Chris Abele: 'Lefty'

Meet the REAL Chris Abele.

When Chris Abele, candidate for Milwaukee County Executive, is meeting with Democrats, he does not talk like the bipartisan centrist he claims to be in his ads.

His campaign rhetoric avoids traditional labels like Democrat and Republican. He defines himself as post-partisan.

This blog post from his campaign website illustrates his strategy:

Our message talks about the need to put politics aside and come together to solve problems and get things done. I’ll work with Democrats and Republicans alike to help create private sector jobs, get the budget under control, and change the culture in Milwaukee County to bring the reform we need.

Abele wants to put politics aside.

What a crock!

Charlie Sykes writes:

[Chris Abele] has been running for county executive as a bipartisan centrist, stressing his willingness to work with both Democrats and Republicans.

Contrast that with his comments at Monday's meeting of the Milwaukee Democrat party, in which he proudly, unabashedly defines himself as a "lefty," lists his progressive credentials... brags about support for the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Citizen Action, NARAL, rips Scott Walker and declares his intention spend more on human services.

Here's the audio:



When speaking to Democrats, Abele isn't putting politics aside at all. He proudly identifies himself as firmly on their side. He lays out his liberal credentials. He sucks up to them and declares he has the ability to beat Republican Jeff Stone.

Transcript

CHRIS ABELE: I'm from Boston. I moved here about 20 years ago, and I stayed here because I love this place like nowhere else I've ever lived. And I won't live anywhere else.

As many of you know, I run a foundation right now. I support, have supported for a long time a lot of LEFTY causes proudly, a lot of Democrats. Prior to that, I built and ran a business, had some success in that, continue to maintain it, but most of my time and the most rewarding thing I do is to work hard and try, try to help move the world in the right direction as I see it. I imagine, largely, how you see it.

Politically, I was thinking before experience with other-minded people for a long time a big part of what I did was human rights work. And I had the odd and somewhat surreal experience of working with the Bush State Department, which was just that - odd and surreal.

I know that things you've heard and descriptions about how partisan things can get in government, even when I thought I'd seen the highest extremes, I had the experience of the State Department requesting a group that I was working with, a meeting. And they wanted to do a grant with us, and they asked on a phone call, 'Hey we like your group, but we researched your board of directors and you have a lot of Democrats on your board.' And I seriously thought he was joking at the time, and I said, 'Well, that's still legal, right?'

...But just in terms of the extremes to which things go, if we can never forget, never forget it's so important to fight for the things that make Democrats great: fundamental fairness, fundamental civil liberties, and that's why I've spent a lot of my working life in the last 20 years doing that and with pride.

My progressive experience I think is best summed by ACLU, Citizen's Action, Planned Parenthood, NOW, Feminist Majority, NARAL, Women for the League of Conservation Voters, a whole bunch of education groups, and, you know, a long list, none of which of course I was doing because I thought I was going to be running for office, all of which I was doing because they're things I care about and will do no matter what happens in this race.

I decided to run because, while I've been on the other side and supported candidates and Dems with varying degrees of success locally, statewide, and federally for many years, I truly, truly care, again, about the place that's my home. And I've watched, as we all have, as this county has been an increasing train wreck. I mean, I think it might have been the Titanic about, you know, maybe six years ago. It's become the Titanic plus the Hindenburg, but worse. Since then, and given what the governor's likely to do in terms of shared revenue and reimbursement funds, it'll get worse still.

I think the fact that the biggest thing the county does, health and human services, is something we rarely hear about is because for seven years the last leader of the county was largely indifferent to health and human services, and that is truly tragic. Yes, parks matter, absolutely, and so do the arts, and so do the courts, and so does busing and so does transit. BUT human services, I mean, the human part of what we do, to allow that to suffer the way we have is beneath all of us.

I'm running because I care. I'm running because I had a lot of opportunities to lead and I've had a lot of success doing it. I'm running because I've worked with politicians at local, state, and federal level on both parties. And I'm running because I know I can make a difference. And I will beat Jeff Stone.

Abele's closing remark is that he will beat Republican Jeff Stone. That's the message he wants to leave with these Dems. He will defeat the Republican candidate.

I didn't hear any talk about fiscal responsibility.

During the question and answer session that follows Abele's statement, he states that he is a Democrat. His allegiance is to the Democratic Party and their values and agenda.

It bothers me that Abele is being so dishonest and running such a misleading campaign. There's nothing centrist about him. It's a snow job.

It is clear that Abele is a proud dyed-in-the-wool liberal.

He is the anti-Scott Walker.

He would be a disaster for Milwaukee County.