WI GOP Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald is running for the Congressional seat Jim Sensenbrenner has held since a 1979 win.
This is like finding out that your uncle is finally selling the Oldsmobile and has his eye on a Plymouth. And not a car show collectible.
I get that whole hierarchical, it's my-turn-pecking-order-thing.
But swapping a conservative Congressional fixture for a conservative state Senate fixture first elected during Bill Clinton's second year as President - - second year, not second term - - and who's still not known by half the electorate shows you how devalued Congressional seats have become.
On the one hand, I'm not totally surprised by Fitzgerald's bid.
He's reliably done what the donors demanded.
Cut their taxes.
Muscled Act 10 into law.
Put the gerrymander in place.
Locked down the lame-duck laws.
And look, Fitzgerald's options for electoral advancement are slim.
He won't ever be Senator or Governor. The charisma deficit is too great.
So this is his shot.
And while the travel grind will be harder - - no more one-hour car commutes back home to Juneau County and his horses - - and he'll face an cycle that would shrink from four years to two, the risk-reward ratio is favorable, the seat is safe and the Big Government perks are downright irresistible:
A salary close to triple what he's making now.
Pension benefits that would definitely inflate what the state will provide.
Foreign junkets galore, upgraded steak houses, primo big city parking, gym privileges, big staffs, regular access to The Special Interest Smorgasbord and private Capitol elevators.
But no special Capitol subway, because that 'for-Senators-only' plum is but one among many reasons why House members quickly learn that the Senate is really the place to be.
What should give any Republican set on joining the Congress next year serious pause; their agendas will likely set by Speaker Pelosi and Democratic committee chairs who may mistake Fitzgerald in a distant minority chair for Glenn Grothman, Fitzgerald's more junior ex-State Senate colleague.
Note, too, that Freshman Fitzgerald would be outranked in an institution that rewards seniority by Grothman, and Ilhan Omar, Mark Pocan, AOC, and another 400 or so members, give or take, entitled to treat the former Badger State Senate Speaker as their junior.
That's a big daily bitter pills' dose to swallow.
Bring your Tums.
And if Trump is defeated, forget White House dinners or private Bill Barr briefings, at which point a lobbyist's office on Madisons's Capitol Square might look like a more inviting retirement job.
Anyway, consider Fitzgerald the 5th District's GOP front-runner - - or at least lead plodder - - as he maneuvers away from the breezier podium hogging Robin Vos who now becomes with Fitzgerald's DC focus the even more official unofficial shadow Governor in a state that once stood for progress and produced leaders who were giants.
This is like finding out that your uncle is finally selling the Oldsmobile and has his eye on a Plymouth. And not a car show collectible.
I get that whole hierarchical, it's my-turn-pecking-order-thing.
But swapping a conservative Congressional fixture for a conservative state Senate fixture first elected during Bill Clinton's second year as President - - second year, not second term - - and who's still not known by half the electorate shows you how devalued Congressional seats have become.
On the one hand, I'm not totally surprised by Fitzgerald's bid.
He's reliably done what the donors demanded.
Cut their taxes.
Muscled Act 10 into law.
Put the gerrymander in place.
Locked down the lame-duck laws.
And look, Fitzgerald's options for electoral advancement are slim.
He won't ever be Senator or Governor. The charisma deficit is too great.
So this is his shot.
And while the travel grind will be harder - - no more one-hour car commutes back home to Juneau County and his horses - - and he'll face an cycle that would shrink from four years to two, the risk-reward ratio is favorable, the seat is safe and the Big Government perks are downright irresistible:
A salary close to triple what he's making now.
Pension benefits that would definitely inflate what the state will provide.
Foreign junkets galore, upgraded steak houses, primo big city parking, gym privileges, big staffs, regular access to The Special Interest Smorgasbord and private Capitol elevators.
But no special Capitol subway, because that 'for-Senators-only' plum is but one among many reasons why House members quickly learn that the Senate is really the place to be.
What should give any Republican set on joining the Congress next year serious pause; their agendas will likely set by Speaker Pelosi and Democratic committee chairs who may mistake Fitzgerald in a distant minority chair for Glenn Grothman, Fitzgerald's more junior ex-State Senate colleague.
Note, too, that Freshman Fitzgerald would be outranked in an institution that rewards seniority by Grothman, and Ilhan Omar, Mark Pocan, AOC, and another 400 or so members, give or take, entitled to treat the former Badger State Senate Speaker as their junior.
That's a big daily bitter pills' dose to swallow.
Bring your Tums.
And if Trump is defeated, forget White House dinners or private Bill Barr briefings, at which point a lobbyist's office on Madisons's Capitol Square might look like a more inviting retirement job.
Anyway, consider Fitzgerald the 5th District's GOP front-runner - - or at least lead plodder - - as he maneuvers away from the breezier podium hogging Robin Vos who now becomes with Fitzgerald's DC focus the even more official unofficial shadow Governor in a state that once stood for progress and produced leaders who were giants.
