| By Cory @ One Wisconsin Now - Dec 10th, 2008 at 3:46 pm EST |
There has been a lot of talk in recent months about who might challenge Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. Increasingly those discussions have centered around former Madison School Board member Nancy Mistele. A week ago the Waunakee-based developer known for her wild rhetoric made it official by filing the necessary paperwork. Although she has not run for public office in a number of years, it appears that the low-road tactics that she was known for then, will be the same route that she plans to take now.
In nearly every news report of her intention to run for Dane County Executive, Mistele has continued to use two Dane County tragedies as the centerpiece of her entire campaign. Not only is it despicable and opportunistic but it is completely insensitive to those most effected, the victim’s families. As if crossing this line for her own political gain is not enough, she all but makes her opponent personally responsible for the victim’s deaths. If this is a sign of things to come, Dane County residents might want to duck for cover as Mistele takes the race to terrible new lows.
Nancy Mistele’s over heated rhetoric today is totally offensive but it is only the latest in a long line of extremism and questionable judgment. Who could forget her comments in 1998 when she tried to explain her opposition to a progressive tax structure? At that time she suggested that rich people work harder than people that happen to earn less. In her own infamous words, at that time, she said:
The bottom line is, if you put time into it and you put the effort forth, you can make a decent living. To the extent that government can come in and then tell me to distribute my money to people who choose not to work hard, who choose not to run a couple of companies, who choose to do an 8 to 5 workday when I might do a 7 to 11, I think that’s absolutely wrong.
Nancy Mistele also caused quite a stir while she was trying to defeat an effort by the Madison school board to lift a spending cap in 1997. Many questioned her apparent delay in reporting tens of thousands of dollars in corporate contributions only weeks before the February 18 vote. At the very least, the situation confirmed for many that she was serving as little more than a tool of big business interests and not for the average working person in Madison.
Some time has passed since Nancy Mistele last grabbed a few headlines but apparently her wild rhetoric and questionable tactics are still a problem. If her early statements are any indication she plans to continue her low-road odyssey some 10 years later.
Comments are closed for this post.