It may not be good for democracy, but it means thatwhen Republicans are in the majority, they have more power to pass extremelaws, and when they are in the minority, they have more power to prevent theDemocratic majority from accomplishing anything.
Democrats, on the other hand, are notoriouslyunorganized. Even with historic Democratic majorities in Congress, PresidentBarack Obama was openly extorted by conservatives within his own party to pareback health care and job creation.
One of the ways Republicans rigidly enforce partydiscipline is by periodically purging politicians they call RINOsRepublicansIn Name Only. This year, the Tea Party has been only too glad to help.
With troglodyte Tea Party primary candidates runningagainst Republican incumbents, anyone who wanted to win a Republican nominationhad to renounce any pretense of independence.
Even that proud maverick Sen. John McCain was forcedto abandon his past opposition to tax cuts for the rich and start spewinghatred for immigrants instead of supporting immigration reform.
It works for Republicans, but the bad part is itprevents Democrats and Republicans from working together for the benefit of allof us at a time when our economic recovery depends upon it.
Ousting Sen. Plale
Now in Wisconsin,some Democrats have decided that since Republicans refuse to do anything toassist the recovery anyway, the only way to succeed is to purge their own ranksof DINOsconservative Democrats who cannot be counted on to support aprogressive agenda.
In the Milwaukee area, the No. 1 target is stateSen. Jeff Plale, the conservative Democrat from South Milwaukee whose districtalso includes Oak Creek, Cudahy and St. Francis, as well as Bay View and upinto the East Side around UW-Milwaukee.
Plale’s opponent in the Sept. 14 Democratic primaryis County Supervisor Chris Larson, an energetic young leader on mass transitand environmental issues.
The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, theSierra Club and Clean Wisconsin strongly support Larson. One reason for thatsupport is because Plale blocked the Clean Energy Jobs Act, Gov. Jim Doyle’santi-global-warming, pro-green-jobs initiative.
Almost as telling are some of the groups andpersonalities who have come out of the woodwork to support Plale.
A slickly produced, full-color mailing went out tothe district last week. It doesn’t mention Plale. In fact, it claims to be “TheSecret to Chris Larson’s Success, By Chris Larson.”
As soon as you open it up, you know you’ve been had.It’s not by Chris Larson. It hates Chris Larson. Then you notice the flier wasmailed by the American Federation for Children in Washington, D.C.
Golly, how could Larson have ticked off a bunch ofkids in Washington, D.C.? What you need to know is the AmericanFederation for Children is a pro-voucher education lobby whose Wisconsin point man is former Republican Assembly SpeakerScott Jensen.
Yes, that’s the same Scott Jensen who was convictedin 2006 of three felony counts of misconduct in public office for using stateemployees to campaign for Republicans. That conviction was reversed on appealand Jensen is awaiting a new trial ordered to take place in Waukesha County,his home county, rather than in Dane County, where the crimesoriginally were charged.
Jensen also has flooded Plale’s district withautomated phone calls denigrating Larson. Democratic voters may wonder why adefrocked Republican politician awaiting his second trial on corruption chargesis campaigning for their state senator.
The same could be asked about right-wing talk-showhost Charlie Sykes, who regularly attacks Larson. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s right-wing columnist PatrickMcIlheran even devoted a column to denying that Plale was a conservative ownedby special interests, which is pretty strong evidence that he is.
Particularly interesting was the discovery by LisaKaiser of the Shepherd Express thatPlale had received a campaign contribution from a lobbyist for Koch Industries.
Koch Industries is the oil conglomerate owned by twobillionaire sons of a founder of the ultraconservative John Birch Societyrecently exposed in detail in The NewYorker as the silent financiers of Tea Party groups and global-warmingdeniers around the country.
In Wisconsin,Koch Industries and its front group, Americans for Prosperity, lobbied stronglyagainst the Clean Energy Jobs Act and Plale danced just as fast as he could.
Progressive Democrats have challenged Plale in thepast, but the stars may be better aligned for success this time.
With Scott Walker and Mark Neumann seeking theRepublican nomination for governor and Ron Johnson all over TV running for theSenate, conservatives who voted Democratic for Plale in the past may be votingin the Republican primary this time.
