In this corner, you have state Sen. Lena Taylor. The Milwaukee Democrat announced her plan to unseat Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker last October, not with a rousing campaign rally, but with a one-page press release. For weeks after, her contact with voters came largely through MySpace and Facebook appearances on her Web site. With little more than two months left before the April 1 election, the challenger had barely lifted her gloves.
In the other corner is Walker, the incumbent, willing at least to duke it out, but not very interested in the prize. Over and over, he’s signaled he’d rather be anywhere – serving as governor, congressman, you name it – than in the county courthouse.
Nationally, this has been the year of impassioned democracy, with hotly contested presidential primaries and big turnouts in state after state. Locally, the county exec race could put us to sleep.
There were early signs the race would be a real contest. Several candidates, including Milwaukee Ald. Mike D’Amato and state Rep. Jon Richards, considered running, but got cold feet. Finally, only Taylor would step into the ring. She seemed a worthy challenger: A Democratic poll taken in late November showed Walker was vulnerable, with just a seven-point lead over her.
Taylor, 41, is a hometown success story, a graduate of Rufus King High School and UW-Milwaukee. With a law degree from Southern Illinois University, she went on to work as both a public defender and a private attorney in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, Taylor won election to the Assembly in 2003, and a year later, the race for state Senate, filling the seat of Gwen Moore, who was voted into Congress. In the last legislative session, she was appointed to the coveted Joint Finance Committee, a sign Senate leaders saw her as a rising star.
In past elections, Taylor was a tenacious campaigner. But not this time. She never responded to repeated requests for an interview with Milwaukee Magazine.Even her supporters confess disappointment.
“I don’t see what I would hope would be a more visible and vigorous campaign,” says County Supervisor Gerry Broderick, a Taylor backer.
One theory is that Taylor was reluctantly persuaded to run by Gov. Jim Doyle. A challenge to Walker chips away at his image and forces him to draw down his campaign war chest, which he could otherwise conserve for another gubernatorial run in 2010. Taylor, meanwhile, won’t lose her Senate seat (which she can still run for in the fall) and gets a boost in her public profile.
Taylor is a passionate advocate for change, says political consultant Jeff Fleming. But, he adds, “It’s easy to
have an opinion, a lot harder to solve
the problems.”
Taylor got flack for voting against a permanent fix to the Milwaukee school choice funding formula, which would have funneled more state aid to the city. She was also criticized for siding with the police union to water down a bill to cut pay to Milwaukee cops who are fired.
“She doesn’t pay attention to details, just doesn’t seem to be prepared or know the rules or strategy,” complains one fellow Milwaukee Democrat. Her show horse style of legislating has won her the nickname “Tinhorn Taylor” among some Capitol peers.
Ironically, Walker was also known as a self-promoter in his days in the legislature,
where he served in the Assembly for a decade before riding the pension scandal to election as county executive in 2002. His anti-tax message has given him strong support in the suburbs.
“He is credited with good fiscal management and reining in county spending,” says Supervisor Joe Rice, a Walker supporter.
But opponents say his constant harping on taxes has gotten stale. “He’s a one-trick pony,” charges Broderick. Walker, say critics, has decimated the parks system, ignored further abuses of the pension fund, and failed to compromise on regional transportation, the latter stance even disappointing his supporters in the business community.
Meanwhile, Walker has given every sign he’s not that interested in the job.
In 2002, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinelhe couldn’t see himself running for a second four-year term as county executive in 2008. “I certainly didn’t grow up wanting to be county executive.”
At age 40, Walker is anxious to rise higher. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006 and has hinted he might run again in 2010. Meanwhile, he has said he “could be” interested in running for the seat of 15-term U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, and has suggested his fellow Republican is getting too old for the job. “The only way he’s leaving the House is in a wooden box,” Walker lamented.
All of which leaves two candidates running for a position they’re not very excited about winning.
This should have been the most important local race of the year, a chance to consider how to fix the county’s endless problems. Instead, as Rome burns, the candidates fiddle, and the citizens are left with little discussion of how to put out the fire.
