A Vinehout Memory
I had almost forgotten about this until an alert reader reminded me. On October 4th of last year, then candidate Kathleen Vinhout’s campaign released a four page poem in the form of a press release attacking her opponent, Ron Brown. You can read Dennis York’s take on it in a post called “Losing Her Mind Before Our Eyes.”
The poem/press release was utterly bizarre. In any case, the link to the release on WisPolitics isn’t good anymore and for some reason she took this particular press release down from her campaign website. Fortunately, thanks to the massive B&S archives which are stored in an abandoned mine in West Virginia and meticulously cataloged with the Dewey Decimal System, I have brought it back from the grave for all of us to enjoy again.
Vinehout Campaign: If You’re Not Having Fun What’s the Point
10/4/2006For More Information Contact:
Andrew Werthmann (715) 495-2451
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)To Be … Or Not To Be … For A Property Tax Freeze
That Is The Question.Late Night Soliloquy by Ron Brown
(As remembered by M, a political operative, who was in the vicinity at the time.)To be or not to be for a property tax freeze
Is a question that has always troubled me.
It has been hard to make up my mind.
I was for it when it was called a freeze,
But when it was TABOR or TPA (I can never remember)
I was against it, but now with the election
I am for it, I think. I can always say,
“I was for it, before I was against it, and I am for it again,
Now that I am running against Kathleen.”A thought flies through my mind.
Didn’t someone else say that?
A Democrat, I think. We killed him with the flip/flops.
Would they do the flip/flops on me?
A Republican who should know his mind,
Who should stay the course? They will kill me with the flip/flops.
Kathleen will show no mercy
After all I’ve said of her.
To be or not to be?
So muddled is my mind.My staff has not been good,
Since our leader left. They said that
Taxes was the thing that captured people’s minds,
But little did they know I could not make up mine.
They will kill me with the flip/flops
I can see them now.Looking at the polls, they said,
Health care is on people’s minds.
We did not do much when we could,
But got by with talking words that please,
Health savings accounts, voluntary insurance coops,
Consumer driven care. Then Kathleen showed up,
A health professor, before she was a dairy farmer.
God, why me? What did I do wrong?
She took away the stories.
Health savings accounts – fancy words, she said, for ‘pay it yourself’.
Voluntary insurance coops – no company has volunteered.
With all the things we’ve done for them,
At least one should have sacrificed. Then we could point with pride
When the elections came by.
The oil companies knew enough to drop their prices.
Then her kid gets sick, appendectomy, emergency, they say,
And she has this story making “consumer driven care” look silly.
Lord, why me?A thought. Perhaps the appendectomy was not the real thing.
Danou said she was not a real farmer. She is such a politician,
Anything she’d say. I’ll get the staff to look.
But why my staff? They’re no good. They can’t even find who
She lobbied for. I have looked in all my press releases.
You would think that they would know – a paid, fulltime lobbyist –
It’s mentioned many times, but who she lobbied for is more than they can find.
If it was insurance or banking I would push that loud.
It’s not Farm Bureau, that much they know,
But if it’s the Farmers Union, that would be too much.
There would go my story.
Lord, why me?Nothing has gone right. We got out one release saying Democrats agree
That Vinehout is no good. We quoted Danou and his friends
But then they up and quit. No longer are they Democrats.
Of what use is that? They said they would be helpful
Then they up and flip.
There’s that word again.
They’ll kill me with the flip/flops.
It’s them I fear the most.What’s wrong with indecision?
“I was for it, before I was against it, before I was for it again.”
It’s not fair they should point it out.I told the staff they should get
A better picture of Kathleen.
The one we’re running now
Is somewhat low and mean.
But it wouldn’t matter.
She will show no mercy.At the meeting last night I talked to Kathleen.
They are making me say things I don’t want to.
I hope she understands.
But she will have no mercy.
I can hear those flip/flops coming.They keep feeding me lines that sound good at first
On schools and health and other stuff we ignored
When it mattered. Our priority,
The 40 bills with tax breaks for the big guys,
We never get to showcase now.
The staff’s so dumb. One bill at least we should have doneOn schools or health or a tax break for the poor.
I can see it on TV: big guys 40, schools 0, health care 0, the poor 0.
Kathleen will show no mercy.
But the flip/flops scare me most.The staff is so dumb. My tax plan, 10 by 10, says pensions should be free.
I thought that fine at first. My Senate $50,000 would be taxed,
But then my pensions, two or three, should be free.
That seemed fair to me.
Kathleen will twist it, I know.
She will show no mercy.
But the flip/flops scare me most.I should never have listened to my buddy Green.
