and making excuses for crime.
As Dane County goes, so goes the Democratic party of Wisconsin. Democrats in every one of the other 71 counties — even Milwaukee — live in Dane County’s shadow. Dane County Democrats set the agenda, run the party, and elect governors and senators from among their ranks.
Thanks to Dane County, the Democrat(ic) party is poised to live up to down to its reputation as the party of Defund the Police. What did Republicans do to deserve such luck?
Democrats from Portland to Minneapolis are attempting to rebrand themselves as foursquare for public safety after taking a knee to Antifa and George Floyd. (Donald Trump thanks you kindly.)
→ Democrats grapple with the party’s ‘defund the police’ past
But not in Madison WI, home of the Independent Police Monitor. The County Board is poised to defund the sheriff’s department by $3.76 million and 28 deputies. Officially non-partisan, 26 of 37 supervisors are endorsed by the Dane County Democratic Party.
Do we exaggerate Dane County’s importance to the statewide party? The last four Democrats elected as governor since Patrick Lucey in 1971 have been Madison-area residents. All four of Tommy Thompson’s opponents were Dane County Democrats. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin once served on the Dane County Board, as did U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan. Until earlier this year, the state party chairman was Ben Wikler, a graduate of Madison West high school. Four of the eight announced candidates for governor to succeed Tony Evers (a resident since 1988) call Dane County home.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, is running for governor
“Last week, I joined my colleagues in introducing a package of bills designed to push back against the rise of police surveillance, abuse of power, and [police] violence.”
The great Mandela, progressive
None of the eight (nine if one counts Ryan Strnad, a stadium vendor) is out-polling the man who isn’t there, former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes. The New York Times reports support for Barnes in a crowded field sits at 16 percent — but that’s twice any of the announced candidates. Said to own a well lubricated campaign fund-raising machine and is ready to jump in.
Barnes comes out of Milwaukee but doesn’t entirely break the Dane County mold. Has a history of bashing law enforcement. “He has long campaigned as a progressive, sponsoring legislation to eliminate cash bail,” the New York Times reports. Demanded prosecuting the police officer who shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha as the criminal was attempting to kidnap small children. Gave the Working Families Party response to the State of the Union address in 2019. Working Families endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York and the lead sponsor of Dane County’s defund the police measure, “The Party Is Uneasy About His Return,” the NY Times headline reads, but only because Barnes “lost what Democrats consider a winnable race” against Ron Johnson in a 2022 election that Tony Evers, on the same ballot, won.
On the national stage, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the mayor of Chicago, both Democrats, would rather fight Trump than fight crime. The headline in The Atlantic, hardly a MAGA outlet, is damning:
Crime in Chicago Is a Choice;
The problem with minimizing the city’s violenceMayor Brandon Johnson recently angered many in Chicago, not least the state’s attorney and police officers, when he insisted that, “jails and incarceration and law enforcement is a sickness that has not led to safe communities.”
What these politicians refuse to acknowledge is that violent crime in Chicago remains a serious problem. … The city’s political leadership — which Democrats have dominated for nearly a century — has tolerated disorder for far too long. … When [Donald Trump] deployed the National Guard in Washington, D.C., crime fell.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Democrats don’t seem to mind the cop-bashing, only that Mandela Barnes lost. They might want to examine why and remind their Dane County bench that the party is trying to elect a governor.
11 responses to “The party of Defund the Police”
Democrats bad. Rinse and repeat. We get it. So, who is going to run on your side? Crickets. Maybe if Johnson, Grothman, etc. did something besides a once-a-year telephone townhall you might have a chance to win. Read Grothman’s Facebook page. The comments will open your eyes. Telephone townhalls?????? WTF. Screening questions and then they hang up. But Biden. Obama built a B-BALL COURT. Put it in your swag bag and take it down the road. Go ZOHRAN!!!!! KICK THEIR A$$!!!!
Time to take your nappy Richard.
Invest in home defense weapons and classes on how to use them. Growing chance of needing both as Madison attracts and breeds more unwanted elements while keeping the Apple Dumpling Gang in charge.
I bet every judge, magistrate and cop know the most arrested, diverted released and re released customers of no cash bail in Dane County.
Bust them, incarcerate them and see what happens.
But then, Forget it Jake…
What you need, Squire, is simple.
You need a local Donald Trump.
Why are you telling Dave what he needs? Want another trump then step right up.
Drunk drivers are the worst, much worse than gangbangers, especially for innocent bystanders.
I’d like to see the city move towards prohibition. We’d have to do it over at least a couple decades lest our economy collapses. I’m told young people are drinking less… take advantage of that.
Not likely. Even Ephraim, which was founded by the Moravians and held prohibition for decades, eventually caved. Put a leash on the Tavern League and you might see traction with prosecuting drunk drivers.
Hey Lazy-ack – your paper of record, the Cap Times, is reporting on sexual misconduct in 200 instances from 2018 to 2023. I thought these things never happened in the pure teachers-union run school districts. Why isn’t the education governor Tony Evers and Underwhelmingly addressing this and nipping it in the bud? Does it go against their LGBTQYZX@!2-3+4^ base?
Meanwhile Blaska, I learned about the Cap Times doing actual journalism this morning from Miss Vicki. How come I didn’t hear it first from you when you spilled tons of digital ink on Miss Vicki’s Jan 6 offenses a couple weeks ago?
Because you heard it first from Mizz Vicki who heard it first from The Capital Times.
Ah Madison, 72 square miles of fantasy, surrounded by reality.