The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee County Post • April 7, 2017 Tammy Baldwin has been such an inept U.S. senator that a bunch of Wisconsin Republicans are plotting to spend millions of dollars just for the right to run against her. Money can buy a lot of things in life and a Senate seat is one of them. But in this case, the race looks like an auction. The losers may be Wisconsin conservatives. Maybe. One of the candidates apparently ponder- ing trying to buy the seat is Nicole Schneider and for her, where there's a will there may be a way. The will was the one prepared by Donald Schneider, the billionaire owner of Green Bay's Schneider National, the giant trucking company. When Schneider died sev- eral years ago, he left the company to his children. Nicole Schneider is married to one of them. With the company set to go public in an IPO soon, the Schneider kids are likely to end up with several hundred million dol- lars. That will buy you a lot of things like a G4, ownership of the stallion who won the Triple Crown in 2015 and have enough money left over for to buy a Senate seat. Schneider might spend $10 million. In the primary. Yowza. But despite all that money, Schneider isn't ready for prime time. Despite calling herself a conservative, Schneider's social media his- tory includes a lot of reposts of people bash- ing Republicans like President Trump and Governor Walker. The posts were removed but not until after my WISN-AM colleague Vicki McKenna found them. Schneider is apparently already hiring a campaign staff but nobody on it was ready for this. The damage isn't fatal. Schneider has more than a year to run ads to define her image and the election of Trump proves Republican voters are willing to choose a new candidate who used to talk like a Democrat. Besides, Schneider is a dream candidate. She's a mom with a Ph.D. and a job in Catholic education. She could mop the table with Baldwin, who is best known for ignoring the scandal of vets being drugged at the Tomah VA. Speaking of vets, there's another newcom- er — this one an ex-Marine who served in Afghanistan — who wants to buy the seat. But this guy doesn't even have to put up his own money. He has a sugar daddy to do it for him. Richard Uihlein, the owner of Uline Corporation, the booming Kenosha packag- ing company, has thrown $2 million into a political action committee formed to back the campaign. Who is the lucky beneficiary of the package man's PAC? His name is Kevin Nicholson and he's a businessman in Delafield. He also, until very recently, was a Democrat. Nicholson wasn't just any Democrat. He chaired the national college Democrat organization and served on the executive board of the Democratic National Committee but wrote an article in the Weekly Standard describing his transforma- tion. He said he could have remained in denial like other liberals of the bankruptcy of their ideology but life experience and an open mind led him to conservatism. Voila — a few months later he's a Republican run- ning for the U.S. Senate. Federal law limits donations to candidates to a few grand but there's no limit on how much you can give a PAC that backs the can- didate. The catch is that it is illegal for the PAC to coordinate its activities with the can- didate. You better tell that to Nicholson because his Twitter page is filled with tweets about the PAC backing him. That's a pretty good sign that Nicholson is about as inde- pendent from Uihlein and his PAC than Smith is from Wesson. Maybe Nicholson is the real deal, or maybe he's a chameleon who changes ideology depending on which bil- lionaire puppeteer is is pulling his strings. Then there's Eric Hovde. He spent millions trying to buy the same seat in 2012. But the Madison businessman couldn't beat Tommy Thompson in the Republican primary. Hovde is ready to spend even more this time, evi- dently figuring if the first offer is too low you simply have to spend more. Two Republicans from the state Legislature have their names out there. Rep. Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield is the real deal but may be in too deep in a field with this type of money. State Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald is also talking about it but it's likely he'll take a pass. That leaves Leah Vukmir. The veteran Republican state senator from Brookfield has been the most important and influential conservative voice in the Legislature for years. She is fearless, ideologically consis- tent, articulate and tough as nails. She has had our backs for a decade. From Act 10 to school choice to tax cuts, Vukmir has held her ground and fought adamantly to move public policy to the right. She's the mother of an active-duty mili- tary officer, a registered nurse and a person- al dynamo. But she's also a middle-class mom from Waukesha County whose net worth is chump change for Hovde, Schneider and Kevin Nicholson's benefactor. The billionaire candidates will have a lot of money to spend to fashion an image and any one of them has the potential of being the candidate who makes Wisconsin even more Republican by beating Baldwin next fall. But at the moment, they look like people trying to spend a fortune convincing us they are as great as Leah Vukmir. But what if Leah finds a sugar daddy, or sugar mama, of her own? Keep an eye on bil- lionaire Beloit businesswoman Diane Hendricks, the most influential Republican financier in the state and a fantastic judge of political character. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). OPINION Last week's question What are your thoughts on the homicide of a Milwaukee city inspector while on the job? Or, what's your forecast for the Milwaukee Brewers this season? (Answer only one.) In response to the Milwaukee city inspector being shot, the article in your newspaper came up again in our watch- dog group over breakfast Sunday morn- ing, and the consensus for so many who are listening is the same. Two of the three charged are well-known criminals on the street, who were known in West Allis, having been here quite a few times, having calls made on them for alleged crimes, and nothing was done. And what is coming back in many cases is: How fast will they be put back on the streets? People who work with juveniles say these types of criminals are even bigger heroes with kids in the prison system. This is the game that is being played and citizens don't even know about it. The jails in the prison system — the criminals are not even afraid of them. It just adds to their sta- tus. It's taken as a dare for others to match. It's getting pretty scary on the streets. They're just passing time. — Thomas Reed West Allis *** In answer to what's your forecast for the Milwaukee Brewers this season, I think the Brewers will have a good sea- son if they can stay healthy and not have a lot of injuries, and the pitching can hold up.They have the talent. I think they can win 80 games or more. Go Brewers! — Bob Benning Milwaukee This week's question The spring nonpartisan election was held on the first Tuesday in April, as usual, in Wisconsin. Do you think non- partisan elections should not fall along party lines, or why pretend they're not partisan? Or, do you have any special Easter traditions or memories? (Answer only one.) Editor's note: When responding to the Question of the Week, please include your full name with spelling, phone number and city where you live. Phone numbers will not be published. Call 744-6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dmuck@ conleynet.com. Question of the week STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE Is this a Senate race or a yacht sale? Letters policy Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dan Muckelbauer, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by email to: dmuck@conleynet.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, length and clarity. Letters should be typewritten or printed and include full name, phone number and address. Please keep your letters to no more than 400 words.

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