This was the year everything was supposed to change but hardly anything did.
Barack Obama took the reins as president with an ambitious agenda, virtually all components of which - from closing Guantanamo to reforming the health care system - remain unrealized. The nation's economic hemorrhaging gave signs of abating, but genuine recovery remains elusive.
In place of progress, we seemed to enter a phase of national regression: birthers and teabaggers and Glenn Beck. Opportunistic partisans had a field day exploiting the ignorance of the masses. The quote of the year, from a town hall meeting on health care: "Keep your government hands off my Medicare!"
In Wisconsin, Democrats led both legislative houses with a Democratic governor in office for the first time since 1986. They proceeded to make sweeping gains in job creation, education, the environment, campaign finance reform, progressive taxation and budget reform - not!
On the local level, big decisions were made - to approve a Regional Transit Authority for Dane County, a new Central Library for Madison, and a whopping subsidy for a rebuilt Edgewater Hotel. But the import and wisdom of each remain unclear - as does the fate of the Edgewater project. Meantime, modern Madison's emblems include the hole in the ground where Hilldale Theater once stood and the vacant lot that was to be the grand Union Corners development.
2009 was like a trailer for years yet to come: The eventual release could be a masterpiece or it could be a stinker. Right now, it's impossible to tell.
Still, enough has happened to let Isthmus once again deliver its year-end Cheap Shot awards for public ignominy and, in rarer measure, virtue. Sit back as we reprise the year that coulda, shoulda, woulda, wasn't.
Going Out with a Whimper Award: Jim Doyle
Having raided every available state fund to avoid raising taxes, our only governor announced plans to exit just as the house of cards is about to collapse. (He realized "a governor should limit him or herself to two terms" - after raising $2 million for a third-term run.) Then he offered an acidly lukewarm assessment ("she's been quite visible") of his lieutenant governor, Barbara Lawton, who quite frankly stood by him more than she should have. Maybe that's true of Wisconsin as well. One more year.
Most Mysterious Politician: Barb Lawton
After years of positioning herself to run for governor, declaring her intention to do so, picking a campaign team and raising money, Wisconsin's lieutenant governor channels Emily Litella with a statewide "Never mind." But instead of trotting out the excuse used since Grok decided not to challenge Oorg ("spend more time with family"), Lawton declares it's for "very personal reasons" that do not include her health or her marriage. What better way to stop speculation and put the matter to rest? Either Lawton is the most inept bower-outer ever, or she's trying to tantalize. We're tantalized.
Lying Hypocrite of the Year: Michael Gableman
The most recent inductee into Wisconsin's once-honorable Supreme Court isn't a great legal mind or even especially qualified. But he got elected in 2008 with big-time help from big business and a campaign ad falsely suggesting his opponent found a loophole to let a child molester re-offend. Faced with a Judicial Commission complaint, he argued that the deliberately misleading ad couldn't be punished because its component parts were true. In other words, noted one judge who recommended tossing the charges, he found a loophole! Here's a 100% true statement: Justice Gableman is a disgrace.
'Kick Me' Sign Award: Dawn Marie Sass
There's a great moment in the film The Paper where a disgraced public servant asks the reporter who ruined him, "Why me?" The reporter, played by gap-toothed Randy Quaid, replies matter-of-factly, "Hey, you work for the city. It was your turn." That reporters live for such opportunities did not keep Sass, Wisconsin's state treasurer, from attending fancy conferences while office workloads piled up, hiring family members after blowouts depleted her staff, and firing her deputy for his hiring picks(!). Did she think the media here have more important things to do?
Wisconsin 'Out' Republican of the Year: J.B. Van Hollen
No, our attorney general isn't gay (not that there's anything wrong with that). But he does seem to have come out of the closet, staking out ideological positions some feared and others hoped he would. Last year it was his failed bid to advance a GOP-led voter-suppression effort. This year he affirmed the right of Wisconsin residents to openly carry firearms (great idea, that) and refused to defend the state's domestic partnership registry against a legal challenge. He's up for reelection in 2010 and probably thinks these things will help. He's probably right.
Most Dubious Claim: John Scocos
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the secretary of Wisconsin's Department of Veterans Affairs really did get a raw deal when he was fired in November on a 5-0 vote by his governing board. Let's even assume the board, as he says, had "a political agenda" to remove him. It's still a stretch for him to blame it on his recent yearlong tour of duty in Iraq: "That's what I get for serving my country and coming back." Really? He was doing a swell job but the veterans board went after him for being a veteran? Either this board is really sinister or Scocos' take is unreliable. He's filed a lawsuit, so maybe we'll find out.
