Man, it sure does seem like we're talking about Wisconsin a lot these days; but that's to be expected with the campaigning that's going on and the ongoing ethical scandals involving state officials. There's a lot going on, and it's all keeping the Wisconsin reform community - especially Common Cause Wisconsin's Jay Heck - very busy.
Today, though, I want to highlight an editorial I came across from the Wausau Daily Herald. It's message is straightforward: "Mudslinging drowns out good ideas."
The story of this year's gubernatorial campaign will not be Mark Green's plan to reformulate the state's school-funding structure.
It will not be Gov. Jim Doyle's efforts to position Wisconsin as a leader in stem cell research and application.
It will not be about health care reform or rebuilding the University of Wisconsin System or tax relief or any of the myriad issues confronting residents of this state.
It instead will be about this election being the dirtiest and most expensive in history -- unless both major-party candidates and their supporters clean up their acts.
This year's governor's race is estimated to cost $35 million; much of that will be spend on attack ads - indeed, it's already happening.
Here's a campaign tip that seems pretty common sense to me: if you're running for Governor by painting yourself as the "reform candidate" to counter alleged incumbent corruption, don't be the only candidate to decline to answer an ethics survey.
"There was no conscious decision to not answer that," [US Representative Mark] Green campaign manager Mark Graul said Tuesday of the survey sent to candidates for state office by the League of Women Voters, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
"The conscious decision is, you've got a candidate for governor who's also a congressman, who's also a dad, who has a lot of things on his plate," Graul said. "And frankly, answering the myriad questionnaires that have come into the campaign isn't always at the top of his list."
Valid point. However, a little less valid when said candidate has made ethics and reform the cornerstone issue of his campaign. And yes, that's the Voters First Pledge that Common Cause is working so hard on this summer, so we're taking it a little personally. But I'll let the well-spoken Jay Heck of Common Cause Wisconsin explain why Green's excuses don't wash with us:
Common Blog
