Here’s what Mary Burke should do next.

Now that Kathleen Vinehout has decided not to run for governor Mary Burke needs to move quickly to keep Vinehout’s supporters from drifting off into apathetic disinterest. Here are four simple things she can do to try to keep that from happening.

1. Hold a press conference in Milwaukee announcing her support of the bill introduced by various Dems that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and index it to inflation.

2. Hold a public listening session with opponents of GTAC’s proposed Penokee Hills iron mine somewhere in the northland, perhaps at the Bad River Lodge, Casino and Convention Center, and with frac sand mining opponents somewhere in the Chippewa Valley.

3. Quietly tell Mike Tate to issue a public apology to Ed Garvey, and by extension to the larger progressive community, for his (Tate’s) divisive and unwarranted smears of Garvey on social media.

4. Ignore the advice from her highly paid political consultants against the advice I’ve given above and do the above three things.

 

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48 thoughts on “Here’s what Mary Burke should do next.

  1. She could also pledge the 100 million dollars that Scott Walker promised Milwaukee and failed to deliver.

    1. Good one, Mikey, but Ms. Burke’s top priority should be to create 250,000 new jobs plus one to exceed Walker’s lie, er I mean promise.

  2. She’ll do these things if she wants to represent the people of Wisconsin. But is that truly what she wants?

  3. Indexing the minimum wage to inflation is the reason why it’s not currently $15/hr. It SHOULD be indexed to productivity.

  4. Have a “Pope Francis” type of epiphany, dump the political machinery and jump into the trenches where the “have nots” live.

    1. Wouldn’t that be great! She should definitely endorse Pope Francis’ leadership style (collegial) and contrast it with Walker’s (authoritarian). I am hoping she will be able to peel away some Catholic votes from Walker. Can I assume, since she went to Georgetown, that she is Catholic (unlike Walker who of course attended Marquette)?

  5. I guess I am going to be open to supporting somebody else other than Mary Burke should they emerge. That said every indication is that Mary Burke will now be the Democratic Nominee to run against Scott Walker in November.

    Conventional Wisdom dictates that Democrats need to change the electorate in order to win in 2014. Which groups of people can Mary Burke inspire to go to the polls that did not vote in 2010 or the 2012 recall election?

    The voters needed to win are not the same people as the donors needed to raise cash. Are college students and low income people in general going to turn out in a real way?

    1. I’ll second AJ ‘s comment. We need candidates that MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO VOTE FOR THEM. We don’t live off of fear like Baggers, but too many Dem insiders don’t want to get with that reality

    2. Hello. AJ, your question is very relevant.
      I think once Mary B explains her positions more thoroughly, especially job growth measures, she will give Democrats an easier path to explain to people what this election means to them. For example, I canvassed in 2012. It was amazing how few women realized that the damages to employers had been removed under the Republican legislators – Pay equity in WI now means only that if a woman can prove she was underpaid in comparison to men at that job, she can recover the cash amount. There is no further penalty to the employer.
      She also supports full funding for public education and proves her commitment, as I understand it, by work at Madison which increased the achievement of low-income kids.
      I believe WI ranks very low for racial equity in school achievement.
      When pay equity, voter ID, and adequate public school funding are brought to people’s attention I hope they will respond by registering and voting.
      If you see the new evidence of the voucher school in Mke. where $800,000 of our money was spent on the school where just one child was proficient at reading/math,
      and you realize this is a program which Gov. Walker intends to expand, it should motivate a person to read up on these issues and talk to voters.

      1. red,

        You wrote: “I think once Mary B explains her positions more thoroughly, especially job growth measures, she will give Democrats an easier path to explain to people what this election means to them.”

        No sale.

        Barca, others who did the grunt work and made tough votes all deserved a shot. Ms. Burke’s only track record on the Madison school board doesn’t inspire confidence. She’s had plenty of time to talk tough and she hasn’t even done that.

        You wrote: “For example, I canvassed in 2012.”

        For where and for how long. Please be specific. Was this for the Democratic party or for a candidate? If for a candidate, which candidate?

        You wrote: “It was amazing how few women realized that the damages to employers had been removed under the Republican legislators – Pay equity in WI now means only that if a woman can prove she was underpaid in comparison to men at that job, she can recover the cash amount. There is no further penalty to the employer.”

