Which side emerged victorious from Tuesday’s recall elections?

 

It depends on whom you listen to and what you read.

"Voters made a clear choice to continue down the path of economic progress that Wisconsin has been on for the past seven months," the Republican Party of Wisconsin proclaimed.

 

"Wisconsin spoke loud and clear with the recall of two entrenched Republicans," the Democratic Party of Wisconsin boasted. "This is an accomplishment of historic proportions…" The truth is obviously somewhere in between.

 

It was unprecedented that two Democrats ousted Republicans in one day. By winning four of the six recall races, however, Republicans will maintain a Senate majority of 17-16. That margin would grow if either of two Democrats loses recall elections this Tuesday.

 

While voters in six Senate districts sprinkled around the state went to the polls Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville was meeting with Gazette Editorial Board members.

He sensed that Democrats would win some races. Republican Gov. Scott Walker watched former Gov. Jim Doyle and President Obama force policies through unilaterally and saw how voters punished Democrats in November’s elections. Yet Walker, Cullen suggested, traveled the same narrow partisan path in recent months. That angered and energized Democrats.

Contacted Wednesday, Cullen wouldn’t go so far as to call Tuesday’s overall results a Democratic victory.

"I think the Democrats can declare progress because two Republicans lost," he said. "The goal was to take Democratic control of the Senate at the end of the night, and that didn’t happen."

What was accomplished, however, is that legislation will be more moderate, more centrist if the Republican majority stays so narrow. Now, all 17 Republicans must be on board for the Senate to pass partisan legislation. If a bill leans too far right and a Republican moderate objects, the window is open to compromise or concessions.

Several Republicans have historically worked across the aisle, Cullen said, naming Michael Ellis, Luther Olsen, Bob Cowles and Dale Schultz.

Olsen and Cowles survived recalls Tuesday. Cullen might face his own recall next year. That’s because he angered some voters by joining Democrats who fled to Illinois to block a vote on Walker’s controversial budget repair bill that erased most collective bargaining rights for public employees.

Cullen, however, remains one of the few voices of reason in Madison. Even before recall voting began, he was building relations. He and Schultz have been touring each other’s district to better understand each other and their constituent needs.

Americans, Cullen says, have a historical resentment of government that goes back to our nation’s founding by settlers who fled oppressive rule in England. They dislike one-sided legislation that slants extreme left or right.

Cullen says if he didn’t cultivate relationships with Republicans, the only time he would see them is on the Senate floor.

"If you get to know the person, you can’t hate them on the floor," he says. "Sen. Schultz and I have established a level of trust."

If that indeed cracks open a window of bipartisanship and reconciliation, Wisconsin should be better for it in the long run.