Georgetown University. Harvard University. Trek Bicycle. State Department of Commerce. Madison School Board.To me that doesn't make obvious sense. Why would a Harvard MBA, after serving in her family's business and proceeding to the position of Secretary of Commerce in the state government, have as her next position nothing more than a seat on a municipal school board?
Anyway, Bice ignores that mystery. It's a nonmystery. Nothing to see there. It's "straightforward."
Bice wants us to look at "an odd and little-explained two-year gap between management positions at Trek, her family-owned business, in the mid-1990s," which some — who?? — are calling a "snowboarding sabbatical."
Nobody can agree on the particulars. Some news stories and blogs say the sabbatical lasted three months, others six or nine months or perhaps even a year.So why did Bice write that it was 2 years? That's distracting.
The excursion has been described as taking place in Argentina. Or Colorado. Or both. With one friend or several, in 1993 or maybe 1994.I don't find it puzzling that a rich person would take a lot of time off to travel. Why not? What's supposed to be the problem here, that she can't remember the details? She's attempted to piece together the old itinerary, but she can't. So what? The "simple explanation," per Bice is:
Burke took an on-again, off-again vacation from July 1993 to September 1995 to decide what to do with her life. During that span, she went with friends on a two-month snowboarding expedition in Argentina and then taught snowboarding in Colorado for another two months.Wouldn't you? Your job is waiting for you when you come back, in the family's business. And you are rich. Why wouldn't you go snowboarding in cool locations for 2 years? I don't know about teaching snowboarding. But she did end up on the school board. Maybe she loves teaching. I don't see a mystery here, just a woman who is not — as they say — leaning in. She's not too ambitious and high-powered. Is there something wrong with that? In a gubernatorial candidate, I mean.
My understanding of the snowboarding hiatus gives me a template to apply to what I did find puzzling, the lack of an upward career trajectory after her stint as Secretary of Commerce. If that's the kind of person she is, she should own it and make the argument why that's just what we need in a governor, a modest, unambitious, well-rounded person who is willing to serve for a term.
Personally, I don't want government to do too much. I don't want innovation. Now, you can't energize the Democratic Party base with that argument. It's literally conservative. But it could work on me. Scott Walker has done the innovation, and it's likely to remain in place whether he continues as governor or Mary Burke takes over. Let's all calm down with an unassuming placekeeper. Feel free to use that as a campaign slogan!
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There is a bit of a cognitive disconnect, though, in a trust fund child taking two years off to do some sort of buck list checkoff and/or finding her inner self and then campaigning for office as a champion of the workers -- when it involved demanding mandatory union dues and higher taxes from those workers to pay for bigger government programs.
Assuaging your own guilt for being born into money by planning to make sure none of the middle class plebes out there have to suffer from your 'problem' in the future make may you feel like you're giving back to the people. But you're not doing it with Trek's money. You're doing it with their money.
Other campaign slogans:
"What, you don't like snowboarding?"
"Snowboarding... schoolboarding... it's all good!"
I'm giving this post the old "cruel neutrality" tag.
I'm interested to see who this pisses off. Hopefully, everybody.
"Is there something wrong with that?
Snowboarding = torture.
The local school board is a good place to learn how to become a politician.
Nancy Pelosi began her career on the school board in Marin County.
I don't think it's going to piss off anybody except maybe the resident proud liberals with that last paragraph.
You should have applied some cruelly neutral juxtapositions regarding Walker not going to college or on a 2ish-year trust fund journey of self-discovery, so perhaps Burke has more perspective on the human experience than he does. Or some kind of vaguely new age gobbledygook. That's the kind of thing I'd expect to hear a stereotypical hidebound college-town liberal to say in Burke's defense. Maybe that would've succeeded in getting universal pissy-ness.
Mary Burke also changed her hairstyle fairly recently. I'm surprised Bice missed that hot tip from the GOP.
Snowboarding, windsurfing, whatever.
