Living in interesting times…

I’ve said it before, but the old Chinese proverb “May you live in interesting times” may not have been intended as a blessing, but a curse. I’m currently living in interesting times – although I don’t really think of it as a curse. The thing I’ve always said to people about time and the times is that “I don’t know if you’ll ever run out of money, but I will guarantee you that you will someday run out of time.”

Throughout my career and my adult life, I’ve pursued a course of stability and predictability. At 18, I joined the Air Force and I ended up editing weekly newspapers and doing public affairs work for a nuclear bombardment wing. I left in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree and six years of experience. It was a recession, but I ended up with the opportunity to come back to my hometown of Wausau, continuing my career doing public relations for a natural gas utility.

The more things have changed in the energy industry over the past three decades, the more they have stayed the same. When I began, energy prices, supply, infrastructure, conservation and energy security were the big issues. That remains true today, with the added twists of renewable sources and global climate change theory thrown in for good measure. (Whether you believe in man-made global climate change or not, there is absolutely nothing to recommend energy waste from the standpoint of the environment, economics and energy security. There is every reason to pursue a course of increased efficiency and a larger share of renewable, domestic sources in our energy mix.)

But I digress. People are naturally resistant to change and it’s always easier to just keep on doing what you’ve been doing, to the extent that it works for you. When Wisconsin Fuel & Light was being sold to Wisconsin Public Service in a process that consumed most of the year 2000, I began to look for another avenue for my career and I ended up with several interesting offers. Based on what has happened since that time, I’m happy that I did what I did, which was to continue on with Wisconsin Public Service when the sale concluded in 2001.

I’ll be the first to tell you that it didn’t always make the best fit for my experience and interests. For example, I did very little writing in my new capacity. When I was director of public relations at Wisconsin Fuel & Light, it was a much smaller company where everyone had to wear many hats. Communications was largely a one-person show, so I did a lot of writing. I interacted regularly with customers. I handled the advertising.  There were presentations, correspondence, bill inserts, media interviews, testimony for the Public Service Commission, customer service programs to write and implement – you name it. By necessity, there was a ton of collaboration into every aspect of the business.

It wasn’t that way at Wisconsin Public Service because the company was much larger and spread out. There were people in the headquarters and a fairly large public affairs staff, so things were far more specialized. I wasn’t talking with the CEO and top officers on a daily basis.  Everyone had their respective areas that they worked with, many of which were all slivers of my former capacity. But WPSC had some big things on the horizon, including more than a billion dollars worth of high-impact projects like the Arrowhead-Weston transmission line and later, the construction of Weston 4. It made sense to have public affairs boots on the ground and someone like me, with an intimate knowledge of this community and its people.

It was good work. I enjoyed my co-workers and it was also synergistic with an avocation that I had developed of serving in local government, as well as many other community service capacities – something that the company not only supported, but also encouraged. There was still freelance writing and photography to keep my skills honed in those areas.  I got into economic development and earned a professional certificate.  I returned to my aviation roots on the boards of the Wausau Downtown Airport and the Central Wisconsin Airport, while working with other types of energy and transportation infrastructure.  I jumped on board with social media.  I learned French.  It was difficult to tell where the company’s brand ended and my own began (something that often didn’t necessarily matter.)

With the flexibility and resources to support it, I was able to privately pursue a passion to see some different parts of the world in what – looking back on it – seems like a dizzying schedule of personal travel. I decided to get my first passport and spend my 40^th birthday in Paris. Now I’m 53 and I’ve been there 21 times, along with a lot of other places on four continents. Based on the costs and scheduling flexibility required to do it, I would not be able to embark on such an adventure now, but I was able to seize the moment — (really, more than a decade) — while it was there.  Some of this stuff gets up toward to pointy end of psychologist Abraham Maslow’s famous pyramid.

So now, the sojourn with Wisconsin Public Service has come to end and it is again time to begin a new chapter.  Of course, a lot of things that may have seemed like extra-curricular activities remain a part of “me, inc.,” — at least for the time being.  I’m armed with more experience, connections and affiliations than I’ve ever had before.   I don’t have a gun to my head to start next week. I don’t really even need to figure out my retirement anymore when that time eventually comes, provided I can simply protect and manage the assets already built up for that purpose.

