planning, Politics
The ‘Paris Women’ Problem
by JOHN ADAMS •
A benign but drunk man sits in a bar, and the tavern’s waitress keeps ignoring him. He tells fellow patrons that the waitress cannot be from Paris, as she’s claimed, because that’s not how ‘Paris women’ would treat someone. That’s the scene from part of The Sure Thing, a 1985 film starring John Cusack. The…
Corporate Welfare, Politics, WEDC
WEDC Board Offers Millions to Subsidize Job Cuts
by JOHN ADAMS •
The next time Chancellor Telfer, City Manager Clapper, and CDA Chairman Jeff Knight host Reed Hall of the WEDC in Whitewater, they might wish to ask him a few questions about use of public money, job creation, and community development: The board overseeing the state’s flagship job-creation agency has quietly approved a $6 million tax credit…