Results;
Wisconsin Conservative Digest Survey
by Bob Dohnal, Publisher
Wisconsin Conservative Digest
Widigest.com
July 16, 2006
The results are in from the latest Digest survey. Surveys were
sent out to GOP leaders, members of the Heritage Foundation, subscribers
to Human Events and other miscellaneous leaders throughout the state. Returns
came
from throughout the state about evenly, not just from the Milwaukee area.
The questions were about current events and Conservative leaders. We
wanted to find out how the people felt about these issues that are not
fairly addressed in the mainstream media.
1. Should we immediately withdraw from Iraq?
There have been several referendums on this issue plus the President
is supposed to be wildly unpopular on this issue so that I expected pretty
much of a split on this question. I was wrong — 95 percent of the respondents
wanted us to stay the course.
2. Should we mandate the use of 10 percent ethanol blended gasoline in
our cars throughout the state?
Everyone has sure tuned in on this issue. Seventy-four percent of the
respondents said no.
3. Should Mitchell Airport be turned over to a non-elected commission
to operate?
These un-elected groups have had a poor record of running things
in this area, look at MMSD and others, so I was a little surprised that
some respondents backed the idea — 72 percent were opposed, with a lot
of people abstaining because they were not up on the issue.
4. Should we have a minimum markup on gasoline at the pump?
Sen. Tom Reynolds and others worked hard to eliminate this requirement
in the statutes, but were unsuccessful at the last minute due to heavy
lobbying from the oil industry — 91 percent opposed the minimum markup
law, many in any form.
5. The SAGE program is a program that lowers class sizes in low income
areas. The question was, whether or not we should put more money
into SAGE so that we can enlarge the CHOICE program in low income areas?
The teachers union has been successful in telling everyone that lower
class sizes means better results, even though testing does not bring
that out. Support for SAGE received a positive vote of 35 percent — 65
percent were opposed to putting more money into SAGE.
6. Rate Jim Sensenbrenner, poor, good or excellent.
Since Sensenbrenner has been
involved in many contentious issues the last year, I thought he might
get some bad marks from people in this area, but only four percent gave
him a poor while 83 percent gave him an excellent.
7. Rate Sen. Tom Reynolds, poor, good or excellent.
The same with Sen.
Tom Reynolds. He has been heavily attacked by both the special interest
for his votes against the automatic tax on gas, the ethanol mandate and
the minimum markup laws amongst others. Spivak and Bice, the left wing
loonies from the Milwaukee Journal have strongly made vicious, personal
smears against Reynolds and his family, mainly because Dan Bice is strongly
opposed to any Christians that are also conservative. We figured that
this would show up in Reynolds' results. They didn't seem to have any
effect as Reynolds only got a five percent poor rating while receiving
a 70 percent excellent. Remember, some people will never rate other politicians
as excellent, reserving those only for the Ronald Reagans of this world.
It is obvious that no one would beat Reynolds in a primary as the Conservatives
are strongly behind him.
The issues are shaping up in the state and it looks like it is going
to be a very hot and close election. The incumbent, Gov. Jim Doyle is
not liked very well, especially by his own liberal base. But the alternative
to him is a Conservative Republican so expect liberals to fall in line
in the voting booth. The teachers union, the casinos, and the trial lawyers
love Doyle so they are
going to do everything possible to elect him.
Ethics are shaping up as
a prime issues due to the recent convictions of a variety of politicos
from both sides of the aisle and the failures of the legislature to pass
any meaningful reforms. It appears that Mark Green is squeaky clean on
this issue while Doyle has been logrolling for four years on every major
issue.
On taxes, the vote is mixed with the GOP pushing various reforms that
have not been passed, like TPA/TABOR. But they did pass a property tax
freeze that Doyle vetoed. Historically the GOP has had this issue to
themselves as the liberals have been so eager to raise government spending,
and even the sales tax which hits their core constituency the hardest.
The government employees and teachers union are demanding bigger salaries,
more benefits, and better pensions, at the same time that these thing
have almost disappeared from the private sector. Advantage GOP.
Immigration will be in the mix as will be the whole sportsmen/gun control
argument as Doyle is a known supporter of all kinds of controls and basically
hates sportsmen. To him and the Sierra Club, hiking and canoeing are
great, but not hooks or bullets. Advantage GOP.
The ethanol mandate will surface again. Doyle is for it, Green is muddy
on this issue.
After Scott Walker gracefully bowed out of the gubernatorial race some
Conservatives were attacking Mark Green as a RINO, but not so. Green
is a solid believer in conservative spending and taxing if we are going
to build jobs for our kids and keep our seniors here instead of fleeing
south. Conservatives will vote for Green in force, we just have to make
sure that they all get out to vote.
Gaylord Nelson once told me that in this state any solid Republican and
Democrat would each get 45 percent of the vote, the battle is for the
10 percent that bounce around on various issues. Some people think that
those people are all moderates, but not true. They often have a variety
of beliefs and questions that really defy categorization. Many times,
like in 1996, the election is decided by who decides to come out and
vote, that is why it is necessary to bring out those people.
In the case of the democrats, they have the nutty fringe that want to
preserve every tree, eliminate God from the world, and are Socialists.
It's hard to keep them happy, so they might run over to the Greens and
vote. In the case of the Republicans, you have to energize the "hook
and bullet" guys
who drive pickups and SUVs, plus your "Right to
Life" groups. The candidates who talk about the things that really
matter to the voters will get them out and win. Those issues are basically
the ones that affect their homes and families, their jobs, their autos,
and their hobbies. If you get caught out in the Netherlands talking about
the gold standard, and other esoteric problems you will go home empty
handed.
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