Governor Bullhorn
A Shooting in Madison with Statewide Implications
On Wednesday, a young man resisted arrest in Madison, WI, fought four officers, did not succumb to a taser, and was fatally shot by one of the officers. According to police, the suspect pulled out a knife and injured an officer before being shot. Video posted online shows the officer shooting the suspect but, because the Madison police don’t wear bodycams, we don’t have an angle where we see the officer getting injured by the knife.
Wisconsin has a law, fortunately, that requires outside agencies to investigate police shootings. The Madison Police Department will not be investigating itself. Instead, the investigation will be conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation.
Unfortunately, rather than wait for the investigation to be completed, and Madison being Madison, protesters immediately took to the street calling for the arrest of the police officer. Some of the protesters even decided to march to the Capitol to disrupt a band concert and lunch on the lawn.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, a Democratic Socialist who is currently the leading contender for the Democratic nomination for governor, couldn’t stay away from the protests. As a result, the aftermath of the shooting is now as much about Hong as it is about the shooting itself.
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Hong, who represents part of the city of Madison, spoke to the protesters through a bullhorn, the indelible image captured on video by Laura Schulte for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“A man died at the hands of state-sanctioned violence.” Hong then paused, and the protesters urged her to call the shooting a murder. And, of course, Hong gave the crowd what it wanted.
“And for my statement,” Hong continued. “This state sanctioned violence was an execution.”
In a community known for riots after police-involved shootings, this is an irresponsible and incendiary statement. Hong continued with a leftwing wordsalad of incendiary rhetoric:
We no longer can have a system that protects a power and a privilege that puts the pain and lives of armed officers over Black people. We cannot protect a system that continues to bring harm and terror. We all deserve to feel safe. It is a human right to be safe.
Hong also issued a statement on the shooting that was about as ill-considered as her moment with the megaphone:
“This was an execution, and it never should have happened.”
Republican consultant Bill McCoshen, someone who managed a successful statewide race for governor, says on Twitter (X) what the Hong and her campaign should have done:
@FrancescaHongWI made her first major mistake last night with unhinged comments over a bullhorn regarding the officer involved shooting. There was no reason for her to do this. She had already put out a public statement. The campaign should have sent her to Antigo. She’s not running for reelection in the 76th Assembly District.
It’s really not her first mistake, but it’s likely the mistake that will haunt Hong past the Democratic primary if she wins.
Compare her statement to the more measured statement from the incumbent governor, Tony Evers (D), a politician with an approval rating of 51%, according to the latest Marquette University Law School poll:
I’ve been briefed on the officer-involved shooting that occurred in Madison today and continue to receive updates as more information is released. There must be transparency and accountability in any investigation moving forward.
We will continue to keep the loved ones and family of the individual who was killed in our hearts and prayers. His life mattered.
As folks exercise their First Amendment rights tonight and in the days ahead, we urge them to do so peacefully and respectfully.
No, it’s not a statement that would make law-and-order Republicans happy. But it’s not kindling on a fire, either.
Hong’s top opponents in the Democratic primary mostly made similar remarks1.
After expressing remorse for the loss of life and extending condolences to the family of the person killed, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the candidate recently endorsed by Evers, said, “We must allow the facts to come to light while reaffirming our shared commitment to justice, accountability, and the dignity of every human life.”
Even former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the other top rival for the Democratic nomination for governor, put out a reasonable statement:
“The investigation is ongoing and it must be independent and transparent,” Barnes said. “As the facts continue to come forward, now is the time for us to put aside all differences and grieve together as a community.”2
The campaign for the Republican candidate for governor, Congressman Tom Tiffany, has seized the issue, immediately contrasting Tiffany’s reasonable statement with the behavior of Hong by combining his statement with the video of Hong with the bullhorn on social media.
Tiffany also announced his endorsement by the Milwaukee Deputy Sheriffs' Association on Tuesday. (They’ve apparently forgiven Republicans for their friendship with former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke.) He will likely win a huge majority of the police organization endorsements in the state, establishing himself as the law-and-order candidate.
If Hong wins the Democratic nomination on August 11, as is increasingly likely, her megaphone performance will be amplified across the state by the Tiffany campaign.
