As soon as Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk made the surprising decision to vacate her office midway through her fourth term, local politicos and media outlets were buzzing about who would run to take her place.
That is, after everyone stopped wondering just why the hell Falk stepped down in the first place. She really didn’t get into many details of her decision, outside of saying she was healthy, happy and not leaving for a higher-up political job.
After the Falk gossip subsided, a total of six candidates came out of the woodwork to run in the spring 2011 election to replace Falk: four Democrats, one Republican and even one fringe candidate whose platform is to get rid of the Dane County Executive position altogether.
But one of the Democrats in the race is admittedly not always popular among members of his own party – Zach Brandon, a former Deputy Commerce Secretary and former member of the Madison Common Council. And in a crowded primary with multiple liberal candidates, Brandon’s departure from his party’s norms may give him a unique edge.
Brandon is of course a vigorous member of the Democratic Party, which he proved through his extensive work for the Barack Obama presidential campaign as well as many other candidates at the city and county level. He also worked for many years under the Doyle administration and also for Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
Yet according to his campaign site, Brandon is a “budget hawk” who fights for taxpayers, fiscal responsibility and job creation through his private sector business experience. If these phrases are ringing any bells, it’s likely because they were popular campaign points among many Republican candidates in the 2010 mid-term elections.
“Dane County needs a bold approach,” Brandon said in an earlier Badger Herald interview, “One that puts job creation first.”
Brandon’s fits of fiscal and at times social conservativeness, especially while serving on Common Council, have definitely put him in a prickly position among some liberal leaders like the outgoing Falk. However, Brandon’s willingness to work bipartisanly has gained him the respect of people from various ideological backgrounds, including former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson aide Mark Bugher and long-time local progressive Vicky Selkowe.
“I’m coming from the centrist position, and that’s where the majority of the population is,” Brandon told The Wisconsin State Journal.
This “well-rounded” approach to the county executive’s office definitely sets Brandon apart in the crowded primary field and could help broaden his appeal among independent and conservative-leaning voters. And yes, there are more conservatives than one would think in Dane County; it’s just hard to tell when living in a town as liberal and influential as Madison.
For one of his more prominent endorsements, Brandon has the thumbs-up from former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, which isn’t surprising given he worked under Doyle at the Commerce Department for many years.
“Zach Brandon is the person I trust most to serve as my county executive,” Doyle said on Brandon’s website. “He is exactly the kind of innovative leader Dane County needs.”
But an endorsement from Doyle strikes me as more of a “kick me” sign on Brandon’s back than a useful campaign boost, given Doyle’s abysmal approval ratings at the end of his governorship. Brandon would do better to play down Doyle’s approval, as public memory is not nearly short enough to forget the disappointments, and it won’t help his cause with non-Democrat voters.
Given the current political atmosphere of aversion to Democrats, which brought a lot of liberal carnage in the 2010 mid-term elections, it might be wiser for a candidate to seek a broader appeal than just a small subset of the population – even in liberal Madison. And if Brandon can spread his message of being an executive for the whole county – not just his party – he may prove to be a formidable candidate in the upcoming Feb. 15 primary and maybe even the April 5 spring elections.
Alicia Yager ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in
journalism and French
