From Allen Pincus

Barneveld

To the Editor:

Picture Tom Tiffany sitting behind the Governor’s desk. Not a pretty picture? Help insure that doesn’t happen by voting for Joel Brennan in the August 11 primary election. Why Brennan? Regardless of whose policy proposals you favor, it doesn’t matter if that candidate is not able to win in November or govern effectively. Brennan is the one candidate who stands out with regard to both electability and ability to govern. He has decades of executive experience, both in government and the nonprofit sector. While serving for three years as Evers’s Secretary of Administration Brennan put the State back on a solid financial footing after eight years of mismanagement by former governor Scott Walker. As CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Committee he brought together civic leaders, businesses and nonprofits to tackle the challenges facing Milwaukee’s economy and community. Through those positions, and other organization he led, Brennan has forged excellent working relationships with elected officials and community leaders throughout the state. He has earned a reputation as a non-establishment pragmatic progressive problem solver, and an effective leader who gets the job done. Just the kind of candidate Independent voters, who will determine the outcome of the election, are looking for. A comparison of Brennan with the other candidates in the race makes it evident why he stands out.

The popularity of Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong in the primary election race, in which only a small select group of eligible voters bother to vote, is a poor indicator of the candidate’s chances in a general election. Representing deep blue Madison in the Assembly, Hong has never been tested in a race with serious Republican opposition. And while her extreme leftwing policies and fiery rhetoric may bring new voters into the Democratic ranks, it will motivate even more new Republican leaning voters to come out to support Tiffany.

Kelda Roys represents Central Dane County in the Wisconsin Senate, another “safe” district with little or no Republican opposition. Also like Hong, she lacks the executive experience and skills to govern effectively and has little appeal to voters statewide.

In the 2022 general election Ron Johnson defeated former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes in the race for US Senate, while Evers won his race for Governor. That makes it doubtful that Barnes can win a race for governor.

Lastly there is Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley who has reentered the race with Governor Evers’s endorsement. Ironically, this endorsement can have the effect of helping Hong more than Crowley by drawing enough votes away from the other candidates to clear a possible path for Hong to secure the Party’s nomination and then lose the November election. Further, the State Democratic Party’s efforts to influence primary elections by issuing endorsements, instead of letting the democratic process of open primaries play itself out, have angered many Party members enough to leave the party.

Picture Tom Tiffany behind the Governor’s desk and vote Joel Brennan on August 11.