Reflections on the 2006 campaign

Well as anyone who knows me will tell you I am disappointed and a little stunned by the results of the 2006 elections. Yes, I realized there was an anti-Republican sentiment out there. It started out being an anti-incumbent movement and somehow turned to Anti-GOP. There's lots of reasons for that, we could debate them all day long and not agree 100%. But, that's how politics works. When things in the country or state are not going well, the public generally wants a change in leadership. If they new Democrat majorities in Congress and the State Senate do not provide the results the public thinks they should, the pendulum will swing back.

I was disappointed that the media stopped focusing on the issues in Third District Congressional race (of which there are plenty) and in the end only focused on whether or not candidate Paul R. Nelson was wrong to air his TV ad. I wish he would have chosen his words better in the ad so the discussion could have focused on Congressman Kind's record (or lack of it) and not on the ad itself. Sigh.

Also, I was not prepared for the tsunami (as my good friend Sen. Dale Schultz described it) that swept out of office many excellent elected officials. I think everyone agrees that when State Treasurer Jack Voight, who served the state with distinction, was an innocent victim of the voters wrath, then there was more going on than just looking at who should be in office!

Several other close friends I will miss including Sen. Ron Brown, Sen. Dave Zien, Rep. Rob Kreibich, and Rep. Steve Freese. Mark Green is a good man that would have made an excellent Governor! I have known him personally for some time now and was looking forward to working with him. I hope they all stay active and continue to fight for the issues I know they feel closely about.

A couple pleasant things happened on Election Day, including the election of J.B. Van Hollen as Attorney General. If you know me, you know that as a former Police Chief this race mattered greatly to me and therefore I was involved in JB's campaign. I also got to know and respect 29th Assembly Rep-elect John Murtha during the campaign. He was working hard and deserved to win the seat! I'm thrilled that these two fine men were elected!!

So, we will need to take a few days to reflect on what happened and why. We already had some good meetings on that this past Saturday in the Dells. But then we need to get back to work speaking up and fighting for the values we believe in. After all, it's less than 2 years until the next election!

-Dennis.