Secretary Leinenkugel’s Senate Run
Gets a Thumbs Down
Mark Belling: “This Trifecta of Losers is Pathetic, Truly Pathetic”
MADISON – The reviews are in and they are not good for Dick Leinenkugel.
Right-wing radio hosts and leading Republican’s across Wisconsin have spent the last week slamming the Democratic Cabinet Secretary’s plans to enter the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, signaling fierce opposition to his candidacy and exposing deep divisions within the GOP.
TMJ 620’s right-wing talk show host Charlie Sykes said of a Secretary Leinenkugel’s bid for Senate as a Republican:
“I mean that’s kind of like showing up to a PETA convention wearing a mink coat. I mean it’s like running for the president of the humane society having just beaten whales to death with the bodies of baby seals… Running for the Senate as a Republican is like running for Surgeon General after a year of being pro-leukemia… I think this is a crazy idea… It’s crazy. It’s nuts…”
Sykes later wrote on his blog that: “Any Republican who now endorses Leinie would be a RINO (Republican In Name Only.)”
Bill McCoshen, a lobbyist and former aide to Bush Cabinet Secretary Tommy Thompson said, “It’s going to be tough for Dick to convince people he is a Republican after working for Doyle for 18 months.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4/7/10]
WISN 1130’s right-wing host Mark Belling hammered Secretary Leinenkugel for over an hour during Wednesday’s show last week – but he also, once again, took on both Dave Westlake and multimillionaire Terrence Wall saying:
“I am here to declare that that means that the three candidates that are running for the Republican nomination to oppose Russ Feingold are Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dum, and Tweedle-Dem!”
“…[T]his guy from Madison named Terry Wall who’s got a lot of money, but has the personality of a dead fish. Twice he ran for village board of the little community he lives outside of Madison in. And he finished dead last both times and in addition to that, he hasn’t paid any state income taxes in several years.”
Secretary Leinenkugel kicked off his campaign on the tax payer’s dime by registering his campaign website with his state phone at the Department of Commerce last Monday – the same day he announced he’d be leaving the Doyle Administration. To view a picture of Secretary Leinenkugel and his campaign phone in the Commerce Department office, click here.
Mark Graul, former campaign manager for Republican Congressman Mark Green’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign, said, “If he chooses to run, certainly serving in the Doyle administration is going to be a tremendous challenge in the Republican primary.” [Capital Times, 4/7/10]