The counter taglines kinda write themsleves, too, right? "While Mary Burke was frolicking on the slopes for two years real Wisconsinites were working hard just to make ends meet..." or something like that. Hmmm, what's the typical racial/demographic breakdown on the ol' snowboard trails, I wonder? "Mary Burke: Thinks She's Too Good to Ski in Your State, but Still Wants Your Vote."
it's very typical to begin ones career as an elected politician on a school board. it gives great visibility and a lot of parent-voter types get to know you. Probably our most competent pol in MT started on a Missoula school board.
so it sounds like she decided to go for it but wasn't in a huge hurry.
Energetic sort of person, and the kids are nearly grown, so what do I do with the rest of my life?
I know! I will become a politician and set everybody straight!
The snowboarding excursion is a good thing. Who cares? Job experience is questionable. She would never have gotten the Trek job if her family didn't own the brand. The rest is typical bored rich kid stuff essentially giving away other people's money.
"Personally, I don't want government to do too much. I don't want innovation. Now, you can't energize the Democratic Party base with that argument. It's literally conservative. But it could work on me. Scott Walker has done the innovation, and it's likely to remain in place whether he continues as governor or Mary Burke takes over. Let's all calm down with an unassuming placekeeper. Feel free to use that as a campaign slogan!"
You are trying to find a reason to vote for Burke. I don't really follow WI politics other than whats on this blog but it appears to me that me that sin Walker has committed is in his innovative ideas and policies to make state government smaller. How Burke can make the pitch that will win you over while not angering the Democratic Party base is something that would be an amazing piece of political mastery.
Ann Althouse said...I don't find it puzzling that a rich person would take a lot of time off to travel. Why not? What's supposed to be the problem here, that she can't remember the details?
The puzzle is how to ignore the fact that she's rich and worked in a family business when those things are supposed to be in inherently bad (possibly evil) when the media evaluates a politician. Remember Mr. Romney?
The Blue Fist does not tolerate much dissent, Althouse.
Two years of a spiritual quest without the spiritual part.
I'd like a side-by-side graphic of Walker's post-college career vs. Burke's.
A long time to self-reflect and determine if one is actually a lesbian or not. There are some hot snowboard chicks.
@hoodlumdoolum/
POSSIBLY evil?? AS IF the left is in ANY doubt. What EVER possessed you to add THAT qualifier?
PS: The moral certitude that lefties have can best be summed up by a statement Julia Louise-Dryfuss once made: "I could never date a Republican--I'm too morally centered." LOL.
Two years as an Argentinian drug mule.
A School Board is the perfect training ground for lefties; they're an exercise in totalitarianism if ever there was one..
We demand proof she was not in Tibet with the Lama guy like the other lost rich kids. Argentina is a long way to go find yourself.
Eat locally, snowboard internationally.
Devils Head Resort and Convention Center didn't need those Burke/Trek dollars in the mid-90s.
Nor Cascade Mountain.
Or any other WI location that offers snowboarding.
It's fine for richy rich rich Mary Burke to spend the family fortune outside WI (and the USA) while Scott Walker was working for the American Red Cross.
Let's stipulate she's a rich kid who has been given jobs in the family firm. Before she's too old she wanted to hang out on the snow so she dropped the family firm knowing that unless Dad sells it, a job of some sort will wait for her.
Along comes the Dims who need a candidate with the money to self finance and an attractive face. Bingo, a new job awaits. But like the President she's likely to be a front for the deep socialists who are supporting her and writing her speeches, etc.
In short, she's bad news for WI.
Working her way down to find the level of competency. Elusive.
Scott Walker has done the innovation, and it's likely to remain in place whether he continues as governor or Mary Burke takes over.
I don't know if you calling this out will piss off any of the resident lefties, but when it comes to pass it surely will. Should Burke win, her likely role is to validate the new norm, just as Ike validated the Roosevelt's drive to more active government, and Clinton validated Reagan's era of smaller government.
Maybe she ran off to Bali with Obama to surf while he wrote his book.
It's odd to have these people in modern times with black holes in their history.
So she suffers from periodic mental breakdowns. Many of the most famous Leftists did, too. That makes her extra-extra qualified to run your life.
She has stupid ideas.
