Experienced political analysts Paul Maslin and Gene Ulm agreed that voter anger will drive a recall election involving Gov. Scott Walker,
The two appeared together at a WisPolitics luncheon in Milwaukee, one day after the state Democratic Party announced it had submitted more than 1 million signatures to recall Walker.
Maslin, a Democrat who is working as Kathleen Falk's pollster, suggested that dismay with Walker is far stronger than the disapproval politicians typically face, because of Walker's "bullying tactics."
Ulm, a Republican, agrees with Maslin that the race will be very close and dominated by polarized voters, but predicts that the increasing passion in recent years among "ideological conservative" voters will prevail to keep Walker in office. Ulm said there is support for Walker within some unions too, pointing to Sen. Alberta Darling’s success with trade union workers in her 2011 recall election.
"The biggest mistake the Democrats will make is treating unions as a monolith here. There's a huge cultural difference between trade union-type voters here and public employee unions," said Ulm. "One drinks beer, the other drinks wine. One thinks opening day of deer-hunting season should be a public holiday and has 12 consonants in their last name; the other went to college and is a public employee somewhere."
However, Maslin called the intensity of the Walker recall unprecedented.
"I think there is a strong feeling that this man went way beyond what a Tommy Thompson, a Jim Doyle or anybody, a George Bush even, would have done, and did it in a different way, and did it in a way that's not Wisconsin, and divided people excessively and used tactics that were frankly, bullying," said Maslin. "If he had done this in a very different way, even with the same set of policies, I'm not sure we'd be where we are today."
- WisPolitics.com

BizTimes readers are invited to meet former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson at the Milwaukee Press Club’s next Newsmaker Luncheon on Monday, Jan. 23, from 11:45 to 1:30 p.m. at the Newsroom Pub in downtown Milwaukee at 137 E. Wells St.
The Press Club is featuring the Wisconsin candidates for the U.S. Senate in a series of Newsmaker Luncheons open to the public.
Thompson, former Congressman Mark Neumann and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald are vying for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat. They will square off in a primary on Aug. 14.
The general election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Thompson will be interviewed by a panel of journalists, including reporter Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; news anchor Michele McCormack of WDJT-CBS 58; and talk show host John Mercure of AM 620-WTMJ. The discussion will be moderated by BizTimes executive editor Steve Jagler.
The Milwaukee Press Club presents the Newsmaker Luncheons to shed light on issues of the day. The public is invited to attend the luncheons. The cost to attend is $15 for MPC members, $20 for non-members, $10 for students. Lunch is included. Seating will be limited.  Pre-registration and advance payment is required and may be done online at www.milwaukeepressclub.org.
Future Newsmaker Luncheons will feature Neumann, Fitzgerald and Democrat Tammy Baldwin.
- BizTimes Milwaukee

U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) has opened her Milwaukee campaign headquarters as part of her bid to succeed Democratic U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl.
Kohl attended the office opening and endorsed Baldwin, the only Democrat currently running for his seat. Baldwin promised she would be a fighter for Wisconsinites, who have become increasingly frustrated with "the disconnect between the debates that we're seeing unfold in Madison and in Washington, D.C.
"People cannot believe that disconnect, day after day," Baldwin said. "I see it in the House of Representatives and some of the Tea Party extremists who've taken over there. What the people of Wisconsin want is someone who's going to fight for them, not for Wall Street, not for the Tea Party, but for them.
"I would have no one else as my successor, so you better get elected," Kohl told Baldwin
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and former Gov. Pat Lucey also attended the event.
While Baldwin does not face any challengers on the Democratic side, four Republicans are vying for the GOP nomination. They are former Gov. Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald and Sen. Frank Lasee.
- WisPolitics.com

A panel of experts will discuss the Milwaukee economy at a Wednesday Jan. 25 public forum at Discovery World in an event organized by UW-Milwaukee, WUWM and WisBusiness.com .
The forum, set to run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., costs $15 but is free to students with a valid ID. Pre-registration is required. Street or paid parking is available at and around the site.
Forum panelists will include: Rose Oswald Poels, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Bankers Association; Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, a major sponsor of the Milwaukee 7 and other regional economic development initiatives; William Holahan, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Economics Department; and Dave Rotter, president and chief executive officer of National Ace Hardware, which runs two stores in the city of Milwaukee. Rotter also is on the board of Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corp.
The discussion, scheduled to be hosted by Mitch Teich, will be recorded and broadcast on WUWM’s "Lake Effect."
To register for the event, go to http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=248518.
- WisPolitics.com

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had the edge in a potential Democratic primary for governor in a new survey from the liberal firm Public Policy Polling.
The survey included head-to-head match-ups with Kathleen Falk and Dave Obey, finding Barrett led the former Dane County executive among those polled 46 percent to 27 percent and was up on the former longtime U.S. representative 42-30.
In a hypothetical four-way contest with state Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville included, Barrett was backed by 26 percent of those surveyed, compared to 22 percent for Falk, 21 percent for Obey and 11 percent for Cullen.
“Tom Barrett would be the top choice of Wisconsin Democrats to take on Scott Walker,” PPP president Dean Debnam said in a statement. “If he doesn’t run, they’d prefer David Obey. Kathleen Falk is not at the top of voters’ lists.”
Falk and Cullen have already declared their candidacies, while Barrett is still weighing his options
The poll of 522 likely Dem primary voters was conducted Monday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. PPP said 30 percent of those who said they were likely to vote in the primary identified themselves as independents, while 11 percent said they were Republicans.
- WisPolitics.com

