State Rep. Bob Turner is stepping up his primary campaign against challenger James DeMatthew. Turner announced Wednesday he's been endorsed by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association. Last week, Racine County Democrat Chair and IBEW Local 430 President Jeff Van Koningsveld endorsed Turner.
Here's the two announcements:
Wisconsin Professional Police Association, Wisconsin’s leading law enforcement association representing nearly 11,000 active and retired members across the state, has endorsed Bob Turner for State Assembly.
“It is a great honor to have the endorsement of the brave men and women in law enforcement. I am proud of the work I have done in the State Assembly to protect these courageous men and women who work tirelessly to keep Wisconsin families safe,” Turner stated.
WPPA’s endorsement joins a growing list of endorsements currently consisting of: Wisconsin Laborer’s District Council, National Association of Social Workers, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, Fair Wisconsin and Clean Wisconsin.
WPPA endorses “lawmakers who scored the highest on the WPPA’s legislative report card rankings.” Turner is one of only twelve democrats in the State Assembly to receive the WPPA endorsement thus far.
Bob Turner represents the 61st Assembly District in the Wisconsin State Legislature, where he has served for more than 20 years. Turner also served for nearly three decades on the Racine City Council, as well as numerous local boards and committees. The democratic primary will be held on September 14th.
And from Van Koningsveld:
Representative Bob Turner, running for re-election in the 61st Assembly District, received the formal endorsement today of Racine Co. Dem Chair and IBEW Local 430 President, Jeff Van Koningsveld. Van Koningsveld’s endorsement comes the same day as the launch of the Turner for Racine Campaign’s new website: http://bobturnerforracine.com/.
“There is no doubt that the economy is hurting right now, and we need leadership that will be able to turn the ship around. Bob’s campaign plan of “bringing Racine back to its roots” is exactly what we need right now to make that happen,” said Van Koningsveld.
Van Koningsveld has been the chair of the Racine Co. Democrats for over a year and the President of IBEW Local 430 for six.
Van Koningsveld added, “I have worked side-by-side with Bob for decades. I have seen Bob literally roll up his sleeves to get a job done when it is needed. His commitment to the people of Racine and life dedication in public service is unmatched. I know that Bob has fresh ideas that will lead us to economic recovery, along with the experience to enact those ideas.”
“I am truly honored to have Jeff’s support,” Turner said. “I look forward to continuing my work with Jeff and all of my fellow democrats and colleagues to bring Racine back to its roots.”
WPPA does NOT speak for the majority of it's members and never has. Their goofy BOD makes these choices and the rank and file have never been given a voice in their selection process. I was a member for over 20 years and NEVER got the opportunity to vote for any endorsement. They simply do as they please and ignor their paying members. Their endorsement claim of over 11,000 members gives only an illusion of that support when in fact almost none of the 11,000 members had any say in that choice. Pure smoke and mirrors.
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely inappropriate and fundamentally wrong for Mr. Van Koningsveld to endorse Rep. Turner when there is a Democratic Primary Election to take place on September 14th. As Chairman of the DPRC he is prohibited from making such a statement and he knows it.
ReplyDeleteI am a lifelong Democrat and even if I supported Mr. Turner (I happen to not live in his district) I respect the election system which allows primary candidates to challenge incumbents. This is our system and as Chairman it is Van Koningsveld's duty to lead by example, in this he has shamefully failed.
From the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Constitution:
ReplyDeleteARTICLE VIII - Endorsements of Candidates in Primary Elections
The state organization, congressional district organizations, county organizations, the College Democrats of Wisconsin, the youth caucus, and all other subdivisions at any level of the state organization are prohibited from
endorsing or supporting any candidate in a Democratic presidential preference election or any partisan primary election which will determine the candidate of the Democratic Party for the ensuing election to office unless the county or local Democratic group or congressional district recommends a certain candidate (or candidates) be endorsed or supported due to unusual circumstances and these circumstances be submitted in writing to the state Administrative Committee in a timely manner for approval of an endorsement and support of a specific candidate (or candidates) for a specific reason and the Administrative Committee approves said recommendation by a two-
thirds majority.
How can the party chair endorse a candidate when there is a primary?
ReplyDeleteThis is highly unethical.
Typical for a Racine Democrat.
I expected Fred to be misleading and deceptive on Democratic party rules in order to twist reality into something savory to for the palates of his far right wing extremist followers. Natch, he would have to add the word unethical today since the rest of the nation is talking about the lack of ethics of Mehlman, former RNC Chair, for earning his 30 pieces of silver by fighting against the rights of gays while enjoying quite the merry and gay life himself. Typical republican hypocrite fights against the rights of people just like himself in order to obtaian wealth and power selfishly.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, whoever said they read that part of the DPW constitution and think it wasn't clear enough in specifying *organizations* instead of individuals needs a bit of remedial reading instruction. Then they need to call the DPW and see how that works for them.
I'm proud to be a democrat because our party would never - ever - even come close to trying to take away any person's individual rights to endorse any candidate running on the same principles our party is built upon. So much so, as a matter of fact, that they added the above mentioned language to allow for groups (organizations within the state party) to endorse in primaries.