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The
Changing tide in Wauwatosa
The former home of the John
Birch Society begins to embrace community values
by Jim McGuigan
April 6, 2005
It’s the former home of the John Birch Society, an inner ring suburb of 47,000 that has been a longtime Republican stronghold. But the tides are swiftly changing in Wauwatosa, as an educated population embraces community values. Emerging from a cocoon of anti-government conservatism, residents are rising up to take back their government from the do-nothing, help-nobody GOP.
There is something big going on there. As recently as 10 to 15 years ago, the only politics in ‘Tosa were Republican politics. It is the home of Scott Walker, who moved here after dropping out of college to seek fertile Republican ground in which to plant his Republican future. There were no Democratic wards. Clinton won nothing, not a single ward in either ‘92 or ‘96. Al Gore won not a single ward as recently as 2000.
But the 2004 presidential election, and yesterday’s School Board election, tells us there is something brewing in the ‘Tosa tea leaves. Admittedly, the School Board election was nonpartisan, and by no means do the results necessarily mean that the School Board members elected Tuesday night were necessarily Democrats, but there is nonetheless a sea of change afoot.
Consider a number of individual snapshots of recent ‘Tosa political history:
In 2003, ‘Tosa becomes the first community in Milwaukee County to pass an ordinance restricting smoking in restaurants. The smoking ban is largely nonpartisan, but is driven by families and community activists intent on improving the local quality of life, and willing to use regulatory mechanisms to achieve the change they want.
In 2004, John Kerry wins six wards, the first time in modern history a Democratic presidential candidate has won anything in the city. In fact, Kerry comes within three votes of winning another two wards, putting effectively a third of the city into Democratic hands.
In 2005, ‘Tosa passes, unanimously, the most comprehensive restrictions on big box retail development in the state, including requirements for analysis of the impact of proposed development on local jobs, the environment and the community.
In October 2004, 300 people attend a Kerry rally in the rain in Hart Park, and fan out through the city in an unprecedented grassroots organizing campaign.
On the night of April 5th, election day, over 100 people attend a Wauwatosa City Council public hearing to voice opposition to a proposal that would have exited the ‘Tosa library from the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. Residents speaking at the hearing state that quality of life, library services and the city’s role in the greater community are worth more to them than $15 or $20 in per household tax savings.
In the election, voters sweep out the entire Wauwatosa School Board. Responding to a School Board vote to close a school and limit open enrollment, challenger Jon Ray obliterates the incumbent school board president with 71% of the vote. Other candidates rejecting the school board status quo win with 66% of the vote.
Participants in the library public hearing on both sides angrily denounce the absence of any representative of the county executive in the matter, and the failure of the Republican-controlled Legislature to adequately fund inter-municipal library systems.
The County Executive’s referendum proposal to float bonds to fund pension payouts, despite continuing threats to close parks and the Mitchell Park Domes, fails by a 56-44 percent margin, even in “Republican” Wauwatosa.
None of this is to say that all of these developments have been partisan in nature, but there is something afoot. People are making themselves heard when their local elected officials decide to close schools, or eliminate library services, or sacrifice who knows what else at the altar of budget cuts. The elected official who pays no heed to that does so at their own risk.
It’s no longer Scott Walker’s Wauwatosa.
For more information,
visit:
www.tosaschools.com
UPDATE
|
Wauwatosa
School Board Seat 4 |
REPORTING |
100% |
 |
Mary Jo Randall |
5,539 |
66% |
| |
Anne Fee |
2,905 |
34% |
|
Wauwatosa
School Board Seat 5 |
REPORTING |
100% |
|
Jon Ray |
6,204 |
71% |
| |
Tim Taff (inc) |
2,477 |
29% |
|
Wauwatosa School
Board Seat 6 |
REPORTING |
100% |
|
Sharon Muehlfeld |
5,521 |
66% |
| |
Laura Startz |
2,849 |
34% |
|
Wauwatosa
School Board Seat 7 |
REPORTING |
100% |
|
Lois Weber (inc) |
5,059 |
61% |
| |
Patrick Riordan |
3,241 |
39% |
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Milwaukee Co.
Pension Bonds |
REPORTING |
100% |
|
No |
37,700 |
57% |
| |
Yes |
28,470 |
43% |
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