The headline in the Waukesha Freeman the other day was that Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus was not running for Waukesha County Executive. On Saturday we learned Waukesha County Sheriff Dan Trawicki won’t be running. Trawicki basically announced he will sell his endorsement to the highest bidder:
“I usually do endorse,” Trawicki said. “But I have had some philosophical differences with the county executive about the way taxes have been handled and the way (law enforcement) services have been cut. So if I would endorse anybody, I would want to sit down with them. There has been a posture to this point that if the state cuts funding for those programs, then the county will not subsidize the program, even if successful.”
The man who would be kingmaker also had a few words on the DARE program, a program that for all its good intentions studies have shown to be ineffectual.
“Do you think people move to this county for less services? Yet the county sets tax rates that are ridiculously low and are reducing services to citizens.”
Not only has Trawicki taken himself out as a candidate, he has told us that anyone he should endorse would be unworthy of our vote. And should Trawicki find an opponent in next year’s primary we may have to consider choosing a new, less expensive sheriff.
Which leads us to the first rule of being a non-candidate: don’t rule yourself for other offices by saying dumb things. A non-candidate is someone who would love to hold a higher political office but does not have the stature to win the next one that comes open, so they float their name to make themselves look more important than they really are.
The classic example is Delafield Chairman Paul Kanter, who keeps saying he’ll announce his decision on whether to run when he returns from vacation. Nothing controversial, nothing that will haunt him, yet he’s gotten the publicity while being a well-rested Hamlet. Nickolaus got a front-page, above-the-fold headline in a brief “I’ve been asked but I won’t run.” Trawicki’s saving grace may be that he was caught running his mouth in the inside of the Saturday newspaper where few people will notice.
Perhaps other elected officials in Waukesha County have left messages for the Waukesha Freeman saying they won’t run either. My advice for any elected official is to leave name, elected office and phone number – and that’s it. Given Jenifer Finley’s endorsement of State Representative Dan Vrakas today, they’ll know why you called (unless you leave the message for Dennis Shook).
