Two Concordia University professors who launched a joint campaign this year are getting a big lesson in what happens when you mess with U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner.
It ain't pretty. In fact, it's gotten downright nasty, with threats, name-calling and talk of backroom deals. Clearly, this isn't how they draw it up in the textbooks.
The pair - political scientist Jeff Walz, a Democrat, and Jim Burkee, a Republican - garnered national attention with their plan to appear together and combine campaign literature in an effort to unseat Sensenbrenner, the veteran Menomonee Falls Republican.
The two said it was their goal to create a model for "what campaigns ought to look like."
But last month, Walz dropped out of the contest, leaving Burkee to go solo against the political heavyweight. Burkee now finds himself embroiled in a heated and nasty dispute with Sensenbrenner and a big-time D.C. lobbyist. The problem began just a week after the professors went public with their plans.
On July 31, Burkee took a call from Bill Hecht, president of the lobbying outfit Hecht, Spencer & Associates and a Sensenbrenner ally. Hecht has strong ties to Concordia, having received an honorary doctorate from the school owned by the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod.
In a letter summarizing the conversation, Burkee leveled serious charges against the lobbyist in a long-winded sentence.
"I have a hard time understanding why Congressman Sensenbrenner called you to express his anger that I am running against him in the Republican primary," Burkee wrote Aug. 31. He added he was upset with the lobbyist's message that running for office "will end forever any future prospects I have as a Republican, risk my position at Concordia, damage the University and even undermine any prospects the University might have for appropriations/earmarks."
Burkee went on to say that he wasn't sure "whether these were threats, whether you were simply telling me how Washington works or whether you were conveying a message from Congressman Sensenbrenner and party leadership." But the 39-year-old professor said he was emboldened by the conversation to continue running.
On Friday, Burkee said he stands by the letter. Reached in D.C., Hecht said he was angered by the allegations. Hecht said that contrary to the letter, Sensenbrenner never called him to talk about Burkee. The first time they talked about the race, Hecht said, was weeks after Burkee sent his August letter. Summarizing their talk, Hecht said the professor asked for his opinion and he gave it.
"You don't run against a longtime incumbent of your own party," said Hecht, who's been lobbying for 36 years. "If you're a Democrat, fine - go ahead and get in. But you're not going to create any connections in the nation's capital (by taking on an incumbent). We take politics seriously down here. We don't think it's a fun type of thing to do."
Politics, simply put, isn't an academic exercise.
Hecht said he leveled no threats. "It's totally false," he said.
Tom Schreibel, Sensenbrenner's chief of staff, offered a similar response. Sensenbrenner, Schreibel said, didn't encourage Hecht to threaten anyone.
That's not to say Sensenbrenner is thrilled with the challenge.
Concordia officials conceded that Schreibel has called to complain about a campus magazine that featured Walz and Burkee on its cover and about letting the pair use campus facilities for campaign stuff. Concordia President Patrick T. Ferry sent a letter to Sensenbrenner saying that he and the university wouldn't be endorsing a candidate.
Schreibel doesn't deny calling the campus. He said he was trying to make sure all sides were competing "on a level playing field."
If that's even possible when two novices are up against a 15-term incumbent. Schreibel and Burkee did sit down together twice last month.
That's about all the two sides agree on.
According to Schreibel, Burkee offered in mid-December to drop out of the contest and support Sensenbrenner if the congressman would acknowledge publicly that he had erred by voting to add a prescription drug entitlement for the elderly. The offer struck Schreibel, he said, as the sort of insider dealing that Burkee has attacked.
"It was sad to see Dr. Burkee use those tactics so early in a race," Schreibel said angrily. "If that's his gut instinct on where to go, it was the wrong instinct, and Dr. Burkee should drop out of this race and go back to teaching students."
Burkee tells a different story. Sensenbrenner's team initiated the meeting to see what it would take to get Burkee out of the race, he said.
Schreibel and a campaign staffer, Burkee said, offered to help him if he waited until Sensenbrenner retires, probably in 2012. "They wanted me out of the race - that's obviously been demonstrated by the continuous harassment that they've placed on my employer, personally themselves, and through Washington lobbyists," Burkee said.
Then, speaking of Schreibel and the campaign aide, he added, "They're in a tough spot because they're working for a congressman who has done things no conservative can really defend."
It's not a model of how to campaign, but Burkee has learned one key election lesson: You can't compete if you don't fight back.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=711639Romance? :puke:
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