“The public’s disdain for Congress is justified”

So writes James Burkee, professor at Concordia University and candidate for the Republican nomination to the House of Representatives in Wisconsin’s Fifth District, in the latest Small Business Times.

His charge against Jim Sensenbrenner,

A judge would not rule on a case involving a pharmaceutical company he owned stock in. So why would a congressman vote for legislation that positively affected the value of stocks he owned in pharmaceutical companies - or defense contractors?

Even if it’s not corrupt, it sure looks bad.

A similar problem exists with the impact of special interest money. Many members of Congress, including Mr. Sensenbrenner, take millions of dollars from special interests, then vote for legislation that positively affects the very interests that fund their campaigns (the majority of his campaign contributions come from special interests). Or they accept gifts, like the hundreds of thousands of dollars in free travel given Congressman Sensenbrenner, from organizations looking to benefit from Congressional legislation.

It may not be illegal, but it sure looks bad.

Burkee, on the other hand, has promised that he will,

never vote for irresponsible deficit spending, will reject lobbyist gifts and special interest money in his campaign and in office, and will limit himself to three terms.

Lobbyists and term limits

Jim Burkee, a Republican candidate for Wisconsin’s fifth congressional district, writes at his MequonNOW blog, Responsibility Now, and raises some questions that need consideration,

Thus was born the K Street Project - Tom DeLay’s decade-long effort make Republicans the primary beneficiaries of lobbyist cash (Washington’s K Street is home to many of its most powerful lobbyists). In one notorious example, first reported in Washington Monthly, Tom DeLay and Haley Barbour (Chairman of the Republican National Committee) met with the CEOs of several large American corporations. DeLay made clear to the executives - mostly Republicans - that “they were expected to purge their Washington offices of Democrats and replace them with Republicans.” The offended executives promptly walked out. But Tom DeLay’s project was ultimately successful.It also killed the Republican Revolution.

In 2001, when George W. Bush cemented Republican control of Washington, there were just over 17,000 registered lobbyists in Washington. By 2007, when Republicans lost the House and Senate, there were 37,000. Since 1998, according to the Center for Public Integrity, lobbyists spent $13 billion to influence members of Congress. Lobbyist influence extended even further: Half of all retiring Members of Congress now go into lobbying, where they often collect large six and seven-figure salaries.

I can understand where Mr. Burkee is coming from. When we hear how much lobbies give to our politicians and how that money seems to influence their decisions, it’s easy to get frustrated.

But are more regulations on campaign finances required? Are term limits required? With the high cost of campaigning, aren’t we headed toward a government by elite rich people because only they can run for office?

And remember, not all lobbyists are “evil.” God help me, I’m quoting Hillary Clinton here,

“A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans,” the New York senator said in defense of her decision to accept campaign contributions from lobbyists. “They represent nurses, they represent social workers, yes, they represent corporations that employ a lot of people.”

Do we punish all because some are evil?

That seems to be Mr. Burkee’s cure.

I’m just not sure it’s the right one.

More left-of-center reaction

UPDATE: 4-8-08 - The discussion in the comments contends I did not read their posts correctly. So be it. My apologies to them.)

As steveegg suggests, get some popcorn.

The people are stupid. Be sure to read those comments. Oh, yeah, did I mention the people are stupid?

Half of the state belongs to the WMC.

Brain Fraley has more, including the two above.

I guess WEAC’s and Greater Wisconsin’s money wasn’t enough. The last link is truly the pot calling the kettle black coming from xoff.

Republicans are ill-behaved, at best. Yeah like that Walker and Hitler post. Those conservatives sure do slime people. Oh, and they are liars.

Some apparently haven’t seen the out state vote, because they blame everything on talk radio.

There are over 400,000 bad people in Wisconsin.

Via Dad29, quoting Mordecai Lee, there are over 400,000 racists in Wisconsin.

The Left actually won.

Lest you think everyone is whining.

