Brookfield7

All content, of both the original Brookfield7.com and this blog, is written from my point of view and is my opinion. I believe it to be accurate at the time it is written. ~ Kyle Prast, Brookfield resident since 1986

Friday, April 09, 2010

Run, Johnson, Neumann, Grothman, Kanavas, Leibham, RUN! Spare us from Leinenkugel

For the first time in a long time, Wisconsin's US Senate seat is there for the taking. All we need is a credible candidate. So where, oh where, is that candidate?

We have 2 in the running: Dave Westlake and Terrance Wall. Bless them for stepping out there but each has flaws: Westlake isn't doing fundraisers and Wall has a tax perception problem. (He is not delinquent in paying; he avoided paying state income taxes by using legal depreciation allowances.) Because Wall has run some good ads, he is better known than Westlake.

This week we learned that Dick Leinenkugel, Governor Doyle's Commerce Secretary, just announced he was throwing his hat in the ring...but as a Republican? The guy who went to Spain to buy the 2 choo-choo train engines from TALGO*, with no bids, is going to run on the more conservative side of the ticket? OH, PLEASE.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson has been rumored to be our winning candidate for months, however, I don't consider him my ideal or even acceptable candidate. Could we have counted on Tommy, the creator of Wisconsin's BadgerCare health insurance plan, to vote against its BIG Federal brother, ObamaCare? Could we count on him to vote to REPEAL and REPLACE ObamaCare?

Thompson could win we are told, he polls at 45% to Feingold's 33% but he is NOT the conservative candidate I would embrace. Shame on him for putting his desire to bask in the lime light of will he run ? above what is good for our state and nation.

So who do we have as possibilities?

There is Ron Johnson, a 55 year old Oshkosh business man, who according to the JSOnline article is, "...president and co-founder of PACUR, a [plastics] manufacturing company in Oshkosh. He described himself as a conservative with no prior political experience who is fed up with the 'loss of freedom' in the United States, including passage of health care reforms under President Barack Obama. He said he had resources to help fund a campaign if he gets in." (My emphasis)

If Mr. Johnson is indeed as described above, I could get behind him. Maybe you would like to contact him? I found this phone number on the internet for Pacur - (920) 236-2888.

Who else? My first thought is Mark Neumann. He certainly has name recognition. Although I am not wild about his somewhat supportive ethanol stance (in that it is good for Wisconsin's corn producing farmers) and some of his campaign tactics against Scott Walker, instead of beating up Scott Walker, how about him setting his sites on knocking out US Senator Russ Feingold?
I do appreciate his petition against ObamaCare, which is both a Federal and State government issue.

Mark Neumann could really play hero here and graciously bow out of the governors race to enter the US Senate race, for the good of the people of Wisconsin.

3 State Senators also come to mind: Senator Ted Kanavas - Brookfield, Senator Glenn Grothman - West Bend, and Senator Joseph Leibham* of Sheboygan. Of the 3, Grothman is better known to me because he is often interviewed on local radio talk shows. Glenn seems very comfortable speaking out for conservative issues.

Charlie Sykes, WTMJ's talk show host was again mentioned by Mark Belling, and I don't think Belling is just trying to get rid of his competition. Instead, I think it shows how dire our lack of a real candidate is.

I would really hate to have Republican and conservative Wisconsinites snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory again by not having a great contender in this race against Feingold. The US Senate seat is ripe for the picking.

PLEASE, could someone viable run?


*Mark Belling was talking about Wall, Westlake, and Leinenkugel yesterday. I had forgotten Leinenkugel was part of the Spain enteourage. Mark also mentioned the 3 State Senators and Sykes as possibilities (though I thought of Kanavas and Grothman for some time). If no one else steps forward, I will vote for Wall in the primary.

Links: Practically Speaking, Betterbrookfield, RandyMelchert, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, The Right View Wisconsin, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation

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6 Comments:

Anonymous MilwMike said...

I'm surprised you'd want to have a replacement for Sen. Feingold.
I find him to be extremely fiscally conservative. He voted against the unfunded war which is the main reason this country is in the financial mess it's in. He voted against the federal bail-outs. He voted against the TSA bureaucracy. I think if we could clone him and fill Congress with more like him, we just might find ourselves with a balanced budget and with tax cuts to boot.

7:39:00 PM  
Blogger KYLE PRAST said...

MilwMike, Obviously, we don't agree. But on a very simple fiscal issue, did you know Mr. Fiscal Conservative Feingold didn't vote for taking the earmarks and sweetheart deals out of ObamaCare? http://www.wisgop.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=rtJUJ4MNIqE&b=5778631&ct=8136283

6:55:00 AM  
Anonymous MilwMike said...

Kyle, he voted on an entire bill. He has fought earmarks all along since joining the Senate.
I do thank you for your thoughtful reply. Your and my fencing brings up something I've asked friends with views across the spectrum. If you recall, Jimmy Carter ran as an outsider. The "insiders" from both parties chewed him up. Let's say Ron Paul is our next President. Would/could anything get accomplished?

1:54:00 PM  
Blogger KYLE PRAST said...

The 2012 election might bring in an outsider...maybe from Tea Party movement? I hope it is NOT Ron Paul, who is great on fiscal but terrible on national security, in my opinion.

What I was referring to with "Fiscal" Feingold" is that he did NOT support eliminating the earmarks and sweetheart deals from ObamaCare in the amendment/reconciliation process.

It is easy to be a maverick and vote against your party when there is no chance of your view passing. It is quite another to vote against your party when it has a chance.

The vote was 54 to 43 to table McCain's amendment "To eliminate the sweetheart deals for Tennessee, Hawaii, Louisiana, Montana, Connecticut, and frontier States." http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00065#position

4:25:00 PM  
Anonymous MilwMike said...

Kyle,
I don't deny that technically you are correct. The McCain Amendment was a smokescreen to derail the Health Care Reform Bill so of course Feingold didn't support it. I stand by my belief that Feingold is very much a fiscal conservative.

9:55:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Feingold is NOT fiscally conservative. There is a lot to be said about claiming to be something you're not when the vote is no where near to being close. His true colors come out when the votes are close. That's when you find out where you really stand on the issues. Feingold has always shown himself to toe the Democrat Party line every single time. The Democrats toe the line AGAINST fiscal conservatism not towards it.

11:23:00 AM  

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