On schools, 65 I thought was good, he said 70
So I changed. I always follow my leader.
Then Kathleen says the idea probably came
From a columnist at the New York Times;
Standard and Poor’s thinks the idea silly.
How can I call her a spendthrift liberal
With Wall Street at her side?
Where does she get this stuff?
I swear she makes it up.One thing might save me.
The people in Eau Claire think I am moderate and nice,
Have good sense and listen to their cares.
I’m a statesman compared to that crazy man Zien.
If they ever find out that most of my votes – 98 of every 100 I think
Are the same as that crazy man Zien
I’m dead in Eau Claire.
The third ward will leave me, no votes I’ll get there.
I can see the ad now.
A motorcycle, with Brown on the back, driven by that crazy man Zien.
Kathleen will show no mercy.
But the flip/flops scare me most.
She will have them jumping.I’m getting tired. It’s time for my prayers.
There’s so much to ask for.
A staff to find out who Kathleen lobbied for,
Democratic losers who stay with their party,
Insurance companies willing to sacrifice for the good of their benefactors
Voters that don’t pay attention
Strength to make up my mind
An opponent who shows mercy
And no flip/flops on TV.Lord, if you answer all my prayers
And I win re-election, I promise, here on my knees,
Next year I will introduce one bill on health care,
One bill on schools,
One bill to help the poor,
One bill to give a tax break to a small guy
At least once I will vote against the bigger guy.And the Lord answered,
I can get all that without answering your prayers.
Holy mackrel, that’s brilliant.
Maybe we should require all politicians debate in iambic pentameter. It would at least guarantee that the legislators involved were literate.
Hm.
Mp
Posted by Mpeterson on July 28, 2007 at 0942 hrs
Well, it wouldn’t guarantee that they’re literate—but it could guarantee that they can count. At least on one hand. . . .
On the other hand, can we count on a budget from them anytime soon? It’s 28 days and counting since the new budget year started.
That’s 28 days of state agencies spending away without knowing how much they have, a month of some agencies not being able to sign contracts in good faith for discounts, etc. That is not good governance from legislators who told us that we could count on them.
p.s. But back to literacy: It’s mackerel.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 28, 2007 at 1000 hrs
Kay, no worries.
Under Wisconsin law, state agencies spend to the same budget limits as the previous budget. It’s a fantastic provision that holds the line on spending without shutting down nonessential services.
There is no rush.
Absolutely no hurry.
I’d rather they get it done right than get it done quickly.
Posted by Fraley on July 28, 2007 at 1012 hrs
No, Fraley—since, if the Assembly GOP has at least a little bit of its way, some agencies will be cut back from this biennium’s budget. So then they will have overspent in this quarter and could have to cut back services by the end of the budget year.
That has happened in past such situations as this, when the leggies don’t want to do their main task on time. They’ve had a year (maybe more, I lost track of that post from Owen) since agecies submitted their budget requests—but you think that is asking the leggies to work too quickly?
And you haven’t addressed the hold on contracts. That’s one of the reasons for the Legislative Bureau (as I recall the source) estimates that delay in the budget could cost us hundreds of millions. That just makes sense, as any of us who work in the business world know. We don’t get to tell the boss that, well, we just couldn’t get a budget together by July 1—and then go on vacation!
And then there are the state employees like one I know who is trying to get a loan to buy a home—and help get us out of this housing slump—but can’t tell his bank what they’re going to make. There are many ramifications of this. . . .
But maybe I should tell the state employee that he doesn’t need to get to his job at 8 a.m. tomorrow, either, since Fraley says it’s ok to get it done right rather than get it done on time.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 28, 2007 at 1309 hrs
some agencies will be cut back from this biennium’s budget Oh my, how horrible. The earth will come to an end and it’s all the GOP’s fault. What a cruel world!!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 28, 2007 at 1351 hrs
What a load of crap.
The state employee knows how much they’re making now, right?
Agreed it would be best if we could pass the Assembly version of the budget on Monday, I’d be a happy camper. But since the Democrats can’t even unite on what policy issues are important to them (what is the Assembly Dems and Doyle’s position on the Vinehout/Sullivan/Breske/Hansen 15 billion dollar health spending plan again?) we’re stuck.
Huebsch is right. They should come to an agreement as to what the total spending will be, and then work out how best to allocate the funds at their disposal. Wish lish budgeting, which the Senate Dems engaged in, screws the taxpayers.
Until that standoff is resolved, waiting is just peachy.
Posted by Fraley on July 28, 2007 at 1631 hrs
Back to the point.