Jim Burkee goes negative!

Via e-mail from Jim Burkee (not posted at the web site),

Washington is broken, and we know it by looking at our own congressman’s record on big government spending. Over Christmas, Congressman Sensenbrenner voted for a massive, $555 billion, 3,400 page spending package filled with earmarks, including $213,000 for olive fruit fly research in France.

Other pork projects funded in the bill that Congressman Sensenbrenner supported were

. $113,000 for rodent control in Alaska,
. $200,000 for a Hunting and Fishing Museum in Pennsylvania,
. $150,000 for a Louis Armstrong Museum in New York,
. $700,000 for a bike trail in Minnesota,
. $1,000,000 for river walk in Massachusetts,
. $200,000 for a post office museum in downtown Las Vegas,
. And $1,000,000 for an earmark requested by a House member who has been indicted on federal charges of racketeering, money-laundering, and soliciting bribes.

He also voted for a temporary tax fix that instantly added $50 billion to our national deficit.

This stuff isn’t just frustrating; Sensenbrenner’s out-of-control spending is wrong.

What? You don’t think that’s negative? The MSM does.

Walz ends campaign

Jeff Walz, half of the combo hoping to unseat James Sensenbrenner in Wisconsin’s Fifth Congressional District, dropped out the race, citing health and work responsibilities.

In a press release dated Dec. 28, the campaign noted,

Citing recent health problems and his desire to serve the best interests of his employer, Concordia University in Mequon, Wis., Walz noted in an open letter to supporters that he “simply cannot continue to make the serious commitment necessary to defeat Congressman Sensenbrenner or give the voters the campaign they deserve.”

Walz would not elaborate on the details of health concerns but noted that his decision to drop out was a “complex one that should not distract people from the importance of this cause.” Walz encouraged supporters to work for candidates who are willing to uphold the same cause.

Jim Burkee, the other half, in a press release also dated Dec. 28, promised to continue the campaign against Sensenbrenner.

Despite the sudden departure of co-candidate Democrat Jeff Walz from his joint congressional campaign with Republican Jim Burkee, Burkee has announced that he will continue his campaign to unseat 15-term Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., citing the importance of returning fiscal responsibility and moral leadership to Washington.

In a paragraph that sounded a little negative, Burkee went on to say,

“Republicans are tired of leaders who can’t and won’t stand up for conservatism, and we have a new generation of Americans that want to grow up with the same opportunities as their grandparents, but worry about fiscal irresponsibility of politicians who simply don’t care,” said Burkee. “We need this campaign.”

Walz, too, engaged in some negative campaigning in bowing out,

We live in a great country that is being hijacked by irresponsibility and opportunists, people who know what’s right but instead do what’s politically expedient.

In a separate statement on Walz’s withdrawal, Burkee pointed out,

I was disappointed to hear that Jeff would drop out. Jeff’s withdrawal is a loss for the district during this campaign season.

The loss of Walz robs the campaign of that novel aspect of two friends running for an office together. This was what caught the media’s attention the last four months. Burkee by himself becomes much less newsworthy.

One thing caught my eye at the end of Burkee’s statement,

Over the next several months, I will work hard to win the support of not just conservatives who are disheartened by big government leadership, but also the many moderates and even Democrats who are looking for change and want a viable alternative to Congressman Sensenbrenner. And I ask for your prayers and support as I continue a campaign for moral leadership and fiscal responsibility in Washington.

It sounds like his focus will be on disgruntled Republicans, moderates and Democrats. No Democrat has yet announced for the seat.

The new campaign site is JimBurkee.com. The old website now simply points to Jeff Walz’s withdrawal.

UPDATE: More coverage can be found at Pundit Nation, Sensenbrenner Watch and the Journal Sentinel’s All Politics Watch.

FEC okays fundraising plan

From the Waukesha Freeman,

‘‘The commission concludes that the Burkee Committee and the Walz Committee may engage in joint campaign and fundraising activities as proposed,’’ said the advisory opinion, which was unanimously approved by the FEC.

