Another candidate being mentioned for 2010 is…..

Rick Graber
Rick has been serving as ambassador to the Czech Republic since September of 2006.  Prior to his nomination, Rick practiced business law at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren from ’81 to ’06, serving as the firms CEO and President from ’04 to ’06.  Rick’s ties to the state GOP run deep.  He served as the state chairman from ’99 to ’06, one of the longest runs in the country.

As with all of the names being mentioned, Rick’s resume is impressive.  As a transactional attorney with one of the state’s largest law firms, he has 25 years of experience dealing with complex business relationships, something which could prove invaluable as the state fights through these tough economic times.  Having served as state GOP chairman for roughly seven years, his ties to party activists and donors most likely remains strong.  Finally, serving as an ambassador, particularly of a nation which has experienced positive economic growth over the past few years, surely would bolster his credentials as one who could help the state’s business community continue to implement positive international relationships.

2010 is not that far off.  In two years Wisconsin voters will be asked to decide who is best qualified to lead this state through some tough economic times.  In 2006 Congressman Mark Green carried the conservative banner and came up short against Gov. Doyle.  Having followed the election closely, I am convinced Mark ran a great campaign and simply was brought down by the “R” following his name.  In any other year I am confident Mark would have prevailed.

Even though the race is a solid year from getting under way, those considering a run have begun to put out “feelers” throughout the state to measure potential support.  Seeing that we are lucky enough to have one of the main prospects addressing our group this Thursday, I thought it would be a perfect time to highlight some of the names being mentioned in GOP circles.  While I do not claim to be an expert when it comes to Wisconsin politics, I have had the opportunity to talk to enough folks the past few weeks to get a good sense of who is considering making a run in 2010.  The list is impressive and should offer some great options for those interested in conservative policies.

At this point there are four primary names I have consistently been hearing.  I am neither a capital staffer nor campaign operative, so if any of the names I outline are no longer seriously considering a run or if I am just flat-out wrong, please comment and correct me.  I’ll outline the four names over the next four days with some brief, positive analysis.  So here we go…..

Mark Neumann
Those familiar with Southeastern Wisconsin politics are familiar with former Congressman Neumann.  A former teacher and real estate developer, Mark first ran for Congress in 1992 against Les Aspin.  A short time later Aspin was appointed Secretary of Defense by President Clinton.  Mark ran again in the special election, losing to Peter Barca.  However, he ran once again a year later and won in the ’94 Republican tidalwave, besting Barca by 1,120 votes.  As highlighted in the Wikipedia entry for Mark, during his two terms in Congress, he at times battled against members of his own party, choosing to stick to his conservative principles.  Mark then ran against Russ Feingold in ’98 for the U.S. Senate, losing by less than 2%.  I still remember as a freshman at Wisconsin Lutheran High School listening to Mark deliver his upbeat message (Mark is a fellow Lutheran).  He ran a strong campaign and gave Feingold a real fight.

Mark has been mentioned as a potential candidate for various offices since his defeat in ’98.  While only in Congress for two terms, Mark established himself as a fiscal hawk and one who was willing to stand up to those even in his own party.  Mark would most likely have strong name ID in Southeastern Wisconsin.  His background is impressive, spending time as a teacher, real estate developer and Congressman.  His ’98 Senate race would also likely give him some statewide name ID.

As a follow-up to my post regarding the Heinemann’s closing and the City of Milwaukee ordinance regarding paid sick leave, the MMAC and Milwaukee County suburbs are fighting back .  The MMAC has filed a state lawsuit to block the mandate from taking affect in the City of Milwaukee.  West Allis and South Milwaukee have already approved an ordinance which prohibits local businesses from being ordered to provide certain benefits to employees.  Greenfield, Glendale and Franklin are considering similar ordinances.

The full article can be found on JSOnline.

The recent news of the Heinemann’s restaurant chain closing in the Milwaukee area might not seem all that troubling to some.  But for those of us who grew up in Milwaukee, it most certainly is sad news.  At its height, Heinemann’s had 11 locations throughout SE Wisconsin.  I still remember meeting my Grandma at the Heinemann’s in Brookfield.  It was one of her favorite spots.

Restaurant chains, especially local ones, often simply cannot remain competitive with national chains that offer faster service along with more variety in better, more exciting settings.  If that were simply the case with respect to Heinemann’s then my commentary would be limited to brief sadness at the passing of a local establishment.

However, more is at play here, and conservative young professionals need to take note.  While there were obviously many other elements at work, including the economic downturn, the proverbial “nail in the coffin” seemed to be the recent Milwaukee ordinance passed in the fall election which requires employers within the city limits to provide paid sick leave to employees.