        This is interesting and helpful, thanks. Do you have a link? My understanding also was that it’s now also tougher to sue an employer in state court. That means the only avenue is federal court, which is a lot more expensive. As a result, far fewer attorneys want those cases.

        You wrote: “She also supports full funding for public education and proves her commitment, as I understand it, by work at Madison which increased the achievement of low-income kids.”

        Is she going to fund public school teachers who are certified, or silicon valley software manufacturers who peddle education software? I believe in “bricks and clicks,” using software to enhance learning, I just think it raises critical questions about who is generating the content.

        You wrote: “I believe WI ranks very low for racial equity in school achievement.”

        Do you have a link? In general, I think the affluence of the parents is the greatest determiner of the quality of the education the children receive.

        You wrote: “When pay equity, voter ID, and adequate public school funding are brought to people’s attention I hope they will respond by registering and voting.

        I don’t see pay equity as a big issue. You have to be desperate in this economy to sue an employer. It will be public record and no one will ever want to hire you again. They’ll worry you’ll sue them.

        Dems have failed to educate that all voters have to REGISTER and those rolls are public information. GOP routinely sends postcards to heavily Democratic districts. If those post cards are returned, wrong address, the GOP knows the person doesn’t live there. I don’t see this as a plus for Dems.

        GOP is killing Dems by running as the party of LOWER taxes. That’s one reason I think marijuana legalization is so critical. It opens up a new revenue stream for funding public schools, at the same time it cuts welfare to the prison-industrial complex.

        You wrote: “If you see the new evidence of the voucher school in Mke. where $800,000 of our money was spent on the school where just one child was proficient at reading/math, and you realize this is a program which Gov. Walker intends to expand, it should motivate a person to read up on these issues and talk to voters.”

        Yes, it should, but it doesn’t begin to match the outrage workers feel about high taxes. Republicans are right. We need much LOWER federal taxes. Dems are right. We need much MORE federal spending on health care, education, and green infrastructure.

        See former NY Fed Chair, Beardley Ruml, from 1946: “(Federal) Taxes for revenue are obsolete”

        “…The necessity for a government to tax in order to maintain both its independence and its solvency is true for state and local governments, but it is not true for a national government. Two changes of the greatest consequence have occurred in the last twenty-five years which have substantially altered the position of the national state with respect to the financing of its current requirements.

        The first of these changes is the gaining of vast new experience in the management of central banks.

        The second change is the elimination, for domestic purposes, of the convertibility of the currency into gold.”

        http://www.constitution.org/tax/us-ic/cmt/ruml_obsolete.pdf

        As long as Dems “play along,” with the lie that federal taxes fund the federal government,” we will continue to lose elections to the GOP. State and local taxes are the only way to exert “local control.” So when Scott Walker talks about lowering state taxes, he really means he wants Washington, D.C. making decisions for Wisconsin. Unfortunately, no Dems are pointing that out.

        State and local budgets have to “balance.” Unfortunately, both parties have missed that it’s not the federal budget that has to balance, it’s the three sectors, public, private (domestic), and foreign. When the private sector and the foreign sector are both broke, as they are today, the only sector that can “spend,” is the FEDERAL government. The 49-minute video from UMKC Economics professor Stephanie Kelton is excellent.

        http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/video-archive/2013/11/221-2524

        Modern Monetary Theory’s hash tag is #MMT. Lot more information available via @stephaniekelton @wbmosler

        Ms. Burke has a degree in finance from Georgetown. Why Dr. Kelton and Mr. Mosler aren’t advising her on policy is a mystery to me. Mosler’s a self-made guy (unlike Sensenbrenner inheritance, Walker, married money, Johnson, married the daughter of a billionaire) , hedge fund manager who lives in the Virgin Islands. If for no other reason, he could donate to her campaign.

        Along with “income inequality,” Ms. Burke should have have a talking point that doesn’t include, “capitalism runs on sales.”

      2. red,

        I think there’s an assumption on the part of Tate and Burke that if they line up as close to Walker as they can, but to the left, they can “win.”

