John Nichols: Fred Clark's Wisconsin Idea renewal

John Nichols  —  10/26/2008 6:25 am

The greatest legislative session in Wisconsin history, the session that defined the "Wisconsin Idea" and confirmed the state's status as America's "laboratory of democracy," took place almost a century ago.

Following the elections of 1908 and 1910, progressive Republicans took charge of the state Assembly and Senate and began to implement sweeping reforms that would give Wisconsin its reputation for clean politics, efficient management, and sound fiscal policies.

The Wisconsin Idea hit its pinnacle in the 1911 session, and it is to that epic moment that Assembly candidate Fred Clark, a forester from the town of Greenfield in rural Sauk County, makes reference as he mounts what may well be the most significant legislative campaign of 2008.

"Wisconsin has a long tradition of citizen representatives. The 1911 Legislature, for example, included 34 farmers, five merchants, four teachers, four union representatives, two lumbermen, one miller, one brewer, and one logger!" begins Clark's campaign appeal. "Fred Clark is a citizen candidate in the best sense of that tradition. His experience, knowledge of Wisconsin and its people, and his commitment to the communities of south-central Wisconsin provide an excellent foundation for representing the 42nd Assembly District."

The 42nd, which takes in parts of Sauk, Columbia, Marquette and Adams counties, is one of the old heartlands of Wisconsin progressivism, a region where Robert M. La Follette found an initial base of support for his gubernatorial campaigns. And Clark is a worthy champion of the tradition.

Clark's serious about this citizen-legislator thing. A former senior forester with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and an ecologist with the Nature Conservancy, he now runs Clark Forestry, an innovative firm that works with farmers, family forest owners, loggers, the forest industry, environmentalists and government agencies to ensure productive and healthy forests both now and in the future. In other words, like the citizen-legislators of old, Clark would arrive in the Capitol as an expert on the policy and budget issues he would be dealing with -- not as just another place-holding insider.

Clark also would arrive as a bipartisan "doer." Appointed to the Lower Wisconsin Riverway Board by former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and to the Wisconsin Council on Forestry by current Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, Clark has a history of working across lines of partisanship and ideology. That's why so many local officials -- Sauk County Board members as well as town chairs and clerks, city councilors and school board members -- have endorsed the candidacy of a Democrat who has proven he can work with Republicans.

The next Legislature will face fundamental challenges. It will need a new breed of citizen-legislators, rather than the old pols, to make the changes needed to renew Wisconsin's promise. Fred Clark says he is running to "break the legislative logjam" that has blocked sincere efforts by able members of both parties "to address the most pressing issues in Wisconsin, such as reform of campaign finance and disclosure laws, health care, school financing, sustainable energy policy, or balancing our state's budget."

That's precisely what needs to happen. And among the many able contenders for the Legislature this year, Fred Clark is best prepared both practically and temperamentally to meet the challenge.

John Nichols is associate editor of The Capital Times, Wisconsin's progressive daily online news source, where his column appears regularly.

John Nichols  —  10/26/2008 6:25 am