Rep. Jeff Wood’s Selfish Ends
Rep. Jeff Wood has decided to trade integrity for power.
After 5 1/2 years of wrestling with his own political party in addition to the opposition party, Republican state Rep. Jeff Wood of Chippewa Falls announced Tuesday he will run as an independent in the fall election.
The three-term representative of the 67th Assembly District said the difficult decision was a matter of conscience. He no longer could justify membership in a party he doesn’t believe in anymore.
“It all comes down to fiscal responsibility and what our party is doing with this country at the national level mostly,” Wood said. “This used to be a fiscally conservative party. It’s not anymore.”
Bull.
Wood was one of the authors of TABOR with Rep. Lasee. At the time, the GOP strongly held the Assembly and TABOR was extremely popular among the Republican base. Since then, it’s been downhill.
Despite his criticism of the GOP’s fiscal conservatism now, he has voted with the leadership all along. His single vote against leadership was for the Assembly budget, and that was because he didn’t get an ethanol earmark that he wanted.
In other words, Wood has been silent about his misgivings about the GOP until now. And what’s significant about now? It’s the final day to file papers to run for the Assembly. By changing to an independent now, he has robbed the GOP of fielding a Republican in his district. At the same time, you might notice that the Dems aren’t fielding anyone in that district either. Coincidence? You would only think so if you are a fool.
Here’s what went down. Wood cut a deal with the Assembly Dems to switch to Independent at the last minute and likely agreed to vote with the Dems on any close votes. In exchange, the Assembly Dems agreed to not field an opposition candidate and call off WEAC, thus virtually guaranteeing Wood’s reelection.
The political math is easy. It’s looking to be a Democrat year. Even if the GOP retains the Assembly, it will be a tenuous hold. If the Dems take the majority, it won’t be by more than a couple of seats. Either way, Wood is setting himself up to be the swing vote - thus increasing his power.
Jeff Wood isn’t acting on principle, for he lacks one. He is acting on his own lust for importance.
Pathetic.
Owen, take a breath and step back for a moment. Wood was given the task of putting together an acceptable TABOR (or TPA) bill, but he was never given the ability to really do so. He was shackled to Glenn Grothman, which was a death sentence in itself, and then John Gard did pretty much whatever John Gard wanted to do and Jeff Wood was essentially thrown to the wolves. He and Terry Musser (along with some others in the caucus) were then taken to the wood shed this session by the extreme far-right of the caucus for voting for the emergency contraception bill. Wood was given a BS committee assignment and then assigned no bills, so the writing was on the wall. Of course what he did was self-serving, but boy was it genius. He screwed the people who screwed him, and but good. Please save the sanctimonious rhetoric because we don’t really need it.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 08, 2008 at 2250 hrsVery well put Owen.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 08, 2008 at 2254 hrsYeah, maybe if brilliant guys like Huebsch would do a better job of commanding the respect of their members, things like this wouldn’t happen. Everyone in that caucus is just looking out for himself/herself at this point. It’s been that way all session. Jeff Wood is no different. Leadership dicked him over, he dicked them over back. If leadership treats you like s@*#, what loyalty do you owe them back?
Besides, it’s not like they’re leading by example. Little Brother totally sold out Huebsch on the budget adjustment. Even leadership can’t help but stab one another in the back right now.
The Huebsch office is completely tone deaf when it comes to dealing with other members and their staff. They just sit in their little ivory tower on second floor west, make their fat bank, and cover their ears anytime anyone tries to steer them towards reality. At some point on my blog, I will bother to go through the roll call of AssGOP staff that have already jumped the ship, including leadership offices. The lifeboats are getting full mighty quick.
Huebsch treated a lot of his caucus members like they were disposable, and that’s why you’re seeing legions of GOP veterans calling it a day. And that’s why you’ll probably see the AssGOP cough up 6-8 seats in November. How sad it is that in two short cycles, Huebsch and his equally clueless buddies will have managed to piss away a solid, 60-member majority.
Jeff Wood won’t even matter. The Dems will love having him around to raise hell but let’s be real - they’re not going to need his vote for anything. Sure, Wood’s an opportunist, but no more so than the rest of them. The Dems will likely come back next January at between 53 and 55, and between GOP retirements in 2010 and/or possible Dem redistricting in ‘09, could easily be to 58-60 just two years from now.
If you don’t take care of your members, your members will take care of you. This is just one more step to sealing Mikey’s fate.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on July 08, 2008 at 2304 hrsOwen, I refer you to the fable of the Frog and the Scorpion.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2008 at 0632 hrsAll across the state I hear people echoing what Jeff Wood has to say. On a recent Vickie Mckenna show everyone was saying the same thing. It is not new. Trouble is that conservatism is an ideology and the GOP is the path to pwoer.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2008 at 0805 hrs
At this time I have never seen a more sorry lot than the leaders of the GOP in Madison.
I think that Reince Pirebus is on the right track but it is going to take him years to redo the mess that Graber left everyone, the full extent is now being realized.
A leaderless, shiftless, worhtless group without any principles or direction.Owen, don’t worry.