It seems like she's just trying to put more things on her resume, so she can seem more well rounded, and push her time at Trek further down the list. Because while at Trek the only jobs she created were in China.
Scott Walker has done the innovation, and it's likely to remain in place whether he continues as governor or Mary Burke takes over.
Yes, if there is anything we've learned in the past 6 years, it's that the executive head of government is an unimportant position. The country and the states really practically run themselves!
It seems for many folks, her two main qualifications are 1) she's a democrat and 2) she's not Scott Walker. Nothing else really matters.
"You should have applied some cruelly neutral juxtapositions regarding Walker not going to college or on a 2ish-year trust fund journey of self-discovery, so perhaps Burke has more perspective on the human experience than he does. Or some kind of vaguely new age gobbledygook. That's the kind of thing I'd expect to hear a stereotypical hidebound college-town liberal to say in Burke's defense. Maybe that would've succeeded in getting universal pissy-ness."
Oh, but that's a very boring approach to neutrality.
I don't think you understand cruelty.
You have mistaken me for mainstream media which tries to get the look of balancing with on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand bullshit.
I don't play that game. It's boring. It's not cruel enough.
"You are trying to find a reason to vote for Burke."
No. I don't feel much of a pull toward that. I voted for Walker in the recall election, where Barrett made the same end-this-discord pitch. And I voted for Walker in 2010, but mostly because of the damned train project he thought was a boondoggle.
"I don't really follow WI politics other than whats on this blog but it appears to me that me that sin Walker has committed is in his innovative ideas and policies to make state government smaller. How Burke can make the pitch that will win you over while not angering the Democratic Party base is something that would be an amazing piece of political mastery."
I think I said she can't do both of these things. I don't think she has the political experience or innate intuition to figure out how to play the base and the middle.
Because while at Trek the only jobs she created were in China.
How many Trek jobs are in China and how many are in Wisconsin? Do you know?
Wel, she was a snowboarder and not a skier. That shows a certain amount of innovative spirit. But skiers hate snowboarders and, moreover, vote in much higher proportions than snowboarders. She's got every reason to downplay the snowboarding if she wishes to keep the skier vote.......He CV makes her sound like a wealthy dilettante. There's nothing wrong with that. One of the big regrets of my life is that I never got to be a wealthy dilettante. Many Democrats from FDR to Averell Harriman and on through the Kennedys were wealthy dilettantes, but the trick is to take up public service and not snowboarding as your avocation.
OnMilwaukee.com: What percentage of Trek's employees work in Wisconsin?
Eric Bjorling: It's a very healthy percentage. We have 1,800 employees worldwide and just under 1,000 of our employees work in Wisconsin's three facilities.
For advance insight into a rich political dilettante, see Minnesota's Governor Mark Dayton.
Sure she outsourced 99% of her company's bike production to China. But she now ants to stop other Wisconsin companies from ever doing that and making themselves competitive in their markets. And she will make them pay $10.10/hr, $15.00/hr--what she decides is a living wage. Sure that might put them under, but they should have outsourced while the getting was good, like she did.
How Burke can make the pitch that will win you over while not angering the Democratic Party base is something that would be an amazing piece of political mastery.
Isn't that exactly what Obama did in '08? But then so many people projected so much of themselves onto him, it's hardly fair to give him credit for it. He just had to smile and not make too big a gaffe. In fact, playing it cool and laid-back made it even easier for both the base and moderates to read whatever they wanted into him. Funny that only conservatives could see him for himself: good family man, reasonably smart, but a product of the Chicago machine who lacked any real governing experience.
After being an executive at a popular WI bike building corporation, with connections to all the movers and shakers, and then being named by Madison Magazine "People of the Year" in 2011 for her philanthropic actions, she still had to spend $130,000 of her own money to get elected to the Madison School Board. You'd think she would be a shoo-in. Weird. Maybe they thought she was black.
This is how the one-percent live.
It does seem like rather a lot of the women in politics were quite well off financially beforehand, whether from inheritance or marriage.
Of those who made their pile themselves, I can only remember Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, and the lady from the TV wrestling world, and all those lost their election runs.
