Views on News • November 16th, 2009

Barrett’s in

by Chris Lato

My gut told me he wouldn’t jump in. So much for the predictive abilities of said gut.

Tom Barrett has his work cut out for him. Already, we are seeing cracks in the façade - such as the ‘will he or won’t he raise taxes?’ question. The difference between the printed remarks and his actual words is revealing.

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Leadership, Views on News • October 13th, 2009

Where did all the Dems go?

by Chris Lato

I’m a little surprised at this one. It’s mid-October and the only Democrat of note who’s running for governor is…Barbara Lawton.

Are the Dems really that confident in the current lite guv that they’re willing to give her a free shot – essentially relying on her to carry the Democrat flag? Or is the crop of solid candidates really that small?

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Branding Politix, Leadership, Messaging, Strategic Blueprints, Views on News • August 17th, 2009

Doyle’s decision

by Chris Lato

From a political junkie’s perspective, the news about Gov. Doyle is seismic. It blows all the current conventional wisdom out of the water and makes this anybody’s race (with a definite advantage for the GOP).

And yet, Gov. Doyle’s announcement that he will not seek a third term is not necessarily cheery news for the state in the short term. The governor is leaving Wisconsin in worse shape than he found it. There’s no joy or gloating in that statement. We have deep problems that need a fresh perspective ASAP.

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Strategic Blueprints, Views on News • March 12th, 2009

Recall Doyle? Really?

by Chris Lato

Apparently a debate is raging that I just haven’t been paying much attention to…on whether to seek a recall election against the governor. Kevin Fischer has a recap and his own thoughts on the idea.

I daresay Gov. Doyle’s loyal opposition has far more important things to worry about – and this is coming from a former flack for the state GOP. The mood of the state is not inclined to embrace the recall of a politician who, while not universally loved, is no Blago either. It’s a waste of effort that would be better spent organizing now for 2010.

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Leadership, Strategic Blueprints, wispundits • October 28th, 2008

The Paul Ryan factor

by Chris Lato

Does U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan have his eye on higher office?

He’d better. Ryan is one of the brightest stars for the Wisconsin GOP right now. He’s young, bright, articulate, telegenic, well-liked in Republican circles and a conservative true believer who appeals to the blue collar constituents that make up a large portion of his 1^st District base.

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2008 Primaries, Strategic Blueprints, Views on News • September 5th, 2008

A taxing question in Milwaukee County

by Chris Lato

This November 4, voters in Milwaukee County will have their say on whether the county should triple the county sales tax to 1.5% ‘to fund parks, transit and provide property tax relief.’ Hmmm……

This article lays out the issue. Essentially, County Executive Scott Walker fought the tax idea but was outgunned by the County Board. Walker has positioned himself as a fiscal conservative, and there’s no way he could be seen as endorsing this tax hike. He was criticized by some for ‘denying the voters a choice.’

(BTW - maybe I’m crazy, but in the middle of an economic downturn, does a sales tax hike really have a snowball’s chance in H-E-double-hockey-sticks of actually getting voter approval?)

We all know the economy is going to be one of the driving issues this November. The voters will now get their say and the tax referendum will be a red-hot issue. It will likely drive turnout even higher than already-high expectations.

And that has the potential to benefit John McCain.

With a tax hike referendum on the ballot, there will undoubtedly be voters spurred to go to the polls to defeat this referendum. And, since McCain is positioned as the tax-cutter compared to Barack Obama, the perceived tax-hiker, can McCain enjoy some boost in Wisconsin’s biggest county? For those voters who are compelled to vote based on their frustration over high taxes alone, the tax referendum could ding Obama’s vote tally in Milwaukee County.

If McCain’s team moves taxes right to the top of the issues being discussed in that county, and bundles it up with the tax referendum issue, then that offers one way to move numbers in their direction.

As an aside, McCain and running mate Sarah Palin are in Wisconsin this morning, the night after McCain delivered his convention-closing speech at the RNC. It’s fun to be a state in play, isn’t it?

As for McCain’s speech, I spent a chunk of it feeling underwhelmed. A lot of the address sounded like GOP boilerplate, and the efforts to single out American families that McCain would be ‘fighting for’ felt ham-fisted. No home runs, but no errors either. Safe and middle of the road, for the most part.

But as McCain discussed his life experience and his time as a POW, the speech really took hold. For those who were getting a sense of McCain for the first time, the closing minutes of the speech drew a connection between the man and the candidate, painting an affecting portrait of why he is in this race.

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Leadership, Views on News, public relations • June 27th, 2008

Surveying the landscape

by Chris Lato

The weekend is almost here, and my short attention span won’t allow me to focus on any one topic – a few things grabbed my attention this morning.

First, were you listening to Wisconsin Public Radio at 8 this morning? If not, shame on you. Catch the Week in Review in the archives here. Thanks to Joy Cardin, her staff and Matt Rothschild for a fun and enlightening hour.

Next….is there any doubt that Scott Walker is going to veto this thing? It’s the tax idea that simply won’t die in Milwaukee County- and great timing to boot, what with the economy and all. more »

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2008 Primaries • May 19th, 2008

Scenes from a convention I didn’t attend

by Chris Lato

Sure, it’s tough to get the full flavor of a state Republican convention when you weren’t actually there (I have a good excuse - I was raising money for charity in Milwaukee and yes, you can still contribute) but there’s enough news and comment out there to make a couple of observations about what went down in Stevens Point over the weekend.

