Big bets, unproven aspirants
Christian Schneider
Prior to enactment of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913, becoming a U.S. senator was more about who you knew than your qualifications. With state legislatures primarily in charge of picking senators, candidates were typically hand-chosen in back rooms by wealthy party bosses who often held state lawmakers in their money-stained hands. After a bribery scandal involving Sen. William Lorimer of Illinois, Americans decided they had had enough, and progressives successfully pushed through the direct election constitutional amendment.
Of course, in 2018, the system of voters picking their senators is still going strong. But as the public’s thirst for “outsiders” has risen, so too has the influence of wealthy donors who are now hand-picking candidates to run in partisan primaries.
Traditionally, Senate hopefuls paid their dues in lower levels of government, learning the issues important to voters and how to speak about those topics publicly. But in the era of multimillion-dollar Super PACs, inexperienced candidates can simply attach themselves to a wealthy donor’s checkbook and instantly be taken seriously.
Take 40-year old Republican Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson, a businessman and former Marine who is making his first run for public office. Over a year ago, Illinois-based mega-donor Richard Uihlein donated $2 million to a PAC supporting Nicholson, granting the former Democrat instant credibility in the Republican primary and potentially pushing other candidates out of the race.
So far, Nicholson’s on-the-job training has been cringeworthy. Last November, trying to burnish his Trumpian credentials, he ripped Speaker of the House Paul Ryan for having a “light footprint” in Wisconsin. This week, Nicholson questioned the “cognitive thought process” of military veterans who voted for Democrats, implying military service was an inherently “conservative” endeavor.
Any candidate who had been elected to public office before would know that rule No. 1 of campaigns is “don’t question the mental functions of veterans.” But Nicholson has doubled down on his gaffe.
Nicholson is the mirror image of congressional candidate Randy “Iron Stache” Bryce, a Democrat seeking House Speaker Paul Ryan’s seat, which he will exit at the end of the year. As soon as Bryce announced his quirky mustachebased campaign last year, wealthy Hollywood celebrities swooped in to help him raise nearly $5 million.
But Bryce’s big-money coronation has also run into trouble. Earlier reports showed he had been late on child support payments and stiffed a former girlfriend out of thousands of dollars before a court ordered him to pay it back. This week, Vice News reported that Bryce wasn’t exactly destitute when he refused to fulfill his obligations. Vice also found that Bryce had claimed an endorsement from several national political figures that denied they ever backed him.
It is true that in the fall of 2018, it will be voters who pick their new senators and representatives. But it is also true that the candidates they have to choose from will be the byproduct of a primary process distorted by large donors who bet too big, too soon.
Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email christian.schneider@jrn.com