Twelve Reasons We Can't Let Leah Vukmir Be Elected

With Leah Vukmir's endorsement at last week's Republican State Convention, she will likely be the party's nominee for US Senate. Who is Vukmir and what does she stand for?  An examination of her websites, editorials, talk-radio interviews, and speeches makes it clear that she is a far-right ideologue. It is clear that she does not represent Wisconsin values. Let's look at a few examples.

Vukmir has no shame. Vukmir's campaign hit a disgusting low when they photo-shopped a picture of Sen. Tammy Baldwin next to Khalid Sheikh Muhammed, the mastermind of 9/11. The picture was captioned "Team Terrorist". On talk radio last week, Vukmir refused to apologize, simply saying, "If I'm politically incorrect, I'm politically incorrect."

Vukmir will waste your money on the stupid Wall. On April 26, she tweeted "There can be no discussion in immigration reform until we build the wall. " At her WI GOP Convention speech she boasted, "I am ready to stand with President Donald Trump and build that wall!"

Vukmir is anti-choice. We need a Senator who will push back on the national efforts to end reproductive rights. Instead, Vukmir consistently votes to squash reproductive freedom. On May 14, she tweeted,"Abortion is murder. Period. Linking healthcare for women and abortion is shameful and you should know better." On the same day, she tweeted, "As your U.S. Senator, I will do everything in my power to stop abortion and defund this devastating industry."

Vukmir is for dirty government. Wisconsin's non-partisan Government Accountability Board was a shining example of clean and ethical state government. Vukmir led the charge to destroy our GAB, replacing it with a toothless board of political hacks.

Vukmir buys into crazy conspiracy theories. The extreme right has convinced themselves that there is a War on Christmas. Vukmir chimed-in on this paranoid fantasy, submitting a December 2017 editorial to White Wisconsin on the subject. She wrote, "No one is offended when wished a Merry Christmas, except for liberals hoping to check their victim box for the day."

Vukmir is anti-worker. She is proud of the state legislature's success in busting unions and suppressing wages. A January 1 tweet boasted, "Wisconsin's been a leader for conservative reforms: 1. Act 10  2. Right to Work  3. Prevailing Wage Repeal  4. PLA Fairness." Vukmir sponsored the legislation to end prevailing wage laws. Her GOP caucus has consistently sidelined efforts to increase the state minimum wage.

Vukmir will not resist Trump's dictatorial tendencies. As a Senator, Vukmir would be one of Trump's biggest enablers. In January, she tweeted, "Before tonight's State of the Union address, I want to remind President Trump that we still stand with him, we have his back, and we can't wait to see what 2018 has to bring. Join me!" After Trump's SOTU, Vukmir was giddy, tweeting, "That was an amazing speech, Mr. President! USA! USA! USA! "

Vukmir supports using your tax money to pay for religious indoctrination. She has been a consistent supporter of the ever-expanding Milwaukee, Racine, and statewide school voucher programs. Almost every school in the programs teaches religion, subsidized by the taxpayer.

Vukmir makes pledges to Washington lobbyists. On January 30, Vukmir signed the anti-tax pledge to DC lobbyist Grover Norquist. In return, the fiscally irresponsible lobbyist (the clown who dreams of drowning government in a bathtub) tweeted "Senator Leah Vukmir is one of the most conservative state legislators in the nation and is a hero to taxpayers."

Vukmir will not defend your Social Security and Medicare. During her speech to the state GOP Convention last week, she ominously stated that she is ready to "take-on entitlement reform." We all know what that means.

Vukmir is against a clean natural environment. Vukmir has been a consistent vote in the GOP drive to wreck Wisconsin's air and water quality. For each of the last three legislative sessions, she  earned a 0% score from the Sierra Club. In a January op-ed, she wrote "I am continually amazed that you (Tammy Baldwin) support government intervention to end global warming or climate change or whatever Al Gore’s buzzword is these days..."

Vukmir is against healthcare for Wisconsinites. She has been a consistent supporter of Walker's fiscally-foolish rejection of Medicaid expansion. In an editorial, she called upon "...leadership in the U.S. Senate to repeal and replace Obamacare with a free-market solution..." In her 2018 GOP Convention speech she shouted, "We will repeal and replace Obamacare!"

With the state Republican Party formally endorsing Leah Vukmir at their convention, she will likely be the their candidate emerging from the primary. On issue after issue, Vukmir has made her extreme ideology all too clear. She does not reflect the views of Wisconsin citizens. She does not represent Wisconsin values. We must make it our mission to see that she is defeated in November. 

