He is currently serving his second term as mayor of Verona, one of the fastest and smartest-growing communities in Dane County. He joined the Verona City Council in 1997. Just Monday night, he finished another municipal budget — cops, streets, infrastructure — the stuff the county execs do. He already has county government experience, but in Manitowoc, as a member of its county board from 1984 to 1991, ending as its chairman and de facto chief executive.
In the 1990s he was State Senate sergeant of arms under both Democrat(ic) and Republican regimes.
He is currently employed by the Wisconsin Counties Association. That is the only reason he has not already announced; he would have to take a leave of absence to make the plunge. So, there remains a chance he will not make the race. A small chance.
Blaska predicts the two candidates, Mistele and Hochkammer, will make a formidable combination against Falk.
The combination of Hochkammer and Mistele is the good cop/bad cop dynamic duo that will bring The Kathleen down. And good lord is she vulnerable. The hometown girl lost 2 to 1 to Peg Lautenschlager here in Dane County two years ago in the Democrat(ic) primary for attorney general. There is Falk fatigue — perhaps inevitable for anyone who has served 12 years.
As the mayor of Verona, it will be insteresting if Hochkammer can overcome the whole Capulet-Montague murder-suicide controversy.
