Commentary Update for August 26, 2002: Bill Lorge, Lori Walters-Kramer, DA Debate, EAA Letters, Nusbaum Vetoes English Only Resolution

Dear Friends of Commentary:

This week's Commentary guest is none other than Republican candidate for governor Bill "Elvis" Lorge. Mr. Lorge is a maverick Republican who served in the legislature for 10 years. He was defeated in a 1998 Republican primary that saw heavy support for his opponent from Scott Jensen and then Governor Tommy Thompson.

• What did Lorge do to offend Jensen and Thompson? One thing was the fact that Lorge was the only Republican in the Assembly to oppose the Exxon mine up in Crandon. Lorge even received a "Profile in Courage" award from the Conservation Congress for his opposition to the mine.
• But a bigger reason for Lorge drawing the ire of Scooter and Tommy was the fact that Lorge was calling for the abolishment of the partisan caucuses more than 10 years ago, long before the current scandals in Madison. Since we now know that the Republican and Democratic bosses in the legislature got and maintained their power at least in part due to their exploitation of the caucuses, we can see how an attempt to eliminate them would draw the ire of two the biggest caucus beneficiaries.
• Lorge received an "endorsement" of sorts from Democratic National Committee Chair, soft money guru Terry McCauliffe: "In fact, if I were a Wisconsin Republican, I'd support Scott McCallum's primary opponent, Bill Lorge. I'd rather have the state run by a guy who impersonates Elvis than someone who's impersonating a governor."
• Lorge was decent enough to send out a press release mentioning his appearance on Commentary. Some pictures of Bill as Elvis can be found on his website.

Some Commentary website goodies:

*I started teaching at UW Oshkosh in September of 1989. In that first semester in my first class ("Speech Criticism") was a student named Lori Walters. Lori went and earned a Master's at Central Michigan University and came back to teach at UW Oshkosh for a few years. She then went back to school and earned her Ph.D from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Dr. Lori Walters-Kramer is now an Assistant Professor of Communication at the State University of New York in Plattsburgh. This year she was chosen to deliver the Convocation Address to incoming students, and she spoke about being an engaged citizen.

*Last Friday I had all my wisdom teeth yanked. A few days before that I made the mistake of watching an American Movie Channel broadcast of "The Marathon Man" with Sir Laurence as the sadistic dentist. The good news is that from now on whenever anyone asks me my opinion about last week's "debate" between the candidates for Winnebago County District Attorney, I can say quite candidly that "it was a little like having your wisdom teeth pulled." Stew Rieckman, brigadier general in the Oshkosh Northwestern Editorial Brigade, said in his column yesterday that Democrat Brad Priebe may have won the debate even though he wasn't in it. Meanwhile, Jelinski supporter Cheryl Hentz responded to a nasty letter about him that appeared in the Northwestern.

*In the last update I included a note Harmon Seaver sent in response to Lee Baxandall's musings on EAA. Oshkosh Common Councilor Paul Esslinger took exception to Seaver's remarks. Seaver responded, then Jody Behnke took exception to THAT response. Seaver then responded to her. Anyone else want to join this fray?

*Finally, Brown County Executive Nancy Nusbaum vetoed the County Board's "English Only" resolution last week. Nusbaum's veto was overridden by the County Board, but I think she displayed some real political courage with her action--a rarity in the Fox Valley. Should Nusbaum run for reelection, she will be facing some very tough competition in the person of former state legislator Carol Kelso. As such the easiest thing for Nusbaum to do would have been to go along with the resolution or even endorse it.

All the best,

-Tony