WI-8 CD: GOP eating their own

Owen at Boots and Sabers points us to this commentary from Kerry Thomas:

The impetus of this came from a “Forum in the Park” event held in St. Germain on August 23. Begun as an event to showcase Congressman Mark Green and his gubernatorial bid, the list of invited Republican speakers, candidates all, grew to include Assemblyman Dan Meyer, Attorney General candidate J.B. Van Hollen, Jean Hundertmark, candidate for Lt. Governor, and Assembly Speaker John Gard, who is now a candidate for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District.

Notably absent from the guest list was Assemblywoman Terri McCormick, who is also a candidate for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District. Remember, the Republican Party has an official policy of neutrality when it comes to fellow Republicans competing for elected office.

Since this event was officially sponsored by the Vilas County Republicans, of whom I am a member, and the Oneida County Republicans, I thought the omission of Terri McCormick was an oversight. I invited McCormick to come to this forum, where I assumed, since she is a congressional candidate, she would be given an opportunity to speak. I was wrong.

One by one, the speakers took to the microphone. One by one they took turns introducing themselves, and talking about Republican values. It was enlightening to hear two of the more well known speakers refer to their personal relationships with John Gard. No one bothered to say anything about Terri McCormick. She was denied any opportunity to address the assembled crowd. One of the Vilas County Republican officers said he felt “uncomfortable” allowing McCormick to speak. Slowly, the fog began to clear. [. . .]

A look at some campaign finance reports shows that during the week of the big budget debate in Madison, John Gard received two $5,000 donations from the National Beer Distributors in Arlington, Virginia. Coincidentally, the budget included provisions that will allow the distributors to sell directly to bars & restaurants, cutting out the retailers.

On May 5 Gard also received $5,000 from Georgia Pacific Employee Fund PAC in Washington, DC. As Assembly Speaker, Gard considered a bill to allow paper companies like GP to sue in a class action lawsuit against insurance companies for allegedly holding up claims for polluting (the facts proved otherwise). [. . .]

In another instance, on a crucial veto override vote of the Photo ID Bill earlier this year, Speaker Gard scheduled a vote, which had no chance of passage at that time, timed so that Terri McCormick, his probable opponent in the congressional campaign, would miss the opportunity to cast her vote for the override. She was en route to the Capitol, sick with the flu, having a colleague drive her, and missed the vote by less than an hour. If this was such a crucial vote, shouldn’t the Speaker have waited until all his colleagues were available to cast their votes? Why was it necessary to rush that vote, so that McCormick would have no chance to cast her vote? Was there a calculation that this missed vote could be used against McCormick in the campaign?

It looks to me like John Gard has blatantly abused his public office, breached the public trust placed in him. It’s a complete conflict of interest. It is the very sort of allegations that Gard’s former colleagues Scott Jensen, Micki Foti and Sherry Schultz are going to court about this Fall.

I've excerpted a lot more than I really wanted to, but the whole story is so fascinating, that at least one Republican--and maybe, maybe, a couple of elected Republicans, too--are starting to see the danger in allowing Gard (R-Peshtigo Sun Prairie) and his cronies unmitigated power.

For most of the last century, Wisconsin was championed for its clean government, its progressive and populist spirit. Now we have people in charge, from both parties, who are so concerned about entrenching their own power and enriching their campaign coffers, that the will of the people (not to mention the good of the people) gets lost in favor of grandstanding and showmanship.