Milwaukee County Executive elections: Ryan lost his own community in early returns Tuesday

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | 30 April 2002 | Meg Jones and various

[July 4th]

For those who haven't been following, this is an election to replace Milwaukee's outgoing County Executive. (www.recallament.com) After granting himself and others in county government an overly-generous pension scheme - which reached in to the millions for Ament - the Milwaukee country voters amassed enough recall petitions and forced a resignation.

Tonight, a REPUBLICAN was voted into the office in MILWAUKEE COUNTY! Maybe there's hope after all!

(note: not a lot's going on in breaking tonight, so maybe this will fit for a while.)

[OldFriend]

Thank you for the great news!!!

[ninenot]

This wil be the first time in HISTORY that a conservative Republican was elected to ANYTHING city- or county-wide in Milwaukee, home of Dan Hoan and Frank Zeidler (Socialists and proud of it.)

My bet is that if the lead holds up in the mid-to high 50's that Madison will sit up and take note--and maybe even the DNC/RNC bozos in D.C.

[Miss Marple]

I remember this story! Great news! I am bumping this so more people cn see the results. Thanks!

[Faraday]

Some reasons why this happened:
1. Scott Walker ran a terrific campaign. He became identified as the "reform" candidate. The recall committee endorsed him.
2. Jim Ryan ran a terrible campaign. Though a liberal in a liberal county (61% for Gore in 2000), Ryan took open positions on very unpopular issues (for light rail, for domestic partner benefits, for the Hoan bridge bicycle path), etc. He must have been hoping for a very low turnout with liberal activists being all that would be necessary. Final vote total will be ca. 190 - 200 thousand (up from 134K in the primary). Big mistake.
3. The Norquist saga last week reminded everyone what kind of leadership the DemonRats have provided. Lots of normally Dem voters are just fed up.

[Jean S]

Awesome! Ryan even lost Hales Corners. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a Republican could win the mayoral race in '04?

[WIMom]

This is awesome! There's hope for Milwaukee yet. This plus the news that the demosocialcrat Mayor will not run again.....

[T. P. Pole]

This is an amazing story. For those that want background, here's a search showing postings on this.

In a local way, this is huge. The people decided that they wanted something other than the graft that was here. And Walker has not hid how conservative he is.

Here's something I posted on the Wisconsin board earlier:

Interesting anecdote.

I have a coworker who is your standard middle-class, educated, but lifelong dem (oh, yes, he is black). He and some others were talking about the election. They called them the young guy and the old guy.

This life-long dem said he is going to vote Republican for the first time in his life because the old guy is the same as they last and will just raise our taxes more.

There is some hope out there.

[Jean S]

I was getting worried today after listening to Belling predict a Ryan victory. I think he was playing games with people to get them to go out and vote.

[WIMom]

I rarely listen to Belling anymore. He's so pessimistic about anything conservative.

[ChadGore]

Tonight, a REPUBLICAN was voted into the office in MILWAUKEE COUNTY! Maybe there's hope after all!

*Applause* !

[Peace4EarthNow]

Whoo-Hoo!! Thanks for the news. The Journal was pulling so hard for Ryan to win. Too bad! :)

I think Walker will do a great job.

[Jean S]

I'm going to listen tomorrow, I can't wait to hear him explain this away.

[Faraday]

According to Belling, Al Gore is President, and Richard Jewell did the Olympic bombing in Atlanta. His political judgement is about as good as his football picks, ie. lousy.

[Jean S]

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting now:

Scott Walker wins executive's race

[WIMom]

Don't even start me on his stupid sports stuff. I'd rather have him gone and Savage was on.

[WIMom]

Hehehe, He'll probably say something like what you stated above.

[WIMom]

I'll bet the county board members are shaking in their boots right now!

[T. P. Pole]

Man I hate the Journal Sentinal web page. Do you think they could load any more crap onto their page?

[BraveMan]

From the WISN 12 website . . .

Ryan Concedes, Walker Projected Winner

Unofficial Returns: Ryan Loses Hales Corners

Posted: 8:23 p.m. CDT April 30, 2002
Updated: 10:08 p.m. CDT April 30, 2002

MILWAUKEE --Unofficial results show State Rep. Scott Walker wins the race for Milwaukee County executive.

The 34-year-old becomes the youngest Milwaukee County executive since the post was created in 1960. "Starting tomorrow, we will begin our campaign to restore county government and I need your help. We can improve county government," Walker said.

Hales Corners Village President Jim Ryan conceded Tuesday night, thanking voters for their support.

With 86 percent of the vote counted, Walker has 96,734 votes, or 58 percent, while Ryan has 71,444 or 42 percent, according to unofficial returns. Four aldermanic districts in the city of Milwaukee have not reported their numbers. The suburbs results are all in.

Walker is a Republican state representative from Wauwatosa. Ryan is president of the village of Hales Corners.

According to unofficial returns, Ryan lost Hales Cornes by 50 votes.

The winner will take over the job vacated by the retirement of Tom Ament.

He left office in February rather than face a recall election prompted by lucrative pension benefits approved over the previous two years.

Ryan, 34, and Walker, 58, were the top two vote-getters in a primary election April 2.

Citizens launched the recall campaign after disclosures about lucrative pension benefits for county employees that were approved over the previous two years.

BraveMan Note: The candidates' ages are transposed in the article. Walker is 34 whereas Ryan is 58.