As I’ve commented before, Hong may win in Madison, but the representative for the most leftwing part of the most leftwing city is not going to win over the purple state of Wisconsin, especially if she’s going to go on a bullhorn at a Madison protest to call a police officer an executioner. The shooting itself will be forgotten by much of the state, but the image of Hong with the bullhorn calling a police officer defending himself “state sponsored violence” is unforgettable.
McCoshen wondered why Hong would take the risk of being part of such a protest. It’s because Hong cannot hide who she is for very long.
We all know the fable of the scorpion and the frog. This time it is Hong who is the scorpion who cannot hide her true nature, stinging the frog of the Democratic Party, causing the dream of defeating Tiffany to drown with her.
A Couple of Notes on the Primary
Stay off Twitter:
Just as momentum was building for Crowley, NBC News reported the Milwaukee County Executive shared a Twitter (X) account, “Dirt McGirk,” with 10 to 12 people, and many of the postings could be considered offensive. The account, last active in 2014, was being used to promote nightclub.
Crowley claims he didn’t write the offensive posts, including the ones that were allegedly derogatory towards the LGBTQ community, and said, “Bottom line: I strongly condemn the language used in these posts from a decade and a half ago.”
We’ll see how this plays out with the more politically correct voters in the Democratic primary.
A New Poll
Perhaps the most newsworthy information released by Dr; Charles Franklin of the Marquette University Law School poll on Wednesday is that they are going to conduct another poll shortly about the Democratic primary for governor.
In Wednesday’s newsletter, I wrote about how the latest poll was worthless because of the timing. Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez dropped out of the race and Crowley re-entered the race between when the poll was conducted and when the poll was released.
James Wigderson is a writer living in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He is the former editor/owner of RightWisconsin and a former columnist for The Waukesha Freeman.
For the record, the other two minor players in the Democratic primary took different routes. State Sen. Kelda Roys, also of Madison, took the Hong route and blamed the police officer before an investigation could be completed.
“This evening I saw some of the videos taken by witnesses. It’s so much more horrifying than first reported. We know his name was Corey. We know his life mattered. We know he did not deserve to be shot three times and killed in the street. There is no justification for that.
“My heart breaks for his loved ones, and for our community that is again grieving and reckoning with deadly police violence directed at one of our community members . Let this city wrap its arms around Corey’s family and loved ones, and demand justice for him and them and all of us.”
Joel Brennan decided to go for a little less pandering with, “To the family, to the community gathered on Williamson Street tonight, and to everyone who is hurting right now — you are not alone. Wisconsin is with you.”
If Barnes had been this reasonable after the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha in 2020, he might have been elected Senator in 2022. Instead, Barnes made remarks at the time similar to Hong’s statement.
“Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times in front of his children. Let me be clear, this wasn’t an accident. This was not bad police work. This felt like a vendetta being taken out on a member of our community. the officer’s deadly actions attempted to take a person’s life in broad daylight.”
Kenosha exploded in a violent riot. Two people were killed by Kyle Rittenhouse and third was wounded when they attacked Rittenhouse during the riot. Perhaps Barnes learned his lesson after he lost the Senate race when this statement and other statements calling for the defunding of the police were used against him.
(In case you’re like Tyler Katzenberger of Politico and Andrew Prokop of Vox wondering why Evers endorsed Crowley instead of Barnes. They answer the question, how can you tell when a national reporter doesn’t know anything about Wisconsin politics?
Think about RFK that night in 1968 when he addressed a crowd in the wake of MLK’s murder.
Please spare a thought for Corey Ruiz and his family and friends. Spare a thought too for the officers involved. They will never be the same. The community too is affected.
I lived in Madison from 1994 to 2016. During that time, Madison police killed several people. All, to the best of my recollection, involved people with mental health crises or who were under the influence of drugs. MPD and the city settled suits and promised body cameras. I am stunned to find that officers are not wearing body cameras. At this point, they are largely seen as pro forma, equipment that helps officers as much as the public.
The community deserves to know what happened to that promise and what it is doing to train its men and women properly.
Whatever differences you have with the candidates for governor, please think about what it’s like for people to see a man die feet from where they buy groceries.