Josh Kaul is running as a Democrat for Attorney General of Wisconsin. Republican Brad Schimel is the incumbent and it will be a pretty intense race for office. Mr. Kaul had a booth at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin state convention this past June and obviously I signed up to receive campaign information via email. So now I get regular email from the Kaul campaign every four or five days with a brief outline of Mr. Kaul’s position on an issue and a request for a contribution. Pretty normal campaign activity. So far so good. And some of the emails touch on pretty substantive issues…but this one caught my attention…and not in a favorable way.
I know I’ve railed on this before…but nobody is listening…can’t we Democrats run on positive messages? On policy positions? On listening to the electorate? Instead of snarky emails (leave the snark to bloggers, it’s our job) about things nobody (and I really mean nobody) gives two hoots about. Example A from an email that I received at two different accounts:
We’re closing in on our first major fundraising deadline, and Josh needs your help.
We’re $1,407 away from meeting our current goal. Can you make a donation to help us hit our target before Friday at midnight?
Don’t worry, Ed, we won’t spend your hard-earned money on golf towels and fake coins like Attorney General Brad Schimel. We’ll use it to spread our message across this state to let Wisconsinites know that Josh fights for them, not for powerful special interests and wasteful spending.
Ed, we need your help to make that happen. Donate to our campaign today:
If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Donate: $2.78 — the price of a golf towel
Donate: $3.75 — the price of a Brad Schimel commemorative coin
Donate: $14.00 — the price of of (sic) a DOJ swag backpack
Or, donate another amount
It’s time for real change — instead of fake coins — at the Attorney General’s Office.
Thank you,
Team Kaul
Fake coins? Yeah, Attorney General Schimel’s purchase of coins to hand out as commemorative items was pretty slimy and self-serving and a waste of taxpayer monies. But it is hardly an issue to campaign on or even fundraise on.
Can we raise the level of conversation here? Can we raise an issue and then talk about it? There are dozens of things to find fault with the AG around his actions of the last four years…but commemorative coins is pretty low on the list. And someone who is running for the AG post should have some pretty substantial reasons by now, on why he or she wants the office…and should be putting those front and center.
We aren’t going to win anything at this level of engagement.
Amen, Ed:
I am not so immersed in Dem politics now as I was, so I don’t have relations with “This year’s model.” I still believe in Tammy Baldwin, yet I still receive those same Baldwin letters showing the homophobic guy, asking to shoot money to Baldwin. Her consultant could certainly do far better, especially if that highly-paid consultant actually wants Baldwin to win.
As for Kaul running for AG, no doubt I prefer him over Schimel, but suffers the same consultant problem that Baldwin does.
As Sanders would say, for you to vote it has to be FOR things, not simply an acceptance of something a little-less-bad than the GOP.