Commentary for September 9, 2002: Primary Eve, Todd Berry, Gov Race, Mike McCabe, McGee on 100 Block, Media Rant, Photos, Predictions

Dear Friends of Commentary:

Here we are on Primary Eve. In a little more than 24 hours we will know who gets to thrill us, level with us, flatter us, lie to us, and/or bore us to tears for almost another 2 months.

This week's Commentary guest is the President of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance Todd Berry. The Alliance maintains a website at http://www.wistax.org/ . A good summary of Todd Berry's views on taxation can be found in the supplemental statement he wrote as a member of the Kettl Commission.

The hottest statewide race tomorrow is of course the Democratic primary for governor. The Journal Sentinel presented an okay (yes, just okay) summary of the major candidates' views today. Meanwhile the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign recently put together some data on special interest contributions to the major canidates of all parties. Looks like McCallum v. the Dems is going to be construction and manufacturing v. lawyers and unions. Wonderful.

Here's a photo from Mike McCabe's recent appearance on Commentary.

Some other goodies:

On city issues UW Oshkosh Professor of Economics and former member of the Oshkosh Common Council Kevin McGee has a way of, how do you say, "cutting through the crap." He wrote an excellent letter in the Oshkosh Northwestern recently debunking the Oshkosh 100 block development. I've been trying to debunk that turkey for almost 2 years now but could never state the case as clearly as McGee. Unfortunately, Oshkosh municipal government provides oodles and oodles of debunking opportunities, so perhaps I can outdo Kevin someday (:-).

My September "media rant" for the Valley Scene announces an event that I hope all of you will consider participating in if you are close enough to UW Oshkosh.

Some Commentary photos:
*The Future First Family of Wisconsin
*Bill Lennon in the Commentary Studio
*Bill Lennon with Jim and me

Finally, at the risk of making a complete fool of myself (hey, what else is new!), here are my primary predictions:

*Winnebago County DA: Paulus 35%, Lennon 33%, Jelinski 32%
*Democratic Gov Primary: Doyle 34%, Barrett 33%, Falk 33%
*Republican Gov Primary: McCallum 70%, Lorge 29%, Pobuda 1%
*53rd Assembly District Republican Primary: Owens 40%, Dinkel 35%, Navis 25%
*Libertarian and Green: Ed Thompson and Jim Young fail to get 6% necessary for public financing

Best,

-Tony