Perhaps other women have a problem with "successful" women?
The obvious part of this has already been observed, on this Comments page.
Of course Althouse is right. Of course Mary Burke's history is readily explainable.
And OF COURSE the real issue is that this all would be a very big story -- and not a mere curiosity for a single writer -- if we were talking about the history of a Republican like Scott Walker instead of a Madison Democrat.
The real story -- as it always is -- is the media's double standard.
Ski season in Las Lenas is ~ July through September and in Colorado is roughly December through March. Two years of snowboarding could be 12 months or less in board time. Confusing to count up for short declarative statements in a blog post. And not worth correcting when someone gets it wrong. Besides, what if much of that time was only weekends? IOW, every different account of her snowboard time could be technically true, but misleading. I hate when people mislead with the truth. Makes me distrust their opinions.
Ann, thank you for noticing there are two stories here: (1) Mary Burke's skinny resume with the snowboarding hiatus and the "challenging" school board position. (2) Dan Bice's lack of interest fleshing out the holes in Burke's resume.
Bice has an agenda that permeates his his work. You learn a lot about a reporter by the questions that are not asked.
"It seems for many folks, her two main qualifications are 1) she's a democrat and 2) she's not Scott Walker. Nothing else really matters."
But I don't think this is what the true lefty wants. It's easier to fight and demonize Scott Walker and impugn all the Republicans, but when a Democrat is in the position and it's someone who doesn't do what you want, doesn't bring the Hope-and-Change, you've just got a mushy target. How do you leverage in the next campaign?
Is Bice the guy who claimed campaign finance law was too complicated to explain in articles on the John Doe probe?
I'm fully prepared to be disappointed by Mary Burke. Eagerly waiting, in fact.
I was behind an Illinois License Plate car yesterday and it had "I stand with Scott Walker" on the back window.
How do you leverage in the next campaign?
You blame the Republicans in Congress for being obstructionist.
A true lefty doesn't want Mary Burke. No, there is nothing wrong with that, but the party is trying to project her as want they think the voters want.
She can't project the "one of us" mantra because she isn't. Even if it doesn't really matter that she spent time as part of the idle rich. She is trying to project something much different and the press is trying to help.
So GM admits he's eagerly awaiting failure. I remember when he sang Gov. moonbeams praises over him raising taxes cos it helped Kali's budget. Well, for a short amount of time....Lolol.
Keep strangling the golden goose. Or you can learn from others mistakes like USSR, Cuba and the most recent Venezuela which has to import oil.
So what if there's been shortages of basic foodstuffs for a few years? Power to the people! They don't have to worry about obesity.
"You are trying to find a reason to vote for Burke."
No. I don't feel much of a pull toward that. I voted for Walker in the recall election, where Barrett made the same end-this-discord pitch. And I voted for Walker in 2010, but mostly because of the damned train project he thought was a boondoggle.
"I don't really follow WI politics other than whats on this blog but it appears to me that me that sin Walker has committed is in his innovative ideas and policies to make state government smaller. How Burke can make the pitch that will win you over while not angering the Democratic Party base is something that would be an amazing piece of political mastery."
I think I said she can't do both of these things. I don't think she has the political experience or innate intuition to figure out how to play the base and the middle."
It's OK Ann, you can hold your nose and vote for Walker in November. It's not the end of the world. Heck since Reagan I can't recall a candidate that I voted for that I didn't hold my nose while casting the vote. You get used to voting for the lesser stink.
"I don't think she has the political experience or innate intuition to figure out how to play the base and the middle."
That's what advisors are for.
How come these blue states can't find decent candidates? Cali has Jerry Brown, Mass has Martha Coakley, NY has Cuomo. MN has Franken. And Mary Burke, another empty suit? And the Dem national scene? Obama, HRC, Gore, Edwards???
Gotta have an executive with some drive, beliefs, passion. Not a trustifarian. Certainly not a law professor.
And why are all the self-made women conservatives?
So GM admits he's eagerly awaiting failure.
Burke isn't left wing as I am, so I'm sure she will disappoint. But I'm confident she will accept Medicaid funds, put an end to the voucher madness, and kick Cathy Stepp to the curb... to name a few.
