Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, recently put out a press release calling on the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to “reject Rebecca Blank and her radical policies.” Before we get into the details of Grothman’s attack on Blank, we want to be absolutely clear: Grothman is a troll.

His highlight reel of inane attacks includes: calling Planned Parenthood the nation’s “most racist organization,” saying money means more to men than women and claiming America is facing an epidemic of women “adopting a single motherhood lifestyle” in order to benefit from the available “government largesse.”

But Grothman is an influential go-between for Wisconsin’s conservatives who need someone to help make sense of Madison’s zaniness. Hence, a somewhat rambling statement about the horrors that would ensue if the regents were to approve Rebecca Blank as this university’s next chancellor. 

As UW’s student voice, we want to take a moment to debunk some of Grothman’s thoughts on Blank in case anyone actually believes what he has said. 

One of Grothman’s complaints is that Blank is not the “overtly pro-business chancellor who would try to connect with the business community” that he would have liked. Apparently, the acting secretary of the Department of Commerce of the United States of America isn’t pro-business enough for Grothman. We believe that Blank is actually very well-positioned at the crossroads of business, academia and public policy.

Grothman also accuses Blank of not planning to address “spiraling tuition increases, which are driving our young people deeper into debt.” We are glad Grothman has decided to take an interest in rising tuition costs – perhaps he could have considered those when he voted for Gov. Scott Walker’s budget, which cut $250 million in state funding to the university.

Considering his unimpressive track record as an advocate for UW students, we don’t understand why Grothman is attacking Blank for her views on tuition, especially since she has not yet begun serving as chancellor.

Grothman goes on to say Blank has “declared war on the next generation by advocating for tuition increases.” While Blank told us in her questionnaire that reduced state support has led to greater pressure for tuition increase, she also said that the university “needs to work hard at expanding its funding sources other than tuition and state funding.”

People much more relevant than Glenn Grothman have given Blank their support – from both sides of the aisle. President Barack Obama said Blank will be “an outstanding chancellor for years to come,” and Gov. Scott Walker said she is a “great pick” who “has a keen knowledge of economic issues that can help the UW promote great prosperity in the state.”

So, while Grothman has been obnoxiously vocal in his disapproval of Blank, it comes as some consolation that his complaints have been drowned out by voices of reason. Grothman loves playing the contrarian, and the devil’s advocate has a place in our political discourse. Here, though, he is just doing it for the sake of argument and – dare we say – because he enjoys the attention.

Rest assured, the regents, and reasonable people in general, have paid this no mind. Unlike Grothman, we would actually like to see what sort of chancellor Blank turns out to be before we judge her.