More Post Election Notes and Links

  • Dave Diamond:

    What do Madison progressives and Wal-Mart have in common?
    We’re both inveterate union-busters, according to Nate.

    The AMPS organization, originally established to promote school referenda, and MTI are spinning Marj Passman’s school board defeat as a conspiracy by Isthmus and “anti-teacher” special interests. What made Passman a superior choice, in their minds, is that she’s a retired MTI member teacher who supports developing a statewide lobbying organization (presumably a WEAC-friendly version of WASB) to address the state funding system.

  • TJ Mertz:

    There has been some talk among the AMPS participants about doing retrospective analyses of the recent election and the press coverage of that election. Watch for those in the coming weeks. Retrospective analyses have their place, but there is something to be said for striking while the iron is hot. The Isthmus retrospective published Thursday is certainly hot, as in “liar, liar pants on fire.” This is long, but I think worth doing.
    Titled “Mandate for New Thinking,” Jason Shepard’s latest stretches the truth well past the breaking point.
    Let’s start at the top. The title refers to a mandate but even the Isthmus editors can’t bring themselves to identify what the supposed mandate was for and instead fall back on the meaningless phrase “new thinking.” The only candidate pictured or quoted is Maya Cole; this implies a connection between Ms Cole and the titular “mandate” (a connection made explicit in the final paragraph). Ms Cole deserves congratulations for her victory, however that victory can hardly be called a mandate. Among the victors, Ms Cole garnered 8,268 fewer votes than Johnny Winston Jr. and 8,257 fewer than Beth Moss. Ms Cole was not the big winner on Tuesday.