The plan by the candidates Jim Burkee (R) and Jeff Walz (D) proposed that,

they wanted to form a joint fundraising committee, which would serve as a ‘‘clearinghouse’’ for contributions. Those contributions would be equally divided between the two candidates’ campaigns, although donors could contribute to only one candidate if they choose. The candidates also said they want to split the cost of joint campaign and fundraising activities equally, including personnel expenses. Solo campaigning by one of the candidates, however, would be funded solely by that candidate’s campaign.

The Freeman article also stated that,

Messages left with the campaign office of the two candidates were not immediately returned Thursday. Sensenbrenner’s office declined to comment.

One thing that’s got to frustrate the two candidates; every article I’ve seen about them has Sensenbrenner’s picture and not theirs.

Burkee and Walz sign the pact

Yes, I know you were waiting with baited breath.

Jim Burkee and Jeff Walz, Republican and Democratic candidates for the WI-5 seat currently held by long-time congressman James Sensenbrenner, signed their “Pact with the People” at Concordia University Tuesday (press release, photos and report from FOX News).

Mr. Sensenbrenner was invited to attend (presumably they sent a letter to Sensenbrenner and did not depend on one of his staff reading it on their web site), but he must have had some other pressing business. One photo shows the pair signing the pact with a conspicuous empty chair behind Mr. Sensenbrenner’s name plate.

Mr. Sensenbrenner’s office would not talk with FOX News, probably trying to ignore the pair in the hopes they will fade away (and not, as one writes, that he is afraid of them. This is a guy who got 60+% in a year when Pubbies went down the tubes).

The dude from 90.7 was there as he was at the kickoff. Other media seemed to be there also. The turnout appeared to be about as large as the kickoff.

James Wigderson had some comments on the race in Thursday’s Freeman. Here’s a good quote,

So when Walz and Burkee make all these promises about running nice-nice campaigns, it’s because there is nothing at stake for them. There is no chance either one of them is going to win.

And a question about the pact (well, there’s several, but they’ll have to wait): What is the difference between negative ads and personal attack ads? Or is one further explaining the other?

Burkee and Walz weekly update

Or so it seems anyway.

Tomorrow the pair running for Congress will sign their “Pact A Pact with the People,” at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin.

The Pact identifies principles that the candidates will adhere to in Washington and the election leading up to it: signers of the Pact agree to vote against deficit spending during times of economic growth; they will not serve more than three consecutive terms in the House; and they will refuse gifts from lobbyists and other organizations, including meals, travel, and lodging.

And in the campaign, the Pact signatories must reject special interest and PAC money, must pledge an honest, issue-oriented campaign free of negative ads and personal attacks, and must agree to debate every day after the primary that they are in the district.

I don’t even agree with all those things, so I doubt Mr. Sensenbrenner does. But more on that in another post.

They also have an open letter to Mr. Sensenbrenner inviting him to the signing ceremony.

This is the pact in its entirety.

The pair also have a channel on Youtube. The only videos loaded thus far are coverages of their kickoff raly by Fox6 and CBS58.

An e-mail from the campaigns states that FOX News will be recording the event and it will be carried on Brit Hume’s Special Edition Tuesday night.

A Burkee and Walz Compendium

This is probably more information than you wanted to know.

Surprise! I’m not the only one posting about this race. Certainly I’ve written the most, but I’m not the only one.

The Chief has two posts, on successive days. Josh Schroeder noted Owen’s op-ed and adds a tidbit of his own; Sensenbrenner has updated his web site. Kevin Buckley gives us his thoughts and leads us to Race-Tracker for WI-05 and Sensenbrenner’s article in Congresspedia. Congresspedia also has stubs of articles on Burkee and Walz. Ken Mobile posted previously on the race also.

