This is an excerpt from a column posted at BizOpinion.
A source close to the toy industry has once again leaked a copy of Santa’s perks list for Wisconsin politicians and newsmakers. Here’s what the good boys and girls in Madison and Washington will reportedly find in their stockings this Christmas. But they better not pout and they better not cry if an alert district attorney asks why gifts were delivered down chimneys after midnight.
Gov. Scott Walker – Let’s see, what to get the governor who has everything? How about speculative national press about his 2016 presidential stock? Nope, he’s got that. A 2014 re-election opponent who can be tarred as a “Madison elite” in third-party ads? No, Walker’s got that, too. How about a bold economic development plan that stiff-arms the old guard and embraces the new? Now, there’s a gift that keeps on giving – to the state of Wisconsin.
Democratic candidate for governor Mary Burke – She’s a woman with business credentials (Trek Bicycle) and government experience as state Commerce secretary and as a member of the Madison School Board. Beating an incumbent is never easy, however, and doing so requires creating electricity and excitement. Burke’s gift: A copy of “Let The People Decide,” a book by Bill Kraus about Lee Dreyfus and his long-shot, but wildly entertaining, 1978 campaign for governor. Politics can’t be all Castor oil.
The UW Board of Regents – “Now Falbo, now Farrow, now Millner, you vixen! On Bradley, on Higgins, on Whitburn and 12 more without friction! To the top of the search pile! To the top of Bascom Mall! Let’s hire a UW president acceptable to all.”
