October
2005
Dwyer’s Republican Credentials
For years, Waukesha County Board Chairman has been a Republican. When I spoke with him a few years he was busy plotting with some of his other Republican county official buddies.
Now the race for Waukesha County Executive has turned on an odd manufactured accusation — Dwyer isn’t a Republican. Since when?
I’ve talked with Jim. He was a Republican then and he’s a Republican now. He’s got pictures of himself and President George Bush on his website. Next to that is a pic of Dwyer and former Governor Tommy Thompson.
Now personally I could care less whether it’s Republican Jim Dwyer or Republican “Cocaine Dave” Vrakas. Either will probably be about the same as far as intergovernmental relations with Milwaukee County. As a blogger, I’ll certainly have more fun with “Cocaine Dan” than Chairman Dwyer, but it’s not going to affect me or most of my friends in the least.
But what does matter is this manufactured “truth” that Dwyer isn’t a Republican. Why hasn’t the Journal-Sentinal called “Cocaine Dan” Vrakas and his cabal of cronies out on this lie?
Talk about dropping the ball, what would Edward R Murrow say about this?
Jim McGuigan
Watchdogging Wisconsin
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You’re talking circles around yourself here buddy. Jim Dwyer is absolutely NOT a Republican, a member of the Republican Party. In fact, Dwyer prides himself in being non-partisan. He even attacked Vrakas for being a Republican running in a non-partisan election. On the other hand, Dan Vrakas IS a Republican, and has the support of the Republican Party. The JS hasn’t “called anybody out on this” because you are simply wrong.
I believe what you are trying to say is that Dwyer is a Conservative. However, this is definitely not the case. Dwyer is a moderate at best as seen by his support for light rail and endorcement by WEAC and the Governor. He is trying to make himself look conservative because he is running in a heavily conservative county.
Just because one takes pictures with conservatives doesn’t make him a conservative. I can provide you pictures of Teddy Kennedy standing with President Bush to refute that argument if you want. Dwyer’s actions speak for themself.
Try doing a little research next time. Edward R Murrow would probably know the difference between a Republican and a Conservative.
You’re mistaken. I know Dwyer. I haven’t talked to him in a few years, but at that time he was a Republican. And yes, I know that “Cocaine Dan” is a Republican also.
He never supported light rail. That’s a lie. Dwyer supported allowing a regional transportation plan to be submitted which had some recommendations including light rail. That doesn’t mean he likes light rail. It doesn’t mean he supports light rail. It means that the committee that studied transportation came up with a plan that included the further study of light rail.
As for the differences between conservatives and republicans, the differences have faded. Murrow would know that someone who calls themselves a conservative in present day is a republican. Sorry to break it to you, but if you believe yourself to be a conservative and you don’t buy into todays standards for a republican, they would call you a liberal.
“I’ve talked with Jim. He was a Republican then and he’s a Republican now.”
This was your statement, I was just correcting it.
“…which had some recommendations including light rail.”
The point is that Waukesha County clearly has no interest in light rail. Dwyer continually attempted to force it down the throat of his constituents. It wasn’t until Dan Finely vetoed this study that it was put to rest.
“As for the differences between conservatives and republicans, the differences have faded.”
Being a conservative just means that you hold a certain set of principles. A Republican is simply one who belongs to the Republican Party. There is a clear distinction between the two. Yes, typically Republicans are conservative but that does not mean the terms are synonymous. Any way you look at it Dwyer is not conservative and not a Republican. This is particularly obvious by the fact that you, a liberal, are adamantly supporting him.
Again, your premise is flawed.
The recommendations did not include any light rail for Waukesha and, shock, shock, they wouldn’t have had to pay for Milwaukee light rail if the study, had it been completed, recommended it.
And again, and our dear readers should notice a pattern here, conservatives don’t know how to read. My original post said I didn’t care who won. As far as Milwaukee county is concerned, I think “Cocaine Dan” will be much more entertaining to watch if he wins. If I had to pick someone that I got to hand pick, I would pick “Cocaine Dan” just because he will be much more fun to write about.
How can you imply that A) the study did not recommend any light rail for Waukesha and B) the study wasn’t completed? These statements contradict each other.
Nobody in Waukesha is naive enough to believe that Milwaukee would bear all the costs for a light rail system to Waukesha County. The only time Milwaukee wants “regional cooperation” is when they want the suburbs to pay for something. Give me a break!
