Was Gard involved in job offer to opponent?

Spivak and Bice's Sunday column makes the case that State Rep. Terri McCormick was considering another job instead of running in the GOP primary against John Gard for the 8th District Congressional seat. The short version:

Last month, McCormick and conservative Waukesha lawyer Michael Dean exchanged several e-mails about the formation of a non-profit education reform group tentatively named the Commission for Need-Based Education Reform.

"You will withdraw and (I suggest) commit only to privately endorsing Gard because you immediately want to step out of politics and move in a non-partisan, public interest direction," Dean wrote in his detailed proposal for the group, which would promote "child-driven solutions" to education problems that would be supported by a number of local hot shots.

Dean then laid out a strategy by which McCormick could use her position with the group to run for state school superintendent in 2009

McCormick's rapid response:

"That's a go on this end."

The Spice Boys cite a number of e-mails, including this one:

In addition, the third-term Appleton state rep [McCormick]wrote to Dean on March 15:

"I MUST HAVE a commitment as well that they will pass my veterans bill AB 347 as I have revised it from the last budget. . . . I will not let those guys down transitioning into this new role."

Pretty telling evidence that McCormick was, at the least, weighing her options.

The boys may have missed the real story.

That e-mail, with a demand for action on her bill if she were to agree to get out of the race, sounds more like Gard was involved in the negotiations to try to clear the primary field.

Gard, the Assembly speaker, is the one who could schedule McCormick's bill for action, pretty much all by himself, if he so chose. The commitment she was looking for on the veterans bill would have had to come from Gard.

Was Dean working with Gard, suggesting that McCormick get out of the way and "privately" endorse him?

Gard trading legislative action to get his opponent out of the race?

Now that would be a story.