...but he can't do it alone, he's going to need your help! (Full disclosure: The bulk of this diary was published yesterday under the title "WI-01: Rob Zerban Comes Out Swinging")
WHO?, WHAT?, WHEN?, WHERE?, HOW?
JANESVILLE — Medicare and momentum.
Rob Zerban thinks they could carry him to Washington, D.C.
Zerban, 42, is a Democratic candidate the First Congressional District, a seat currently held by Paul Ryan.
On Saturday, Zerban was in Janesville for the Democratic Party’s First District convention at the UAW hall.
Racine Mayor John Dickert, who took the podium before Zerban, reminded listeners that the last election showed that every vote and every race—local, state and national—mattered. He also suggested that Gov. Scott Walker be awarded “Democrat of the Year” for his work in re-energizing the base and infusing it with energy going into the next election.
Rob Zerban, the current Kenosha County (Wisconsin) Supervisor, is certainly pulling no punches in his nascent bid for Congress.
Rob Zerban's candidacy flies in the face of the conventional wisdom within the district:
While the controversy over Wisconsin’s public employee labor policy continues toward a political meltdown, thus throwing the state’s politics into chaos, Rep. Ryan appears completely secure for his 2012 election. Though Supervisor Zerban may well be preparing for a run against him, such a battle will likely sputter and become another easy ride for the veteran Republican. National Democrats will likely find more tempting targets in other locations than Chairman Paul Ryan’s southern Wisconsin district.
That may have been right at one point in time, but in light of recent developments in the State of Wisconsin it's probably no longer true... Jeff Simpson from Blogging Blue explains:
Full disclosure, I was working on a blog in January excoriating Mike Tate for the results of the last election and what he was planning for 2012. I was going to focus on the fact that I felt he has not been focusing on the 1st congressional district. After speaking with John Heckenlively, who ran against Ryan last year, and Marge Krupp, who was Ryan’s opponent in 2008. They both said they got no help from the national party and little help from the state party.
Then Scott Walker tried to take our rights away and everything changed. That being said, its time to stop giving Paul Ryan a free pass. We all know how bad of a representative Paul Ryan (R-Wall St) is. Since Ryan gives his handlers on Wall St. anything they want, he will always have unlimited money for his re-election campaigns. I feel the only way to beat Ryan is to run a long campaign. Since the Janesville Gazette has been an arm of the Ryan campaign, we need someone there to point out the ryan foibles. Someone to point out that ryan wants to end medicare as we know it and increase the deficit. Someone from the first district finally answered that call. Kenosha County Supervisor Rob Zerban has announced his candidacy.
A little history of the 2010 election cycle... John Heckenlively, IMO quite frankly, never tried very hard:
In the 2010 race, we basically had a sacrificial lamb in a Democratic candidate.
Will we ever get a good candidate who can raise some money and take a serious run against Paul “kill your Grandma” Ryan? Enter Rob Zerban.
I have known Rob since he first started networking in the county party and his run & subsequent win for County Board Supervisor. He is a strong campaigner and very deliberate in his thoughts. Frankly, if he can raise the money and do the kind of work I know he can do, we will finally have a real shot at defeating Paul Ryan.
Now, enter the federal budget crisis debacle we are seeing in Washington and Ryan’s prominence as the financial torch bearer for the Republicans. The climate couldn’t be riper for a Ryan defeat.
Which makes me wonder if Zerban may be right when he claims, "I am the luckiest person you will ever meet." Rob's a bonafide progressive and a board member of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters:
Rob Zerban is a County Board Supervisor for Kenosha County who joined the WLCV Board in July 2008. Rob's motivation for seeking office was to impact environmental policy at the local level. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY, in 1992, Rob traveled extensively with cruise lines: from the Eastern seaboard of the United States to Antarctica and every place in-between. Rob started and operated two food service corporations from 2000 to 2008 where he employed 45 staff and managed a bottom line of over 3 million dollars. Rob's activism has been focused on the Great Lakes and is rooted in his love for these majestic waters. As an accomplished sailboat racer, Rob spends most of his free time sailing on Lake Michigan. Rob and his wife, Dr. Cornelia Zerban, reside in both Kenosha and Wausau where Cornelia is a professor of psychology at North Central Technical College.
Although YOU may have never heard of Rob Zerban he's certainly caught the attention of The Huffington Post, Democurmudgeon, and Politico:
Kenosha County Supervisor Rob Zerban has already signaled his intentions to run and plans to formalize his campaign in the coming weeks.
And the timing is important. With Ryan's plan to roll back trillions in spending and replace defined health care benefits for seniors with subsidies for private insurance in front of the House this week, Zerban is attempting to seize the moment.
"Rep. Ryan's agenda will hit Wisconsin seniors where it hurts the most - their wallets. Ryan believes seniors should pay more money for less care. Ryan is wrong. His plan would put Wisconsin seniors and our economy in jeopardy. Wisconsin deserves better. My message to Rep. Ryan is simple - keep your hands off our seniors," Zerban said in a statement Tuesday.
So here we are at the end of the page and you know what's coming up next don't you? Before I get to that I've got one more tidbit of information you might like to know about Rob Zerban. In the 2010 election cycle he donated $1,500 to Russ Feingold's re-election campaign. What more do you need to know?
Now go grab your credit/debit cards and click this ActBlue link and give generously to the candidate that's going to take down Paul Ryan. Please also go to handsoffmygrandma(dot)com to sign the petition to tell Paul Ryan "HANDS OFF MY GRANDMA".