The Brawler was somewhat puzzled by a recent (fine, relatively recent) Journal Sentinel story that, deliberately or not, sought to create an aura of inevitability about the reelection of Scott Walker as Milwaukee County executive. The JS's reason: No one has stepped up to run against him.
It was as if a wannabe crony of Walker, backed by Walker, hadn't recently gone down in defeat in the south suburbs. A fact totally ignored in the JS story.
Capper hit the high points of what's wrong with calling things too early. (The Brawler wonders when the JS will run a "Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler appears tough to beat" story given no credible challenger has stepped up in the Supreme Court race. Excepting of course a trial balloon by Paul Bucher, a man whom the wife of a widely read rightwing blogger once described as a bitter, childish little asshole.)
The only thing the Brawler would like to add is that the JS article ignored, or didn't take into account, what the Brawler suspects is a deep reservoir of well-deserved contempt by the people of Milwaukee for Scott Walker and his profound lack of leadership.
Indeed, as the Brawler read Capper he recalled a mass email he received back in March from a friend, a regular citizen who's no radical activist or "moonbat" but just another Milwaukee native appalled by Scott Walker.
The Brawler dug up that email. Here's an excerpt:
Scott Walker affects our lives. As long as we play softball, take the bus, drive on roads, or breathe in this county. So let me tell you about his irrationality. And then please encourage everyone you know to run for his position in hopes we come up with someone to oust him.
This is from Bruce Murphy's column:
During a meeting with the JS Editorial Board last week, County Executive Scott Walker said he would like to grow the local economy enough so lower-income people don't have to rely on transit and could instead afford to buy cars.
Ah, Earth to Scottie. We live in a society with a large population of working poor who can’t afford a car. Growing the economy is a nice thought, but there’s no guarantee any newly created jobs will pay enough for these folks to afford a car. And in the meantime, while they wait for this never-before-seen economy to arrive, how will they get to work, the store or anywhere else?
As county executive, Walker is entrusted with the responsibility of making sure the county’s bus system, once one of the most successful in the country, continues to serve low-income people who need it. That will take some hardheaded strategizing, not some blue-sky libertarian rhetoric about an auto utopia.
That is where Bruce ends.
Here is what I say: what about kids, disabled people, people whose cares are undergoing major repairs, tourists, foreigners here legally or otherwise, some of whom can't get licenses or wouldn't have access to a vehicle if there are just studying here for a month, people who live on the east side and have no goddamn place to park their cars if they even had one, especially during storm emergencies. Funny that this comment is coming from the person who has been so hard headed about not raising taxes (you know, unless they are liberal park people fees) that he thinks somehow there is money out there to pay everyone a minimum of $30,000 a year. Yeah. That'll be the day.
Again, this is an excerpt from an email a regular citizen -- someone who loves her native city, not a blogger, not a political junkie -- sent out to friends. Few county bosses generate such action.
Milwaukee County deserves better than Scott Walker, the emptiest of suits.
As pointed out in a number of lefty blogs in the Cheddarsphere, the fact that Scott Walker has no credible opposition is probably more likely due to the fact that it's the summertime. Heck, if I remember correctly, David Reimer didn't declare his candidacy until 5 months before the election, and he still managed to raise a nice amount of money.
I'm sure folks would like to believe Scott Walker won't have a credible challenger, but I'm willing to bet that folks smell blood in the water. As you mentioned, Chris Kujawa - the wannabe Walker crony - lost a Supervisor race in a district that probably would have been very favorable to his brand of politics in years past, which only goes to show the level of dissatisfaction folks have with Scott Walker.
Posted by: BlueBlogger | August 27, 2007 at 06:27 AM
The thing that is truly exasperating is that Walker acknowledges that the County needs a new funding source, i.e. higher taxes or a sales tax. This is evidenced by his more than willing approach to creating a parks district with taxing authority and wanting to pawn off the transit system to a regional system with a taxing authority. If he was truly anti-tax increase, he would hold onto these systems in his stranglehold until they were utterly destroyed.
Needless to say, his loyal fan club, Sykes, Belling, MSJ, et al, will never admit to that.
Posted by: capper | August 27, 2007 at 08:32 PM