Debi Towns For LG

After more reflection, Rep. Debi Towns should consider a bid for Lieutenant Governor in 2006. Unlike the last Republican occupant of the office, the Lieutenant Governor need not be an empty office of empty ideas.

Republicans should accept the fact we will never, ever, never win the Department of Public Instruction election. The "nonpartisan" election is held in the spring, when voter turnout is light, which maximizes the potency of 90,000 teachers who march lock-step with WEAC.

Conservative coalitions such as school choicers and Republican business associations such as WMC view the DPI race as not worth the expense of corralling campaign donations for an office they would rather see eliminated.

And attempts to replace/eliminate DPI with an appointed, cabinet level Education Secretary was tried on GOP icon Tommy Thompson's watch. If TGT couldn't punch it into the end zone, then don't expect future GOP governors to have much stomach for it.

The office of Lieutenant Governor should be reshaped and recast as a shadow government to DPI.

No changes are needed to state statutes, no constitutional amendments, no legislation. All that is needed is a personality with the credentials to counter the current DPI Superintendent, challenge WEAC, and exploit relationships with a Republican legislature as bills are needed to improve elements of education.

DPI is a proven puppet of WEAC. And as the legislature struggles to fulfill their 2/3rds funding commitment to schools, the executive branch needs an equal voice with a full-time dedication to reforming the current system.

Rep. Debi Towns campaigning with either Mark Green or Scott Walker would balance the ticket and compliment the future governor as a strong voice for both the rural community and education excellence in Wisconsin.