Something else Maslow said: “You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.”  In my own case, having the possibility of the backward step effectively eliminated only leaves room for growth.

So right now, there is time. Interesting time.

JR

So, how ’bout those, uh, BADGERS!

So, the Badgers mens basketball team hangs in for the win against Penn State. 

* * *

What an incredible NFC Championship game between the Saints and the Vikings!  I would have liked to see the Vikings win, but five turnovers will kill you just about every time.  A lot is being made of Favre’s last interception.  It wasn’t good, but I felt that some of the earlier turnovers in the game were more important to the eventual outcome.  Not scoring at the end of the first half because of a turnover and another that resulted in a New Orleans touchdown really had more to do with what ended up on the scoreboard, to me. 

When you have 31 first downs compared to 15 and 475 yards of offense compared to 257 and more than 50 yards less in penalty yardage, your team should come out on top.  But like a lot of other things in life, being able to avoid costly mistakes can sometimes be more valuable than anything else.  Seeing the Saints go to the Super Bowl is a pretty good thing for New Orleans and I’m way past allowing people who get paid a lot of money as entertainers being able to really dictate my mood. 

Being a Vikings fan is probably a lot like being a Cubs fan.  In the back of your mind, you just know how it is almost certainly going to end, at some point.  What I really can’t understand is why fans of teams that came up short much earlier now seem to feel like they have achieved some kind of victory.  Sorry, but other people losing isn’t the same as you winning — and that’s like a lot of other things in life, too.

* * *

Democrat Dana Schultz of Athens is running for the 87th Assembly district seat currently held by Republican Mary Williams.  This could prove to be an interesting race and it has been fairly close for Williams in the past: 

http://schultzforassembly.com/

Dana is a Newman High School grad and should bring a lot of energy to the race. 

* * *

Colder weather is on the way, after Mother Nature giving us a serious break over the past couple of weeks.  The good news is that we are now officially over the hump, in terms of average daily temperatures.  (I’m not hauling out the scooter, but just saying…)

* * *

It is estimated that 150,000 people in Haiti have been buried so far following the devastating earthquake that took place almost two weeks ago:

www.hopeforhaitinow.org

If everyone steps up a bit, we can make a difference.

JR

Politics Thursday…

Another day in Madison…

So I was in the capitol yesterday and it happened to be “Medical Marijuana Lobby Day and Patient Memorial” day.  Of course, that’s not what I was there for.  One of the associations of which I’m a member had a half dozen issues they were taking around to legislative offices and that was part of my mission.  I also stopped in on an informational hearing concerning proposed legislation arising from the state’s Global Warming Task Force.  While there, I ran into Bill Osmulski, investigative journalist for the MacIver Institute, which is a conservative think tank.  I’ve always said the majority of what I get done results from accidents arising from being in the right place at the right time.   Yesterday was no exception. 

* * *

The Massachusetts election to fill the remaining portion of Ted Kennedy’s term has brought the usual overanalysis from pundits across the country.  Here’s what I think:

1.  It’s one election for two and half years in the U.S. Senate in one state.  It’s not a nationwide mandate, any more than New York’s 23rd Congressional Distict going Democrat from GOP last November was. 

2.  It was a good win for the GOP and it changes the dynamics of the U.S. Senate a bit — but that’s NOT what the people of Massachusetts were voting about.  They were voting for a new U.S. Senator and they picked the candidate that they thought would best serve them. 

3.  While Ted Kennedy held the seat for decades, that is not who Scott Brown beat.  And while the Dems have held the seat via Kennedy, it’s also a state that elected Mitt Romney governor.  Brown is right about one thing: it’s the people’s seat — not the property of any party.

I do think that significant improvement in the employment picture before November will be very important to the Democrats’ prospects in November.  As the party with the majority, they are also the party with the most to lose this fall.  That’s true in Wisconsin and it’s true across the nation. 

