CLINTON, IN TOWN, RIBS HERB KOHL

Plus: A look at the Financial Results for Herb's Superb Milk Shack, 2006


By Michael Horne

For the Democratic party faithful, the holding of a rallying speech by Bill Clinton in their hometown is like having the bishop fill in for the parish priest at Sunday mass. Hell, it's like having the pope come to town to baptize your firstborn. There is Bill Clinton, and then there are all other politicians, none of whom are as good at connecting with the people.
Clinton worked his magic in Milwaukee Friday, speaking to 3,000 at a public gathering at the Milwaukee Theater and later to a couple hundred at a private dinner in the Hyatt Regency Hotel. At the public rally, Clinton was the featured attraction on the stage. Along with him were such worthies as Governor Jim Doyle, Kathleen Falk, the always-radiant Barbara Lawton, the irrepressible Gwen Moore and Senator Herbert H. Kohl, the latter wearing a blazer with brass buttons. Where in Wisconsin was First Lady Jessica Doyle? Right there, although she can be easy to miss. She was on stage with her husband and sons Gus and Gabe.
About 100 regular and some irregular folks sat in risers on the stage, facing the full house audience, and waving Doyle-Lawton or Herb Kohl signs at appropriate moments as the candidates were introduced. Among the people in the bleachers: Frank Gimbel, the visionary who gave us this theater; Vel Phillips; Julilly Kohler; Enrique Figueroa; Martha Love and others too numerous to mention including cigar merchant John Piette, who recently raised a couple of thousand dollars for the governor as a lark, and is getting into the excitement of the political process. In the audience were such figures as D.A. candidate John Chisholm; Judge Jeff Wagner, fresh from a sentencing; and many students, quite a few too young by far to vote. They were there to cheer on their handsome teacher, Glen Allen, Jr., of Morse Middle School, who was one of the civilians on stage who got to speak a few words before the candidates and the ex-president were introduced.
Of the candidates, Gwen Moore made the best performance, in a symbolism-laden speech in which she advised the audience to git on board the ship of hope. "Your vote is your first-class ticket," she said, adding that she is sick of the Bush administration's "tax cuts and giveaways to people like Paris Hilton."
Things were getting a bit windy onstage and a bit yawny in the audience by the time the last of the political speeches were made, but if Herb Kohl were a soporific (and you can bet your chocolate milk that he was), Bill Clinton was a tonic, and the crowd was his. Clinton wore a dark suit, a white shirt, and a red tie. The hue of the latter habiliment was likely chosen to complement the ex-president's complexion. He is simply the reddest-faced sober man you'll ever see.
He gave a speech pointing out that the country is going in the wrong direction, that he has travelled to 29 states in this campaign, and that the Republicans' extremism will come back to bite them within the course of the week.
He also reiterated a line I had heard him use before, telling us that he was a poor man until he became ex-president. Now that he's rich, they are showering tax breaks on him that he doesn't need. Then, gesturing to Kohl, seated on the bleachers, he said, "I'm not as rich as Herb K0hl. Nobody's as rich as Herb Kohl." Milwaukeeans are not accustomed to talking about Herb's wealth, especially when he's around. For his part, the Senior Senator from Wisconsin fidgeted in his seat like a basketball player who has just been benched by his coach, or sold to the Bucks.
Later, at the closed-to-the-press event at the Hyatt, Clinton gave a more nuanced speech to the folks there, and again mentioned Kohl's wealth. Most likely, Clinton was hitting up Herb for cash, you'd imagine, and a look at the senator's recent campaign filings shows he has been busy lending his campaign considerable jack that he, as a virtually-unopposed shoo-in, does not need for his own campaign. [See sidebar below. -- Ed.]
Bill Clinton told the crowded ballroom that the Republicans are simply too extreme, and that ideology can be constricting, especially when certain things must be done. Clinton reached into his incredible store of facts, telling us that the two European economies most like the United States' were England and Denmark. Those countries have adopted green economic principles, and as a result employment is up, while energy use is constant. He then predicted that green engineering will be the engine of the American economy, since we can no longer afford to finance "both sides of the war on terror," as he put it. We need a green roof on the Hyatt Regency hotel, for example, and energy-efficient windows, and this and that and the next thing.
"Why am I going into all of this detail?" he asked. "Because there are no ideological answers to these problems. You have to know something. ... They asked me what great economic idea I brought to Washington and I said 'arithmetic.'"
The ideologues have put us in a dead-end situation, and their extreme positions are "contradicted by science, philosophy and religion," he said.
While Clinton spoke, Governor Doyle sat on a chair offstage, and watched in wonderment, as did the well-heeled audience.
Among the attendees were Jackie Boynton; Kailas and Becky Rao; hotel owner Gary Grunau; other hotel owner Steve Marcus; JoAnne Anton of the Kohl campaign staff; Randy Nash and others. Jessica Doyle and her son Gus sat at table #1, where Herb Kohl also sat. Herb ate his salad -- except for the cherry tomatoes. Jessica Doyle didn't touch a thing on her plate.

A NOTE ON HERB KOHL'S FINANCES
On November 2nd, the day before the rally, Kohl lent his campaign $250,000. A week before, on October 25th, he sent the campaign $550,000, which followed a half-million dollar loan on October 13th, $125,000 on October 5th, and another $125,000 on October 2nd. He also outright gave the campaign $383,747.55 on September 13th, just two days after the campaign repaid him $1 million he had lent the campaign previously. Why Herb pulled a million out of his campaign only to lend it back -- and then some -- within a few weeks is confounding, especially since his seat is sacrosanct. We'll have to check back later and see where the money went. Let's guess for sure that Hillary Clinton would like her piece of it. Altogether Herb's campaign owes Herb around $5 million.
Also, we have the report of the sales from Herb's Superb Milk Shack, a perennial event of State Fair, sponsored by the senator.
It appears the senator spent $41,087.44 on flavored milk from the Kemp's Dairy in Cedarburg, and another $900 for cups, etc. The State Fair Park rent looked to be around $500, and there were other expenses. The milk sales brought in $30,693 to the campaign, before expenses, so the Milk Shack revenues did reduce the subsidy that Herb had to come up with out of his pocket. But it is still a loss. After all, what does this guy know about selling milk? -- Michael Horne

Election Night Excitement
The place to be on election night is Lakefront Brewery, 1872 N. Commerce St., where Sen. Kohl and other Democrats like Gwen Moore and Jon Richards will gather beginning at 7 p.m. for the evening's drama. The Kohl campaign will supply food and beverage, and after what has been a rather dry electioneering season, it will be quite welcome. The weather is expected to be mild, the crowd is likely to go wild.