Brandon's the right pick for Commerce

An editorial  —  8/04/2008 5:55 am

The state Department of Commerce has for some time been what is politely described as "a mess."

True, the recent resignation of Commerce Secretary Jack Fischer highlighted just what a mess it is -- as have, far more agonizingly, the announcements by General Motors and other corporations that they are downsizing operations in Wisconsin.

But the reality is that successive governors have treated the department as a conduit for the giveaway of taxpayer dollars to corporations that have little or no commitment to Wisconsin and its workers.

It is not Jack Fischer who made the Department of Commerce dysfunctional. It was misdirected and misguided when he arrived. It was misguided and misdirected when he left.

Can the Commerce Department be made useful for Wisconsin and the people who live here?

Possibly. If Gov. Jim Doyle decides to take seriously the task of refocusing and renewing its operations.

And here is where the story line takes an encouraging turn.

Last week, the governor chose Madison Ald. Zach Brandon to be executive assistant -- the third-ranking official -- in the Department of Commerce. For lack of a better way of saying it, executive assistants facilitate relations between the governor's office and state agencies.

In other words, Brandon is being inserted into the Department of Commerce to make things happen.

To our view, the governor has made a smart choice.

We have not always agreed with Brandon, 35, a local businessman who has been the City Council's most ardent advocate for fiscal responsibility. When Brandon joined the council, he made proposals for cutting costs that seemed at best arbitrary and at worst destructive.

We called him on it. And Brandon learned, developing a savvier and more focused style that earned respect across ideological and geographic lines.

During his years on the council, Brandon evolved from a maverick who seemed to be more interested in headlines than accomplishments into a savvy economic and political player.

The leadership role he has taken in advancing Barack Obama's presidential campaign in the area serves as just one example of how he has learned to be a highly effective coalition builder. Though Brandon might best be described as a moderate, he created alliances with some of the most progressive activists in town and helped Obama achieve a dramatic victory in Madison and Dane County in his Feb. 19 primary race with Hillary Clinton.

Brandon leaves the council to take up an essential role as precisely what the Department of Commerce needs: a smart, hard-working change agent who asks tough questions and challenges the status quo but who also knows how to get other people asking the same questions and supporting the same challenges.

No doubt, we will disagree with him again.

But Zach Brandon looks to us like the right man at the right time.

His young-man-in-a-hurry style is the right fit for a Department of Commerce that has lacked any sense of urgency.

Indeed, we believe Brandon will bring to the agency precisely the energy and the edge that has been missing.

An editorial  —  8/04/2008 5:55 am