Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Lining Up, Or Bring In The Clowns

Even though the next gubernatorial race is not for another 15 months, many Republicans are already starting to jockey for position to launch their campaigns.

Glenn Grothman (R-Clueless) has become a press release issuing machine, issuing his third or fourth (I lose count) press release in the past week. While I haven't seen him state anywhere that he is planning on running for governor, I have heard his name being bantered about as a possible candidate. All of the press releases that he is spewing about would tend to make one believe that he is trying to draw attention to himself for some reason. Even though it seems what he really wants is for the State of Wisconsin to fail for some reason.

Cindy Kilkenny, at Fairly Conservative, does her own homework on Senator Ted Kanavas, who even has a Kanavas for Governor website up. She opines:
Kanavas is wrong in so many ways, but I need to start somewhere. The most obvious is using state resources to campaign and the lack of a campaign disclosure statement. It will be disingenuous indeed if he chooses the argue the site was a template or marker. The domain has been active for a long time. It’s the second site Google returns for his name. He’s in the IT business, for goodness sake. He knows better. But obviously, that didn’t stop him.
I am also in Kanavas' district, unfortunately for me. For the life of me, I cannot think of one moment of leadership from him, much less him voting correctly on an issue.

Do make sure you read Ms. Kilkenny's whole post. She also has the current numbers for various campaigns' warchests. (More on that in a minute.)

And, of course, there is the perpetual Republican gubernatorial candidate, Scott Walker. Walker scores yet another talking point for his inevitable campaign by refusing to take help for the county he has been systematically destroying (emphasis mine):

Walker said federal aid for ongoing state or local operations would only put off the day of reckoning for unbalanced budgets.

Though he doesn't categorically reject the idea of federal money going for local infrastructure projects, Walker said he won't ask the federal government for anything.

"All we are asking for is 'do no harm,' " the county executive said. "I'm not asking for any new projects or things to be done here."

Milwaukee County has some huge funding dilemmas, including $300 million in backlogged repairs for parks, annual shortfalls of up to $43 million in transit and some $300 million needed to rebuild its mental health complex.

"The last thing you want to do is put money in hands of government," if the goal is to pull the economy from recession, Walker said.

I almost choked on that first line. Walker's entire M.O. as County Executive was to put off things that needed to be done to keep the county going, just to preserve his one plank platform. Anyone can see that all he has been doing is hoping that the fecal matter doesn't hit the fan before he can get out of the County, leaving us, the taxpayers to clean up his mess. Dan Cody also sees Walker's lack of leadership abilities.

ADDENDUM: Keith Schmitz, over at my old place of lodging, also thinks that Walker is living in a bubble that is about to pop. Also, Gretchen Schuldt is questioning Walker's sanity, along with a lot of other inconsistencies from him.

Fortunately, Chairman Lee Holloway and several other County Board Supervisors are willing to show the real leadership and try to help the County and the taxpayers out by issuing their own list of needs.

The other thing of interest is the numbers that Ms. Kilkenny provided in her post. While it is still very early, the numbers are six months old, and things can and probably will change dramatically, it is worth noting that Walker barely has a third of what Kanavas does. On top of that, Kanavas has only a tenth of what Doyle has in his warchest.

Whoever the Republican front runner ends up being, they will have a lot of ground to make up. And who knows how much money WMC will have after they try to buy their third Supreme Court Justice? I don't know if they can count on a lot of support from them either.

13 comments:

  1. Read K's combox.

    Kanavas was outta there in April.

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  2. Crap! Glad I don't live up there anymore. I can't think of a single good Repub that would make a good guv.

    Heh. Surprised ya, didn't I! :)

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  3. Dad,

    How many politicians have said that they aren't going to do something and then do it? (Or say they will do something, and not do it?)

    He just forgot to update his site for 10 months?

    Kate,

    Not surprised at all, dear. I can't think of one single good Repub either! ;)

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  4. Don't forget about Mark Green who resigned his Bush appointment as Ambassador to Tanzania, and is looking for something to do.

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  5. Did he really?? Hmm.... Interesting. :)

    Now see capper....I said Repub...didn't say anything about conservative. I can think of a few....very few mind you, but too 'local' and not well known enough through the rest of the state. :)

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  6. Kate-

    Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

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  7. Pfft! Not even close...especially these days. I'm not a Republican. Canceled my 'membership', told 'em to take me off their mailing list, and stop wasting my time. :)

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  8. Is that why they keep bothering me? They miss your business, but somehow think I'll join them?

    They do crack me up.

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  9. Seriously? I'd think you'd join 'em in a heartbeat. LOL I mean, on the serious side, they are getting closer to your way of thinking y'know. :)

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  10. There you go being mean again.

    They will never be as good as me. Besides, they're just too selfish.

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  11. Zipping lip....biting tongue.....turning blue......

    :P

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  12. LOL!

    Behold the power of capper! He made Ol' Broad turn blue! She is now a Democrat!

    Yay me! :D

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