Friday, July 14, 2006
Rob Zaleski writes about WI Green Gov. nominee
This was sent to a list by former Steering Committee member Ben Manski of Wisconsin. The piece was written, as noted, by Rob Zaleski, but I am not sure where. It's an excellent piece, and the candidate, Nelson Eisman, sounds like a great Green candidate. More behind the "Read more!" link...
Candidate in gov's race long on ideas, short on cash
By Rob Zaleski
Nelson Eisman loves to talk.
That's apparent just five minutes into our interview at Michelangelo's on State Street. And it's probably a good thing, seeing as how the 61-year-old Department of Administration employee announced last week that he's running for governor on the Green Party ticket.
It's also apparent that he's a very smart man. A bit eccentric perhaps, but well-versed on the issues and charismatic as well. So while some want to dismiss him as just another long-winded politician who has about as much chance of becoming governor as Ann Coulter does of being asked to emcee "Fighting Bob Fest" in September, let it be said here that Eisman has some bold and intriguing ideas on how to improve the quality of life for Wisconsin residents.
What's more, he comes across as an honest and trustworthy guy, with no ties to big money. In Wisconsin, no less. Imagine that.
But who exactly is Nelson Eisman?
"A pretty regular citizen," he says.
He's a longtime north side Madison activist who's been married 29 years (he says his wife Annette, a schoolteacher, would actually be a better candidate) and has three adult children and three grandkids.
He's a guy who's served on the Dane County Regional Planning Commission and the County Board and who in his spare time tinkers with antique clocks, rides a recumbent bike and does ecological restoration work.
He's a guy who's currently reading "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn and who believes every American should be required to see Al Gore's provocative documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
"And then you'll wonder," he says, "why hasn't General Motors - which isn't doing so well - come up with a hybrid version of the Saturn? And let's make it in Janesville!"
Oh yeah. And he wants you to know that he was arrested for possession of pot while on his way to Navy flight school in Pensacola, Fla., in 1965, spent six months in a federal prison and then was placed on five years' probation. He was later pardoned by President Jimmy Carter and says the conviction is the only blot on his record.
He does not, by the way, view himself as a possible "spoiler candidate" in the governor's race; that is, he might suck votes away from Gov. Jim Doyle and, in the process, boost Republican Mark Green's chances of victory. Similar to what Ralph Nader did to Al Gore in 2000.
Eisman seems offended by the mere suggestion and says he'd tell anyone who'd make such an argument that "I don't think a conservative Republican (like Green) is a viable candidate in Wisconsin today. So there's nothing to spoil.
"I think moderate Republicans, of which the majority of Republicans are in this state, will be very attracted to my campaign. They're not going to vote for a Democrat.
"And there are a lot of liberal Democrats who don't feel they're represented by Jim Doyle. And they'll look at my campaign and go, 'By golly, that's the guy I want.'
"Now, if you take all the moderate Republicans and all the liberal Democrats, we've already won this race."
Besides, Eisman adds, he's actually met Nader and found him "kind of cold, standoffish." Whereas Eisman likes to think of himself as "an exciting person with exciting ideas."
Eisman laughs while making this point, but here's the thing: The skeptics can groan all they want, he says, but he truly believes he could be a factor in the race if the media were to give him a chance and publicize some of his bold ideas.
"And then I won't have to fret that my campaign fund right now is a negative $32," he jokes.
What sort of bold ideas?
Well, for one, Eisman wants to repeal the property tax, because it's "killing our economy" and "scaring people on fixed incomes" and is the primary cause of social stress in our society.
He also wants to provide free college tuition, universal health care, reform the prison system and offer free hunting and fishing licenses for seniors.
And we can pay for all this, he maintains, merely by returning to the progressive income tax.
Under his plan, single people earning less than $25,000 and families earning less than $50,000 would pay no income tax. People earning above those amounts to $500,000 would pay the normal tax rate. People earning above $500,000 would pay a "premium" tax rate.
Joel Rogers, director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at UW-Madison, said he wasn't familiar with Eisman or his plan and declined to comment until he had more details. However, he agreed that the tax structure "isn't very progressive right now" and that "if it were politically conceivable, you could pay for all sorts of things that currently are not being paid for."
But that's not the main reason to vote for Nelson Eisman, the candidate says.
No, the main reason is because Wisconsin's Capitol is an absolute cesspool right now.