I’m glad I could clairify the difference between conservatives and Republicans for you and show you that Dwyer doesn’t have “Republican Credentials.” Finally, your dear readers are intelligent enough to notice that while you don’t officially endorce any candadate you are clearly favorable to “Chairman Dwyer” verses “Cocaine Dan.” Fortunately nearly 7 of 10 voters opted for a true conservative in Dan Vrakas.
It seems the nuance was wasted so I’ll explain my difference.
I knew “Cocaine Dan” was probably going to win but I’ll once again point out that I don’t care and didn’t care who won. I live in Milwaukee County and could care less what happens over the Mason-Dixon line. I didn’t create that imaginary line — it was Republicans (you like to call them conservatives) who set up the change. But here’s the difference:
Chairman Dwyer has actually done some of the real work of governing and would have the experience to run the county on day one. But the big advantage for me of Waukesha County electing “Cocaine Dan” is that he will be so much more fun to write about.
“Cocaine Dan” is a charicature of a politician. A rowdy coke snorting troublemaker who decided to turn his energies to politics and is now embraced by a solid 66% of an entire county. This is just rich.
But just wait… those same policies of borrow and spend will destroy your county infrastructure just as they are destroying Milwaukee County with Scott Walker.
The electorate is totally disengaged from whether a government has financial stability or whether the people they’ve elected are selling them up the river and dragging their kids with them.
So I’ll make a projection here. I’ll guess it will take 6 years of “Cocaine Dan” before you start seeing the cracks in the financial foundation of Waukesha County. There’s only so many years you can borrow and spend before those crack are apparent in local government. If “Cocaine Dan” is anything like our county exec here, he’ll try to bail out before those cracks are apparent. Maybe in another four years he’ll be trying to get out of the County Exec hot seat by running against Jim Doyle too.
“… over the Mason-Dixon line. I didn’t create that imaginary line—it was Republicans who set up the change.â€
What!?! So you’re saying the evil Republicans divided the once united Milwaukesha into two distinct counties? Wow, to think I never knew!
When did Dan Vrakas ever advocate “policies of borrow and spend?†I know you like to talk about Scott Walker but the subject here has nothing to do with him or Milwaukee County. Vrakas has advocated TABOR which would have limited growth of the budget to just over 2%, INCLUDING THE DEBT SERVICE LEVY. On the other hand Governor Doyle passed a hollow “tax freeze†that allowed municipalities like the City of Waukesha increase the debt service levy by 17.3%. Tell me who is engaging in policies of borrow and spend.
Waukesha County is not in danger of the financial meltdown seen in Milwaukee County because we continually elect strong conservative leaders like Finley and Vrakas. Milwaukee wasn’t in trouble until Ament’s pension scandal took place. Now they’re still paying for it, and will for years to come.
First, I never said the Counties were divided by Republicans. Counties were originally divided in our state so County Board members were within a one day horse ride of the Courthouse. Your hysterical non-factual indignation has been noted.
Cocaine Dan advocated borrow and spend policies when he advocated TABOR. TABOR is a big government approach to local problems. TABOR ignores local needs and sends a message that big state government is smarter and knows how better to run local government than the people who are closest to the problems (local officials).
Cocaine Dan is also part of the neo-Con movement that is willing to sell our children down the river for a tax break now. Like the Popeye character Wimpy, they’ll gladly pay tomorrow for that hamburger today. If Vrakas or the other neo-Cons were truly conservative, they would advocated cutting services to pay for their tax cuts. Instead, you’ll see in Waukesha what we’ve seen with Scott Walker in Milwaukee — extensive borrowing for todays expenses with promises of repayment after Walker has left office.
As for Doyle’s freeze, it seems to me like he’s frozen taxes at the state level by using some of the GOP tactics. It seems that most of the GOP shills out there are outraged that they didn’t think to do some of the things he did. What Doyle has done can be summed up in a 30 second commercial and in politics these days sound bites are king.
As for Milwaukee Countys current fiscal mess, you can no longer blame Ament. It has been five years since changes were made to the pension plan — much longer than was needed to make Milwaukee financially sound.
You have to ask yourself how government can continue to run without ever raising taxes to pay for things like heating costs which rose 27% last year and are projected to rise as high as 71% this year. How can a government continue to provide the same level of services with the same revenues if inflation continues to rise, insurance costs continue to rise, and employee salaries continue to rise?
I’m also surprised that you credit Finley for Waukesha County fiscal stability yet pretend that County Board Chairman Jim Dwyer had nothing to do with it. What crazed alternate reality does that come from?