        Per non-Quioxte and many others I read on Twitter, especially younger voters, they see no difference between the two parties.

        The link below is to Mark Pocan schmoozing with Sen. Ron Johnson.

        http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/pocan-collaborates-ron-johnson-michelle-bachmann-next

        Mark Pocan occupies one of the safest Democratic Congressional seats in the country. The only election he worries about is a primary, because the Dem will always win in the general. When Mark Pocan feels like he can schmooze with the worst of the GOP, it’s fair for folks to ask, “what’s the difference between a Democrat and a Republican?”

        In Milwaukee Chris Abele (who like Ms. Burke has zero previous experience) campaigned on a platform that included support for collective bargaining. He’s been every bit as bad was Walker.

        For years I’ve fought socialist encroachment into the Democratic party. Now I’m beginning to think that a Socialist running for Governor is the only “messaging” that Burke/Tate will understand.

        http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/6/a_socialist_elected_in_seattle_kshama

        Another option for folks like me is to vote for Ms. Burke (who I am afraid will turn out to be a pro-choice, pro-LGBT Republican), but send money and other support to Senate/Assembly candidates, who I think will try to do more for the 99%.

    3. In this morning’s news, Michael Olneck says, “Mary is going to be our nominee.”

      http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/jack_craver/kathleen-vinehout-s-madison-supporters-disappointed-she-won-t-run/article_a5c11372-7f95-11e3-9a6b-0019bb2963f4.html

      Correction, Mary is Tate’s nomninee.

      I will not exclude her just because of that anchor around her neck, but if Ms. Burke doesn’t begin to speak out against the unjust and immoral ACT10 and what she will do to correct it, she will sink faster than the Titanic.

      Also, remember that write-ins are an option both in the primary and the final. I will not sit on my hands, but my conscience coupled with the awakening by Pope Francis on the sad state of the poor under “unfettered capitalism” and Walker’s political enabling will guide me on who is the best person as Wisconsin’s governor to address the social issues and to repair and restore Wisconsin’s reputation.

      http://www.thenation.com/blog/177414/pope-versus-king-money

      For a starter on her political and social issue education, I suggest Mary adopt, steal, or borrow from a well known Wisconsin state senator’s writings.

  6. Very well said, Steve. Burke needs to show she’s in touch with reality on these issues, and right now she’s coming off a bit too much like John Kerry in 2014. I did see that she’ll address the a Dane County Dems next month, so we will see if she’s gotten the hint.

    I’ll gladly vote for her in November, but if she continues to be milquetoast and GOP lite and defensive, I’ll spend my time, energy and money down ticket with real progressives that recognize the danger this state is jn

  7. Good ideas of course, but of no use if she and the Dems can’t get media coverage when she/they do it.
    Now that it appears she’s the one, the ads against her are going to start immediately and the funding for them is bottomless. Every available cent needs to go towards publicity, and people who are very good at social media and GOT(youth)V need to be brought on board yesterday.
    The Dems have had three+ years to get moving on this. Unless it’s a stealth tactic and they’re keeping everything super-duper under wraps, I don’t see a lot of 21st century ideas coming out of the Dem camp.

    1. Sue- Maybe if the Dems would spend some money for ads and get Burke out in front of the public with positive ads (to start), the media would follow. They tend to do that when you send checks their way, makes em feel important.

  8. She could declare her support for Mark Pocan’s “People’s Amendment” designed to overturn Citizens United by declaring that money is not speech, and that corporations are not entitled to Constitutional rights as are individuals.

    She could declare her opposition to raising limits on contributions to candidates, and she can express her hope that this is the last election in which millionaires like herself with access to personal fortunes and to big money donors are the only individuals regarded as viable candidates.

  9. Steve, I agree that Burke needs to run more like a Democrat or she’s going to be met with apathy at the polls. I don’t think I will survive another Walker/GOP dominated term in Wisconsin. My heart won’t stand it.

  10. SC,
    I don’t have a crystal ball, but, I got $5 Burke does none of those things.
    Expect more of the status quo from Burke, Tate & consultants. Will it work? We’ll see.
    I may have missed it, but, has Vinehout declared her support for Burke?

