Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

People are flawed and history is relentless. Yesterday’s heroes are today’s oppressors. And activists are unforgiving. Taking a person’s full contributions into account and balancing those against his mistakes and even outright misdeeds is not something that’s in fashion in today’s hyper-polarized society. I wrote about that a few years ago when Madison’s James MadisonContinue reading “Don’t Name Schools After People”

Bipartisanship isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. Take Assembly Bill 1034, the legislation that would hand over almost $15 million in taxpayer money every year to the UW Athletic Department. The bill passed yesterday on a “bipartisan” vote, but there’s nothing good about this cross aisle cooperation. Here’s what happened. The bill was aContinue reading “The Fix Was In on the Badger Bailout”

Do you want your tax dollars to help pay Luke Fickell’s salary? That’s essentially the question before the state Senate this week. A couple weeks ago I wrote about an awful bill in the Legislature which would hand over $14.6 million in our tax dollars to fix a hole in the UW Athletic Department’s budgetContinue reading “Fight the NIL Give Away”

Mandela Barnes has hit on a good issue, even if he did so in a clumsy sort of way. Last week, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said that he would only appoint Public Service Commission members who would pledge never to increase utility rates. That specific proposal is a bad idea because sometimes rate increases areContinue reading “Barnes’ PSC Idea Should Spark Debate”

I’m grateful to have any choice at all. Usually, members of the Madison school board run for reelection unopposed. But this cycle both incumbents who are up for reelection have opponents. That’s the good news. There is some additional good news in that each of the challengers seems smart, capable and committed. But while I’mContinue reading “Little Choice for Madison School Board”

Several years ago I recognized that I had a drinking problem. To be specific my problem was that I was an average Wisconsinite. From what I could tell from my observations of family, friends and the Badger nation at large, I was actually on the light side of local consumption. But it’s all relative andContinue reading “The Proper Uses of Alcohol”

I have amazing powers of prediction. I can tell you who the next two Wisconsin Supreme Court justices will be. Next month Chris Taylor will defeat Maria Lazar by about ten points. Then a year from now Clark County Circuit Court Judge Lyndsey Brunette will replace Annette Ziegler, who announced her retirement yesterday. Here’s howContinue reading “More of the Same Coming to Supreme Court”

As a center-left Democrat, I don’t often look to Texas for good news. Mostly what we get out of the Lone Star State are hard-right gun and God (in that order) worshiping cowboys. But even the Democrats aren’t often my cup of tea. Rep. Al Green, who has made it his signature move to yellContinue reading “This is How Democrats Win”

Maia Pearson, the chair of Madison’s police oversight board and a Madison school board member, has been charged with criminal misdemeanors related to her resisting arrest in an incident in downtown Madison in December. In a criminal complaint, it is alleged that she and her friend, Urban Triage executive director Brandi Grayson, verbally abused staffContinue reading “The Wrong Investigation”

The other day Gov. Tony Evers introduced a state constitutional amendment that would ban partisan gerrymandering. That was a curious thing in a variety of ways. First off, why now? The Assembly has already gone home to campaign for reelection and the Senate has only one more day of session planned. This isn’t going anywhere.Continue reading “Evers’ Good Idea is DOA”