Submit columns for consideration to wisopinion@wispolitics.com

David Blaska: A role model who could laugh at himself: Bush #41

#41 called #43 “Quincy” on occasion, showing a fine sense of history and humor. Who else would dare wear those loud and colorful socks? Who else was so grounded that he could laugh at himself and not hold grudges? For Presidents, none since maybe JFK and a little Gerald Ford (“not a Lincoln”) and W, too.

Read More »

Dave Zweifel: Levitan’s book artfully captures Madison in the ’60s

Stuart Levitan’s work provides new insights to a decade in which Madison somewhat clumsily dived into urban renewal, battled over civil rights, literally fought over the Vietnam War, turned the Monona Terrace civic center controversy into a fiasco and set the stage for the future of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Read More »

Dominique Paul Noth: The childish political game freezing our state

Not just Democrats are stuck in the childhood game of “Statues” – Stop Motion and Freeze! — because of the lame-duck legislation dropped on Scott Walker’s desk, those controversial new laws that attack the new governor, the new attorney general, voting rights and basic protections for the citizenry against governmental overreach while tangling us in red tape.

Read More »

Dave Cieslewicz: The small Republicans

Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald aren’t just limiting the power of the offices of the governor and attorney general. They’re undermining the basis of our system: that rules should apply equally regardless of who is in office.

Read More »

Robin Vos: Sensationalized rhetoric serves no one

The extraordinary session of the state Legislature was not a “coup” or a “power grab.” It wasn’t even a so-called lame-duck session because voters re-elected strong Republican majorities in both chambers for next session. The extraordinary session was merely an effort to ensure that in divided government, every branch of government has an equal seat at the table.

Read More »

George Mitchell: Cue the outrage

But don’t buy the “outrage” for a moment. The prevailing feeling among Democrats instead is one of glee that Republicans handed them a p.r. advantage by mishandling “the optics.”

Read More »

Dan O’Donnell: The forgotten man

So desperate were the outgoing governor and state legislative majority to pass what amounted to a sweetheart deal for some of their biggest political backers that they did what was until then unthinkable—they sprang Jeff Wood from jail so he could vote.

Read More »

Noah Rothman: The Wisconsin ‘coup’ that wasn’t

The activities of American office-holders after they have been voted out of office have vexed incoming politicians since at least the “Midnight Judges” appointed by John Adams in March of 1801, much to the consternation of President Thomas Jefferson. It’s rough politics—unsavory and often untoward—but it is not unprecedented, and it is not a usurpation of power.

Read More »

David Blaska: A role model who could laugh at himself: Bush #41

#41 called #43 “Quincy” on occasion, showing a fine sense of history and humor. Who else would dare wear those loud and colorful socks? Who else was so grounded that he could laugh at himself and not hold grudges? For Presidents, none since maybe JFK and a little Gerald Ford (“not a Lincoln”) and W, too.

Read More »

Dave Zweifel: Levitan’s book artfully captures Madison in the ’60s

Stuart Levitan’s work provides new insights to a decade in which Madison somewhat clumsily dived into urban renewal, battled over civil rights, literally fought over the Vietnam War, turned the Monona Terrace civic center controversy into a fiasco and set the stage for the future of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Read More »

Dominique Paul Noth: The childish political game freezing our state

Not just Democrats are stuck in the childhood game of “Statues” – Stop Motion and Freeze! — because of the lame-duck legislation dropped on Scott Walker’s desk, those controversial new laws that attack the new governor, the new attorney general, voting rights and basic protections for the citizenry against governmental overreach while tangling us in red tape.

Read More »

Dave Cieslewicz: The small Republicans

Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald aren’t just limiting the power of the offices of the governor and attorney general. They’re undermining the basis of our system: that rules should apply equally regardless of who is in office.

Read More »

Robin Vos: Sensationalized rhetoric serves no one

The extraordinary session of the state Legislature was not a “coup” or a “power grab.” It wasn’t even a so-called lame-duck session because voters re-elected strong Republican majorities in both chambers for next session. The extraordinary session was merely an effort to ensure that in divided government, every branch of government has an equal seat at the table.

Read More »

George Mitchell: Cue the outrage

But don’t buy the “outrage” for a moment. The prevailing feeling among Democrats instead is one of glee that Republicans handed them a p.r. advantage by mishandling “the optics.”

Read More »

Dan O’Donnell: The forgotten man

So desperate were the outgoing governor and state legislative majority to pass what amounted to a sweetheart deal for some of their biggest political backers that they did what was until then unthinkable—they sprang Jeff Wood from jail so he could vote.

Read More »

Noah Rothman: The Wisconsin ‘coup’ that wasn’t

The activities of American office-holders after they have been voted out of office have vexed incoming politicians since at least the “Midnight Judges” appointed by John Adams in March of 1801, much to the consternation of President Thomas Jefferson. It’s rough politics—unsavory and often untoward—but it is not unprecedented, and it is not a usurpation of power.

Read More »

Upcoming Events