In The Isthmus, former mayor Dave Cieslewicz asks: “Where are the fiscal hawks like Zach Brandon,” who now heads the chamber of commerce.
Anyone seen this guy. Answers to name of ‘Zach Brandon’
The city council, the Dane County board and the Madison school board … all of those local bodies are now almost totally run by the far left. … This is a sea change in Madison politics. For decades there has been a rough balance.
Some substantial part of the Madison electorate is liberal but not that far to the left. They recognize that any police department can improve but they think the police monitor and associated costs are an overreaction. They understand that some systemic racism exists but they don’t think that that issue needs to be addressed at the expense of school safety.
Where’s the political organization to represent those points of view? Where is the moderate or left-center answer to Progressive Dane? The answer is that it just doesn’t exist. — Dave Cieslewicz in The Isthmus
Leadership requires courage, Dave
Ex-mayor Dave contends that Recall Satya 2020 was always a fool’s errand (his words) for a mayor that got 62% of the vote in April 2019. But that was before State Street and Capitol Square were boarded up, before diners were accosted by BLM grifters, before cops were expelled from the schools, before statues of abolitionists and feminists were pulled down, before legislators and common citizens were pummeled, before the running gun battles, before the epidemic of teenagers stealing cars, before 11-year-old Anisa Scott was caught in the crossfire.
What a difference if one brave Democrat had poked his head out of the foxhole and declared an end to the madness. The Werkes worked Cieslewicz hard. He wouldn’t bite. He can argue it would have made no difference but we will never know. Blaska Policy Werkes thinks Cieslewicz’s endorsement of the recall would have broken the log jam, would have precipitated a tidal wave. Given Dave’s written record of disdain of Progressive Dane rule, it is political negligence that he did not.
About the coward Zach Brandon, Ald. Paul Skidmore tells the Werkes: “For the record, … I talked to the government affairs director for the Chamber about supporting the State Street merchants during the insurrection, but he said that the Chamber was concerned about that strong an action, and they decided not to comment on the carnage in the downtown.”
Where is the courage in Madison?
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
“Where is the courage in Madison?” David Blaska……uh………….uh………hmmm……uh…..
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No sheet, Sam Spade.
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If I were the rest of Madison, I’d be embarrassed and ashamed. I’m not, but I am.
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Not enough courage like the Two Dave’s. Madison may well be doomed to a life of being the next Chicago or worse! It is a drive through city for me now when ever possible.
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Being a minority part of Madison (conservative) I have a Wisconsin Needs Farmers sign in my yard.
But if I were to install a Trump 2020 sign or a Blue Lives Matter sign I would fear the repercussions.
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Actually, a neighbor has a Trump sign up the street from me. Everyone who supports Trump in Madison, especially SHOULD put up a Trump sign. COURAGE PEOPLE!
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I live within a bricks throw of Russet/Balsam ,
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Now THAT takes courage!
The Gotch
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I certainly understand, John. I have two neighbors that worked/woked together at Madison Newspapers. “Hood ” leaders I might add, among many similarly minded neighbors. Good folks,tho, and after decades here, why risk my future tranquility? That said, when THEIR signs come out, I admire/support their right to do so. A big diff between Libs and common-sense middle-roaders. There IS hope: https://www.foxnews.com/us/lancaster-protesters-bail-alleged-riots “Lancaster protesters held on whopping $1 million bail each after alleged riots”. Yep, there’s hope alright, but pr’oly NOT in Dane County.
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Not so sure about a “rough balance” of left and right in the decades that I have lived in Madison. I do recall a couple of Blaskas on the County Board, and there was that too short a time when we elected Scott Klug to Congress, but he was just the meat in a Kastemier/Baldwin sandwich (Stop it! Not THAT kind of sandwich.) But other than those, and a couple of Republican Sheriffs, it’s been lefties for as far as the eye can see.
And I think Dave is confusing conservatives with moderate Democrats because I don’t know of a single Democrat out there actually criticizing BLM or Freedom Inc, or Urban Triage. And Dave is a perfect example. He will criticize their ideas, but he won’t criticize the organizations and he wouldn’t dare stand with the conservatives in opposition.
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“And Dave is a perfect example. He will criticize their ideas, but he won’t criticize the organizations….” Have no idea what you mean with that. Ditto for “he wouldn’t dare stand
with the conservatives in opposition.” You mean as in sacrificing his independence to become another party hack? Are we really talking about the same “Dave” here? 🙂
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I mean as in not alienating the wacko Marxists who are behind the policies he pretends to oppose. He’s not sacrificing anything. He has never been independent, and has always been a party hack. His mild criticism of radical policies does not make him a moderate, just sane.
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PM – thanks for the clarification. What do you mean by “the policies he pretends to oppose?” What policies in particular are you referring to when you say this?
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“Where is the courage in Madison?”
Your Catholic Bishop, but he’s staying out of local politics. Also the 13 (?) petitioners who got SCOWI to re-open the private schools in Dane County. Ms McKenna is another nominee (see below).
And I think Dave is confusing conservatives with moderate Democrats
From here in Waukesha county, it appears that people with the (R) label in Dane County would make fine members of the Milwaukee County Board. There’s a whole lot of George Bush politeness and not one brass knuckle within–what was it?–90 square miles. Ms McKenna seems to be the only red-meat conservative over there.
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What exactly do they think will happen if/when Trump is re-elected which is a very real possibility?
Do they think those riots will be kinda sorta peaceful?
I think it may be so bad the May/June riots will look more like Concerts on the Square.
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