Interesting article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the Bucher / Van Hollen primary. The article discusses efforts by Van Hollen get votes in Waukesha County where Paul Bucher is the district attorney.
A few things of note not mentioned in the article:
1) the building on Hwy 164 where the local GOP sets up temporary headquarters for campaigning is owned by the mercurial County Supervisor Walter Kolb.
2) former lt. governor Margaret Farrow is Van Hollen's campaign treasurer, unmentioned in the article although she is quoted and used as an example of Van Hollen's support in Waukesha.
3) The long memory of State Representative Scott Gunderson. Gunderson was State Representative Mary Lazich's primary opponent in a 1998 special election to replace State Senator Lynn Adelman when he was appointed to the federal branch. The major endorsement Mary Lazich received in that primary... Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher. Mary Lazich won the primary and is the current state senator.
Over 11% of the statewide Republican voters in the 2004 primary were in Waukesha County.
Update! 8/3/06 7:14am
I referred to the "mercurial County Supervisor Walter Kolb" owning the building with the Van Hollen sign. A reader reminded me last night of this incident, where Kolb was charged with two misdemeanors by Waukesha DA Paul Bucher. D'oh!
Village of Pewaukee Police Chief Ed Baumann is also quoted in the story as supporting JB Van Hollen. Baumann ran afoul of Bucher, too, when Baumann's security company was charged with not having the proper license.
Rumor has it Ted Oswald is also willing to put a JB Van Hollen yard sign in his cell.
Finally, more than one reader pointed out the Waukesha County Republican Party has officially endorsed Waukesha District Attoney Paul Bucher by unanimous vote of their executive committee. While there is some dispute of the issue, Fraley's statement in the comments appears to be incorrect.
So, in summary, Van Hollen has his campaign treasurer, one State Rep with a grudge, one police chief whose business broke the law, one hot-head county supervisor, another State Rep and Steve Edlund. Bucher has the unanimous endorsement of the Waukesha County Party executive committee, Sherrif Dan Trawicki, three state representatives, County Executive Dan Vrakas, and a history of people voting for him in this county.
I'm not a big fan of playing "let's count the endorsements" but it should have been noted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article that most of the examples of Waukesha support are those who have a reason to hold a grudge aginst Bucher.
