Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Shepherd Express Drops The Ball With Bad Endorsement

I love the Shepherd Express.

It is the only media source in the Milwaukee area that can be relied on to accurately report the news on a consistent basis. When they make endorsements, I normally agree with them.  And on the rare occasion in which I don't agree, they spell out their reasoning in a rational manner.

I also know their main reporter and assistant editor, Lisa Kaiser, is a stickler for the facts.  She usually won't allow an article to be published unless she has confirmed and reconfirmed the information contained within it.  I know this because of the couple of articles of mine which were published by the Shepherd Express.

That is why I was taken off guard and taken aback when the Shepherd chose not to endorse Christine Sinicki but instead went with her primary opponent, Julie Meyer.

Not only was the endorsement shocking but the fallacies contained in their reasoning was mind-boggling.

They start by saying that Meyer wants to roll back the privatization of public schools because she is a teacher and saw the damage caused by Act 10.

The question regarding this is if Meyer was so bothered by it, why did she not take an active role since the beginning?  Many of the teachers that are active in their union don't recall ever seeing her at any rallies or supporting the cause in any other way. I dare say that Sinicki has attended more pro-public education events than Meyer has.

That could be why not even the teachers union would support one of their own members.

The unknown author of this hit piece then says that Meyer is also upset because of the privatization of the Milwaukee County mental health system.  That is because Boss Abele has allowed a group home to open near her home.  It is also a county issue but she uses it as an argument to run for a state office.

But there's more!  The nameless author comes up with this ridiculousness:
If Meyer was not taking on an entrenched incumbent, Democrats and progressive unions would be applauding her candidacy. But because Meyer had the guts to take on a career lawmaker, the establishment has shut Meyer out and some of Sinicki’s supporters have smeared Meyer online with terrible accusations and, at times, outright lies and distortions. We have not seen a Democratic primary this dirty in a long time. This is an absolute disgrace. If Sinicki is stooping this low in a desperate bid to hold on to her Assembly seat, then she’s not doing her job in office and providing her constituents with positive reasons to vote for her. Any elected official condoning this kind of behavior doesn’t deserve to represent the public.  
What the hell?

If the author had done their homework - and was honest - they would had seen that the unions have chosen to endorse many challengers this fall, including Edgar Lin and Marisabel Cabrera.  The argument that the unions and the progressives aren't backing Meyer because she is taking on an incumbent is utterly false.

Likewise, it is laughable for the author to claim that Meyer is the victim of smears and accusations.  As I pointed out when I endorsed Sinicki, it is Meyer's campaign that has been attacking Sinicki falsely and viciously.  For Meyer to play the martyr is utterly insulting and baseless, but that is what her campaign has been all along.

Judging by the comments on the article, the people of AD 20 are well aware of where the truth lies and have shown an overwhelming support for Sinicki because she is such a strong advocate for the things that matter to them most.  Things like public education, workers rights and women's rights.

Even though I really shouldn't have to, I am again endorsing Sinicki for reelection.  She has shown herself to be more than a qualified representative for not only her district but for all of Milwaukee.  Not having Sinicki fighting for us in Madison would not only set back the progressive movement but would hasten Milwaukee's downward spiral as there would be one less champion to fight for us against the right wing's constant attacks.

3 comments:

  1. When a politician or a paper's editorial board ignore facts and substitute fallacious reasoning in endorsements, it usually shakes out the endorser suffers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My one problem with Sinicki is she is a NIMBY Dem... she lives in mostly older white neighborhood and was questioning why a probabtion office was near there. People served their time but she and her neighbors don't like "them" in her area - something I would expect from Donovan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well In that case Julie Meyer is also a NIMBY because her feathers are in a ruffle about a CBRF for the developmentally delayed in her neighborhood.

    ReplyDelete