1. What’s up with Jim Sensenbrenner? The convention is about unity, bringing Republicans together, getting ready for the battles ahead in the election season. Yes, it’s a bit of a sham, but there are better ways to deal with the intra-party dirty laundry than airing it out in public. So why did Congressman Sensenbrenner see the need to throw Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch under the bus in such a public forum? Argue the merits of Real ID and the budget repair bill in another forum – Sensenbrenner’s tire-slashing move is disappointing, especially when the GOP already has its hands full working to hold onto the Assembly in 2008.

2. 2010: The year Republicans take over? A straw poll conducted by Wispolitics found Scott Walker to be the big favorite amongst prospective candidates in the race for governor. On the Senate side, current U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan gets the nod as the best choice to make a run. Awesome choices both. A lot can happen between now and 2010, but right now they are deservedly at the top of the heap.

3. Where are the women? A great piece by Christian Schneider highlights the Wisconsin GOP’s lack of females in positions to run for top offices. As someone who worked for a great female Republican (2006 GOP Lt. Governor candidate Jean Hundertmark) it’s a fair question to ask.

4. Where are the young people? A lot of relative young’uns are in positions of authority in the Wisconsin GOP – now the party just needs more young people to get involved and play a role in getting more Republicans elected. The College Republicans and other young GOP groups will need to step up this year, because Presidential election-year grassroots campaigns don’t magically organize and execute by themselves.

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Grass Roots Organization, Messaging, Views on News, wispundits • April 2nd, 2008

Oh, what a night

by Chris Lato

For a spring election, which typically doesn’t do much to excite the voting population, this one had a whole lot of twists and turns.

One thing’s for sure: Gov. Jim Doyle can’t be happy about the results. Consider:

1. Doyle’s hand-picked Supreme Court justice, Louis Butler, loses in a squeaker to Michael Gableman – the first time a challenger has picked off a sitting justice in more than four decades. More on this race in a bit, but suffice it to say for now that Gableman’s win was in no small part a repudiation of the current high court’s left-leaning makeup and resulting decisions since Butler ascended to the high court.

2. Incumbent County Executive Scott Walker sails to victory against state Sen. Lena Taylor. Taylor has said she never spoke with Gov. Doyle about running for County Exec, but it’s hard to buy the notion that the governor never took more than a passing interest in knocking off Walker, an all-but-certain GOP candidate for governor in 2010. Walker is now positioned to make that run with the lessons of his ’06 bid to build on and the momentum from Tuesday’s decisive win to propel him forward.

3. Voters got out their pitchforks and torches and took down the governor’s ‘Frankenstein veto’ power by an overwhelming margin (as some of us predicted). There was strong bipartisan support for this constitutional amendment in the Legislature, due in part to what were viewed as abuses of the veto authority by the Doyle administration.

There were other big decisions, too. In Milwaukee, Ald. Michael McGee Junior’s constituents finally realized that having their representative locked in a jail cell is not exactly serving their interests well. McGee was defeated, in a bit of a surprise to some, to Milele Coggs, a member of a locally-known and politically-connected family. It feels a bit like the end of an era for the McGees, and the current Alderman hasn’t even gone to trial yet.
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Promotions, Q & A, public relations • March 31st, 2008

Stepping into the lion’s den

by Chris Lato

Fellow Wispundit Karl Robe tipped me off to a fascinating interview segment on WISN-AM’s morning program today with state Sen. Lena Taylor, who’s looking to unseat incumbent Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker in tomorrow’s election.

It’s painful but worth a listen. (Scroll down to hour two, part two – it aired today). Things go downhill quickly due to a confrontational host who tries to step on Taylor’s answers, and Taylor swinging away, basically accusing the host of reading off the Walker campaign’s talking points.

Who thought this was a good idea? Obviously Taylor’s campaign was approached to appear on the program in the interests of providing equal time to both candidates. In general, WISN listeners are not part of Sen. Taylor’s support base, to put it charitably.

But most importantly, I took nothing away from the interview. What is the point of Lena Taylor running for this office? What does she want to do? What is her vision for Milwaukee County? I have no idea. Sen. Taylor had a prime opportunity to potentially connect with a group that normally wouldn’t be in her camp, and instead she took the bait and went rabid by trying to out-yell the host. If that was a voter’s first impression of Lena Taylor…not good.

I’m of the mindset that one should rarely, if ever, turn down media opportunities. Just about any mainstream media opportunity presents a potentially positive and even valuable outcome for a campaign…IF you are properly prepared for the appearance. If I was Sen. Taylor’s campaign advisor, I definitely would have told her to appear on WISN. And I would have advised her to handle herself in the exact opposite fashion, and extensively rehearsed her for that appearance.

Would she have listened? I don’t know, as I don’t know Sen. Taylor and how well she might have responded to media coaching. I can say that if she does pay for a media coach, that coach ought to refund her money.

Back in the day, I used to book media appearances for a top Wisconsin Republican who never looked forward to appearing on Wisconsin Public Radio programs, saying it was akin to stepping into the lion’s den. However, he recognized the value of taking on one’s ‘enemies’ head-on, not shying away from the challenge of confrontational callers who disagree vehemently with you.

Be disciplined, on-message, assertive when you need to be, clear-headed, and don’t let anyone bait you into losing your cool. If you are well-prepared in advance and feel secure in your answers, you should be able to handle yourself and get out of the lion’s den in one piece.

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