by Tony Palmeri
April 18, 2001
(Oshkosh). The April 2001 elections in Winnebago County featured the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce's most concerted effort yet to get Chamber-friendly candidates in office. As Dan Rylance reported for Commentary on April 3, financial disclosure forms released before the elections revealed that the Chamber PAC had spent over $2,000 in support of its candidates by the March filing date. The full extent of Chamber expenditures on the elections won't be known until the final campaign disclosure forms are due later this year.
Not only did the Chamber manage to support candidates financially, but the organization was also able to get the Oshkosh Northwestern to endorse each of their candidates: Jon Dell'Antonia, Mark Harris, Bill Castle, and Frank Tower for council, as well as Charlene Lowe for County Executive. Theresa Theil for School Board was the only Chamber endorsed candidate that received any substantive criticism from the newspaper.
But for all the Chamber financial and press clout in this year's elections, what really did they win in the long run?:
*Dell'Antonia, Harris, and Castle were elected to the Coucil.
*Chamber endorsed Theil and Dennis McHugh were elected to the School Board.
These were certainly Chamber victories, though one has to wonder if the Chamber's money was wasted on them. Dell'Antonia and Harris, as incumbents with high name recognition and no major scandals following them, were probably going to win regardless of endorsements. The same is probably true for Bill Castle. Theil and McHugh were opposed only by a candidate who had officially withdrawn from the School Board race, so even there the Chamber influence was negligible.
Frank Tower was to the Chamber of Commerce in this year's election what Matt O'Malley was to NICE (Neighbors Involved in Community Environments) in 1999. In that year, NICE endorsed Jon Dell'Antonia, Kevin McGee, Mark Harris, and Matt O'Malley. Dell'Antonia and McGee, as incumbents, were almost assured reelection regardless of endorsements. Harris, with his Clintonian ability to be all things to all audiences, was helped by NICE but probably did not require their endorsement to win. Matt O'Malley, the youthful, brash newcomer talking about downtown and neighborhoods, really was the "NICE candidate" who benefited most from the endorsement. Indeed, O'Malley in his self-absorbed "farewell" speech at the April 10 Council meeting thanked NICE.
Tower was the Chamber's answer to O'Malley: young, only mild name-recognition, and as locked into the Chamber agenda as O'Malley was to NICE's. O'Malley had two things going for him that are necessarily absent in a Chamber candidate: an appeal to the UW Oshkosh student population and grassroots neighborhood activist support. O'Malley was also helped by the fact that he had run for the office once before.
O'Malley's 1999 candidacy had a kind of edge to it that is typical of grassroots campaigns. Tower's campaign, on the other hand, had the slick features that one associates with Chamber pamphlets: support of "influential" people in the community, avoidance of taking any controversial stands, and always be upbeat and positive in public.
There is still a chance that Tower could appeal the recount and win the election. Even so, it is not clear what mandate he (or any of the Chamber candidates for that matter) would bring to office with him. In 1999 voters clearly told the Council through the vote for O'Malley that they wanted some attention paid to neighborhoods and downtown. With this year's low-key race, lack of a grassroots group like CORD or NICE in the arena, and disappointing voter turnout, it's not clear what the voters are telling Dell'Antonia, Harris, and Castle.
It's even less clear what the voters are telling Shirley Mattox should she get the seat. Be the one vote for Smart Growth?
In the County Executive race, the Chamber gave only half-hearted support to challenger Charlene Lowe for much of the election season. Still, it was clear that the Chamber did not want another 4 years of Jane Van De Hey, yet thanks to the northern end of the County that's what they got.
The elections of April 2001 may be remembered not only for the Tower/Mattox recount, but for the way in which the voting population was able to resist a Chamber PAC onslaught and elect to office only those Chamber candidates that were for the most part already guaranteed to be elected anyway.
The Chamber frequently preaches fiscal conservatism and fiscal responsibility. When the final disclosure statements come out, it will be interesting to see if they upheld those principles in their attempt to buy the elections.