Careful readers of YSDA may have noted that in last Friday’s Quote & Quiz we may have created the impression that we thought the Super Bowl was yesterday as opposed to when it is, which is next Sunday. A reader would have gotten that impression only because we thought the Super Bowl was scheduled for yesterday.
Now that we’ve got that cleared up let’s catch up on other developments from last week.
Phillips on the ballot. He’s not likely to win anything else, but Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who is waging a quixotic primary challenge to Pres. Joe Biden, won his fight to get on the April primary ballot here. Last week we argued that Phillips should be on our state’s ballot because Democrats deserved an off ramp should something happen to Biden before April 2nd, that something being anything from a medical incident to continued awful poll numbers. This otherwise bitterly divided court ruled unanimously that, as a matter of law, Phillips met the standards (basically, national media recognition) to be on the ballot. I certainly hope that there are no medical problems with Biden between now and April, but if his poll numbers don’t improve I may vote for Phillips just to register my view that it’s time to look for somebody else.
How to disagree without being disagreeable. Also last week that same state Supreme Court agreed to take up a case that challenges the Legislature’s ability to veto land conservation projects selected by the DNR under the state’s Stewardship Program. In contrast to the Phillips decision, that vote was 4-3 along ideological lines. But there was a big difference in tone among the conservative dissenters. Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote, “When the majority’s political allies say jump, the new majority responds: ‘How high?’” In contrast, Justice Brian Hagedorn agreed with the liberals that the case was important but questioned taking it directly rather than have facts established through proceedings in lower courts first. “A decision in this case could occasion a historic shift — both in the operation of state government, and in how this court interprets the boundary lines between the branches of government,” Hagedorn wrote. “Thoughtful lower court decisions usually improve the clarity of our work by framing the arguments and telling the parties what worked and what didn’t.” I might disagree with Hagedorn’s ideological tilt, but he has the right judicial tone.
We want to be transparent, but we won’t talk to you. The Wisconsin State Journal ran a piece yesterday giving further background on the three candidates for Madison schools superintendent. None would talk to the paper. For a district that has struggled with transparency that’s a big problem. Since none of the three would talk, it suggests that they were told or advised not to engage with the press by the district or by the school board itself. And if they weren’t it indicates that none of them feel comfortable talking to reporters who might ask challenging questions. This is a school district that was forced into firing its longtime spokesperson, Tim LeMonds, for not only his cold shoulder to the press but for his actual abuse of reporters and his own staff. Aside from that, the backgrounder backed up our impressions from last week. How Mohammed Choudhury made the cut is beyond me. In his previous post in Maryland he was accused of berating employees and creating a toxic work environment, exactly the kinds of things that got LeMonds fired.
Phil’s had enough. Finally, in an exclusive YSDA interview with the legendary Punxsutawney Phil, the prognosticating Pennsylvania groundhog expressed his frustration with the whole Groundhog’s Day spectacle. “It’s really getting out of hand,” Phil said. “I mean just at a time when real climatologists using real data are telling us the world’s going to hell, everybody wants to make a big deal out of this little sham. Six weeks more winter? Early spring? Who gives a crap? And what’s my shadow got to do with it anyway? Anybody noticed that in large swaths of the nation there hasn’t been hardly any winter at all? Up where you are in Wisconsin they didn’t even open the snowmobile trails in Vilas County once this year. Not for one freakin’ day. And I noticed events in your neck of the woods out on Lake Mendota were cancelled ’cause the ice is paper thin. Yeah, I read. I read a lot. When a guy works for a couple hours one morning a year, he’s got a lot of time on his hands. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Strong El Nino year and all that. Bullshit. It’s human-caused climate change. Got nothing to do with me or my ilk. Human–caused. Get it? I mean what the hell’s the matter with you people anyway?”
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 