A leader of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council says the group's process for making endorsements in this spring's local elections was more pointed and aggressive than in previous years.
“We’re looking for more out of our elected officials,” Sheila Cochran, the group's secretary-treasurer and chief operating officer, told WIsPolitics.com. “We didn’t want to keep going in the same direction we always did.”
Cochran pointed to the council's endorsement of Eyon Biddle, Sr. over Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines as a fairly significant race. Biddle gave up his seat as a county supervisor to challenge the incumbent.
“That’s definitely a change,” she said. “A change in style, a change in direction.”
In a statement, Biddle said he was honored to receive the endorsement.
“Milwaukee was made great by the hard working men and women of organized labor," Biddle said. "Together we can restore Milwaukee's promise as a city where all of our residents enjoy opportunity, freedom, and shared prosperity
Cochran said the council chose not to endorse a candidate in the mayoral race.
“We need more leadership out of the mayor’s office as well,” she said. “We need to see a more aggressive posture ... from a lot of people.”
The Milwaukee Labor Press has a detailed look at the endorsement process and the candidates who were picked, plus those that were passed over: http://www.milwaukeelabor.org/in_the_news/article.cfm?n_id=00226.
- WisPolitics.com

Edward McDonald thinks he is ready to be mayor of the city he grew up in and says he wants to take Milwaukee “back to its rightful place of being the envy of the country.”
McDonald, a UW-Extension faculty member, is one of two candidates to file to challenge incumbent Mayor Tom Barrett. The other candidate is Ieshuh Griffin, who gained attention in 2010 when she sought unsuccessfully to have the slogan "not the whiteman's bitch" appear next to her name on the ballot for state Assembly.
Despite speculation that Milwaukee’s current mayor, Tom Barrett, may run against Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election, McDonald says he is focused on his own campaign.
“I haven’t really assessed it from a standpoint of him doing that or not doing it,” McDonald said. “I think Tom would be a very good governor, and if that’s his dream, then I think he should pursue his dream, much like I’m pursuing mine. I want to be mayor of the city of Milwaukee.”
McDonald says he believes he has the skill set “to work with my hometown, people of my hometown, every neighborhood, to build Milwaukee.”
According to his campaign website, McDonald would like to expand community-based policing and fire services, as well as community and cultural arts. He would also like to address fresh food access and childcare, youth and elderly services. He would also like to implement his “Build Milwaukee” plan, targeting specific areas within the city.
On the face of it, McDonald’s plan could be costly, but he says the money is available.
“Surprisingly, there is quite a bit of money that is appropriated at federal, state, and local levels to do pretty much all those things. It’s about prioritization and directing the money around community driven priorities,” McDonald said.
McDonald also calls for more of the Milwaukee’s bidded contracts to be awarded within the city. Right now he says roughly 80 percent go to vendors outside of the city.
“We need to shift that. It might need to be just the opposite, 80 percent of those contracts need to go to businesses within Milwaukee, maybe even more,” McDonald said. “We need to make sure that more of that money is recycling and helping with the development and retention of businesses within Milwaukee. They are the ones, along with other stakeholders, who are paying into the funds we use to issue contracts in the first place.”
See more from the WisPolitics interview with McDonald, visit http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=258608.
- WisPolitics.com

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on Wednesday announced its list of targeted races in its drive to take back the House of Representatives, and one of those 12 “Emerging Races” is in Wisconsin’s 1st District.
Democrat Rob Zerban of Kenosha is challenging incumbent Republican Paul Ryan of Janesville.
The DCCC said, "Emerging Races highlights candidates and districts that are making themselves competitive by running smart campaigns."
The Democrats said the determination is based on the campaign's ability to meet infrastructure and organizational goals and by making the case to voters that Zerban is a problem-solver who will protect the middle class if he is elected to Congress.
Zerban, who raised more than $500,000 in campaign donations in 2011, "I am proud to receive the support of the DCCC. Here in Wisconsin, we have seen what we can achieve when we work together. Because of our hard work in 2011, more help is coming in to this district. We are seeing progressives from across the country join our fight here in southeastern Wisconsin to get rid of Paul Ryan because his ideas, and his policies, hurt this entire nation. Paul Ryan will not get a free pass this year despite his lobbyist money and status as a leading party boss. After 14 years of enriching himself and his campaign at the expense of Wisconsin's economy and middle class families, he will finally be held accountable. I look forward to demonstrating to Wisconsin how much we can accomplish in Congress when we focus on the middle class, take off the blinders of special interest money, and work together to get results."
- BizTimes Milwaukee

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) today expressed disappointment in Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s decision to turn down Early Innovator Grant funding from the federal government which would have helped implement a health insurance exchange.
Walker said, “"Stopping the encroachment of ObamaCare in our state, which has the potential to have a devastating impact on Wisconsin's economy, is a top priority. Wisconsin has been a leader and innovator in health care reform for two decades, and we have achieved a high level of health insurance coverage without federal mandates.”
Moore issued the following statement: “Once again Governor Walker has ignored the needs of the people Wisconsin in an effort to appease the Tea Party by turning down federal funding that would have assisted the state in establishing a much needed health insurance exchange. Under Scott Walker’s Democratic predecessor, Jim Doyle, Wisconsin was making great strides toward improving our health systems – expanding Medicaid coverage and upgrading the state’s IT systems. In many ways, we were several steps ahead of the Affordable Care Act Congress passed and President Obama signed into law in 2010. Instead of building on these efforts Scott Walker has chosen to thwart this progress, blocking much needed funding and potential jobs from people of Wisconsin. This is simply unacceptable. I will continue to fight to ensure that the people of Wisconsin get the health services they need and deserve.”
- BizTimes Milwaukee