Kerry Thomas Opinion & Commentary

Does GOP Stand For Good Old Patronage?

by Kerry Thomas

August 24, 2005

To Wisconsin’s Voters and My Fellow Republicans:

Has the Republican Party in Wisconsin become just another political patronage party? As a loyal Republican, it pains me to have to write this. But for the long term good of my party, I feel I have no choice.

The impetus of this came from a “Forum in the Park” event held in St. Germain on August 23. Begun as an event to showcase Congressman Mark Green and his gubernatorial bid, the list of invited Republican speakers, candidates all, grew to include Assemblyman Dan Meyer, Attorney General candidate J.B. Van Hollen, Jean Hundertmark, candidate for Lt. Governor, and Assembly Speaker John Gard, who is now a candidate for Wisconsin’s 8^th Congressional District.

Notably absent from the guest list was Assemblywoman Terri McCormick, who is also a candidate for Wisconsin’s 8^th Congressional District. Remember, the Republican Party has an official policy of neutrality when it comes to fellow Republicans competing for elected office.

Since this event was officially sponsored by the Vilas County Republicans, of whom I am a member, and the Oneida County Republicans, I thought the omission of Terri McCormick was an oversight. I invited McCormick to come to this forum, where I assumed, since she is a congressional candidate, she would be given an opportunity to speak. I was wrong.

One by one, the speakers took to the microphone. One by one they took turns introducing themselves, and talking about Republican values. It was enlightening to hear two of the more well known speakers refer to their personal relationships with John Gard. No one bothered to say anything about Terri McCormick. She was denied any opportunity to address the assembled crowd. One of the Vilas County Republican officers said he felt “uncomfortable” allowing McCormick to speak. Slowly, the fog began to clear.

As I have researched this I have discovered some things that should trouble my fellow Republicans.

Earlier this year, John Gard was planning to run for governor. Later, he announced plans to run for the Congressional seat Mark Green is leaving, in his own gubernatorial bid. It would appear that Mark Green and John Gard are sharing a campaign headquarters. Nothing too sinister, but interesting.

A look at some campaign finance reports shows that on May 12, John Gard's campaign received two $5,000 donations from the National Beer Distributors in Arlington, Virginia. Coincidentally, legislation considered about that same time included provisions that will allow the distributors to sell directly to retailers.

On May 5 Gard also received $5,000 from Georgia Pacific Employee Fund PAC in Washington, DC. As Assembly Speaker, Gard considered a bill to allow paper companies like GP to sue in a class action lawsuit against insurance companies for allegedly holding up claims for polluting (the facts proved otherwise).

[This information comes from http://disclosure.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00411124/178560/sa/ALL ]

Please be skeptical of these statements. But look at the dates of the legislative debates and votes. Look at the contribution dates. Draw your own conclusions.

Commentator Charlie Sykes said that these two cases were "…two of the worst bill proposals in Wisconsin's history." I am not an attorney. I do not know if these actions were illegal. But to this simple observer, such actions have the appearance of quid pro quo. To me, it looks like John Gard is using his position as Assembly Speaker, controlling the agenda and scheduling of legislative debate, to enhance donations to his congressional campaign from contributors who benefit from the legislation considered.

In another instance, on a crucial veto override vote of the Photo ID Bill earlier this year, Speaker Gard scheduled a vote, which had no chance of passage at that time, timed so that Terri McCormick, his probable opponent in the congressional campaign, would miss the opportunity to cast her vote for the override. She was en route to the Capitol, sick with the flu, having a colleague drive her, and missed the vote by less than an hour. If this was such a crucial vote, shouldn’t the Speaker have waited until all his colleagues were available to cast their votes?

Why was it necessary to rush that vote, so that McCormick would have no chance to cast her vote? Was there a calculation that this missed vote could be used against McCormick in the campaign? After all, if such a critical override vote failed (it did), such a loss could easilyu be blamed on such absent legislators who didn’t care enough to show up for the vote. That was certainly the insinuation made by one local Vilas County Republican Party officer (a Gard supporter) at a county meeting shortly thereafter. According to Jim Knuth, vice-chairman of the Vilas County Republican Party, “John Gard said she [Terri McCormick] was campaigning.” (May 16, 2005 meeting of the Vilas County Republican Party, Sayner, Wisconsin)

It looks to me like John Gard has blatantly abused his public office, breached the public trust placed in him. It’s a complete conflict of interest. It is the very sort of allegations that Gard’s former colleagues Scott Jensen, Micki Foti and Sherry Schultz are going to court about this Fall.

If John Gard wants to run for Congress, he should step down as Assembly Speaker, so he can devote his energies to his campaign. Unless, maybe that’s what he’s doing as Speaker. If he is using the Speaker’s office for political gain, not only should he step down, he should resign all together.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, from what I am hearing. The more people I talk to about this, the more I find Republicans in Madison cowering in fear of John Gard, fear of saying anything opposing him, fear of vindictive retaliation from the Gard camp. Gard talks about spending the last eighteen years building a “movement.” Sounds to me more like he’s spent that time building a gang of thugs and bullies, using fear and intimidation to advance his own political career, the only career this professional politician has ever known.

Has fear of one man turned Wisconsin’s Republican Party into a Grand Old Patronage party? Didn’t Republicans learn their lesson in the 1996 Presidential race, where we ran Bob Dole because “it was his turn?”

If the Republican Party in Wisconsin hopes to win elections by excluding fellow Republican candidates, we are going to end up losing elections, deservedly so, simply because we refuse to debate our fellow Republicans in public. Healthy debate leads to a stronger Party.

Let's allow all our Republican candidates an equal opportunity to be heard. Let the candidates speak, and let the People decide.