Well, it’s election season again and the hypocritical political games are afoot.
I’ll forewarn you, this op-ed will not be for the faint of heart. Especially since, I will be calling out some major hypocrisy coming from the Rebecca Kleefisch herself. The gloves are off!
Everybody heard the collective gasp given by the Kleefisch campaign when it was found out that another candidate would dare challenge the ‘inevitability’ of Becky.
It was bad enough that Kevin Nicholson had the audacity to challenge the ‘infinite wisdom’ of the Madison insiders like Robin Vos who are tried to force everyone to clear the field for Kleefisch. But now, Tim Michels entrance into the governor’s race has rocked the Kleefisch campaign plan to the core, and they are very concerned.
The Kleefisch campaign has already spent many months doing everything to get Nicholson out of the way and now they have to do everything to try to derail Michels. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but apparently both Nicholson and Michels didn’t get the ‘memo’ that Kleefisch is ‘inevitable.’ Afterall, some very ‘smart’ Madison elites deemed it so.
The Kleefisch campaign’s strategy on Nicholson was pretty outlandish, but the MIchels strategy is completely unhinged; Let’s ignore Michels, nobody knows him. Oh wait, we can’t do that because of his non-stop media presence.
Let’s try to smear Michels’ wealth and success by attacking his having multiple homes across the country. Oh wait, he paid his taxes and voted in Wisconsin in all but one of the past 10 years.
Let’s try to smear Michels as being a tool of the ‘evil roadbuilder’s because Michels Corporation does some roadbuilding work. Oh wait, roadbuilding is only a fraction Michels Corporation’s business, which has 3500 employees in Wisconsin alone.
Ok, let’s try a positive approach and say Kleefisch is the most qualified candidate to be Governor. Oh wait, Michels helped take his family business from a few hundred employees locally to more than 8000 employees nationwide.
None of those attacks worked.
So, they changed tactics again; let’s say Michels is an insider and Kleefisch is an outsider. Oh wait, Michels has never held public office and she was Lt. Governor for eight years.
To make matters worse, the latest Marquette Poll showed insignificant growth over the past two months. And this was after the Walker endorsement. The Michels entrance into the race has forced her to spend money sooner than expected. She has spent the past couple of weeks desperately trying to redefine herself in order to regain a foothold, and it shows.
Recently she started talking about how the 2020 election was ‘rigged.’ While many Conservatives agree with that assessment, this has fallen on deaf ears. It begs the question, where has she been since November 2020?
When she should have been screaming it from the mountain tops about the election, she has been eerily silent on the issue…until now when she sees her ‘inevitability’ disappearing quickly. People see right through this disingenuous political posturing, and it is clearly not going well.
While Nicholson, Ramthun, and now Michels have been consistently campaigning against the Establishment Madison Elitists and Consultant Class, it seems that Kleefisch felt left out and wanted occupy that lane as well and today published an article in drydenwire.com that attempts to redefine herself, yet again.
In that article, she claims that the ‘Swamp’ doesn’t like her, and she doesn’t like them either. In it she states, ‘Today, twelve years after my first run-in with the Madison snakes and weasels, they are trying to stop me again.’
She was, of course, referring to her 2010 primary campaign where she indeed took on the Madison Elitist ‘Good Old Boy’ network’s candidate and won! This was actually one of the reasons I supported her in the 2010 primary. She went against the establishment grain.
My, what a difference a few years makes in Wisconsin politics.
Fast forward to today, and she has, quite literally, become the grain. She has become the personification of what she now claims to be against.
How can she be against the very Madison ‘snakes and weasels’ who are trying to change the rules and working to clear the field for her? The same ‘snakes and weasels’ groups she highlights when they endorse her campaign. Is it possible lobbying organization and lobbyist are ‘good’ when they support her, but bad if they don’t? Seems like she wants to have her cake and eat it, too.
Let’s not forget, these are the same Madison ‘snakes and weasels’ who failed to deliver major victories in several statewide races. These folks literally have lost every race since 2018. Sure, they won a few before that, but like Aretha Franklin says, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ And now this team of ‘Madison snakes and weasels’ wants us to take their ‘expert’ opinion seriously?
She also says, ‘Brick by brick, we need to take back power from the bureaucrats and lobbyists who run the swamp.’ Seriously? Does she mean take back power from her husband? Yes, that’s right, she is literally married to Madison lobbyist Joel Kleefisch, one of those very lobbyists she pretends to detest.
And Kleefisch herself worked for the Associated Builders & Contractors lobbying organization as a ‘Jobs Czar.’ Were they ‘good’ lobbyists or snakes and weasels? Are her husband or ABC part of the swamp? Seem like fair question since she raised the topic.
And let’s face it, if she detests ‘Madison snakes and weasels’ so much, why not a single complaint about them until now? And yes, I am including her eight years as Lt. Governor where she had a bully pulpit but chose not to use it…EVER!
So, Becky has a problem. She can’t get rid of the other candidates and the notion of her inevitable nomination is now very much in doubt.
I know this op-ed sounds harsh and pulls no punches. This is not an attack on Kleefisch’s “Conservative’ Credentials or ability to govern if she were to prevail. I question her ability to get across the finish line.
I have been in the trenches fighting with her during the Recall, and beyond. Unfortunately, I have also seen her transformation from statesman to politician and it does not suit her well.
I am certain this will tick a few people off, and quite frankly, if she cannot handle some harsh truths from a conservative activist like me, how on earth will she be able to handle what the Democrats throw at her?
I know that the Kleefisch Camp has been incessantly playing the ‘woman’ card and I’m sure they will probably say I am being harsh on her because she’s a woman. I assure you; this has nothing to do with her gender. I have been quite clear that my ‘ideal’ candidate was Rachel Duffy. I’m no biologist, but I’m pretty sure she’s a woman.
We must campaign with integrity, the Democrats will surely lie about whomever wins the primary, the last thing we need is Republicans lying about Republicans, or the establishment ‘Madison snakes and weasels’ stacking the deck in order for their chosen one to win.
Instead her team parroting hyperbolic talking points from organizations like Americans for Prosperity, and is misleading supporters as to who Kleefisch really is.
Perhaps her team should focus on the real Becky, not just the Becky who her campaign team feels will win her the primary. She is NOT anti-establishment, she is NOT passionate about the ‘rigged’ 2020 election, she has NOT turned down any money or support from ‘Madison snakes and weasels.’
In the end, the voters will decide, it’s only fair that they have an honest choice.
