Eight Democrats running for governor square off in Milwaukee debate.
Televised debate also hits on taxes, prisons
In their first televised debate, Democrats running for governor on Thursday railed against the $4 billion incentive package put together by GOP Gov. Scott Walker to bring Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group to Wisconsin.
“The governor does not know what he’s doing,” said Madison Mayor Paul Soglin. “I’d like to know what he was smoking when he negotiated this deal. In China they’re laughing at us.”
Many of the others described the deal in similarly dire terms, with former state Democratic Party Chairman Matt Flynn calling the deal one that was the result of “criminal negligence.” He said he would bring a lawsuit to get the state out of the arrangement.
“Obviously, Scott Walker sold the farm on that issue,” said state Schools Superintendent Tony Evers.
The winner of the eight-way Aug. 14 primary will go on to face Walker, who is seeking a third term this fall.
Many of the candidates said they favored cutting the prison population in half to save money and make the state more just.
“We’re spending an ocean of money. It is bankrupting us morally and financially,” former state Rep. Kelda Roys of Madison said.
Mahlon Mitchell, the head of the statewide firefighters union, said as an African-American he is acutely aware of racial disparities in Wisconsin in criminal justice and other areas.
“When you talk about criminal justice reform, it doesn’t escape me that I’m raising two black kids in the worst state to do so,” Mitchell said.
Seven of the eight candidates — all but Evers — said they would support making the state’s technical colleges and two-year colleges tuition-free.
Flynn has been asked by activists and two Democratic lawmakers to drop out of the race because of his work defending the Archdiocese of Milwaukee during its scandal over pedophile priests. Flynn said he helped put in place systems that would prevent future abuse and said he was being hit by elites within his party who were regurgitating GOP attacks.
“I will not tolerate in the Democratic Party, which I was the chairman of, people fragging their commanding officers from behind,” said Flynn, a Navy veteran who invoked a military metaphor.
Flynn noted he defended the archdiocese, not accused priests. He declined to say whether he would have represented an accused priest if asked.
Liberal activist Mike McCabe said he would cut the state’s sales tax from 5% to 4.5% but would apply it to more goods and services.
He argued the wealthy don’t pay their share of taxes. The state doesn’t need new taxes but “we sure as heck have to make sure people pay the ones we’ve got,” he said.
State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout of Alma called for letting local governments set up regional transit authorities that would allow them to generate local taxes to pay for buses and other forms of mass transit.
“It needs to be done all across the state,” she said.
Attorney and political newcomer Josh Pade tried to position himself as an outsider, saying, “For me, I don’t see myself as a politician.”
Just before the debate, Walker gathered with supporters at a campaign office in Glendale, where he warned that this election would be tougher than his 2012 recall race — and urged them to help him win over voters.
“They’re going to tell you what and who they’re against, because their rhetoric is increasingly not only becoming more and more dangerously liberal — they’re increasingly talking with rhetoric that is filled with more and more anger and hatred,” he said.
He called on the crowd to help him counter Democrats’ message with “optimism and with organization.”
Walker again touted his tax cuts, recent spending on education, the UW System tuition freeze and the state’s low unemployment rate.
This summer, Walker and GOP lawmakers provided a one-time tax rebate of $100 per dependent child. Roys said her family did not apply for the tax break because she saw it as a gimmick.
An array of issues were covered, but not by all the candidates. For instance, Flynn discussed his support for legalizing marijuana for recreational use, but other candidates who support that idea did not have a chance to talk about it.
At one stage, the candidates asked each other questions — and chose dramatically different topics.
Evers pressed Flynn on whether he would pledge to treat people with respect after saying his critics should jump in a lake. Pade, by contrast, asked Roys if she could discuss her support for abortion and access to birth control — an opportunity she happily took.
The Democrats have met numerous times at small gatherings around the state for months, but Thursday’s debate at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee’s Mainstage Theatre was their first before a statewide audience.
But their ability to get their message to voters was complicated by technical and logistical problems that prevented reporters covering the debate from seeing and hearing parts of it. Reporters were not allowed in the debate hall and live feeds in two rooms reserved for reporters at times did not play.