WHY TOM BARRETT SHOULD NOT RUN FOR GOVERNOR

 MILWAUKEEANS RARELY BECOME GOVERNOR

Only Two Milwaukee Mayors Have Done So,

Most Recently in 1890

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld 


By Michael Horne


And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

Jim Doyle's announcement that he does not plan to run for a precedented third term brought about a good deal of speculation, still unresolved, as to potential candidates to replace him on the Democratic side. This did not stop the punditerati from throwing Tom Barrett's hat into the ring even while the mayor was still in the hospital recovering from a non-political beating.

Well, let's stop that nonsense here and now. 

Barrett ran for governor once before, in the primary election of 2002, where he placed second to Doyle in a three-way primary with Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.
Reason enough, some would say.  
But this was before he became mayor, which makes things even more difficult for him than if he were merely from Milwaukee.
The last Milwaukeean to be elected governor was Julius Heil, who served from January 2nd, 1939 to January 4th, 1943. He died five years before Tom Barrett was born, but is practically a contemporary compared to the most recent Milwaukee mayor to become governor.
That was George Wilbur Peck, elected mayor in 1890, and resigning to serve as governor beginning on January 5th, 1891, or 120 years before the inauguration of Doyle's eventual successor.
The only other Milwaukee mayor to become governor was Harrison Ludington, who served from 1876-1878.
Other than these two fellows, no Milwaukee mayor has ever been elected to a statewide office, including United States Senator.

Mayor Don Alonzo Joshua Upham ran and lost for governor in 1851, and Mayor James B. Cross did the same thing in 1857, making the odds even lousier for Barrett, if you consider his position.

Even our actual Governors have tenuous connections to Milwaukee. Leonard Farwell (1852-1854) had holdings in Milwaukee and Madison, with which he was most closely connected. Milwaukeean Arthur MacArthur served only four days as governor in 1854, William E. Smith of Milwaukee was governor in 1878, but had only moved here in 1872 after serving in the assembly and state senate from a non-Milwaukee district. Francis E. McGovern of Milwaukee served as governor from 1911-1915, and Emmanuel L. Phillip also had Milwaukee connections, but I'm not sure if they were in place when he served as governor from 1915-1921. Milwaukee also gave us governor Fred Zimmerman from 1927-1929.
However you slice it, the golden age of Milwaukee Governors, such as it was, was a long time ago. This admonition also applies to Milwaukeean Scott Walker and anybody else from this city who would like the job.
The last Milwaukeean to lose a race for governor was Martin Schreiber, who had the benefit of incumbency (as Acting Governor) when he was challenged by Lee Sherman Dreyfus in 1978. Interestingly, the governorship wasn't much help when Schreiber tried to reverse the pattern and run for mayor -- he was beat by John O. Norquist in 1988 for that job. Also of note, both Republican Dreyfus and Democrat Schreiber were born in Milwaukee. The only other governor born here was Zimmerman. However, seven governors are buried here.

Those are the historical reasons why the mayor should stick to his job and forget about running for Governor -- if he is even considering it.
Here are some others:

• His wife would be furious. Kris Barrett was none too thrilled when her husband had to commute to Madison during his legislative service, and that was before they had kids. The children were still relatively young when Barrett had to spend time in Washington as a congressman. Even with those two out-of-town jobs, Barrett's campaigning all took place in Milwaukee. Running for governor would take him all over the state, beginning tomorrow, for over a year, just to get to the primary. The extent of Mrs. Barrett's political involvement appears to be limited to posing for Christmas cards with her family.
  
• The Barrett children are well settled here. This would be a lousy time to uproot his family and move his kids into the Executive Residence and into schools in a city in which they have never lived. His children are at that high school-ish age that can be difficult. If, as is more likely, Mrs. Barrett and children would remain in Milwaukee while Tom Barrett lived in Madison, you can double that "His wife would be furious" reason. And double it again, and again. 
• He's just getting settled as mayor. He has only served five plus years and is in his second term. With the exception of one mayor who died (Carl Zeidler), his one-term replacement (Bohn), and a caretaker mayor who was never elected (Marvin Pratt), every mayor since 1916 has served at least three terms. Why give up a good thing?