George Will’s Hit Piece on Wisconsin Undermined by Factual Inaccuracy and Non-Disclosure

By Jay Heck


Long-time columnist George F. Will has deep Midwestern roots, but his baseless, factually-challenged assault on the ongoing investigation of serious political corruption in Wisconsin suggests he’s lost touch with Midwestern values.

Will has made an assassination attempt on the character of a conscientious district attorney, John Chisholm, along with the non-partisan Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.) and Wisconsin’s effective “John Doe” investigation process.

Will’s attack relied heavily on outrageous and unsubstantiated accusations made in the Wall Street Journal by Eric O’Keefe, the long-time head of Wisconsin Club for Growth and a central figure in the two-year-old criminal investigation of illegal campaign coordination between the Club and Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign apparatus in 2011 and 2012.

Will also draws on a discredited and unsubstantiated attack by a right wing, out-of-state writer who simply invented a false story about Chisholm’s wife and claimed it provided an ulterior motive for Chisholm’s involvement in the investigation.

The "Debates"

By Bill Kraus


What is good about the debates?

They put opposing candidates on a stage together.

What is less good?

For openers. They are not debates. What they are is kind of a public editorial board meeting.

They are a showcase for talented broadcasters and a promotion for the quality of television newscasters where two instead of the usual one victim is on stage.

They cover so much ground that no subject gets the attention it deserves and some really trivial questions get more attention than they warrant.

They promote and promulgate sound bite politics.

They are an attack/counterattack medium. They promote incivility, even disrespect at a personal level instead of a discussion of multiple solutions to complicated problems.

The participants have figured them out. No one tries to seriously promote an idea. Compromise is not rewarded. No points are awarded for positives. The dangers to be avoided are all negative. They are a minefield that has to be crossed very cautiously, because a small misstep will be publicized and has known to be fatal.