Some actual election analysis

Last night I got you the basic results from Tuesday's elections; I want to think out loud a little bit today as well as do some analysis of the numbers, if you'll bear with me.

I'll start with the easy one: Scott Walker was re-elected as Milwaukee County Executive. You know, I was never crazy about David Riemer: He's a lackluster technocrat and much more of a "manager" than a leader. This was, in fact, his first electoral battle, if I'm remembering right. But Riemer at least was on the right side of the line--not too far on that side, but the right side nonetheless.

Scott Walker, on the other hand, is one of them tax-cuts-or-die, balance-the-budget-on-the-backs-of-the-poor conservatives. He was a Republican mover and shaker in the state assembly before a scandal left the top job open in Wisconsin's biggest and (nearly) most Democratic county. He's left a trail of laid-off parks workers, closed public pools and parks, emaciated health services, and expensive bus rides (if the lines aren't shut down) in his wake.

One county supervisor described his hack tactics: "Across-the-board cuts are the lazy man's approach to budgeting and do not and will not position an organization to take advantage of future opportunities." Milwaukee's alternative weekly, when endorsing Riemer, wrote, "The main difference between the two candidates--and it is a huge difference--is that David Riemer actually has a plan he's sharing with the voters. Incumbent Scott Walker doesn't even pretend to offer solutions for reducing the property tax. All we know is what his record has been in the past two years, and that's troublesome enough for us not to trust him."

In short, Walker has no respect for municipal workers or residents who rely on county services to live a tolerable life, and wants only one thing--cuts. Period. Trouble is, he's young and photogenic; he's also the biggest threat the Republicans have to current Jim Doyle. I would hate to see the Walker reign of terror go statewide.

On the other hand, in a rare example of someone I endorsed actually winning, Joan Kessler, who unseated a sitting appeals court judge. Much like the mayor's race, we had to candidates who were basically decent folk. But Charles Schudson had some issues with case backlogs--some people figure because he's also got a pretty lucrative speaking career as an expert on the criminal repercussions of child sex-abuse (he's quite proud that he went on "Oprah" once to promote his book. But as the local weekly pointed out that "since two-thirds of the cases before the court deal with criminal cases, that makes it all the more likely that many of the plaintiffs (some innocent) are in jail pending their appeal. This is simply an unacceptable way for the judicial system to act." I concur.

Plus, I've known Kessler for a while now, as she was a Dean supporter from way back, and I'm glad to see someone's making hay from that whole thing.

I have to start prepping for the Meetup tonight, but if all goes according to plan (and why wouldn't it?) I'll do a bit of work on the mayor's race tonight.