    On another note, I’ve spinning Pleasantville in my truck to and from work for a few days. Pretty decent, especially Sorry SOB’s. Did your really have to use the word masturbating in a song though? 🙂

    1. I’m with you on the chances of Burke becoming anything like the candidate we would like her to be, actually happening. The possibility is about as great as Obomba regulating megadata collection, calling home the drone fleet, or changing his treasonous mind on selling out US sovereignty to a multinational corporate appointed three person judicial review panel.

      Put your efforts into flipping the Senate majority. Burke, even if she can possibly garner enough votes to take the Executive, couldn’t ever make a policy veto stick against a Republican legislative majority. Lame duck upon taking office without one chamber of the legislature to work with.

      It is Burke’s, Tate’s and Orton’s task to show us how we will be represented, how they are deserving of our support. That has not happened yet in even the slimmest of fashion. The ball that they wanted to control, is in their court, we’ll see quickly whether or not they are ready to play. Neoliberalism is not going to be enough to crown Burke.

  11. Steve et al:

    So you’d rather turn your back on Burke because she lacks ideological purity, rather than focus on the main goal of defeating Walker. There’s a reason bloggers are seldom campaign managers. No one cares if Tate dissed Garvey…probably no on less than Garvey himself. Keep in mind that Burke could pull in a truely new 5% from the middle of the electorate that might be the margin of victory. Eyes on the prize Steve.

    1. How is electing somebody against paying anything like a living wage, who won’t actively defend the environment and who endlessly repeats Scott Walker’s lies “the prize”? The main goal is saving the progressive traditions, integrity and dignity of Wisconsin. It isn’t just about beating Walker, it is about beating Walker’s ideology. It is absolutely not about becoming a strange mirror of the same just to win. Until and unless Burke stands up and shows she is a candidate that stands for more than mild mannered, two-faced completely weak-kneed and passive centrism that lost Barrett two elections I think she can expect lower turnout in key demographics and a reasonable number of third party votes.

      1. What Paul said. If you think the electorate is the same group of people, and that there aren’t people choosing between voting for a candidate and not voting at all, you’re making the wrong calculations.

        Why did Obama win so easily both times? Because he got people that were casual voters out to the polls, and got them INSPIRED TO VOTRE FOR HIM. But DPW operative types like Paul lack that imagination, and that explains why the Dems are in the minority when the people of the state largely agree with their positions.

      2. Sorry, I meant that it’s the Bystander who lacks imagination and has a losing strategy. Ironically, the strategy to win would be one to inspire bystanders and other casual voters, which a tough, progressive platform with a vibrant speaker would provide. Unfortuantely, I see neither of these things from Burke so far.

    2. bystander,

      How many campaigns have you managed? Please, name them. How many campaigns have you worked on (paid, not volunteer). Please, name them.

      You mentioned the “middle of the electorate.”

      First, I’m just thrilled that anyone in the Democratic party thinks there still is a “middle.” I don’t agree, but I like your optimism.

      Second, how is Ms. Burke planning on reaching them? Newspapers are losing subscribers. People are ditching cable tv, they can’t afford it. Does she think Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling, and the rest of the wing nuts on AM radio will tell their listeners to vote for “Queen Mary?”

      Please, give us a link to the top five print headlines in January that contain Ms. Burke’s name. I can’t look at the Journal Sentinel without seeing Scott Walker’s name in a HEADLINE. Show us all the traction this crack campaign staff is getting on behalf of Ms. Burke and Democratic principles about economic mobility and a level playing field.

      Please, give us a link to the top five tv interviews in your opinion that Ms. Burke has done in January.

      Please, give us a link to the top five radio interviews in your opinion that Ms. Burke has in January.

      I’m anxious to learn about her message for the 5% in the “middle of the electorate?”

      Does Ms. Burke and her campaign staff understand that other candidates will also be running for office in November 2014? That the longer she waits to “get her message out,” the more expensive and diluted it gets? Does Ms. Burke and her campaign staff understand that the House of Representatives runs on two-year terms? Does Ms. Burke and her campaign understand that in the months leading up to November 2014, the entire state is going to be awash in GOP radio and TV ads about how DEMOCRATS voted to RAISE TAXES. DEMOCRATS voted to take 7.5% MORE out of every American’s paycheck. On top of that, Democrats voted to take an ADDITIONAL 7.5% from every employer? That’s the federal “payroll tax.” Democrats made that colossally stupid vote in the famous “fiscal cliff” vote in January 2013 and the GOP will hang it on Dems in November 2014.