News items can be found at the GMToday.com site (Conley Publishing–The Freeman and others), and Channel 3000, WISC-TV in Madison. From Channel 3000,

The men kicked off their effort on Sunday in an appearance before about 100 friends and supporters at the Cedarburg American Legion post.

I think it was closer to 80 and that included media. The Conley article linked to above said the crowd was 65. The Journal Sentinel also said the crowd numbered a hundred in their coverage.

Here are photos from the campaign kickoff by the campaign. I’m pretty sure I’m not in any of them.

Here’s a write-up from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Southern Wisconsin District site.

Previous to becoming candidates, the two men had a piece on The Hill. They also had an op-ed that occured in several places. And according to a Wisconsin State Journal article, they split on whom to support in the 2004 election. Here’s another op-ed. The pair also wrote separately (Walz’s piece; Burkee’s) on the Iraq War for the Journal Sentinel.

There you have it. Feel free to add more in the comments, if I’ve missed something.

Burkee & Walz campaign kickoff.

I’m impressed with their campaign skills thus far, at least. They tell everyone they’re going to campaign, have a campaign kickoff, telling every one in the process that they are going to have a pact in black and white that they will sign and at the end of the ceremonies pass out invitations to the pact-signing. Lots of free publicity. I suspect the debates will also be covered whether Sensenbrenner is there or not. More free publicity. I would guess they would use each debate to cover one subject thus getting more free press.

Anyway, I attended the kickoff in Cedarburg.

First of all, I had to get there. Where was everyone going? Right, Brewers baseball, Irish Fest, etc. (?)

About 70 people braved the rain to attend. Because of the weather, all activities were moved inside.

Burkee and Walz tag-teamed in speaking, each taking about 5 or 6 minute “turns.” Interestingly enough, Walz, the Democrat, criticized Democrats and Burkee, the Republican, criticized Republicans.

Media were there so I’m sure there will be more on the local TV sites as well as the Burkee & Walz campaign site.

Another interesting tidbit. Whenever I publish something on the candidates, I get a hit from Google mail. Someone have a Goggle Alert set, perhaps?

Hey, I’m not complaining. Traffic is traffic.

More later when I get time.

“What happened to my Republican Party?”

That’s what Jim Burkee, political professor Associate Professor of History (Walz teaches Political Science) at Concordia University and Republican candidate for Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional district, asks in this morning’s Waukesha Freeman.

Burkee uses as the basis of his op-ed the Contract with America the Republicans made in 1994.

It’s hard to argue against anything he said. I’d like to look at this last paragraph, though.

We’re not the party of big government, we’re the party of big ideas. It isn’t too late to reclaim Washington from irresponsible politicians, and it isn’t too late to reclaim the GOP from big-government Republicans.

Since Burkee is running against Sensenbrenner, I wonder, is Sensenbrenner one of the irresponsible politicians or a big-government Republican? As the Spring City Chronicle puts it,

A man who wonders where “his” Republican Party went is running against the Congressman who embodies the Republican Party he misses.

Although I’m sure the left would disagree, Burkee is not running for the Democratic nomination. I don’t agree with all of what Sensenbrenner does, but then again, I don’t agree with any one on everything.

I feel Sensenbrenner has done a good job, so Burkee (and Walz in the general election) will have to convince me that he’s a liability.

Burkee and Walz

From an e-mail update, the two fifth CD candidates have a kickoff planned for next Sunday from 1-3pm. The event will be held in Cedarburg at Legion Park. The PDF file linked in the email did not work (but you can find it here) and I didn’t see anything on their web site.

Both candidates now have individual web sites, really just pages within the combined web site. Here is Jim Burkee’s site. And Jeff Walz’s site.

Previous posts:
Burkee-Walz “Pact with the People”
Wisconsin Fifth update
Whatever

Burkee-Walz “Pact with the People”

Jim Burkee and Jeff Walz, the Concordia professors running for Jim Sensenbrenner’s 5th District seat in Wisconsin (also called Profs. Tweedledee and Tweedledum), have their full web site up.

