Notes From The Political Front

ByMatthew Flynn

When someone decides to run for Governor of Wisconsin almost fifty years after graduating from college, a decent respect to the opinions of my friends requires that I explain my motivation.  Many of my classmates were generous in supporting my candidacy, and I thank all of you for that.

I had served as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin long ago, in the early eighties, and have been a candidate for office in Wisconsin several other times in the past.  I was the Co-Chair of John Kerry’s Presidential campaign in the Wisconsin Democratic Primary in 2004, and was on Hillary Clinton’s finance committee in Wisconsin in 2008. After Scott Walker was elected Governor in 2010, many of us felt that his policies had seriously injured our state.  When he presumed to run for a third term in 2018, influential people in our Party suggested that I run against him.

Ten candidates filed nomination papers for the Democratic Primary, and eight of them stayed in the race to the Primary.  These included Paul Soglin, the Mayor of Madison; Tony Evers, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (the eventual winner); the head of the Firefighters Union, a State Senator; an Assemblyman, and several others.

We debated at more than fifty forums around the state, including in Eau Claire, Marinette, Racine, Janesville, Wausau, Green Bay, Oshkosh, Waukesha, Monroe,  Platteville, Prairie du Chien, and many other towns, in addition to several debates in Milwaukee and Madison. My objectives were first to win the nomination, and also to publicize my deeply held opinions on the damage done to our national interest by the Trump administration, and the damage done to Wisconsin by Scott Walker.

We’re seeing more than 70 years of bipartisan commitment to the Pax Americana and American preeminence around the world slowly destroyed by a President who is servile to the Russian murderer, Vladimir Putin.  The work of Truman, Acheson, Eisenhower, both Dulles, Kennedy, Rusk, Nixon, Kissinger and all the Presidents and Secretaries of State after our graduation is being undone.

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker rescinded environmental protections, starved and attacked the University of Wisconsin, and passed labor and tax laws that have frozen the median wage for the last eight years. Walker is not a college graduate, and his attacks on the University of Wisconsin are simply vandalism. When the professors objected to his policies, he stated in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that their objections were “…a collective groan from people who cared more about themselves than about their students.”  The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point dropped all of its liberal arts courses.  The Flagship campus in Madison has lost prominent professors and graduate students.  Madison is regularly listed as one of the fifty best Universities in the world, yet Walker undermined it.  Some of his actions were gratuitous.  He eliminated statutory tenure for the Professors, exposing them to increasing risk of retaliatory action by the conservative Regents he appointed.

Matt and Tony Evers in St. Croix

The Primary on August 14 did not go my way.  After Tony Evers won, I called him to pledge support and helped him raise money.  Tony won the general election on November 6.  In response, the gerrymandered Republican legislature, which lost the statewide legislative vote by  8%  but nevertheless won more than 60% of the Assembly seats, passed lame duck legislation in advance of the January 7 inauguration of the new Democratic Governor and the new Democratic Attorney General.  This legislation transfers to the legislature many of the powers of the Governor and the Attorney General, to thwart their promised changes in policies. This is a tactic they also used in North Carolina in 2016,  and are using in Michigan now.

Our Democracy is under attack.  I encourage all of you to consider running for office if you are so inclined.  Our judgment and experiences are valuable. There is a decency to what we stood for, whether or not we agreed on all issues. And here are two tips if you decide to do it.  First, if anyone protests that you are over 70, your response is that you are younger than Trump, Biden and Bernie, and the same age as Hillary.  Second, if one of your classmates asks “How old are you anyway”, as happened to me when I called for support, your responses is “You’re my classmate.  How old are you?”

I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Reunion.

