Representative Lange, have some cheese with that whine.

There was an article that I read in the Madison paper the other day that I wanted to make sure I got back to. Outgoing Democratic Rep. Gerry Lange had his chance to cap off his career nicely and exhibit class as he ended his public service.

Instead, the first thing he did was to spit in the pie plate, and spoil an easy recipe for showing grace.:

Lange, a Madison resident, had planned for a fourth term in the state House, after which he would have had to leave the chamber under legislative term limits. However, his intentions were pushed aside last month when he placed third in a three-way race for district 8’s two House seats.

A month after the election, Lange remains a bit annoyed with the results. Looking back at his time in Pierre, he sees himself as a Democratic thorn in the side of Republican interests - an annoyance that was pulled so Lange would no longer bother the state’s majority party.

Lange had offered bills that would have changed the state’s tax system. In particular he supported a corporate income tax that pro-business politicians have opposed because they believe it- would complicate Economic Development.

Read it all here

Because that meant that - automatically - for every vote the Republican got, one of the two democratic incumbents got another (except for bullet voting, which isn’t a big factor). So, every vote for Russ Olson meant one for Gerry, or one for Dave.

That’s not an organized and serious attempt to kick him out. That’s starting at a nearly insurmountable disadvantage. And it’s a testament solely to how good a candidate that Russ Olson was that he was able to overcome it.

And one thing that Gerry tries to place blame on Republicans for, but conveniently forgets to look in the mirror and contemplate - it’s entirely possible that his constituents were sick and tired of his goofy stands on everything from trying to force an income tax down their throats to publicly taking a blame America position in 2003 on the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001.

Nope. No.. That couldn’t be it. How could constituents find fault with thinking that several thousand countrymen deserved to die on that day because some people didn’t like us. How could constituents deny that they need to be taxed in new and creative ways?

Another quote from the article:

During his time in the Legislature, Lange tried to pass bills directed at national issues. They included directing the U.S. government to turn over management of the Iraq conflict to the United Nations and closing the U.S. Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga.

"I was constantly doing that and getting voted down," Lange said. "But I thought people should be bringing up these ideas and provoking dialogue."

"I was constantly doing that and getting voted down…" And did he ever stop and think that opposed to Republicans going all out to "get him" that his constituents finally had enough, and "voted him down" themselves?

Spitting in that humble pie didn’t make it taste any better, did it?