Tuesday we’ll have Primary elections for Governor across the state. There are also some Primaries in the Senate recall races as well, although not for the Fox Valley area. Click on the image to the left to see a larger map of the Senate districts, and the four Districts that have Primary races on Tuesday.
The purpose of the Recall election of the Governor, is for Democrats to try to unseat our current Governor Scott Walker. Democratic activists collected between one half million and one million signatures on recall petitions, allowing them to force a Recall election under Wisconsin State Law.
On Tuesday there will be both a Republican and a Democratic Primary. There will be a Republican Primary because there is a “protest” candidate challenging Governor Walker on the Republican ticket. More about that candidate later on. While the “protest” challenger in the Republican primary isn’t a credible candidate for Republicans, it’s still remotely possible for the Governor to lose the Republican Primary, if democrats turn out in force and crossover-vote against the Governor in the Republican Primary, and the Republican turnout is lackluster. So if you’re a Republican, be sure to vote for Governor Walker in the Primary on Tuesday.
Governor Scott Walker began his political career in 1993 when he was elected to the State Assembly. In the Assembly, he chaired several committees and authored important pieces of legislation that include Truth-in-Sentencing, photo identification requirements to vote, and the elimination of the statute of limitations in sexual assault cases. In 2002, Scott was elected Milwaukee County Executive to reform the scandal-ridden county government. The scandal left taxpayers on the hook for millions in pension obligations. In his 8 years as County Executive, Governor Walker cut the county’s debt by 30%, reduced the county workforce by more than 25%, and authored nine consecutive budgets without increasing the property tax levy from the previous year. In the midst of failing national and state economies, Milwaukee County recorded a budget surplus. On January 3, 2011, Scott Walker was inaugurated as Wisconsin’s 45th Governor. Since then he has eliminated the state’s $3.6 billion budget deficit without raising taxes. He gave school districts and local governments the tools to balance their budgets without the massive layoffs seen in other states, saving Wisconsin taxpayers over $765 million to date. [source]
Among the serious candidates trying to unseat Governer Walker, we have four Democratic challengers in the Democratic Primary. As with the Republican Primary race though, one of the five candidates on the ballot isn’t a credible Democratic candidate. More about that candidate later on. For now we’ll focus on the credible candidates. Each of the four credible Democratic candidates are Democratic powerhouses in their own right.
Tom Barrett grew up cheering for the Braves, and of course, the Brewers, along with Badgers, Warriors, and the Packers. He worked in high school as an usher at County Stadium. He went on to graduate from college and law school at UW-Madison, spending time in between working on the assembly line at Harley-Davidson. He turned to a career in public service, earning a reputation for his integrity, for his respect of diverse views, his ability to bring people together, and for his hard work. As Mayor of Milwaukee, he’s created, attracted and saved jobs, solved a budget crisis, substantially reduced crime, and worked to keep the economy on track. He ran unsuccessfully against Governor Scott Walker in 2010. [source]
Kathleen Falk, started 35 years ago as an environmental attorney just out of law school, fighting so that citizens all across this state could have clean air and water and open spaces in which to hunt, fish and enjoy the outdoors. She was the voice for regular people and took on big, powerful interests in the courtroom and in the legislature, and won. She served for 12 years in the Office of the Public Intervener, and in 1997 she was elected Dane County’s first woman County Executive. She was re-elected three more times, becoming the longest-serving executive in the county’s history. As the county executive for nearly half a million people, she balanced a budget every single year for 14 years. [source]
Doug La Follette made his first run for office in 1970 in the Democratic primary bid seeking to represent Wisconsin in Congress. He served a term as a state senator from 1972—1974 for Kenosha, during which time he authored legislation which provided family planning care to women for the first time in Wisconsin’s history. He was then elected Secretary of State and has been reelected every four years for the past 30 years. [source]
Kathleen Vinhout Kathleen Vinehout, 53, came to politics relatively late in her career after spending 10 years running the family dairy farm and the 10 years before that teaching health administration to college students. In her first run for public office, Kathleen was elected in 2006 to the state senate from a large, mostly rural district in the western part of the state. She was re-elected in 2010 and is serving her second four-year term. In the senate, she has worked to make health care affordable, create health insurance exchanges for individuals, farmers and small businesses, bring more equity to school funding, keep consumer protection provisions in our telecommunication laws, and improve the efficiency of state government operations. [source]
In addition to Governor Walker and these four Democratic challengers, there are two additional candidates for Governor. The first of these is a self-styled “Republican”, running in the Republican primary against Governor Walker, who most likely would not be an acceptable member of any county Republican party in this state:
Arthur Kohl-Riggs was co-chair of the campus progressives at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. He served in the student senate there, and went on to work for Greenpeace. When the anti-Walker rallies began in Madison last year, he
testified in support of the people and against suppressing workers’ rights to organize, then sat in on the hearing for the next nine or ten hours watching the citizens of the state trying to be heard.
He is 23 years old. [source]
There is also a self-styled “Democrat”, running in the the Democratic primary against the four true democratic candidates for Governor. This “Democrat” most likely would not be an acceptable member of any county Democratic party in this state:
Gladys Huber apparently doesn’t have a campaign website. According to BallotPedia:
Huber is running as a protest candidate for Wisconsin Governor in the recall election against incumbent Gov. Scott Walker. Recall petitions were turned in on January 17, 2012 and certified on March 30. … While running as a Democrat, Huber is actually a Republican and running as a protest candidate in order to ensure a Democratic primary will be necessary. … The state GOP announced in early April that they would be running ‘protest’ candidates in all 2012 recalls in order to make sure they all fell on the same day.
These are the choices for Governor within the Republican and the Democratic Primaries on Tuesday. May the best candidates win ! And may the two victors square off in lively and civil debates over the next four weeks about the proper direction for the great state of Wisconsin in the years to come !
The Editor
