Usually I try to limit my posting to snarky comments, but this is too important. We need your help!
April 1st is the election date for Milwaukee County Executive, pitting incumbent Republican Scott Walker up against state senator Lena Taylor. This has Daily Kos Action Item written all over it.
I've never begged for recommends before, but heck, I have no pride. The more people who see this, the better.
Scott Walker is a poster boy for the current Republican regime: if you're poor, you really don't count. Some of the things he's (in)famous for:
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trying to shut down city pools;
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gutting funding for Milwaukee's wonderful park system, as well as for alcohol and drug abuse centers;
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raising the city transit fares---the highest in big cities---and
cutting services, resulting in fewer riders
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blocking a regional light-rail transit system (and the $91 million in federal funds).
Rest assured, he has his share of Republican blunders too.
Comically, in a recent television campaign ad, he had a diverse cross-section of Milwaukee-ans explaining to the viewer why they supported him. It was soon revealed that the supporters in his ad were actors, not real Milwaukee-ans. That's just sad.
Despite the shortfall in Milwaukee County coffers, he apparently squeezed enough from the parks and pools to promise himself a $50,000 raise if he gets re-elected.
Who is he running against? Lena Taylor is the state senator endorsed by sometime Daily Kos poster Russ Feingold, and she believes that --- get this --- tax cuts might not be the answer. Here's the best way to summarize this race:
Even though her campaign pits her against a well-funded incumbent and hyperventilating right-wing radio hosts and bloggers who seize on even the smallest of her mistakes to make her seem not credible, Taylor seems to shrug it off. She told the crowd that she’s already been tested by life, and that stepping into county politics is just another challenge that must be overcome—even if it’s just sheer force of will that gets her through.
"I don’t care if you look at the odds of me finishing my undergraduate degree, or going to law school and being the only African-American woman who graduated in my class," Taylor said during the debate. "I don’t care if you look at me stepping out on faith and starting not one but two businesses simultaneously while I was parenting, my brother at first and later my son. I’ve been able to roll up my sleeves and get it done. I don’t think there’s anything more important than to say that I want to do it."
Taylor said she’d approach the county’s tight budget the way her family always did—by creatively making it work. "If we had seven people sit down at the table and we made chili and more people came, we added tomato sauce to stretch it," Taylor said in the debate. "And if we didn’t have tomato sauce, we added ketchup and water. You do what you need to do. And if more people came for dinner, we made chili dogs. And with the county budget, I’m going to do what I’ve done my entire life."
Lena needs your help. Heck, Milwaukee needs your help!
Lena Taylor's Web site
Donate to Lena Taylor.