We believe we are royally screwed.
In a few weeks political yard signs will sprout like dandelions on a No Mow lawn in progressive Madison — alongside the ubiquitous “In This House We Believe …” signs. (Notice? God is never among the listed.)
Candidates who take Blaska’s advice do so at their own peril but we do believe in Keep It Simple, Stupid. (Sometimes simple AND stupid!) Resist the urge to cram your life’s story onto a 18” x 24” sign, is our advice. Drivers are distracted enough negotiating Mayor Satya’s express bus lanes. Yard signs for our first campaign read like Charles Dickens — a little wordy. Displayed name, office sought, date of the election, and the imperative “Vote!” (Always thought the word should be followed with the interjection, “Dammit!”) Some candidates can’t resist a slogan, something inane like “Fighting For You!” Maybe shoehorn in a graphic; conservatives go for an American flag, progressives throw up a raised fist. (INJUSTICE! It’s everywhere!)
After a few elections, this candidate reduced his yard signs to just a name: David Blaska.
Name I.D. at its most basic! Like the Bud song, you’ve said it all. Advantage is we could keep our options open to seek other elective offices if that campaign didn’t work out. Like a proud father, we presented our stripped-down sign to the chairman of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, who happened to be brother Mike. “One too many words,” was his judgment. (My brother lives Michael Deaver’s dictum: “Be a well, not a fountain.”)
State supreme court candidate Maria Lazar has the best looking yard signs we’ve seen.
A little wordy but love the white on black. (Judge Lazar is not a hostage to victim culture.)
Snotty air quotes
Which brings us to Madame Brenda. Her concern for the homeless appears genuine, if obsessive. We reported last August that the City of Madison, which Brenda Konkel once served as alder, considers her Social Justice Center a possible public nuisance. Which, these six months later, apparently remains unabated.
Neighbors lodged 212 police complaints last year — an average of almost two every three days — for things like drug use, human waste, disorderly conduct, and squatter encampments. The Streets of San Francisco here in MadTown. These are neighbors on Williamson Street, where the tie-dyed Peace & Love generation went to collect Social Security.
Progressive Dane is one of the center’s tenants. Brenda Konkel, a founder, remains a major poobah of that political party (along with the Trostskyite, Rebecca Kemble). Madame Brenda pooh poohs the nuisance charges this way: “It’s mostly complaints that were unfounded or dealing with ‘quality of life’ [her quote marks].” Drug use, pooping and a despoiled neighborhood being collateral damage to the cause of social justice, apparently.
Speaking of nuisances, Progressive Dane asks candidates seeking the party endorsement this question:
Dane County has some of the worst disparities in incarceration for Black people in the U.S. (55% of the jail’s residents were Black in a county that is 6% Black.) What strategies would you prioritize to divert more people from jail and reduce racial disparities in the jail population?
Blaska’s Bottom Line: The only correct answer, of course, is “Do the crime, do the time.” Which would make a neat yard sign slogan, come to think. So would “Not a Penny More!” Why is no one asking that question?
What’s on YOUR yard sign?
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