      Does Ms. Burke and her campaign staff understand that Newspaper headlines like “GOP leaders debate how to cut taxes with $912 million in extra money” from yesterday will still have the imprimatur of objectivity when the GOP uses them in ads leading up to November 2014?

      http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/gop-leaders-like-idea-of-delivering-property-tax-cuts-through-tech-colleges-b99185569z1-240551611.html

      Does Ms. Burke and her campaign staff think the “Pants on Fire” rating she got for: “Scott Walker plans to end income tax, more than double sales tax, Democrat Mary Burke says” will get a lot of air-play on Walker4Governor commercials?

      http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2014/jan/16/mary-burke/scott-walker-plans-end-income-tax-more-double-sale/

      And you think running the “I’m not Scott Walker,” campaign is going to take 5% away from Scott Walker in “the MIDDLE of the electorate?”

      It looks to me as though “the prize,” for NATIONAL Democrats, especially with Gov. Christie imploding, is for Walker to get the GOP nomination for President. In order for that to happen, Ms. Burke has to lose. Another calculation, especially based on Obama’s 2012 win in Wisconsin, might be that it’s easier for a Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in 2016, if Walker’s still Governor. Is “the prize,” for Ms. Burke some government contracts for Trek bicycles, a plum job in the Commerce Department or maybe an Ambassador’s job, through which she can help Trek sales?

      Please, tell me I’m wrong. Tell me the people running Ms. Burke’s campaign aren’t really working on Sen. Clinton’s campaign for 2016.

      Two other things. (1) If you’re trying to hit the 5% in the “middle of the electorate,” or effectively represent Ms. Burke’s campaign at places like Blogging Blue, I don’t think the Latin, “et al,” is your best approach. Some might associate that with the Ivy League prep schools that produce so many of the bankers on Wall Street. People are scared. Everyone knows a whole bunch of people who have lost their home and their job.

      (2) Hiding behind a handle to condescend and toss a few insults at libs, that’s bs. Mike Tate and others from the campaign have commented here under their own names. Whoever you are, you should do the same.

    3. Bystander, (I hope this is not a repeat, I thought I made a similar comment which may be floating out in the cloud already, old age?)

      There is no question here of ideological purity at all, it is a question of any clearly defined ideology to begin with, for me, as a voter and potential campaign worker, to fairly evaluate in the first place. Nowhere in sight, yet. We have seen some feeble attempts at “marketing,” a package, dressed up with some basically meaningless endorsements and general party-line platitudes. Have you heard the DPW slogan, “we can do better?” Cuts both ways, DPW and team Burke.

    4. Bystander,

      I’m only going to warn bozo’s like you once, so you’d do well to listen up.

      I can practically guarantee you that if you people keep up that ” ideological purity ” bullshit as a way to insult progressive voters you’ll lose them in this election just as surely as the Dems lost them in 2010 after almost two years of calling progressives crybabies who ” didn’t get everything we wanted in the ACA ” because we very rightfully called out the political cowardice and betrayal that occurred as our timid Dem leaders step by step reduced the ACA to mostly an insurance company giveaway.

      Also I happen to know from first hand conversation that Ed Garvey would very much appreciate a public apology from Mr. Tate, and I can’t think of anyone in the DPW whose profile needs a more thorough rehabilitation in the eyes of progressives than Mr. Tate.

      So when it comes to ” eyes ” and “prizes” you folks had better take a long hard look in the mirror and memorize the image, because if Mary Burke gets her ass kicked in November it’ll be on all of you, not us.

  12. Agree about minimum wage.

    (I think there’s a heavy political cost to pay for indexing it to inflation. It might be a lot easier to raise it, if you dropped that requirement. IMHO Jim Spice got it right. Index it to productivity).

    “Income inequality” has traction on both sides of the aisle. She shouldn’t have a talking point that doesn’t include it.

    Agree about GTAC.