"And I'm not a politician."
Candidate in gov's race long on ideas, short on cash
By Rob Zaleski
Nelson Eisman loves to talk.
That's apparent just five minutes into our interview at Michelangelo's on State Street. And it's probably a good thing, seeing as how the 61-year-old Department of Administration employee announced last week that he's running for governor on the Green Party ticket.
It's also apparent that he's a very smart man. A bit eccentric perhaps, but well-versed on the issues and charismatic as well. So while some want to dismiss him as just another long-winded politician who has about as much chance of becoming governor as Ann Coulter does of being asked to emcee "Fighting Bob Fest" in September, let it be said here that Eisman has some bold and intriguing ideas on how to improve the quality of life for Wisconsin residents.
What's more, he comes across as an honest and trustworthy guy, with no ties to big money. In Wisconsin, no less. Imagine that.
But who exactly is Nelson Eisman?
"A pretty regular citizen," he says.
He's a longtime north side Madison activist who's been married 29 years (he says his wife Annette, a schoolteacher, would actually be a better candidate) and has three adult children and three grandkids.
He's a guy who's served on the Dane County Regional Planning Commission and the County Board and who in his spare time tinkers with antique clocks, rides a recumbent bike and does ecological restoration work.
He's a guy who's currently reading "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn and who believes every American should be required to see Al Gore's provocative documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
"And then you'll wonder," he says, "why hasn't General Motors - which isn't doing so well - come up with a hybrid version of the Saturn? And let's make it in Janesville!"
Oh yeah. And he wants you to know that he was arrested for possession of pot while on his way to Navy flight school in Pensacola, Fla., in 1965, spent six months in a federal prison and then was placed on five years' probation. He was later pardoned by President Jimmy Carter and says the conviction is the only blot on his record.
He does not, by the way, view himself as a possible "spoiler candidate" in the governor's race; that is, he might suck votes away from Gov. Jim Doyle and, in the process, boost Republican Mark Green's chances of victory. Similar to what Ralph Nader did to Al Gore in 2000.
Eisman seems offended by the mere suggestion and says he'd tell anyone who'd make such an argument that "I don't think a conservative Republican (like Green) is a viable candidate in Wisconsin today. So there's nothing to spoil.
"I think moderate Republicans, of which the majority of Republicans are in this state, will be very attracted to my campaign. They're not going to vote for a Democrat.
"And there are a lot of liberal Democrats who don't feel they're represented by Jim Doyle. And they'll look at my campaign and go, 'By golly, that's the guy I want.'
"Now, if you take all the moderate Republicans and all the liberal Democrats, we've already won this race."
Besides, Eisman adds, he's actually met Nader and found him "kind of cold, standoffish." Whereas Eisman likes to think of himself as "an exciting person with exciting ideas."
Eisman laughs while making this point, but here's the thing: The skeptics can groan all they want, he says, but he truly believes he could be a factor in the race if the media were to give him a chance and publicize some of his bold ideas.
"And then I won't have to fret that my campaign fund right now is a negative $32," he jokes.
What sort of bold ideas?
Well, for one, Eisman wants to repeal the property tax, because it's "killing our economy" and "scaring people on fixed incomes" and is the primary cause of social stress in our society.
He also wants to provide free college tuition, universal health care, reform the prison system and offer free hunting and fishing licenses for seniors.
And we can pay for all this, he maintains, merely by returning to the progressive income tax.
Under his plan, single people earning less than $25,000 and families earning less than $50,000 would pay no income tax. People earning above those amounts to $500,000 would pay the normal tax rate. People earning above $500,000 would pay a "premium" tax rate.
Joel Rogers, director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at UW-Madison, said he wasn't familiar with Eisman or his plan and declined to comment until he had more details. However, he agreed that the tax structure "isn't very progressive right now" and that "if it were politically conceivable, you could pay for all sorts of things that currently are not being paid for."
But that's not the main reason to vote for Nelson Eisman, the candidate says.
No, the main reason is because Wisconsin's Capitol is an absolute cesspool right now.
"And I'm not a politician."
// posted by Gregg Jocoy @ 9:19 PM 
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Interesting stuff .. we, unfortunately, don't have an active Green Party in my little corner of the world, but this week we do somehow have Mr. Gore's movie, which I'm going to see today and really looking forward to
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