All politics are local department…

A couple of interesting items at City Hall tonight.  First, a group of bicyclists — “Critical Mass Wausau” — will be convening at 4:45 p.m. at Cafe Le Grand and proceeding down to City Hall for a 5:15 p.m. meeting in an effort to improve safety at the intersection of Thomas and Grand.  I don’t know if I agree with their proposed solution, but it’s a dangerous intersection for pedestrians and cyclists and something needs to be done about it.  One of the biggest problems in Wausau is the steadfast refusal of vehicle drivers to EVER yield the right of way to pedestrians. 

The second item is a 7 p.m. informational meeting about the planned demise of Public Access television at the end of the month.  My bias is to try to keep Public Access and I will be very interested in seeing what kinds of solutions are offered.  We may want to take some more time on this one before just letting everything go dark.

* * *

John Edwards FINALLY fesses up on the paternity thing.  Shocking, huh?

JR

Well shut my mouth!

We had some really obnoxious Cowboys fans in the row behind us at the Vikings game in Minneapolis yesterday.  But they got pretty quiet well before halftime and they left early, too.  At 40 years old and with the Vikings taking their playoff run on the road to New Orleans this coming weekend, it’s highly possible that yesterday will turn out to have been the last chance to see Brett Favre play an NFL game within 1,000 miles of here.  Whether or not that’s true, it was a great game to see.  I dropped a souvenir rally towel off for Stacy Cole over at WIFC.  She’s played the role of persecuted Vikings fan over there for years and she deserves a week to wave that towel any time she wants to. 

* * *

Tom Schuette hosts yet another GOP announcement at Wausau Homes this week; this one for Madison real estate developer Terrence Wall, who is running against U.S. Senator Russ Feingold.  Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Barrett will be in Wausau tomorrow to get his campaign rolling with a visit to the Wausau Business Development Center in the afternoon and an evening fundraiser.  Barrett had a lot of support in these parts for the 2002 primary against Jim Doyle and he’s been mayor of Milwaukee for nearly a half dozen years now.

* * *

For the record, January 20-24 are the coldest average days of the year.  After that, the daily average temperatures begin to warm up.  With the present state of the weather in these parts, that may not turn out to be true this year.  One thing is for sure: as of later this week, we begin to climb out of this thing known as winter.  There will be more cold and snow to come, but we’ve made it through the first half and in some ways, we’ve been kind of lucky.

JR

Travel stuff…

I see that City Pages has posted this web address as a place where people might find some of my travel stuff, but if you came for that reason, you’re having to wade through a lot of political stuff with not too much TRAVEL.  There are a couple of places where I’ve posted things over the years more in line with the travel theme.  One is: 

http://www.igougo.com/profile/profile.aspx?MemberID=2756 

It’s not all GREAT stuff, but you might pick up an idea or two from places I’ve been and whatever notes I may have entered. 

I also sometimes review hotels where I’ve stayed.  It’s kind of fun and you can do it, too.  Here are some reviews over the past half dozen years or so:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-reviews/Standby4321 

Happy travels!

Feingold on war; new race in the 35th Assembly District?

Speaking to a group of supporters in Wausau yesterday, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold reiterated that he respectfully disagrees with President Obama’s Afghanistan policy, just as he disagreed with the Iraq War. Trying to bring the complicated scenarios to ground level, Feingold suggested that people think of the terrorist threat in the Middle East as if was a street gang that works in a large neighborhood of a city. So there’s an incident in some alley in the neighborhood and you send all the police there and say ‘well, we’ve got that alley under control now.’ It doesn’t work. They’re just going to show up somewhere else and it’s going to happen over and over again.

It makes a lot of sense.

Feingold also said that while the health care bill is far from perfect, it is a significant accomplishment that moves things in the right direction and it needs to be passed while the opportunity to do that is here.

Also in attendance was Wisconsin Attorney General candidate and former DNR Secretary Scott Hassett. (His last shot at elective office, ironically, was a primary contest for state senate back in the early 1980s against Russ Feingold. Today, he says he’s grudgingly willing to concede that the best person may have won that contest.) Hassett says GOP Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has pursued a partisan agenda in which he picks and chooses when he will defend the State of Wisconsin and when he will sit on his hands.

As usual, the best tidbits were under wraps or simply matters of speculation by various attendees.