    Agree about Garvey, would like the mea culpa from Tate to be more public, but I’ll gladly defer to you on that one.

    Hire you to help her is another really good idea.

    I know Ms. Burke has come out in support of Medical pot. If she would come out in support of legalization, it would jump start her campaign, and drive turnout and enthusiasm. GOP would have no place to run and hide on it. Most Republicans, especially the most rabid want it legalized.

    I think you dedicate a portion of the profits to protect the jobs and benefits of law enforcement. She’s running as a Democrat. It’s ok for her to “take care” of the private sector unions. If Walker opposes her on pot, he’s going to lose. If wing nuts in the Assembly and Senate oppose legalization, they will lose to Democrats who support legalization. If she wants to raise a huge amount of money from small donors, come out for pot. If she wants to drive GOTV and give the elderly and the poor a reason to get really excited about voting, she should come out for pot.

    I would never encourage anyone who did not already have a serious illness, to use it, but the prohibition against alcohol didn’t work either.

    Get behind Marina Dimitrijevik on this: “Solar farm proposed for Mitchell International Airport”
    http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/marina-dimitrijevic-proposes-solar-farm-at-mitchell-b99185304z1-240367041.html

    Steve, your timing on this post is impeccable. The longer Ms. Burke waits to take actions consistent with your recommendations, the more I and others will view her as Chris Abele 2.0. She’s an oligarch looking to advance their agenda of dismantling state and local governments. She’s just going to wrap herself in the flag of pro-choice and LGBT rights to pretend to be a Democrat.

    1. I surely hope you’re wrong about pot and “clothing herself” and rather believe you are, John. That certainly wouldn’t be the case where I’m originally from. We’re in a somewhat tribal culture here, but any smoking is bad for your lungs.

      I am praying, however, that Mary Burch does do what she does better even than Kathleen Vinehout and that is meet with influential groups and citizens and get more endorsements and funds for a campaign to return to the best of a progressive, industrialized Wisconsin.

      1. Cat,

        Do you support putting people in prison for smoking?

        What about incarceration for high blood pressure? That’s bad for your health too.

        Even the 700 Club’s Pat Robertson wants it made legal.

        http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pat-robertson-marijuana-should-be-legal/

        You can make pot into butter and ingest it through brownies, others foods that use butter.

        In the link below the guy claims ingesting pot through his vaporizer eliminate most of the damage to the lungs.

        http://news.yahoo.com/can-a-tech-start-up-change-the-way-people-think-about-medical-marijuana-193436716.html?bcmt=comments-postbox

        Big Pharma knows they will lose a lot of sales to pot. That’s why they are leading the fight against it.
        “Smoke and mirrors of the legalization debate”

        http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2012/04/27/the-smoke-and-mirrors-of-the-legalization-debate/

        They are “the money” plying both parties to keep it illegal.

        Prison-industrial-complex is taking tax dollars to profit from putting people in jail for substance abuse issues.

        “A Company That Runs Prisons Will Have Its Name on a Stadium”
        http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/sports/ncaafootball/a-company-that-runs-prisons-will-have-its-name-on-a-stadium.html?_r=0

        1. Afraid that would be your take on my opinion. Actually, I’ve been in the William F Buckley camp for not criminalizing drugs at all. Instead, regulating them as we do alcohol. Have been against the “drug war” and “drug czar” from the beginning. But nobody listened to us then and now there’s just too much money in it to do anything.
          People have been surprised at the success we’ve had limiting smoking cigarettes…without actually criminalizing it…but using the media to fully inform individuals and create an anti-smoking culture. I’m a life long media marketing guy and I know how the right campaigns can move the public. But even cigarette suppression took some doing (rogue southern lawyers out of Mississippi) because of all the money tobacco brought in. Drugs are now “too big to fail” because the government has too much invested in criminalization.

          So, in my opinion, drug abusers should be treated, not jailed. And the money we spend on drug detection and convictions should be used to regulate, inform and treat. The derestriction of marijuana is only the beginning for me, but I wouldn’t encourage marijuana cultures by any means…and especially not as a political strategy of any sort.