According to an email received from both campaigns, they asked that we

plan to attend our campaign launch on August 19th at Legion Park in beautiful Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Bring your family, bring your friends and bring your kids for a fun afternoon of music, games, treats and our official announcement. The festivities start at 1:00 with the announcement at 2:00. Look for a formal invitation later in the week.

Included on that site is the following “Pact with the People.”

I, the undersigned, pledge to adhere to the following principles in my 2008 campaign:

1. Fiscal Responsibility. I pledge that as your representative in Congress I will not, during times of economic growth, vote in favor of any legislation that relies on deficit spending. I will also support a Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment.
2. Term Limits. I pledge that, if elected, I will serve no more than three consecutive terms.
3. No Lobbyist Gifts. I pledge that, if elected, I will refuse any financial gifts from lobbyists or other organizations, including meals, travel and lodging.
4. Daily Debates. I pledge that, if I win my party’s nomination, I will debate my opponent at least once each day that I am in the district during the campaign.
5. Issue-Oriented Campaigning. I pledge that, in the course of the campaign, I will not run negative ads or engage in personal attacks against my opponent.
6. No PAC Money. I pledge that I will only accept contributions from individuals to my campaign and will reject any support from political action committees or other outside organizations.

Signed

Etc.

Who could be against any of these things? Well, maybe when you get into the details. Isn’t the devil always in the details?

They don’t make it easy to tell who’s the Republican and who’s the Democrat (OK, for the record, Burkee is Republican, Walz is Democrat), but is there a difference? There are a few. The problems for Walz among Democrats will be that he is a pro-life, opposed to stem cell research and is in favor of exploring nuclear energy to meet our power needs. Marriage is between a man and a woman according to Walz.

The problems for Burkee among Republicans is that, where does he differ from Sensenbrenner? Term limits, campaign financing, elimination of our dependence on foreign oil. OK, he’s probably nicer, too.

In the email was this interesting bit,

The incumbent, Mr. Sensenbrenner, has already raised over $450,000 from PACs, corporations and other contributors. Together, our army of $50, $100 and $250 contributors can overwhelm the squad of lobbyists and corporate donors we face.

I know it’s tame by most campaigns, but isn’t this negative campaigning? Is the issue the PAC money? Isn’t that legal? Is the issue corporate donors? Isn’t that also legal? Is the issue that Sensenbrenner doesn’t reflect the wishes of his constituency? That he’s in the contributors pockets? Can they prove that?

Stay tuned.

Wisconsin Fifth update

UPDATE: Xoff goes into more detail at his Daily Kos diary. Some Kossites disagree. Yeah, I was shocked too. Rick Esenberg has also weighed in and sounds similar to Xoff with this,

While these guys say that they disagree each other, I wonder. I am generally suspicious of those who say we can rise above partisanship. There is a reason that we cling to our partisan divides. They reflect real differences of opinion about important stuff.

My favorite quote from the Times article was this one,

“You’re going to see that campaigning you’ve always wanted and deserved. It’s going to be clean, it’s going to be substantive, it’s going to be free of big money influences,” Burkee said. “It’s going to be, I think, the kind of campaign our founders expected.”

All I can say is that I’ve just finished “Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800″ and recommend it as a view of how the founding fathers actually conducted a couple of campaigns.

As noted yesterday, two professors from Concordia are running a joint campaign to attempt to unseat Jim Sensenbrenner (good luck on that!). Xoff has more today at “Sensebrenner Watch” (Ya gotta love the way Blogger truncated the post title!) referring to this NY Times article.

The Times also notes their website which is up and running.

Xoff has called it wacky and I would agree.

Whatever

Campaigning across the aisle
Democratic, GOP candidates to hit trail together for House seat

Also noted at:

Ken Mobile

Xoff at Sensenbrenner Watch

Josh Shroeder

Chris at Badger Blog Alliance