First was the thought that Kevin Hermening is running for 29^th Senate District against Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker primarily to position himself for a shot at Dave Obey’s 7^th U.S. Congressional District seat at some point in the future. It makes some sense, because as difficult as it might be to unseat Decker, it isn’t nearly as tall of an order as Sean Duffy will have going directly after Obey this year. As an incumbent already holding office in a good-sized chunk of geography in the 7^th gaining recognition and coverage for a few years, a person would be in a far better position to take the congressional seat someday. That would be particularly true if the congressman ever retires and the race becomes one for an open seat. Republicans represent two of the three Assembly districts in the 29th already. Of course, that is no guarantee of anything. Democrat Jim Holperin represents the 12^th Senate District with all three Assembly seats comprising it held by the GOP.

Could the 35^th Assembly District heat up?

Republicans can’t just assume that any off-year gains they’re likely to make on the national scene will assure them of wins back home in Wisconsin. One rumor: That Republican 35^th Assembly District Representative Don Friske may not be looking forward to doing another term in Madison. Friske is a likeable guy and he has won re-election by decent margins. But he also has a business and being in the minority isn’t that much fun because it’s far more difficult to influence policy. (Incidentally, we have nothing from Friske to indicate this is even a remote possibility, but it’s January, after all.)

Democrat Jay Schmelling has run for the seat in the past and he’s still showing up in the right places where a potential candidate should, but it doesn’t necessarily make him the presumptive front-runner or even a candidate if the seat goes open. Another possibility is former Merrill Area Public School Board member Renea Frederick. She and her husband, Todd, are well known and have been politically active for years. They are co-founders of FM Enterprises, which was acquired by Graham Architectural Products of Pennsylvania last July – a development that brought Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton to Merrill for the announcement. The acquisition was expected to add 60 jobs in Merrill over the next two years and coming  during the depths of the recession as it did was quite a story. It also presumably leaves Frederick with resources, an attractive resume — and perhaps the time and desire to pursue something like public office at a higher level. She didn’t rule it out.

JR

　

Politics Friday…

It’s been a halfway interesting week. The filing deadline for Wausau City Council candidates was Tuesday and we have nine of 12 seats being contested, with February primaries in four of those. Here is the candidate roundup:

District 1: Jim Rosenberg, Roland “Sonny” Neitzel
District 2: Greg Foye, Romey Wagner, Jay Carlson
District 3: Craig Gardner, Chuck Szalewski, Jonahtan Havel, Matthew Sann
District 4: Jim Brezinski
District 5: Gary Gisselman
District 6: Gary Lee Klingbeil, Edward Marek
District 7: Lisa Rasmussen
District 8: Karen Kellbach, Chris Barr
District 9: Matthew Kaiser, David Overbeck
District 10: David Nutting, Chuck Gering, Dan McMullen
District 11: Sherry Abitz, Debra Weiss, Tom Wohlfahrt
District 12: Ed Gale, Cody VanRyn

I’m not surprised to have an opponent on the city side because that is the rule, rather than the exception. It’s a good district with active participation and in addition to whatever issues are aired during the course of the campaign, I can always use the exercise. (I just hope the sidewalks will be a little less treacherous in the coming months than they seem to be right now.) I’m also not surprised to be running unopposed for the county board, because that is also the rule, rather than the exception. Only four of the 38 seats on the Marathon County Board will feature contested races for April.

Particularly in urban districts, county board seats don’t seem to draw a lot of attention. This is no reflection on the importance of the issues, since the county is often dealing with long-term and sometimes very wrenching issues for which any immediate gratification by way of solutions can be very elusive. It’s a much larger and more complicated organization, with extensive responsibilities. But for whatever reason, it doesn’t capture the attention that city politics “enjoys.” With a dozen years on the Wausau City Council, I’m the longest currently serving elected official by far. At the county, that might take me a third of the way up the seniority chart. In terms of atmosphere, the county board is like the staid and collegial Senate compared to the city council being the rough and tumble House of Representatives. It’s just the way it is.