It seems as though Mr. Brown was an exceedingly weak candidate.
LOSING to someone who gets iambic but doesn’t get Econ 101? Who screwed her kid to fund a campaign?
Really…
Posted by dad29 on July 28, 2007 at 1759 hrs
Weird…but weirder than the Tom Reynolds Christmas Card???
Not even Close!!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 28, 2007 at 1821 hrs
did Vinehout teach poetry at the University there in Illinois. No wonder she didn’t get tenure. Is this how you win a state Senate seat in Wisconsin. How on earth could she be elected dogcatcher, but less one of 33 in the Senate. Now I know what she only responds thru “statements” from her staff. She is the most guarded Senator in state history. Most of her constitutents haven’t seen her in six months. thank God she has staff to write opinion columns or she’d be done.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 28, 2007 at 2037 hrs
Thanks Kay. One day the spelllling’ll take.
Posted by Mpeterson on July 28, 2007 at 2247 hrs
I have it on good authority that this was written by her husband. People within the campaign begged him not to send it out and post it, but he did it anyway.
Brown was a horrible candidate. The Dems in Madison were hoping Vinehout would lose her primary because they feared Vinehout would screw up what they thought would otherwise be an easy Dem gain in the Senate with Chris Danou as the candidate.
Before labor day last year a Dem insider told me the Senate races they had identified that they would win, and even had a pretty good idea what the margins would be. At the time I thought this was person was crazy. However, the predictions were spot on except that the only one they failed to identify was Vinehout (who they knew was probably going to win the primary at that point) who they thought would lose to Brown.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 29, 2007 at 1000 hrs
Kay says:
” On the other hand, can we count on a budget from them anytime soon? It’s 28 days and counting since the new budget year started.
That’s 28 days of state agencies spending away without knowing how much they have, a month of some agencies not being able to sign contracts in good faith for discounts, etc. That is not good governance from legislators who told us that we could count on them.”
To wit:
That’s 28 days that the people who pay for the woe-is-me state employees (who are guaranteed pay raises under CURRENT contracts regardless of when the budget is done at the expense of services actually provided by said agencies) are protected from the ever-increasing impinge on their wallets.
Your disdain for the taxpayer is remarkable.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 29, 2007 at 1131 hrs
Publius, Fraley—uh, I am a taxpayer, too. And one who is hearing from folks in state employ about the effects of budget delay. I don’t want to pay one dime more than we need to, with projections of costs of delay, but you want to keep delaying?
And Fraley, been too long since you bought a house? Mortgage lenders that aren’t fly-by-night want to know if mortgagees (a) will have continued employment—the state runs on yearly contracts—and (b) what they will make, not just what they made in past. I do not make this up; that is the situation described to me by the friend with a colleague whose mortgage loan now is on hold. If you have evidence otherwise and can recommend a mortgage lender for them, feel free.
And Publius, no, people who are on annual contracts certainly have no guarantee of raises beyond that contract year. Without evidence on your part, I’m guessing that you’re speaking of some unionized employees? But many state employees are not unionized. Again, the majority are on annual contracts and now, since July 1, have no contracts for employment. If you think that’s good for the state economy—think about those surveys of “consumer confidence,” consumer spending projection, etc.—please explain.
And again, remember that you’re talking about thousands of Wisconsinites who are taxpayers and consumers, too—even though they work for you. (I hope you’re not selling a house.)
And again, beyond all that—think about the inability to sign annual contracts that mean discounts in supplies, services, etc. This would be appalling in a business. Why is it ok on our dollar? As I am hearing so much about the downside of state budget delay, I would welcome real evidence against those points—but I’m not seeing it here, just more boo-hoo from you.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 1520 hrs
Kay, I suggest you call the Senate Democratic Leadership and Governor’s office and insist they they stop blocking the Republicans budget immedietely!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 1536 hrs
She is the most guarded Senator in state history. Most of her constitutents haven’t seen her in six months.
Crawl out from under your rock lenny. Vinehout has a higher profile than Brown ever did, especially with Healthy Wisconsin rolling out.
Disagree if you must. But don’t sling horseshit.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 31, 2007 at 1215 hrs
Total Entries: 19997
Total Comments: 134019
Most Recent Entry: 05/24/2012 06:25 am
Most Recent Comment on: 05/24/2012 10:54 am
Total Members: 9751
Total Logged in members: 0
Total guests: 122
Total anonymous users: 1
Most Recent Visitor on: 05/24/2012 11:35 am
The most visitors ever was 538 on 12/01/2007 02:11 pm
Protected and licensed under a Creative Commons License (some rights reserved).