Why a Lifelong Republican Business Leader is Voting for a Democratic Governor in 2022
A Message from Wisconsin Business Leader David Irwin
I write as an ordinary citizen who has voted Republican since casting my very first ballot in 1984. I’m a conservative because I believe, as Ronald Reagan quipped, “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
Reagan could have been talking about the Biden administration, for which I share no affinity. And in a normal time, someone like me – a conservative businessperson and resident of Waukesha County – should be lining up to vote Governor Evers out of office. However, this is not a normal time, and I cannot vote for Tim Michels for governor because he is a threat to our democracy.
Fox News commentators and others of their ilk will ignore or downplay such complaints. Candidates like Michels will say voters like me are looking backward to the January 6th attack on the Capitol, rather than forward to the policies they will put in place. But I'm looking at the statements Michels is making right now, and what it means for our future.
Right now, he is refusing to commit to certifying the 2024 election in Wisconsin – a purely ceremonial duty of the Governor.
Right now, he is saying “Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected Governor.”
Right now he continues to feed baseless lies about the 2020 election, giving credibility to the fact-free election denialism that brought fake Electors and a violent mob to the Capitol.
And none of this is about policies or issues like education, taxes, regulation, public safety or anything else. It is about how Michels deliberately undermines trust in the democratic process, and the actions he could take to thwart elections in the future.
Sadly, in spite of the innumerable independent audits, court decisions and reviews, many people still believe the unsupported allegations of fraud in the 2020 election. This belief persists because politicians like Michels give it oxygen by making patently false and absurdly disprovable claims. Our elections are free and fair, safe and secure, credible and legitimate.
Republicans, conservatives and moderates, in places like my home in Waukesha County and across Wisconsin, need to know that Michels is pandering to dangerous elements in his anti-democratic talk. We cannot shrug it off. We cannot think of it as a second or third-level issue. It’s the bedrock principle that determines that WE – the citizens of a free country – make the decisions about our future. If you care about inflation, jobs, the economy, public safety, health care and all the rest, they all hinge on a free and functioning democracy.
The state Legislature will remain solidly in Republican hands after this election, so there is no reason to fear that a second Evers administration would enact a left-wing agenda. However, with this Legislature allied with Michels as Governor, we could find our state disbanding the bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission, sending fake Electors to the Electoral College, and reporting our votes in national elections in whatever way the Governor and Legislature choose. He is telling us to expect this. We should take him at his word.
I’m a lifelong conservative Republican because I believe in the power of our democracy and individual freedoms. Tim Michels’ dangerous embrace of an authoritarian agenda runs completely counter to conservative values and bedrock American principles.
--David Irwin, a technology industry executive from Brookfield