Conservatives helped build Dane County

but never got organized labor’s endorsement!

Blaska was running for re-election to the Dane County Board when County Executive Kathleen Falk ordered AFSCME, the government employee labor union, to flood conservatives with telephone calls urging a NO vote on building a new Dane County courthouse. Mark Pocan led the Democrats’ fight against the badly needed structure on the floor of the county board. (The member of AOC’s Squad has since gone on to bigger and brighter things, but is no less “progressive.”)

Standing in front of AFL-CIO members at its union hall off Park Street here in Madison WI, Blaska turned his back on the AFSCME delegates, who were seated to the left, so that the candidate could confront the blue collar members, who were congregated to the right.

“I’m trying to put you guys on the job so that those guys,” Blaska said, pointing over his shoulder to the gummint workers, “can have a better place to work. Tell me why that’s wrong.”

Swear to gawd, the blue collar guys shrugged shoulders, held palms up, and peered over to the AFSCME people for guidance. Blaska did not get their endorsement but we built the courthouse anyway after 16 years of typical Madison hair twisting. Opened 19 years ago this month for only $44 million. Compare that to the jail addition, long overdue and finally begun this year for $207 million. Only one conservative today sits among the 37 member Board of Supervisors.

No, I don’t like how our courthouse is situated, either, wedged into a hillside on Hamilton Street. Should have had its own small park. Led by Supv. Denny O’Loughlin, we had to give many concessions — one of which was to build it on property owned by State Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison. Let’s just say, ol’ Fred did O.K.

In the 14 years between 1992 and 2006, conservatives built Monona Terrace, Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center, the Lyman Anderson agriculture and conservation center. We built additions to the zoo (my name is on the monkey house!) and enlarged the airport. We renovated the old TB sanitarian at Northport for human services, converted a dead big-box store on Aaberg Avenue into a job center. We also built the Public Safety Building in 1994 — “the new jail.” The county executive vetoed building two additional stories or we might never have needed the overpriced addition. 

But we never got a labor union endorsement outside the sheriff’s deputies union. Dode Lowe, the AFSCME boss, personally promised brother Mike Blaska, then chairman of the county board, that he would “take him out.” (He failed.)

Blaska’s Bottom Line: Working men and women — the bakers, butchers, and candlestick makers — are deserting the Democrat(ic) party of FDR for Republicans; even organized labor may vote its pocket book rather than toe the Democrats’ party line. May explain why Kamala Harris is an election eve convert to fracking. Hellz bellz, wouldn’t be surprised if she wants to build pipelines and border walls!

Exactly whom, we ask, is anti-worker?