Hermening going after Decker’s seat

Republican Kevin Hermening announced on Wednesday that he is running for the 29^th Senate District seat held by Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker. I had breakfast with him a few weeks ago at the Mint and I think he spent quite a bit of time over the past few months meeting with a lot of different people from all areas of the political spectrum. This will be an interesting race to watch. While polling data for things like this is almost never available to the public, the manner in which funding shows up usually gives some indicators as to whether a particular race is competitive. Simply put, campaigns are expensive and neither party has enough in the way of resources to go all in on races that they don’t have some reason to believe that they have an opportunity to win. There will be a GOP primary in September and I expect Hermening to be able to emerge from that handily, but what happens in November will have a lot to do with some mega factors that will extend far beyond the district or even the state.

Our breakfast was at 6:30 a.m. – a time obviously not chosen by me. “This is why you were a Marine and I was in the Air Force,” I told Kevin. “In the Air Force, we will be happy to fly over in our planes at 10 a.m. and drop some bombs for you — but we’re not sleeping in tents, carrying packs, eating bad food or anything like that, okay?”

If you go to San Francisco…

Every year for at least a decade, I’ve done a travel feature for the annual Get Outta Town issue of City Pages. In honor of the recession, I chose a domestic destination last year (New Orleans) and this year, we go to San Francisco. No matter what I write, there’s never enough room for everything but I try to pick destinations that can be both affordable and stimulating. I won’t say much more about it except that it will be 61 degrees in San Francisco today and they have fresh seafood. It is 16 degrees here right now (and that’s probably going to be the high…)

JR

No holiday from local politics…

Yes, I’ve taken the Amsterdam-Detroit flight on a number of occasions.  They do a secondary security screening at the gate in Amsterdam, but not with a metal detector.  Some international flights elsewhere do that and the last one I recall was Bangkok to Tokyo last year.  

As I recall, much of the security at Amsterdam Schiphol is handled by I-SEC, an international contractor specializing in aviation security:

http://www.international-sec.com/index.php

With all of the focus on the TSA, the Dept. of Homeland Security and U.S. airports, it’s important to remember that this was an inbound international flight.  That’s not to say there isn’t a concern with domestic flights, as the September 11 attacks made clear.  It’s just that I think some of the discussion and coverage of this latest incident seems misdirected and leaves out important elements.

Some of the “new” practices I’ve heard about following the latest incident such as keeping people in their seats and not allowing anything on laps for the last hour of the flight strike me as ineffective, inconvenient gestures and not worthwhile improvements to flight safety.  And no, I don’t think that doing the wrong things for the right reasons is necessarily a justifiable response. I also don’t think the hysterical negative responses to following up on known risk factors by screaming “racial profiling” is a very realistic response to the nature of the threats that we know exist. Get serious, people.

* * *

After the 2000 census, I sat on the redistricting committee for the city.  It wasn’t that big of a deal, since much of the heavy lifting is actually done at arm’s length with the help of software that is made to order for such things.  But as things turned out, it was a pretty good outcome.  The 1st District in the City of Wausau became a much more cohesive community of interests by consolidating into a relatively compact neighborhood on the west side of Grand Avenue from the south city limits to Thomas Street.  This also placed what had previously been my two biggest and most consistent pains in the butt into the 2nd District: a nightclub previously known as Vibes (which is now I.C. Willy’s) and the Humane Society, which is now in a new facility near Sunny Vale Park on Wausau’s far west side.  The city will need to set up another redistricting committee following the 2010 census and while the animals are no longer an issue in this neck of the woods, that nightclub is still a big pain.  Their license is suspended for 15 days from January 4-18 after this week’s meeting of the Public Health & Safety Committee.

* * *

A letter from Rev. Gary Froseth at St. Stephen Lutheran Church offers some good discussion points for keeping Public Access cable on the air.  I hope that it gets good consideration.  Failing an outright reversal of the mayor’s decision to close down Public Access at the end of January, Froseth calls for a task force of stakeholders to work out the issues, with the city continuing to fund the present operation until the end of June.  Assuming some kind of solution, he further asks for the city to provide $10,000 in annual funding for 10 years.  While we can argue whether Public Access is worth $90K each year, it is certainly worth SOMETHING and the pastor’s ideas seem well worth the time to explore.

* * *

Deb Hadley, Bill Forrest and Tom Miller have announced that they will not seek new terms to the Wausau City Council in April.  Coupled with the vacancy in District 10 from the seat formerly held by Steve Foley, it means that at least one-third of the council will be new folks by the end of April. 

