Advertisement When I talked to Johnson late last week, she said she filed campaign finance papers with the state elections board so local people who want her to run can make donations.
Assuming Johnson runs, it should be an interesting race. I’ve known and covered both candidates for many years. I first met Johnson when she was executive director of the United Way of the La Crosse Area, now Great Rivers United Way, and covered her more when she ran for
La Crosse County Board in 2000.
I first met Kapanke when he was town of Campbell chairman and I was covering the town’s water disputes with the city of La Crosse.
I like both of them a lot.
They’ve been excellent sources of information over the years, and I’ve come to trust them both.
I also talk baseball with them. Kapanke and I often talk about the Milwaukee Brewers (his team) and Chicago Cubs (my team). Johnson, who grew up a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, often asks me how the Cubs are doing, though I suspect it’s to needle me. Not going to work this year.
Kapanke expressed concern about whether the race would get nasty because of outside advertising.
I truly hope the outsiders stay out of this race and let Kapanke and Johnson focus on the issues. If they’re allowed to do that, the voters will be the winners.
Of course, Johnson has a county board race to win April 1 in District 18, which includes the town of Shelby. She’s being challenged for the third time by Dave Drewes, chairman of Citizens for Responsible Government-La Crosse County. Johnson said that race right now is her top priority.
Gillett withdraws from race
La Crosse County Supervisor Jason Gillett tells me he’s dropping out of the April election because he’s leaving La Crosse.
Gillett, who challenged and defeated Audrey Kader in 2006, was facing a rematch with Kader.
“I will be graduating from Viterbo (University) this spring and will be
re-locating to Virginia Beach this summer to work on the campaign for former popular Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, who is running for an open seat to the U.S. Senate this fall,” Gillett told me in an
e-mail.
Supreme Court pickets
Former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin called to say he and a few others are going to be in Onalaska on Wednesday morning to protest outside a meeting about the Wisconsin Supreme Court being sponsored by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.
WMC has been exercising its constitutionally protected right to sponsor independent ads in supreme court races. Soglin says the meetings serve as fundraisers for these ads, but donors don’t have to be identified as they would if contributing to a candidates’ campaign.
Soglin said he wants to put pressure on WMC through Gundersen Lutheran, which has a seat on WMC’s board, to not run the independent ads. The meeting location was originally planned for Gundersen Lutheran Clinic in Onalaska, but recently was changed to the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce offices.
Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.
