Jon Erpenbach for the win!

Here’s a quote from Democratic State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, responding to an email sent out by the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk characterizing the campaigns of her opponents as being full of political insiders:

“I don’t necessarily consider myself a political insider simply because I spend more time outside talking to real people than inside,” said Erpenbach, who was speaking during a break in his job as a bellhop at a Madison area hotel. “It’s not a matter of political insiders mowing down the grassroots movement. That line is laughable.”

Yep, laughable just about sums it up.

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23 thoughts on “Jon Erpenbach for the win!

  1. I can’t get passed the “his job as a bellhop at a Madison area hotel” line. Is my sarcasm/humor detector off or is it an inside joke or something?

    1. No, that’s his actual job! Technically, he’s a courtesy bus driver for a hotel, but “bellhop” is close enough. That’s when he’s not fending off Republican attacks on women, the poor, indigent and minorities in the Wisconsin State Senate.

  2. He is lucky he has Erpenbach to lend him some street cred because the endorsement of rahm emanuel, ron kind and lobbyist Dave Obey are about as inside as you can get.

    1. I think all the Dems need to realize that they’re all living in glass houses at this point. They should avoid throwing big rocks at one another. The whole state is watching how this primary is run and the one who wins will be the one who rises above the petty bullshit you usually get from primaries.

      Patience is wearing thin with the state Dems among large swaths of their “base,” and how they run this primary will have a large impact on their long-term viability as a party.

    2. What, Lena Taylor doesn’t give Barrett any “street cred?”

      Remind me, how many of the Wisconsin 14 have endorsed Kathleen Falk?

      1. No actually since it was Lena Taylor who also tried a takeover of MPS with Barrett. WHich is another issue that in my mind disqualifies him as a legit candidate.

        WHats curious to me is not how many have not endorsed Falk but that none have endorsed their peer Vinehout

        1. Ah, so Lena Taylor doesn’t have any “street cred” on the issue of collective bargaining for public employees (despite her being one of the WI14) because of the mayoral takeover of MPS issue?

          That’s absolutely absurd Jeff.

            1. Ah okay…so in your mind they don’t have credibility on one issue because of their work on a completely unrelated issue.

              Got it.

                1. So Jeff, what do you think of Michael Brown, one of the key players involved in the recall effort, endorsing Tom Barrett today?

                  Does that give Barrett some “street cred,” or is Michael Brown somehow tainted?

                  1. I would love to hear his actual reasoning as i have not heard that yet. However Megan Mahaffey who was also a very key player in recalling the Gov is running Kathleen Falk’s campaign.

                    1. “Mahaffey has extensive statewide experience, most recently as Executive Director of United Wisconsin, the grassroots organization that led the collection of the more than one million recall signatures. In addition to other work, Mahaffey has led the statewide grassroots organization Advancing Wisconsin, served as Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and worked on the campaign of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore.”

                      Megan Mahaffey is a seasoned political operative in Wisconsin, not just some ordinary citizen who felt compelled to take action in 2011.

  3. This is a cluster f*ck of epic proportions. The Executive Board of my union endorsed Falk against the recommendation of our COPE and without the most perfunctory consultation of the members. These are the same folks who advised us NOT to engage in the recall last September, that the “smart” thing to do was wait till November 2012. We organized our action group independently and collected a few thousand signatures.

    So Kathleen, bless her, is on the wrong track here and I hope to God she cuts it out.

    1. My wife said the same thing. She’s AFSCME in Madison and they were all so pissed when the state organization endorsed Falk without any consultation with the locals. Insanity and hubris all in one.

  4. Has AFSCME always polled every single member before making an endorsement? How much money & time does that take? Should they do that before every decision they make? Is it not enough that the leaders of the union are elected? what questions would you have liked the union leaders to ask all of the candidates? Is there someone running who is a stronger candidate for labor running?

    1. Aren’t you the dude who keeps telling us that unions are the purest form of democracy? the purest forms of democracy have all voters vote on everthing…

  5. but in the real world time frame it doesnt always work that way. However, I am 100% behind having a primary. It is just an endorsement, members can actually vote for who they want.

  6. I read the comments on these blogs because I think it is important to learn about opposing points of view. However, I am continually struck by the anger of the posters. We all have moments of anger and I have also been guilty of being negative in letters. Then I remind myself that all of this anger is harming our cause rather than helping it.
    There is no perfect candidate just like there will never be a perfect governor. Let’s all promote what is good about our preferred candidates and respectfully point out problems with the ones we don’t like and try to keep the whole effort from imploding. I’m trying to channel all of that anger into positive energy and if that makes me a pollyanna, so be it. I think Vinehout may take it all if the Barrett and Falk supporters don’t stop stabbing each other in the backs. And I am beginning to think she would do a good job.

    1. MZ, I won’t be too quick to call this anger. I get expanding points of view here and that is important to understanding the primary candidates. You are not being a pollyanna and as most of the comments on this thread are from the regular diarists here, these people know each other and this is valuable debate in my book. No need to be channeling non-existent anger, in this instance, anyway.

      Saw Vinehout in person last week. Got several questions accepted and answered in the Q&A and at least 15 minutes of one on one face time after the main event.

      Guess which two candidates did not take our county Democratic invitation to attend. And we were in the top five of recall signatures gathered as percent of population in the state.

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