    2. John,

      Thanks for the input. We can hope that Mary Burke has better defined her position on government’s role in running a state from that which one could easily project by reading the caption beneath her biography photo on her campaign website. “You don’t need a whole lot of social programs, if you have a vibrant economy.”
      http://burkeforwisconsin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/newspaper.jpg
      As the date shows, this was from an article almost nine years ago, but it reminds me of Obomba’s policy baby of austerity for the rest of us in chaining the CPI, the DNC eagerly willing to play good cop/bad cop to appear to be “democratic,” while more slowly, but ever so deliberately, still whittling away at SNAP, while big banks and Wall
      St hedges continue to buy up private holdings with taxpayer derived bailout money from the Fed at over $80 billion a month, paying near “full supposed dollar value,” to yet to be held accountable, criminal cartels for essentially worthless derivatives. The fact that this nine-year-old article is currently being “featured,” as a campaign positive, should tell us something of the national party neoliberal corporate welfare programing behind Mary Burke. I’d like to see definite policy stated to refute my suspicions coming from her camp. Ain’t holding my breath.

      On the medical marijuana, to my present knowledge, Democrats have yet to seize on (R) Representative Nygren’s sensible, life-saving bill for heroin addict, over-doze situations, and attempt to make the connection between that and the criminalization of small amounts of marijuana and how devastating and life-threatening that is to racially or poverty profiled, users of that substance in the failed war on drugs. Appears to be zero, “gateway,” function to heroin use in the state from marijuana, and it could just as well be argued that de-criminalization could lead to fewer people choosing the more physically dangerous heroin alternative. If you are a Republican and a middle-class white child is affected, legislative action in a few months.

  13. The GOP has largely been successful in painting Dems as the party of “pity-liberalism.” Their message is clear. Everyone who can’t “make it on their own,” votes for the donkey.

    One way to get out of that corner is for Ms. Burke to support a FEDERAL job guarantee.

    “…The government could serve as the “employer of last resort” under a job guarantee program modeled on the WPA (the Works Progress Administration, in existence from 1935 to 1943 after being renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939) and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942). The program would offer a job to any American who was ready and willing to work at the federal minimum wage, plus legislated benefits. No time limits. No means testing. No minimum education or skill requirements….”

    http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2013/07/a-plan-for-all-the-detroits-out-there.html

  14. She needs to get together with The Labor Unions and support their fight for bargaining rights.

    1. Russell, 110% correct.

      Physicians, lawyers, tenured professors, engineers, …. anyone who uses credentialing is “bargaining collectively.” They restrict the “Supply” of their “Labor” to keep a floor underneath their wages. It’s really the only tool the 99% have against the oligarchs. It’s why the 1% are so determined to destroy unions.

    2. Wisconsin Teachers and other state Unions might have been watching the tactics of the CTU and their efforts to organize outside of the party of Rahm and Duncan.

      http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/jeremiah-wright-chicago-teachers-union-102164.html

      LOL, do you think DPW or Mary Burke gives a crap about unions other than how to repress them, fracture their remaining organization?

      See my 2:29 PM comment, please. Forget telling Burke what she should do, it ain’t happening, never will.

  15. Hey Tate, do you get the message? Your first choice, sadly, is and will be the people’s last choice.

    1. Steve / John Casper:

      I’m sorry I thought we were trying to win the governorship, not reinforce your progressive purity in “Pleasantville”. Politcs is about winning control, not about name dropping. Burke wins good. Walker wins bad. It’s really that simple.

  16. I guess I’m in the minority here, but I don’t see the need for #3. I don’t see how it’s Mary Burke’s responsibility to try to force Mike Tate to apologize for the things he’s said about Garvey.

    Mike Tate’s a partisan through and through, and I’m betting he’d attack anyone who doesn’t “toe the party line,” so I think Mary Burke is better off keeping as much distance from Tate as possible.

    1. Okay Zach, what is past is past. Ms. Burke has no need to apologize for Tate’s failings. She is innocent in this regard.

      But WTF,I still don’t know what Sister Mary is about and what kind of Democrat she is compared to Senator Vinehout.

      1. I’d like to know more about Burke as well, but we have 10 months until election day, and the election really isn’t in full swing yet.

        I can only hope she’s taking the “slow and steady” approach to things.

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