Blog Goes Over The Line: We Don't Need This

Watchdog Milwaukee, the blog put up by former Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Jim McGuigan, has posted a deeply personal attack on Lynne DeBruin, an incumbent Supervisor.

The link is here.

I do this with some ambivalence, as I will be responsible for spreading access to this unpleasantness, which could not sit well with Supv. DeBruin, a Westsider.

Both McGuigan and DeBruin generally support issues that are in line with my opinions, so it all baffles me.

I do not know what interpersonal or political dynamics or histories have taken place between them, but I know an unnecessarily personal attack when I see it.

Politicians have personal lives and roles as spouses and parents. Those need to be off-limits, certainly in public forums, and you'd think that no where would that be better appreciated than among politicians' colleagues.

Apparently not.

I tried to post a comment yesterday about this on McGuigan's blog, but it has not been approved. In it, I urged McGuigan to confine himself to political criticisms and remove the personal stuff.

It's his blog, and his call. I understand that.

But as I have said in other circumstances, there is nothing gained from incivility, regardless from where on the political spectrum it is launched.

And hey: I'm not perfect on this score, either, but I think McGuigan's posting is so far over the top or across the line that it stands out and thus needs to be called out.

As an aside, it sure seems like there is a lot of this intense in-fighting and personal battling in County politics: that arena could use more leadership, less internal warfare, and maybe one huge timeout.