Obviously it would be great if all employers could provide paid sick leave.  There is no argument that such a benefit is not a bonus for any employee.  However, to force employers to offer such a benefit in tough economic times invariably forces employers into an undesirable position. 

The city of Milwaukee residents spoke.  However, I’m curious what the roughly 125 Heinemann’s employees would say if one were to ask them today whether they would rather have their job or the realization that if they had a job in Milwaukee they would have the benefit of paid sick days.  The question is not meant to be an insult to one’s intelligence, because the obvious answer should be that employees at the end of the day value their employer.  When government forces employers to offer benefits employers are not able to provide, tough decisions are made and too often the employees are the ones who suffer the most. 

The JS mentions the issue in passing: “[The] Milwaukee ordinance that requires city employers to provide sick days to their workers would have made it difficult for her (the owner) to continue in business.”  Unfortunately this brief note does not adequately address the fact that while the ordinance might not be affecting large employers in the city of Milwaukee, many other medium to small sized businesses might be facing tough decisions.  Let’s only hope that the Milwaukee ordinance does not serve as another “nail in the coffin” as the economy continues to stumble along.

With the Supreme Court election only a few months away, I have been poking around for interesting information which can be passed on.  A great place to start for any such information regarding Wisconsin politics is the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.  One can find in-depth reports regarding current topics and a great blog (both links are found to the right).

While this post is old, Christian Schneider’s piece regarding the election to the state’s high court of Justice Gableman is perfect as we enter another important race.  Basically, the legal community vehemently argues the system needs to be changed every time a conservative jurist is elected.  However, as Schneider points out, this is trend is nothing new.  In fact, every election since 2000 has resulted in a conservative win.  Read the rest of his 4/3/08 post:

With the Supreme Court race in our rear view mirror, the usual hysterics are taking place with regard to how we select our justices. According to Jay Heck from Common Cause, “This was the most nasty, negative, demoralizing statewide election in Wisconsin history. . . . This is about as low as you can go.”

Consider me among those not “demoralized.”

The election of conservative Judge Mike Gableman has set the media on fire. Much of the reaction resembles the state being hit by a hurricane, not the state electing a conservative Supreme Court justice. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s Mike McCabe, who must have a heck of a cell phone plan with all the calls he gets from state newspapers, said “”Wisconsin is in the midst of a hostile takeover of its court system.”

This article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel goes on to quote SEVEN individuals who think we should completely overhaul our system of electing judges. Not content with just that pitch for campaign finance reform, the paper today also ran an editorial describing the Supreme Court race, titled “Tawdry and Despicable.”

Naturally, had Butler won, we wouldn’t be hearing any of these calls for blowing up the system – everything from eliminating free speech to publicly funding elections to doing away with elections altogether. Everything would be golden until next year, when the balance of the Court would be up again.

But there are some interesting facts that the Journal Sentinel seems to leave out. Take, for instance, the results of the last four Wisconsin Supreme Court races:

2000: Conservative woman defeats liberal man (Sykes v. Butler)

2003: Conservative woman defeats liberal man (Roggensack v. Brunner)

2007: Conservative woman defeats liberal woman (Ziegler v. Clifford)

2008: Conservative man defeats liberal man (Gableman v. Butler)

Could it be possible that Wisconsin voters simply prefer conservative justices? Is there even a remote chance that the people who voted wanted their justices to adhere to a strict reading of state law?

In fact, it could be that all those “scary” ads had little to do with the race. The Sykes and Roggensack races were low-profile elections, yet the conservatives won in each case (Sykes by a nearly 2 to 1 margin).

Consider also the 2006 elections, when Republican J.B. Van Hollen won the race for Wisconsin Attorney General amid a Democratic tidal wave. How could this be? Could it be possible that voters are actually sophisticated enough to know what they want from specific elected offices? If voters knew what they were doing, that would ruin the whole fairy tale about how they are unduly influenced by campaign advertising, and how they’re not qualified to pick judges.

Put simply, you want a conservative to keep bad people from doing things to you, but you want a liberal when you want to do things to bad people. (Oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, Dick Cheney)

Yet the state media can’t comprehend the fact that in electing Gableman, they were only doing what they have done for the past decade – electing a conservative. It doesn’t matter how much people spend or how much press coverage there is of the race.

Had Gableman lost the election, conservatives certainly would have been bummed out. But how many would be calling for an overhaul of the electoral system? Answer: none. When Democrats and liberals are elected, the Right lives to fight another day. Fortunately, they have enough class to refrain from insulting the will of the people.