Who Will Run Against Tammy?

The November 2018 elections will be the first major referendum on the failed Trump presidency. Every one of the 435 US House seats, and 33 of the 100 Senate seats, are up for grabs. Thirty-six governor offices are at stake. In Wisconsin, our gubernatorial and US Senate races will top the ballot.

Running for reelection in a state that narrowly tilted to Trump in 2016, Tammy Baldwin will be one of the prime targets for right-wing groups that want to retain control of the US Senate. However, considering the traditionally poor showing of the President's party in mid-term elections, the early poll numbers, and the poor quality of announced GOP candidates, you have to like Tammy's chances.

Several early GOP favorites for the Wisconsin Senate race have already dropped out of consideration. In February, "Struggling" Sean Duffy declared that "this is not the right time". The Congressman from up north may have been influenced by an early poll that had him 13 points behind Baldwin. He also may have realized that the public is not ready to elect another low-intelligence reality-TV star to high office.

Fake-Democrat Sheriff David Clarke also dropped out of contention. Milwaukee County's medal-covered snowflake cowboy must have realized that the race would focus attention on the four negligent deaths at his jail. Clarke recently became a national laughing-stock when he publicly announced that he would take a Trump Administration job that was never actually offered to him. (update-Clarke resigned today! Yea !)

With these two Republican heavy hitters out of the picture, legions of other GOPers have flirted with running. Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch has been suggested as a candidate, but she ruled that out in June. Multi-millionaire Nicole Schneider of the Schneider trucking fortune discussed running, but then thought better of it.

As late as March, State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald toyed with running. However, he hasn't made any public moves since. Scott would likely have as much success as brother Jeff did in his own failed 2012 Senate run. State Rep. Dale Kooyenga, (R-Brookfield) had been one of the likeliest of the second-tier candidates to run. However, he announced yesterday that he was not yet ready. I guess that he is too busy with his bizarre quest to change the US Constitution.

A few others have been mentioned as possible GOP candidates. Mike Gallager, the one-term Congressman from WI-8, and Glen Grothman, the two-term Congressman from WI-6 are among the most prominent. State Senator Duey Strobel is listed as a possible candidate in Wikipedia (and I trust Wikipedia implicitly).

However, the three GOP candidates mentioned by most people are investor Eric Hovde, State Senator Leah Vukmir, and the only officially-announced candidate, Kevin Nicholson.

Hovde was a Washington DC hedge-fund banker and real estate developer who came-in second to Tommy Thompson in the 2012 GOP primary. During that race, he expressed his disdain for the poor, saying that he was sick of the "sob stories" of people suffering during the recession. He famously called Tammy Baldwin a commie, saying, "Her philosophy has its roots in Marxism, communism, socialism, extreme liberalism ..."

Leah Vukmir is a 59 year-old Wisconsin State Senator from Tosa. The extreme Vukmir is being bankrolled by anti-worker billionaire, Diane Hendricks, who is acting as her finance co-chair. Vukmir is not only a proud member of the infamous ALEC, but is on their Board of Directors. Among her legislative "accomplishments" is dismantling Wisconsin's non-partisan Government Accountability Board. Most recently, she has advocated for the disastrous Foxconn give-away.

Kevin Nicholson, unlike Leah Vukmir, has no legislative experience. The 39 year-old business consultant has a background that has many righties concerned. He was President of the College Democrats of America and spoke at the 2000 Democratic National Convention (horror of horrors !). There are rumors that he voted in a Democratic Presidential primary as recently as 2008. Nicholson claims to have seen the light and is now a conservative, professing to be pro-life, pro-gun, and pro-voucher. He is being bankrolled in his quest for glory by out-of-state billionaire Richard Uihlein.

Either of the two most likely Republican Senate candidates should be highly vulnerable. Vukmir's 14 year career has included many extreme and unpopular positions. Her deep involvement in the notorious ALEC organization will certainly be part of any campaign discussion. Nicholson's vigorous flip-flopping leads one to believe that he would say anything to be elected.

With the low popularity of Congressional Republicans, as well as the poor quality of probable GOP Senate candidates, Tammy Baldwin has an excellent chance of retaining her Seat. With luck and some hard work by motivated Wisconsin progressives, we will return Tammy to Washington in 2018.