Doug La Follette (left), Matt Flynn and Paul Soglin
By the end of this week, the Democrats running for statewide office will have filed their nomination papers and the field will be set. They’ll also take a turn on the podium at the state party’s convention on Friday in Oshkosh. The tone they set there will be an indication of the kind of campaigns they’ll run the rest of the way.
It’s a tough assignment, because they have to channel the outrage Democrats are feeling about Donald Trump and Scott Walker while also appealing to liberal activists’ inherent desire to hear a call for hope and positive change.
But what won’t work on Friday (or on the first Tuesday in November) is arrogance.
Donald Trump’s corrosive impact on public discourse has even seeped into the Democratic primaries in Wisconsin. Let’s hope Democrats don’t think that their candidates need to descend into Trumpian attitudes in order to win elections.
Three prominent Democrats running for statewide office have shown stunning flashes of arrogance worthy of the Orange One. Let’s take them one by one, starting with Secretary of State Doug La Follette. La Follette is annoyed that he is being challenged in a primary by Arvina Martin, a Madison alder. La Follette called her candidacy a “nuisance.” So was La Follette himself just a nuisance back in 1982 when he took on incumbent Vel Phillips? La Follette, 77, has held the office for 39 of the last 43 years and watched helplessly as its responsibilities have been taken away. To put it gently, he should be open to the argument that maybe it’s time for a change. Instead, he’s taken the arrogant position that after nearly four decades in office and a track record of steady failure in defending his own job responsibilities, he should not even be burdened with the inconvenience of a primary challenge.
Let’s move on to gubernatorial candidate Matt Flynn, 71. Flynn was actually running a pretty decent campaign for a while. Then he went to file his nomination papers and was asked a question he didn’t like. Reporters asked if he would consider dropping out of the race, as suggested by Women’s March Wisconsin, because of what they believe was his over-aggressive treatment of the victims of priests accused of sexual misconduct. Flynn defended the Milwaukee Archdiocese as it fought lawsuits resulting from the scandal. Flynn's response? “Go jump in the lake.” Now, for one thing, that’s a phrase that I last heard from my grandmother in reference to Richard Nixon. But more to the point, it’s aggressively dismissive of a valid question. Flynn made it worse by going on about how important the Judeo-Christian tradition was in American democracy, as if that had anything to do with it. He should have just said that everyone deserves their day in court and left it at that. But now he has somehow elevated keeping pedophiles out of prison to the status of defending a pillar of Western democracy. In any event, before Democrats vote for Flynn, he has to come clean about exactly what his role was. He can’t just move to dismiss the evidence.
And finally, there’s Madison mayor and gubernatorial candidate Paul Soglin, 73. In a recent Isthmus cover story, Soglin told reporter Dylan Brogan two things. First, he’s going to win the Democratic nomination and then the governor’s office. Second, he doesn’t have to lift a finger to do either. Soglin admits that he’s doing nothing except showing up at some forums and maintaining his robust travel schedule — to conferences out of state. While other candidates crisscross the state, raise money, meet with voters and listen to their concerns and hopes, Soglin will just sit back and watch the votes pour in. He apparently believes that he can win simply by declaring himself a winner. Very Trumpian.
These guys are all in their 70s, but I don’t have any trouble with age itself. I love Joe Biden, 75, and I hope he runs for president. I hope Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, stays on the court for as long as she possibly can. And every time State Sen. Fred Risser, 91, has gotten a primary challenge, he didn’t whine about what an inconvenience it was. He tied on his walking shoes, hit thousands of doors, and blew away every opponent.
But arrogance is a disagreeable trait in anyone, and it’s even less attractive in men who could otherwise be elder statesmen. Democrats should reward candidates who campaign cheerfully, work hard and answer tough questions that have a right to be asked. And if Democratic voters reward that in the August primaries, they’re much more likely to be rewarded with the big prizes come November.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to correct the year in which Doug La Follette defeated Vel Phillips. It was 1982, not 1978.