Leland Pan’s Facebook candidacy page states you should “empower the student voice and elect [him] for Dane County Board District 5 to ensure our campus is represented by a true progressive.” It also says he has focused on “labor rights, environmental protections and higher education affordability.” What it doesn’t describe, however, is whether his approach to politics is feasible in the long run.

As The Badger Herald reported Tuesday, “Interim Chancellor David Ward announced the University of Wisconsin will enter into a period of mediation with [Adidas]” after a situation involving an Adidas factory in Indonesia that left workers without severance pay.

Pan posted a status on his personal Facebook following the news on his Facebook that read “Fuck you, Chancellor Ward. No seriously, go fuck yourself. We kicked you out before and we can do it again.” Although Pan later deleted the post, it seems he gets his political rhetoric from one of his Facebook candidacy page’s favorite listed movies, “Pulp Fiction,” rather than acceptable political standards.

What confuses me is that Pan claims to be pro-labor. If UW simply cut Adidas’ contract, the workers would get nothing. By staying in the contract, and going through mediation, as required by the contract, those workers can get some redress. In fact, Ward specifically said he was “committed to seeing redress for the impacted workers.”

When emailed and questioned on the post, he told me his “Facebook is private and none of your business.” But if someone desires to be a public figure, he will become just that: public. Anyone running for any office ought to realize they need to watch their words every minute of every day.

If President Barack Obama verbally flipped presidential candidate Mitt Romney double birds behind closed doors it would stick with him for the rest of his political career. Pan’s Facebook wall is also available for non-friends to view, so the status can’t really be considered “private.”

Pan’s post speaks to what has derailed our country recently: hot-headed politics and partisanship. It reminded me of South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson who impulsively shouted “you lie!” during a speech Obama gave in 2009. Impulsive politics make your party look bad; they reinforce the notion that your side doesn’t know what it’s talking about and is disrespectful.

The second detrimental dogma Pan’s status shows is partisanship. By claiming that he’ll work to get Chancellor Ward kicked out of Madison, Pan showed he is one-sided and unwilling to reach a compromise. That’s not how politics work; good politicians don’t simply push down opponents, they work with them. Perhaps the lack of conservative thought in Madison has convinced Pan he doesn’t need to work with those who disagree, but that kind of thought will subject one to a recall election.

Pan’s recent post shows a tendency toward hot-headedness and partisanship. While you might claim it’s a one-time occurrence, a Facebook status of his from last fall during the protests may make you reconsider: “Dear rich people and conservatives – you are literally killing people and the best thing you can do is to suck a tailpipe, hang yourselves, or borrow a gun from an NRA buddy. Seriously. No joking. You deserve to die.”

Reginald Young ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in legal studies and Scandinavian studies.