Wood is cooked. But so is the GOP.
The GOP can get a candidate on the November ballot by getting a write-in candidate in the September primary. To qualify, the write-in needs 5 percent of the vote in the 2006 gubernatorial election to be nominated.
But—there’s more!
What’s to stop a Democrat from doing the same thing?
Wood is too far off in la-la land being a libertarian at “heart” so a Democrat could get the Dem nomination via write-in as well.
What would that Dem face in November?
Three right wingers splitting the kook vote.
The Dems could easily pick up the seat. Anybody that thinks Wood, if he could win, would vote with the Dems needs to have their head examined.
There’s is no way the Dems are going to let this slip through their fingers. If they don’t have a candidate for November, the Dems are incredibly dumb.
So, Owen, I guess you should worry after all.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2008 at 0839 hrs A leaderless, shiftless, worthless group without any principles or direction.
GOP to a T.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2008 at 0843 hrsThe soap opera that politics has turned into would be amusing if not for the fact that our rights and our freedoms are the stakes of this drama-fest.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2008 at 0924 hrsHmm, a point of agreement between Dohnal and I on the “leaderless, shiftless” part. I’ve long contended that the GOP would fare better by crafting and pursuing either a moderate agenda OR a conservative agenda. Problem with this group is that it’s so f$@#ed up it’s paralyzed, and instead it pursues no agenda at all.
Beating something with nothing isn’t easy in politics, but that’s exactly what Mike Huebsch will be trying to do this fall. They don’t have a health care agenda, they don’t have an education agenda, they don’t have a plan on the economy, and unlike the Assembly Democrats, they can’t just rely on the Governor to hand them their talking points.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on July 09, 2008 at 0945 hrsAm I the only one who read Mark Pocan’s diatribe yesterday about the “GOP attacking its moderates” and had to stop midway through it because of all my laughing due to Pocan’s own history of doing exactly that?
Just wondering…
And RS, how long into a Dem-controlled Assembly (if he’s still there) before Doyle throws them under the bus to help his own re-election?
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2008 at 1609 hrsFair question. Doyle seems pretty comfortable with the notion of triangulation - guess it would depend if the Assembly Dems carry Doyle’s water or turn into Russ Decker’s somewhat wayward troops.
And like you pointed out, who knows if Doyle will even be governor next year? If he takes an appointment from Obama, all hell could break loose among the Dems. There’s no way Russ Decker’s going to sit around and take marching orders from Babs Lawton, and I don’t think Decker (and some others) would sit quietly during the 2010 primary like the GOP did with McCallum back in ‘02. Lawton doesn’t intimidate anyone. Her presence in the field isn’t going to stop anyone from running.
An Obama victory might well be the best thing that could happen to the state GOP because it could take the Dems’ biggest player off the field. Funny how politics works sometimes. If people really want Scott Walker as their governor, maybe they should think about casting their vote this fall for Obama…
Posted by Recess Supervisor on July 09, 2008 at 1827 hrsRS,
You can call it “Triangulation,” I’ll call it what it is: Lying to their faces and stabbing them in the back. No distance is far enough from Jim Doyle and his actual responsibility for the problems the state has. Heck, if Dems control everything in 2010 (WH, Congress, State Legislature), he’s not gonna have many allies left with all the people he’s gonna blaming for his problems.
Doyle’s living his father’s dream to be Governor of Wisconsin, he’ll be damned if some punk in the legislature’s gonna screw him over. That’s what Jim Doyle does to Legislative punks.
As for a possible 2010 Democratic Battle Royale in the primary, hey, I’m making popcorn and watching. Who the hell has the stones in that party to act as referee in something like that?
That’s a question for the ages right there.
Posted by Kevin Binversie on July 09, 2008 at 2106 hrs“Here’s what went down. Wood cut a deal with the Assembly Dems to switch to Independent at the last minute and likely agreed to vote with the Dems on any close votes. In exchange, the Assembly Dems agreed to not field an opposition candidate and call off WEAC, thus virtually guaranteeing Wood’s reelection.”
Uh, just curious—do you have any proof of this. A letter? A memo? A witness? Any kind of smoking gun? Maybe that’s how it did go down, but all I see here is conjecture.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2008 at 2146 hrs> Here’s what went down. Wood cut a deal with the Assembly
> Dems to switch to Independent at the last minute and likely
> agreed to vote with the Dems on any close votes.Where is your proof? You made allegations without anything to back it up. Moreover, you neglected these points:
- Never committing troops without a defined mission and exit strategy;
- Excessive borrowing, endangering our kids’ future;
- Mandating a national ID card;
- Limiting rights to due process with the suspension of habeas corpus;
- The promotion of torture.
- Retroactive immunity for telecom corporations that eavesdrop on private conversations without a warrant or just cause.These are legitimate criticisms for us. I voted for Jeff Wood in the last election, and I’m going to vote for him again. He hasn’t changed: he’s still a stand up person. Sadly, I’m not sure that can be said by many other GOPers. Torture? Limitless borrowing? Where is our fiscal responsibility?
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 10, 2008 at 1644 hrs
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