Double-Cross Artists of the Year: Wisconsin Family Action
In 2006, when pushing a state constitution amendment to ban same-sex marriage and anything "substantially similar," this pack of right-wing ideologues hastened to assure voters that the change would not jeopardize domestic partner benefits for gay couples. Group president Julaine Appling even called this concern a "smokescreen." This summer, the group sued to ax the state's new domestic partnership registry, which it now deems "virtually identical" to marriage. Talk about a fundamental lack of honesty!
Largest Credibility Gap: Linda Bunnell
This now-former UW-Stevens Point chancellor last February drove her state car into a parked vehicle in Madison, then fled the scene. She later told the Associated Press, "I wish I hadn't broken the law, but I can't say that's a regret." Bunnell admitted she'd ordered three drinks but claimed she drank only one. Seriously, what sort of Wisconsinite would do a thing like that?
Sacredest Cow: Alcohol Consumption
We in Weshconshon love to drink, and often then to drive, or boat, or snowmobile, or hunt. No one has a higher tolerance for alcohol abuse. It took a special session to pass a modest toughening of drunk driving laws, but we're still the only state in which first-offense DUI is not a crime. A bill this year to raise the beer tax by a few pennies per brew got about the same reception as a heckler in church; the Legislature even balked at hiking the liquor tax. And bills to curb drinking by bartenders or by kids with their parents at bars never even came up for a vote. We'll drink to that.
Luckiest Break: Tom Barrett
Yes, this award title is meant as a pun, and it's a groaner. But hey: If you're going to shatter your hand while being beaten with a lead pipe, it's best to do this by punching the guy who's beating you. Better still is if you've just come to the aid of a grandmother in peril, a heroic intervention that draws national attention and a shout-out from Barack Obama. And best of all is if you're the mayor of Milwaukee on the cusp of announcing a bid for governor. Cue the theme music from Rocky.
Dumbest Political Attack: Mark Vivian
This one-time mayor of Fitchburg was hoping to become a two-timer, in the spring elections. Thus he dashed off a fundraising letter accusing his rival, Fitchburg Ald. Jay Allen, of backing folks with "known ties to an organization identified on the U.S. Federal Government list of domestic terrorist groups." This referred to Food, Not Bombs, a group whose inclusion on a lone FBI speaker's list of names that might appeal to terrorists (not known terrorists) inspired ridicule. So did Vivian's despicable tactic; he came out of the race a loser, in more ways than one.
Throwback of the Year: Bishop Morlino
By now, we've come to expect Madison's bishop to be a fount of small-mindedness, like providing cover for a school whose graduates have raped and killed nuns and priests, or blaming sexual misconduct by clergy on public acceptance of birth control. This year he fired a popular church worker in Beloit, allegedly for supporting gender equality. He installed a claque of right-wing priests in Sauk City who ban brides from wearing sleeveless gowns and quiz young boys about masturbation. He abruptly closed a social services center on Madison's south side, which others then rallied to reopen. And he wants to keep church workers from getting mandated coverage for contraception in their health-care plans. Talk about doing unto others!
In the Interest of Justice Award: Patrick Fiedler
It's long been apparent that Madison resident Forest Shomberg was falsely convicted of a 2002 sexual assault based on highly questionable eyewitness IDs. But the state Supreme Court, under fire for its pro-defense rulings in other cases, upheld his conviction, and it seemed likely that Fiedler, the law-and-order Dane County judge who found Shomberg guilty, would do the same. But presented with new evidence unearthed by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, he ordered Shomberg's release after six years in prison; and the DA's office opted not to retry. For once, the justice system seemed focused on justice. Hooray for that.
Injustice Award: Ralph Armstrong
This former Madison resident has always claimed he did not rape and kill a UW student in 1980. And despite his scary appearance and prior sexual assault convictions, there's always been reason to believe him. In 2005, the state Supreme Court overturned his conviction, citing new DNA evidence. Last July, a judge tossed the charges, because a Dane County prosecutor violated a court order, causing the destruction of evidence, and suppressed word that Armstrong's now-late brother had confessed to the crime. Now authorities in New Mexico have revoked Armstrong's parole, saying his 29 years behind bars are not punishment enough for violating his parole by drinking and taking drugs in 1980. Armstrong may be a creep, but his oppressors don't look much better.