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11 Comments

  2. Matt, I like your passion and commitment. As a physician and psychiatrist, I tried to be considered for Surgeon General. I experienced over 40 years of negelect of the mental health system from both sides of the aisle. We are reaping what we have sown over the decades. The homelessness and the Opiod Crisis are paritially a result of the neglect of mental health. Contientious physicians who spoke up have been ignored. Big business, i.e. drug companies, contribute to candidates to get them elected. The money it takes to get elected today is crazy. What I am saying is that this is a system wide faliure that needs reform. Follow the money. Why do my Schizophrenic patients get monthly injections to keep them stable that cost over $2000.00 an injection? I better stop writing now. I am on a roll and God knows when I would stop writing otherwise…

  4. Many of us have found our political system and it’s participants to be less than pleasant and intrusive
    While I wish all my classmates well I do wish that they refrain from campaigning in our class notes which is supposed to be used to share our lives and not beat up others that one disagrees with .Social media like diatribe should not stain our social class notes

    1. I agree with Bob Pollack. Early on, I expressed to the founders my wish to see Yale1969.org be free from self-serving political posturing. I am very disappointed that my advice has not been heeded. We get enough of Flynn-type rants from all variety of media in our daily lives. We don’t need it here. In that spirit I will spare my classmates a much-needed rebuttal to Mr. Flynn.

      1. I wonder how Scott Herstin and Robert Pollack would explain the meaning of “Flynn-type rant” and how they would distinguish Matt Flynn’s supposed “rant” — an account of his experiences and views in running for governor of Wisconsin – from their own interventions. Scott and Bob might also want to read the Woodward Report and consider that freedom of speech should be respected, perhaps especially among classmates who, having had the benefit of liberal educations, write as temperately and insightfully as Matt has written here.

        1. I agree that political rants are not constructive here, but reporting on Classmates’ LIVES is. I view Matt’s statements as partisan and harsh (“servile to Putin” and “vandalism”), but he was reporting what his campaign did and was about and how he lost. (BTW, the winner Evers was not so strident in his campaign.)

          Matt’s statements qualify as a borderline “rant” but it was the heart of his campaign, and he clearly identified himself as a strong partisan — former Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, etc.

          What Matt didn’t say was that his father was a professor at the University of Wisconsin, so Governor Walker’s changes there cut to the quick; Matt’s “rant” was not only his campaign’s talking points but deeply heartfelt. Full disclosure: Matt is a friend and spook-mate, and I donated to his campaign (as did several other Classmates.) Also, I requested that he submit an article detailing what it was like to run for Governor … and lose; this story is the result.

          Listen, no one wants Yale1969.org to devolve to rants and namecalling. As the guidelines on the page where people can upload stories explain:

          “PLEASE feel free to share anything you think Classmates would like to read. Based on the experience of the Listserv, I would request that you NOT use this as a platform to promote your partisan political or religious views. Let’s face it: You aren’t gonna convert anyone at this late date. And we get enough of screaming heads on TV. That said, if you want to talk about YOUR life, have at it; just be honest (vulnerable?) with yourself and with us. Hopefully, no one will be hostile, either in the main post or in any comments. Disagreement is fine … just make it civil, please.”

          Obviously, there is “another side” to the political points and characterizations made in the article – Governor Walker almost won and President Trump DID win. But we don’t need to debate that here.

          1. Mr. Sleeper: I don’t do “interventions.” It is you dogmatic libs that feel a need to infect every aspect of our daily lives with the same stuff that is available on MSNBC.
            The fact remains that Mr. Flynn violated Mr. Willis’s rules for posting, rules by the way that I urged him to implement just after yale1969.org went live. I recommend that you go back to re-read what he posted above this comment. You and I can have it out at reunion if that is your choice. But please stay away from this site with your political viewpoints.
            ( And don’t condescend. I read the Woodward Report just after the ugly Christakis affair. The University has not lived up to its recommendations. Odd that you would cite it.)

          2. This “dogmatic lib” is the author of a book called Liberal Racism (Viking/Penguin, 1997; Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). Google “Jim Sleeper” and “Life After Diversity” to read the introduction. Having read the “rules” you urged for the site, I don’t see how Matt Flynn’s account of his experience running for Senate has violated them as badly as your comments have. If you really want to bar an account like Matt Flynn’s I can’t help wondering if you want our Class website to be a home-like “safe space” and if a post like Matt’s should be preceded by a trigger warning.