Eugene Kane of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel dissects the nasty racial divisions of the recently concluded primary in the 10th Assembly district, a primary that featured soon-to-be retired Democratic State Rep. Elizabeth Coggs encouraging voters to vote for someone who looked like them, an obvious reference to the fact that Sandy Pasch was the only candidate running who was not a minority.
Pasch said she understood the historical context for those who wanted a black politician to represent a predominantly black area of the city but didn’t understand why she was targeted as an interloper.
“All of a sudden, former friends and colleagues were against me,” she recalled. “It was a distraction because the issues in Milwaukee are so huge, we didn’t need that.”
No Republican filed for the seat.
Pasch said her background as a nurse who advocated for public health issues would serve her well in the new district with voters of all races. She said issues such as incarceration rates, gun control and infant mortality rates would remain priorities.
Like others, Pasch suspects Republicans who drew new maps wanted to create dissent between traditional Democratic allies. Pasch is prepared to face African-American challengers each time she’s up for re-election. In other words, she’s likely to hear “vote for someone who looks like you” during a future campaign.
“If I’m not serving the people of the 10th and listening to their concerns, I don’t deserve to be re-elected,” she said. “If politicians aren’t responsible to the public, they should go.”
Sounds like a colorblind strategy to me.
If politicians aren’t responsible to the public, they should go. That sounds like some solid advice, and I know there’s still a few elected officials left hanging around who that policy should be applied to.
Your story puts this whole scenario in the proper light. Pasch is saying precisely the same thing Fighting Bob was saying 100 years ago. It was colorblind, as well as directed at all the other things that could play on discrimination. Our elected Democrats must represent the values of our political party. We see things a lot differently than Republicans, and want people elected to promote those ideas in public office.
The district gerrymandering was designed to do just what Pasch is saying.
Sounds to me like Democrats have huge undercurrent of racism in the party that Pasch is trying to keep at bay.
Pasch should scold her constituents for their overt racism against her.