I’ll have to admit, I felt both relieved when our news editor told us last night that Assembly Minority Leader Donna Seidel, D-Wausau, and Kristen Dexter and John Lehman were about to announce their candidacies against three Republican state senators in recall elections later this year. For weeks, all anyone has said about Wisconsin’s Democrats is that they need to get their heads in the game and pick some strong challengers as recall candidates if they ever hope to pull off this coup they’ve put in motion.

So for liberals, this is exactly what the doctor ordered, and I certainly agree with State Senate Democratic Committee executive director Zac Kramer.

“I know that these three candidates will run ambitious, top-notch campaigns,” Kramer said. 

However, there is another facet of the candidacies of Seidel, Dexter and Lehman. As reported by the Wisconsin State Journal: “The Senate recalls are part of a broader effort by Democrats to exact revenge on Republicans for passing Gov. Scott Walker’s contentious collective bargaining law.”

Obvious issues of impartiality in reporting aside, this statement is exactly true. The main reason these three are throwing their hats into the ring is not, according to Seidel as reported in The Badger Herald, because they were “inspired by the commitment of thousands of people throughout her district who collected signatures.”  Although these strong legislators may be able to effect the change constituents want to see, they’ve already showed their hand about their untoward motivations for running.

First, there’s the issue of their press conference. The Democratic strategy was blatantly obvious: There is strength in numbers. By holding one event, the candidates’ strategists painted Republicans into a corner, not allowing them to comment on each challenger one on one, but rather forcing them to attack the whole. Individually, each candidate may have easily seen deficits, but as a whole, they’re a lot harder to penetrate. This will hurt political discourse because we are less able to examine the candidates from all perspectives if no real criticism can be raised against them.

Second, the very nature of their candidacy is intended as a crapshoot. Republicans currently hold a razor-thin one vote margin in the Senate, so just one of these new challengers needs to win a seat to tip the balance of the whole Legislature. As any biologist will tell you, dandelions send out many seeds in the hopes that one will take root, and this is exactly the approach Seidel, Dexter and Lehman are taking. They are not as focused on the policies and beliefs of each candidate, but rather that in at least one district, one of them will be elected. Unfortunately, this will probably be to the detriment of constituents because we’ll end up with just someone and not necessarily the best one.

Last, there’s the eye for an eye aspect of the race. Seidel is the only one currently in the political arena – the other two lost in 2010 and are looking for a comeback. In fact, Lehman lost after serving only one term in the Senate before being defeated by Wanggaard, who is who he’s taking on in the recall. Although it’s not even politically taboo, if that doesn’t scream revenge, I don’t know what does.

When I first heard Seidel, Dexter and Lehman were announcing their candidacies, I was excited to think that Dems were at last honing in and giving us strong candidates that would represent their constituents’ interests when GOP legislators had failed. That’s what the recall should be about, right? However, further examination casts doubt on whether or not any of the candidates are really entering the race motivated by anything other than factionalism. It is still unclear whether these Democrats will be able to effect the change their constituents so deeply desire. With vengeance as a motivator, somehow, I think not.

Taylor Nye ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in archaeology, human evolutionary biology and Latin American studies.