This doesn't seem cruelly neutral at all. Rather, it reads like mainstream media "neutrality" in which the media is striving to put a positive spin on something.
Cruel neutrality would be mentioning the uncomfortable identity politics Burk has to hide from yet is ultimately reliant on to get elected. It's not that she's "not too ambitious", it's that she's a walking stereotype of what "the Left" hates.
I mean, some of what the Left hates, because the Left hates everything, especially themselves. But seriously, we've got a person who came from wealth, likely being paid to snowboard for a couple years while her company "sent jobs overseas".
Let's all calm down with an unassuming placekeeper
Never in a million years...the Dems want revolution or, more accurately, counter-revolution and the overthrow of Walker. They'd vote for Che if they could. The last thing they want is calm and an unassuming placekeeper. You and Meade saw them at the Capitol; they're not a calm, placekeeping bunch.
But I hope she takes your advice, because it would tank Democratic turnout and lead to a 60-40 Walker victory, at least. So Mary, put on a fleece pullover, have a cup of warm cocoa, and embrace the mellow; soon you will assume your place back on the slopes, where you really want to be.
"and kick Cathy Stepp to the curb."
What was her sin?
Ann Althouse said...but when a Democrat is in the position and it's someone who doesn't do what you want, doesn't bring the Hope-and-Change, you've just got a mushy target. How do you leverage in the next campaign?
Oh, I think they'll find a way. Nationally of course it'll be "the first female president!" but I'm sure the media'd be happy to supply something for WI after a lackluster Burke admin. If the last 6 years (or at a minimum the last 2) have taught us anything it's that the media has (and will have) no shame in providing cover for and failing to hold to account most politicians on the correct team. They're still allowing folks with (D)s after their names to blame Bush for current problems!
Political parties are shameless and will say and do whatever they can to obtain and retain power--adults know this and aren't surprised. It used to be the job of the media to keep everyone honest, at least to a degree, so the idea that "they'll need a clear partisan to help draw clear distinctions between the parties" made sense. When a Mass. Republican like Romney is credibly(!) cast as a hardcore fundamentalist Tea Party Repub by the media, though, you can't rely on that old paradigm.
"Original Mike said...
Is Bice the guy who claimed campaign finance law was too complicated to explain in articles on the John Doe probe?"
Yep. He's also the guy that John Chisholm leaked John Doe info to on regular basis.
Scott Walker promised Wisconsin would have 250,000 new jobs by the end of his first term. We only got half that many.
If Mary Burke promises 125,000 new jobs by the end of her first term... I'll promise to vote for her.
Otherwise, I think I'll just stick with what's working.
garage mahal said...Burke isn't left wing as I am, so I'm sure she will disappoint. But I'm confident she will accept Medicaid funds, put an end to the voucher madness,
Voucher Madness sounds like a terrible 70's cabinet arcade game, garage.
Yep. He's also the guy that John Chisholm leaked John Doe info to on regular basis.
Actually it was Sykes and Tim Russell's lawyers that was feeding stories to Bice.
Garage, what did Cathy Stepp do?
"How come these blue states can't find decent candidates? Cali has Jerry Brown, Mass has Martha Coakley, NY has Cuomo. MN has Franken. And Mary Burke, another empty suit? And the Dem national scene? Obama, HRC, Gore, Edwards???"
These people are not a problem with the march left. They are the point.
Meade: "If Mary Burke promises 125,000 new jobs by the end of her first term... I'll promise to vote for her. "
How'd voting for a bunch of promises work out on the national level?
Creating jobs at the state level is difficult when federal policies seem almost designed to discourage hiring.
Government does not create jobs. The best it can do is get out of the way.
" she still had to spend $130,000 of her own money to get elected to the Madison School Board."
Maybe going to a small private prep school really doesn't prepare you to help manage a public school district.
""How come these blue states can't find decent candidates?"
Ha Ha. The problem is bi-partisan. Think back to the Republican list of presidential hopefuls...Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachman, Donald Trump, Rick Perry.
