BARRETT CAMP PAIN FOR PRINT JOURNALISTS

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team 

From his front yard position standing behind a podium borrowed for the occasion from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Mayor Tom Barrett announced his run for Governor yesterday, Sunday, November 16th, 2009.
His auditors included neighbors and political pals, including some, like former county executive candidate David Riemer and chief of staff Patrick Curley, who are both. (City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux was probably puttering away in his woodshop down the street.) The ordinarily quiet, leafy (in season) street was also filled with television broadcast vehicles parked on the freshly paved boulevard that leads to the mayoral manse. Security was tight, with at least four Milwaukee Police officers on duty to preserve the integrity of the mayoral turf, and to keep reporters at bay, especially print reporters, (bloggers and magazine writers included) it seemed.
Poor Larry Sandler of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel cooled his heels on the mayoral sidewalk while Barrett spoke with an endless procession of television reporters who were invited, one by one, upon the mayoral lawn for a one-on-one.
Sandler was then informed by campaign volunteer Jeff Fleming that the mayor would not speak with him, and he went back to his office without a mayoral interview. 'Twas a pitiful sight to see the once-mighty Milwaukee Journal Sentinel so snubbed.
Likewise, Kurt Chandler of Milwaukee Magazine served as an observer, taking notes about the Big Announcement while Barb Candy, dressed in black from bandana to trench coat chatted up James C. Kaminski, a Marcoux predecessor. Both are political consultants.
The television correspondents, however, all got a chance for their viewers to see them with the mayor, including Channel 4's Michael George, Channel 6's Ted Perry and others of the trade -- even those whose station signals do not reach to the Cream City. The medium is the message, and it is important to any campaign that the candidate be seen -- however superficially -- on television. But we have come to a pretty pass indeed when print journalists (paper and electronic) are completely ignored at a media event. But what can you do when the mayor's on his own property under armed guard?
Curley said he's keeping his job at the mayor's office, and would not join the campaign (he's got kids to feed) and there was no indication the mayor would be resigning his post to hit the hustings full time, either (more kids).
Still, a mayoral victory as governor would put Common Council President Willie Hines, Jr. in the south end of the second floor of City Hall, so don't expect him to oppose Barrett's run.

A NEW WEB HOST FOR A NEW CAMPAIGN 

The campaign is in its infancy, and no staffers have yet been hired, but the www.barrett4wisconsin.com (and barrett2010) websites, which had been dark, are now alive with a photo of the mayor and links for contributors and followers. The old http://mayorbarrett.com/ website, created in February, 2005, now links directly to the barrett4wisconsin site, (as does barrett2010) which were born on August 27th, 2009, a tip-off that the mayor has been thinking about the race for a couple of months now.
Both sites were created / administered by C3 Systems of Bayside, operated by James Wendt. [This news came to milwaukeeworld courtesy of Joe Klein, who, like Riemer, challenged Scott Walker in a primary election for County Executive--Ed.]
Wendt founded C3 in 2003, when Jodi Tabak, now the mayoral press secretary (and expectant mother) was working on then-Representative Barrett's first run for mayor, after working on the judicial campaign of David Borowski.
Wendt worked for both parties during the infancy of campaign websites, way back nearly three-quarters of a decade ago. However, since that time, political internet sites are much more likely to be one party or another, and the wisconsin4barrett site now is hosted by http://www.ngpsoftware.com/, which calls itself the "leading provider of fundraising and compliance software for Democratic campaigns," including three of four congressional democrats, and "dozens" of governors.
--Michael Horne


A "LEFT-HANDED" COMPLIMENT FOR MAYORAL PENMANSHIP

Barrett, his right hand still in a sling after an August incident in which he came to the aid of a threatened woman, responded to milwaukeeworld's request for an autograph, [above] which turned out passably well, considering he had to do it avec le main gauche. (Let's call that a Left-Handed Compliment!) 
[Pardon the faintness of the image; the signature was rendered in green crayon.--Ed.]


Compare, however, to the fluidity of Barrett's signature in this archival document, rendered even more valuable in the eyes of history due to its sharing a page with a contemporaneous signature by Barrett's rival, Scott Walker:

[Image courtesy collection Michael Horne, Milwaukee Wisconsin]