Most Valuable Player, Justice Division: Wisconsin Innocence Project
This UW Law School offshoot, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, has managed to overturn more than a dozen wrongful convictions. In February, it freed former Milwaukee resident Robert Lee Stinson, 44, who spent most of his life in prison due largely to fraudulent bite-mark analysis. And it helped overturn the convictions of Ralph Armstrong and Forest Shomberg. The justice system has a hard time admitting its mistakes; thank goodness the Innocence Project is often able to help. {Note: The Innocence Project filed a friend of the court brief on Armstrong's behalf but he was represented by attorneys Jerry Buting and Barry Scheck.]
Jack-Booted Government Thugs of the Year: Madison Police
Yes, Madison's finest are generally very enlightened and community-focused and blah blah blah. Here's how that played out on Oct. 21: The cops, responding to an anonymous tip that a man was (gasp!) growing marijuana in his apartment, showed up to question him. The man darted back inside, so the cops broke down his door and shot and killed his pit bull when it attacked, which is pretty much what you'd want a dog to do in this situation. Is breaking down doors without warrants over pot plants what we want our cops to be doing? Not so much.
Same Old Same Old Award: Kathleen Falk
The Dane County executive is starting to feel like a comfortable pair of slippers. Sure there's been some wear and tear, but who can bear to throw her out? Falk's challenger in the spring election, Nancy Mistele, huffed and puffed and blew her chances, which were never that great. Fact is, folks 'round here like Kathleen. Always have. Reckon they always will.
Blogger Dude of the Year: Dave Cieslewicz Most Baffling Trend: Downtown Madison Hotel Mania Last Laugh Award: Brett Favre In Memoriam Midge Miller: The former state rep and peace activist, who died in April at age 86, was dynamic, principled and remarkably effective; her accomplishments include co-founding the National Women's Political Caucus. As Stu Levitan wrote in an Isthmus tribute, Miller "didn't come to Madison to change the world, but that's what she ended up doing." Linda Farley: The Madison-area family physician was, like her husband, Gene, a tireless and courageous advocate for universal health care. She died in June at age 80, just as the federal government began taking up the cause of comprehensive health care reform. Of course, more advocacy is needed, so it's good she showed how it's done. Dwayne B. Warren: This mentally ill homeless man was not the sort of person whose passing usually draws notice. But Warren's death of natural causes at age 38 - he was found on a Capitol park bench in June - made an impact, as people remembered his kindness and decency. Velma Fern Bell Hamilton: She was a trailblazer, as Madison's first African American teacher and the first president of the Madison NAACP. Madison was where she lived most of her life, and where a middle school is named in her honor. She died in July in Atlanta, at age 99. Irwin Goodman: The Madison jeweler, together with his brother Robert, operated Goodman's Jewelers on State Street for 61 years, and gave millions to local philanthropic causes, including the Goodman Pool and Atwood (now Goodman) Community Center. He died in August at age 94, a real jewel of a man. John Stanley: Dane County's coroner, who died Sept. 13 at age 63, used to talk about the origin of his profession, in the 12th century England. The corouner was a representative of the crown, charged with keeping records and rooting out corruption. Stanley took seriously his responsibility, to the living and the dead, to give a true accounting. Clarence Kailin: Kailin's life, including the two years he spent fighting fascism in 1930s Spain, could and probably should be made into a film (indie, not studio). Until his death this October at age 95, Kailin stood up for ordinary people, against bigotry, militarism and oppression. He was fortunate to have his legacy acknowledged while he was still alive. Now it's up to others to keep it going.
When it comes to speaking and writing, Madison's mayor is no Barack Obama, but he ain't bad. (Plus, unlike Obama, he has the pronunciation of "Cieslewicz" down pat.) This year he launched
The hotel business is hurting; the city's room-tax revenues fell $1.5 million in 2009, and lower revenues are projected into next year. So why exactly is there a huge rush to build new hotels? The Hammes Co.'s embattled $93 million makeover of the Edgewater would add 83 rooms. Apex Enterprises is eyeing a $100 million, 300-room hotel linked to Monona Terrace. Hyatt is building a 151-roomer on West Wash. There's talk of expanding the Hilton. And guess what Fiore Co. plans on the site of the old Central Library when a new library is built? A 140-room hotel! Give it a rest, people. We can even recommend a few clean, well-lighted and currently vacant rooms.
After pulling what he's pulled before, No. 4 got shown the door, so he ended up playing for whatever teams would have him. Was there something more unthinkable than seeing him in a Minnesota Vikings' jersey? Yes - seeing him booed at Lambeau Field. The fans failed to show a little class, and Favre rubbed their noses in it, beating his old team twice in one of his all-time best seasons - so far. Once upon a time, Green Bay had the best fans and the best quarterback. Now, let's just say there's a need for some rebuilding.