Public office does not attract the best and brightest. That's why I want less government.
"Oh, but that's a very boring approach to neutrality.
I don't think you understand cruelty.
You have mistaken me for mainstream media which tries to get the look of balancing with on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand bullshit.
I don't play that game. It's boring. It's not cruel enough."
You don't know what I've mistaken you for. Rookie internet mistake, you should be years past that.
I understand cruelty just fine. Another rookie internet mistake you shouldn't be making since you're not an internet rookie.
You've limited yourself in the vast vistas of cruel neutrality by assuming you will necessarily fall into some media template. You're not giving yourself enough credit in your abilities, Professor. If you want to piss everyone off, you are capable of doing so. So do it! Not going to happen with nothing for people who like Scott Walker to get pissed off about.
I think you've lost some grip on that characteristic of "cruel neutrality" that you (used to?) hold up as defining your blog time and again.
There is nothing more boring than saying you hope to hit all the targets and you pull out a pea-shooter instead of that .50 cal of cruel neutrality we know you have stashed somewhere. Concern trolling Burke about not being accomplished and tossing out a throwaway line about limited government is not going to get the majority of your readers pissed off.
And no, I didn't mean you when I said hidebound college-town liberal. Maybe that explains the defensiveness. Which wouldn't be necessary if the cruel neutrality of olde had been deployed towards Scott Walker. It's missing - and missed!
I'll respond with some cruel indifference
Who cares.
Walkers going to walk away with it..
Personally, I don't want government to do too much. I don't want innovation.
Problem is, there are substantial forces in government (bureaucracy, legislature, judiciary) which will keep doing expensive and foolish stuff on their own. And they will never ever shut down the expensive foolish stuff that has been going on for a long time.
So having passivity at the top does not solve the problem. The person at the top has to keep the rest of government on a tight leash.
Mary Burke is a person of modest accomplishment, despite her wealth and education. I understand that there are late bloomers who sometimes catch fire after a long slow smolder. But Burke seems more a unfocused rich girl who wants to be governor. If she were a Republican and in this position, she would be ridiculed constantly.
But she could win. The smear campaign against Walker must be taking its toll for this election even to be a contest.
How did Burke spend $130,000 on a school board election? School board elections aren't usually that expensive by any means - some signs, some literature, some canvasing. Maybe she thought it was a snowboard election.
And Garage, I, too, wonder what Cathy Stepp did?
So we're supposed to be upset about a gap in her resume 20 years ago?
What?
Ms. Burke is a modest woman, with much to be modest about.
Blacks invented modesty.
And all of Churchills quotes.
Scott Walker reelected immediately becomes a viable presidential candidate who, if he can get the nomination, would probably win in November no matter who the Democrats run. He appeals to both conservatives and independents, and he has the kind of executive experience the voters are going to be looking for.
This makes the Wisconsin gubernatorial race important to both national parties. If Burke can beat Walker, it almost doesn't matter what she does as governor; she will have accomplished the main Democratic goal just by winning.
Ann, you keep telling us that Scott Walker is the kind of candidate you'd like to see the Republicans nominate. How can you even think of voting for Burke when you know that victory for her guarantees that Walker will not be able to run for President?
What you should be doing is rooting for Walker and looking at who's running with him for lieutenant governor, since that's who will end up in the governor's mansion if Walker is successful as a presidential candidate.
Mt. Maven,
"Cali has Jerry Brown, Mass has Martha Coakley, NY has Cuomo. MN has Franken. And Mary Burke, another empty suit? And the Dem national scene? Obama, HRC, Gore, Edwards???"
Which One Of These Is Not Like The Others?
" My understanding of the snowboarding hiatus gives me a template to apply to what I did find puzzling, the lack of an upward career trajectory after her stint as Secretary of Commerce. If that's the kind of person she is, she should own it and make the argument why that's just what we need in a governor, a modest, unambitious, well-rounded person who is willing to serve for a term."
Well, I'm guessing that she doesn't think "rich bitch who's never had to struggle a day in her life wants you to believe she cares about you" will go over so well with the voters.
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