This article cites how and why a Wisconsin Republican state legislator became an independent.
State Rep. Jeff Wood, who represented northwest Wisconsin’s 67th District as a Republican in the last legislative session, decided against filing for re-election Tuesday as a candidate of the Grand Old Party.
Wood, who has always had a libertarian streak and whose official biography lists him as a former member of the Libertarian Party of the Chippewa Valley, told reporters Tuesday that he was especially concerned by the U.S. Senate debate over the rewriting of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to absolve President Bush from responsibility for warrantless wiretapping abuses and to grant retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with the illegal initiative.
Instead, Wood will run as an independent.
His decision means that the Assembly, which had a 52-47 Republican majority after significant Democratic advances in 2006, is now divided as 51 Republicans, 47 Democrats and one independent: Wood.
Why has the 38-year-old Navy veteran who was first elected in 2002 left the Republican fold?
Like many GOP voters who have expressed concerns to pollsters and who in the presidential primary season voted for dissident Republicans such as Texas Congressman Ron Paul — who ran on an anti-war, pro-Constitution platform — Wood is troubled by the war in Iraq, by assaults on basic liberties, and by what he sees as the party’s abandonment of fiscal responsibility.
“This used to be a fiscally conservative party,” he said of the Republican Party, noting deficit spending at the federal level and gimmicky approaches to state shortfalls. “It’s not anymore.”
I’m wondering why he didn’t rejoin the Libertarian party.
14 responses so far ↓
1 richardwinger // Jul 16, 2008 at 12:41 am
Thanks for finding this very interesting story.
2 Mike Theodore // Jul 16, 2008 at 12:46 am
Anyone wanna join me in lobbying his party on behalf of the LP?
Maybe he wants to test the water to see if he can win without the GOP. He’s an incumbent, so it’s not like the majority pay attention anymore.
grrrr…
3 sunshinebatman // Jul 16, 2008 at 1:06 am
Leave him alone to win as an independent and then join the LP after the election.
4 M. D. // Jul 16, 2008 at 1:28 am
For one thing, the LP already has a candidate against Wood
5 M. D. // Jul 16, 2008 at 1:29 am
Scratch that.. I think the LP guy misses the ballot on signatures. Unless you can make the ballot in Wisconsin on 9 signatures.
6 Galileo Galilei // Jul 16, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Jeff Wood is a lapsed member of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin. He is a good friend of Ed Thompson and was first elected in the year Ed ran for governor (2002). He was the co-sponsor of TABOR, the TAxpayer Bill Of Rights. He deserves our support.
7 Trent Hill // Jul 16, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Yes,but if he’s leaving the GOP—why isnt he JOINING the LP?
8 G.E. // Jul 16, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Why should he?
9 G.E. // Jul 16, 2008 at 4:24 pm
By the way, Trent, your hero Pat Buchanan is positively clueless on economics.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/022030.html
Says Lew:
“Pat is a great star even when he is wrong. Today, asked by Mike Barnicle to explain Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, he ignored their roots in the New Deal, when they were State institutions, and the role of the Nixon administration in their phony “privatization,” their transformation from socialist operations into fascist ones. Pat, these are NOT capitalist companies. Yes, the salaries and perks of their politically appointed fat cats are outrageous, because they are not market salaries and perks. Pat also mentioned Countrywide in that regard, but this is a State-connected, politically protected firm as well. It is the Fed, the banks, and Fannie-Freddie that made the mortgage bubble possible, and they must be blamed, not the free market. Oh–and Pat notes that a Lehman Brothers has to be bailed out unlike GM because it is tied into so many other firms. Huh? And GM isn’t? There is a reason that GM’s closing does not threaten Ford or Toyota–just the opposite–whereas the banks and financial houses can pull each other down. They are hyper-leveraged, thanks to the Fed and its boom, and hold lots of bad paper–as Pat noted. But the whole system is at risk and fundamentally corrupt because banks have fractional reserves. What would be criminal conduct in normal corporations is, thanks to State privilege, SOP for banks.”
At least Buchanan doesn’t claim to be a libertarian and mostly wears his right-wing populist/anti-capitalist identity on his sleeve.
10 Arthur Torrey // Jul 16, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I can give several very good reasons why Wood might not be particularly interested in joining the LP – We could start with a visibly corrupt LNC, then go on to Bob Barr…
If one is leaving the Republican Party because you don’t like it’s direction, why would you want anything to do with the Semi-Republican party for politicos that couldn’t hack it in the REAL Republican party…
Knowing what I know now, I’m tending to think that if I wasn’t already a member of the LP, I sure wouldn’t be interested in joining it…. I’m mostly sticking around for now because I have commitments that obligate me until after the election. Once we are past November, I’m very seriously considering leaving the LPUS, though possibly not the LPMA (and there has been some discussion within the LPMA State Committee about leaving the LPUS and re-affiliating with some other entity, though it isn’t clear which one…)
ART
LPMA Operations Facilitator
LPMA Presidential Elector – NOT voting for Barr!
Elected Libertarian
Speaking only for myself
11 Trent Hill // Jul 16, 2008 at 10:29 pm
“By the way, Trent, your hero Pat Buchanan is positively clueless on economics.”
I didnt say, anywhere, that Buchanan was my hero. I said i’d vote for him. I like his commentary on many issues. I’d say the same for alot of people. Jim Guest, Ron Paul, Gary Odom, my father, Bill Kauffman, Thomas E. Woods, Robert Taft, Howard Buffett, Justin Raimondo, Chuck Baldwin, and Rick Jore.
12 Trent Hill // Jul 16, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I meant to say, “these are my heroes–and for many different reasons.”
13 donald raymond lake // Jul 17, 2008 at 2:20 am
“Wisconsin Legislator Will Run for Re-Election as an Independentâ€
1. DonLake@sbcglo bal.net Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Madison Office
Room 21 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
Voting Address
435 21 1/2 Street
Chetek, WI 54728
Telephone
(608) 266-1194 Or
(888) 534-0067
District Telephone
(715) 726-9226
Fax
(608) 282-3667
Email
Rep.WoodJ@legis.wisconsin.gov
14 Cory // Oct 22, 2009 at 2:43 am
Wood was arrested again yesterday, 10/21/09, for his fifth DUI, overall, and his second DUI in less than a month. Something tells me it won’t matter much longer if Rep. Wood is a Republican, Libertarian, or Communist in the Wisconsin State Assembly. There has been much debate in the State Capitol of expelling Rep. Wood from the State Assembly altogether since his DUI arrest in September (his second such arrest this year). Since he’s been arrested AGAIN, I’d say that it’s a pretty safe bet that he’ll definitely be expelled from the State Assembly.
http://www.wkowtv.com/global/story.asp?s=11357357
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