* * *

Support for the City Square project has continued strong, following the announcement that a half million dollars has already been raised.  As of Sunday, the fundraising now exceeds $585,000.  With the Third Street project and traffic direction question now resolved, it should be an interesting year in the downtown next year.  Meanwhile, Main Street manager Leah Alters is off to Columbus for a new position so that will be another change in 2010. 

JR

‘Tis the season…

So, I’ve taken some time off from the blog and in checking back today, on the cusp of Christmas, I see that the entry with the most hits is my recipe for prime rib.  That’s cool for a couple of reasons.  First is that I picked up a really awesome standing rib roast tonight at Pic & Save for $5.99/lb., which is a steal.  And I’m guessing some other people did, too.  If you didn’t, there’s still time and here are those fool-proof instructions:

http://jimrosenberg.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/prime-rib-made-simple/

You’re going to love it. 

The second reason is that it’s practically Christmas and I don’t feel like talking about politics, the health care bill or any of that stuff.  This is a time for family, food and reflection.  Next year, which will be upon us in a bit more than a week, will have plenty of opportunity for politics since it’s an election year.  But if you want to read a quick review of Sarah Palin’s book, here’s one from my favorite political commentator:

http://addins.waow.com/blogs/political/?p=921 

I stopped by the Domino for a couple of Tom & Jerrys and they’re just as good as ever, so be sure to put that on your list of places to stop over the holidays, if you happen to be in town.  Tomorrow is “mens’ day” at the stores and I’ll probably have to join in — even though I don’t really get into Christmas shopping all that much.   The weather looks like it’s going to be bad, so I’m happy that we’re not traveling and you have my sympathy, if you are.  There is a bottle of Chandon chilling for New Year’s Eve and some foie gras at the ready. 

Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season to all.

JR

Turning off the noise in Europe

A number of years ago, we got into the habit of traveling for Thanksgiving weekend.  It started out because it was difficult to string together a useful number of days off at other times of the year and it has since become an annual tradition that is a particularly welcome and timely respite that falls between the muncipal budget season and — every other year — the municipal election season.  In short, it’s a great time to leave the country and leave it all behind.

Having the Euro going for $1.50 U.S. isn’t such a great backdrop for European travel right now and we can fondly recall when it was as low as 87 cents.  But for all we know, a Euro could be $2 next year — so what’s the point in giving it all up over the exchange rate?  With a stash of frequent flier miles and hotel points to play with, the transportation and lodging part of the game was easy enough to cover so the trip wasn’t very pricey on an overall basis regardless (and they can change the rules on that stuff, too — another reason not to wait for better times.) 

For this trip, we chose Amsterdam and Paris because they’re familiar and there’s nothing left for us to have to figure out.  One of the things that makes it all so convenient is a great transportation system that will do everything from take you in from the airport for a few Euros to taking you to all parts of Europe at reasonable rates.  After a couple of nights in Amsterdam, we took the high-speed Thalys train down to Paris for a few days of walking, shopping, eating and Bordeaux (along with the obligatory Beaujolais Nouveau, at this time of year.) 

I probably paid too much for the Thalys tickets because I wanted to have them in hand before we left the U.S., but at $108 roundtrip per person from Amsterdam to Paris, it’s still not a bad deal.  The train isn’t as fast during the first part of the trip because there are stops along the way at Schiphol, Rotterdam, Den Haag and Antwerp.  In addition, the rails haven’t been brought up to a standard that allows for the Thalys to reach it’s maximum potential.  But from Brussels to Paris, it really flies and that segment only takes an hour and 25 minutes. 

Once in Paris, the Metro system can drop you to within no more than 1,000 feet from any address in the city proper — (although it’s not such a bad idea to spend a lot of time walking, so we get around plenty by that mode, too.)  I left the guidebooks at home and it wasn’t a problem.  It’s Paris, so who cares where you end up?  That said, we still managed to hit a couple of the regular spots and they were everything we remember them for and more.  The weather was a little undecided, but comfortable enough in the 50s.

Heading back with some great cheese from Holland and a bit of foie gras from France, we were just a little bit better prepared to face the winter that was just beginning to arrive. 

JR