Lose a Battle, Win the War

I needed to take a Tylenol PM last night to ensure a restful night's sleep.

As if the big game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St Louis Cardinals wasn't bad enough, I had to deal with the results of six recall elections, starting with Kapanke v.s. Shilling in La Crosse.  Since January, I've written a number of blogs concerning this recall effort, including the protests in Madison, WI and union efforts to prevent Governor Walker from balancing Wisconsin's state budget by curtailing state employee unions.

As I grabbed the morning edition of the La Crosse Tribune, I looked around the neighborhood, with its usual, quiet tranquility disturbed only by the distant sound of a dog barking at some early morning walker.  As I snapped the paper open, I discovered I had been holding my breath.  Exhaling, I read the headline:  "Shilling ousts Kapanke."

Looking at a large picture showing a smiling, victorious Shilling, my stomach sank and I thought, "Damn, what is it with this city?"  This mid-sized town, nestled on the banks of the Mississippi River voted for Obama in the last presidential election, followed by a 2:1 margin vote for Tom Barrett as Governor, followed by support for JoAnne Kloppenburg as State Supreme Court Justice, and now Jennifer Shilling as our new State Senator.  "I'm surrounded by people who are either extremely ignorant (or worse) socialists who believe they can keep taking from taxpayers to fund their social reform programs," I mumbled, heading into the house.

As it turns out, Republicans may have lost the battle in La Crosse, but won the war in Wisconsin as four of the six recalled senators won.  The bitter taste in my mouth wasn't as repugnant when I read that Republicans held onto control of the Wisconsin Senate, beating back their challengers despite millions of dollars spent by national labor groups.  (Supposedly the overall bill was over $28 million dollars, which is close to what was spent in the race for governor.)

So the conservative revolution will continue, and as Kapanke told his supporters late Tuesday, "I wanted to win this battle more than you know, but don't feel sorry for me.  From the beginning, I knew this was going to be a battle."  He continued, "I've never been in a campaign where I felt better about the message I was putting out there.  No need  to be sad.  Wisconsin is on the right track."

A good man who made the right vote to help balance our budget, has been replaced by Shilling, who claims to want balance in Madison.   Restoring political balance was the buzzword I heard more than once in ads, conversations and even in my office where,  just like the rest of La Crosse, I am out-numbered 2:1 by Democrats.

It's always amusing to hear the Democrats talk about balance and tolerance when they are out of office, because it's nowhere in their political vocabulary when they have majority rule.  But now, according to 94th Assembly man Steve Doyle, balance and compromise are good for getting things done.  Seriously?  One look at Washington should convince you that balance gets you no where.

But for the sake of argument, let's see what the Democrats want to get done:

.  "Stop the uncompromising extremism of the Republicans and tea party."
.  "Repudiate the far right legislators who have attacked hard working families."
.  "Recall the extremist Walker ASAP."
.  "Put an end to the voter intimidation tactics of the Republican party" (passage of the voter ID law, I'm guessing).
.  "Flush the tea party down the hole they climbed out of.  Their agenda is to destroy unions, the middle class and to protect the taxes of Grover Norquist and the Koch Brothers..." (Norquist and Koch Brothers are big supporters of the Republican party, favoring tax reform.)
.  "Reverse the recent decisions on collective bargaining, union membership, and the appropriate action of state government during a recalcitrant economic crisis."

Sounds like friendly compromise, doesn't it?

The radio in my kitchen is always set to WIZM, 1410 AM radio.  This morning, while I'm digesting a banana and the morning's news, Mike Hayes is leading a discussion centered around the election and what the results mean.  Both sides are claiming moral victory.  How the left can spin this into a victory is beyond me.  They are still in the minority and have two democrats still up for recall.  If both win, it means nothing changes; if they lose, it means we're back to where we started.  And nothing changes...

I know what it means to me.  That the budget repair bill (passed in Madison with the help of Senator Dan Kapanke) is going to continue.  As a result, 1) school districts throughout the state will have a fighting chance to be in better financial shape, 2) our state's own financial house will have a better outlook and bond rating, and 3) the conservative revolution will remove the automatic collection of union dues, meaning many rank and file members will opt out, further diminishing union power and benefiting Wisconsin taxpayers.

As I'm driving to work, I see fewer Kapanke yard signs than before.  My neighbor has taken her desk-sized sign down, and I'd imagine a number of other supporters wandered out after the evening news and retired the signs to their garage.  That's where my sign hangs -- next to the "Bush / Cheney" sign of 2004.

I can't help but think about the next big battle in the state of Wisconsin:  to recall Governor Walker.  The bitter battle in this state has been and will continue to be watched by the rest of the nation.  What happens in Wisconsin (fortunately) doesn't stay in Wisconsin.  The fight against public spending will continue beyond our borders into Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.  However, if things hold true, don't expect much Republican help from La Crosse.

Although I can always hope.