Zien in trouble; Plale challenged on guns

Thoughts while cleaning out the inbox:

There are early signs that flag-waving, Harley riding, gun-toting State Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, is in trouble in his reelection campaign.

Zien's been the target of hopeful Democrats before, but has always survived. This time, Zany Zien has drawn a strong challenger, former television news anchor Pat Kreitlow, who has been working hard for months.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which operates as an arm of the Republican Party most of the time, is already running a radio commercial praising Zien as "the only senator from northwestern Wisconsin that stood up to the teachers union in support of a constitutional amendment to cap taxes," and that he, "stood up to the trial lawyers to help stop lawsuit abuse and cut red tape for small businesses."

WisPolitics reports:

The ad, which began airing Tuesday on megawatt Eau Claire radio stations WAYY-AM and WAXX-FM, ends with the tagline "Dave Zien - lower taxes, better jobs."

WMC spokesman Jim Pugh said the ad shows that Zien is "a rebel with a cause. He's the James Dean of the Legislature." Pugh wouldn't discuss future plans for issue ads to support other candidates, but said the group does plan to continue exercising its First Amendment rights.

Those would be the same First Amendment rights Rep. Mark Green tried to eliminate with his phony campaign spending cap proposal, by the way. In Green World, for every dollar WMC spent Zien would have a dollar subtracted from his campaign spending limit.

Another indicator that Zien's in trouble: Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos will be campaigning appearing with him Tuesday at two meetings with veterans in Zien's district, to let them know about new benefits available to vets.

Nothing wrong with some outreach by the DVA secretary, of course.

Since he's on the circuit, Democrats should invite him to do the same for them before his schedule gets full. Although he's a Republican, Scocos is in a non-partisan cabinet office, so should be more than happy to explain those new benefits to veterans in the districts of State Sens. Russ Decker and Bob Jauch, and State Reps. John Lehman and Tom Nelson, just for starters. Let's help him get the word out about those new programs.

UPDATE: The plot thickens. Another Republican state semator in a targeted seat up for reelection, another visit by Scocos. Anyone see a pattern?

---

Donovan Riley, who's challenging State Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, in a Democratic primary contest, was blanketing the neighborhood around South Shore Park, the scene of a Memorial Day massacre that left two dead and several others wounded, with leaflets headlined, "End Gun Violence."

The flyers contrast Riley's opposition to legalizing concealed weapons in Wisconsin with Plale's support for the bill and his votes to pass it and override the governor's veto. The bill Plale supported, Riley notes, would allow concealed weapons in parks.

Riley says he would not accept contributions from the NRA, not that the group is likely to offer him any. Plale's grade from the NRA is an A+.

The NRA, by the way, has quietly had a bill introduced in the US Senate to allow someone who has a concealed weapons permits in one permit to carry them in any other state in the union. That would open Wisconsin to gun-toting tourists from Illinois and elsewhere. Bob Gieger has details.

---

Capitol insiders were amused that Secretary of State Doug LaFollette showed signs of life last week and issued the first press release from his office in recent memory, calling for a special session on campaign finance reform. He even managed to quote Fighting Bob LaFollette (No Relation, as Peter and Lou Berryman say). Apparently a primary challenge from Scot Ross has rejuvenated Doug.