As one of the Janesville Gazette's biggest critics, it's only fair for me to also point out the occasional good article or two when they appear.
Such is the case, in my humble opinion, of two recent articles about Janesville's so-called upstart business, SHINE Medical Technologies, and a more recent story about Rep. Paul Ryan's money machine titled, "Team Ryan rakes in the dough" (Hardcopy headline "Mr. Money").
There's a little bit of "they all do it" normalization and the perception that political candidates must have gobs of money to win an election in the Ryan story, but those are commonly held public (mis?)perceptions. So that's fair.
The Gazette avoided any reference to the currently popular slogan, "drain the swamp," and given the topic of high-rolling donors buying candidates and legislation in DC, that seemed unfortunate and protective.
Still, I wouldn't change much in their article about Ryan's money machine except for the title. Just change it to "Swamp Monster" to provide the proper balance.
The article doesn't break any barriers, but it's a good read to consume if you can access it. So you know, the Gazette is a pay site.
2 comments:
I've followed your blog, and it's great that it shows a real local level to politics...and as they say, all politics (when it comes to voting) is local.
I live in Fond du Lac, and it seems like Janesville politics works much as it does here. We both suffer from a form of government that is unresponsive to the public at large. FdL has a city manager arrangement, with no territory-based alders, just "at-large" city council rubber stampers. Our city manager is employed on condition that he belongs to the Rotary Club, and the council people are made to graduate the "Leadership Institute," created by our Chamber of Commerce.
Paul Ryan holds in my heart an especially bad place, as his mother's was a Hutter, from FdL, and my father was a competitor in construction. My dad was also Republican, but had to compete with crooked "townies," and Hutter's business eventually went down (envelopes were envolved).
Paul Ryan, who now lives in the house once owned by one of Janesville's biggest employers, is a servant to the swamp. I really liked the 2012 "Park Avenue" program, as it exposed Ryan as being among the top Koch-funding bribe recipients. Please watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6niWzomA_So
I personally had hoped other Wisconsin blogs would focus (at least 50%) on local politics and local media, but many don't even though they claim to. I can't blame some because the local establishment tend to punish and isolate those who don't conform to their master plan and it gets hard to maintain friendships as political and economic loyalties become strained.
I've also noticed the similarities before between FDL and Janesville. They are almost like sister cities.
Thanks for sharing!
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