Today marked the official takeover of Madison by Democrats.  Democrats continue to hold a 18-15 majority in the state Senate and now control the Assembly by a 52-46 margin.  New legislators barely had time to locate their new offices before Democratic leaders began outlining what the next two years are going to look like.

First, legislators began allocating the yet-to-be approved federal bailout package.  In fact, as the JS noted,  ”signs emerged of a strategy to quickly spend Wisconsin’s share of a federal economic stimulus package that Congress is expected to pass soon.”  The package has not even been finalized and legislators are spending the money.

Second, tax increases are already being contemplated.  Legislators “have embraced a tax on hospitals that will generate more federal aid for health care and they have said they will likely impose a tax on oil companies to pay for roads.” 

Moreover, if you believed Democratic promises regarding no income and sales tax increases, then I suggest you start paying closer attention to Wisconsin politics.  Legislators “have said they want to avoid increasing the sales and income taxes but have not ruled out doing so.”  In other words, there will be an increase in the income and sales tax.

What does this have to do with the Conservative Young Professionals of Milwaukee?  This past fall, while the entire state was mesmerized by the national election, Democrats quietly assembled a strong cast of Assembly and Senate candidates.  The strategy obviously paid off.  Conservatives throughout the state, especially here in SE Wisconsin, need to begin paying closer attention to local Assembly and Senate races.  What should serve as an even  greater wake-up call is that the situation could have been worse.  State Sen. Alberta Darling ran a tremendous campaign and narrowly survived.  Her campaign, especially her manager Andrew Davis, deserve much credit for helping maintain the narrow margin in the Senate.

2010 offers a real opportunity for conservatives throughout Wisconsin to refocus on local Assembly and Senate races.  As the JS article points out, the alternative is Democratically controlled government, one which immediately looks to bailouts and tax increases to address budges deficits.

Today  the JS outlined the recent numbers for MPS.  While there were a few areas of hope, much of the news remains the same.  Students in MPS simply are not graduating prepared to meet the challenges of a diverse and ever-changing economy.

A quick overview of the numbers indicate that the high school graduation rate has actually increased since 2000, when only 51.8% of students graduated.  In 2007, that number increased to 68.6%.  For a school system that has seen its share of bad news, an almost 18% increase in graduation rates is tremendous.

However, as the JS points out, the underlying numbers are not as positive.  ACT score averages have actually dropped from 18.9 to 17.9.  Even worse, both numbers are well below the state-wide average of 22.5.  Proficiency levels in math and reading have in many cases decreased.  Daily attendance has dropped to an average of 78.7%.

These numbers indicate that while graduation numbers are improving, the students graduating in many cases are not prepared for college or the professional ranks.  The JS report supports this, noting that MPS graduates who enroll at UWM and MATC need remedial courses.  In fact, the exact number was 81% in ’03-’04.  While the ’07-’08 level decreased to 78%, it is nevertheless astounding to consider that over three-fourths of MPS graduates enrolled at UWM or MATC are considered unprepared and in need of remedial help.

These numbers highlight two important issues.  One is the need for an increase in “outside the box” thinking when it comes to MPS.  The article notes one of the few bright spots within MPS, that being the growth of Reagan High School.  Charter and choice schools offer a real alternative for parents and students looking for a way to improve a student’s chances of success.  In the process, the hope is not to destroy MPS but to encourage improvement and accountability within the system.

Second, the debate taking place regarding MPS highlights the need for increased cooperation and creative thinking regarding education policy at the state level.  This springs election for head of the Department of Public Instruction presents a perfect opportunity to focus on much needed reform.  Both Van Mobley and Rose Fernandez would offer real change at the state level.  Both have a unique background in education which could be used to implement innovative initiatives at the state level, initiatives which inevitably must start by addressing the failing MPS system.

Our Tosa Happy Hour last night was another successful event for the Conservative Young Professionals of Milwaukee.  We had close to 30 people make it out to mingle with local young professionals and talk with one of the up-and-coming young conservatives in SE Wisconsin, Rep. Zipperer.  While Rich didn’t give an official speech (mainly because of the live band!) he was able to talk with almost everyone in attendance.  Rich’s wife was also able to make it and talk with those in attendance.

Van Mobley, a professor at Concordia in Mequon, has recently announced his candidacy for Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction. The position is a cabinet level position which has impact on the overall direction of education policy in Wisconsin.

Van brings strong conservative credentials to the race. He is currently a professor of History and Economics. In addition, he has served as a fellow at the United States Military Academy. You can find more information at his new website: http://www.vanmobley.com/index.html

The race is nonpartisan, so it is a perfect opportunity for conservatives throughout Wisconsin to present conservative policy points without being bogged down by partisan bickering.

-Jake

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