Green ethics emphasis wise?

The poll results from One Wisconsin Now that were released yesterday brought up something I've been wondering about for most of the election season. Is Congressman Mark Green's emphasis on ethics a wise move?

The poll showed undecided voters want to hear more about health care, jobs and education. But they really don't care about campaign donations and the Georgia Thompson case that Green and his friends like to bring up instead of bringing out real plans to deal with the issues facing our state. Green's whole theme for this campaign seems to be "I'm not Jim Doyle" and so far voters aren't really latching on to that message.

And it's really not surprising that undecided voters are not that concerned about the "scandals" is it? The undecided voters are mostly the ones in the middle that don't like either party enough to join them. They are suspect of all politicians and believe that they are all corrupt. That means they base their vote on something other than ethics.

Until fairly recently, Green has been focused on ethics and not really giving the undecided voters much to go on for other issues. His focus on ethics combined with his name has being in the paper often as he gives back thousands of dollars from his colleagues in DC probably leaves many voters wondering if Green has anything to offer except more of the same stuff they see in DC. You know, the stuff they are currently unsatisfied with if the polls are any indication.

And with each new scandal that comes out of DC, Green takes a hit whether or not he was involved in it. It doesn't even matter that Green taking money from former Representative Mark Foley doesn't make him more or less involved in what happened with the Foley cover up. By the time he gave back the Foley money, he had already given back thousands in other campaign contributions, so it just feeds into the feeling that Green is part of a corrupt team.

Of course part of Green focusing on ethics is about trying to muddy the waters so all of the bad news about ethics is not about the mess in DC that Green has been part of for the last eight years. But with the FBI recently being forced to triple the number of squads looking into Members of Congress, Green focusing on ethics for his election keeps stories going in the press that normally would have had a short life here in Wisconsin.

Green going to court trying to preserve the ability to spend that big bag of tainted money from DC he transferred into his state account and running ads on it makes people focus on it and keeps connecting him back to the mess in DC. He even has a section on his website highlighting the Elections Board decision that says he has to give up the money he transferred in illegally. Is this smart? Make your arguments to the press when you need to, but even if you are spinning the arguments your way on your website, does it make sense to bring up the issue yourself?

It kind of reminds me of 1994 when then Speaker Wally Kunicki made the entire election about property taxes. Whether or not it was good policy didn't matter since he was focusing the debate on an issue that was not a strong one for Dems. That emphasis helped the 1994 landslide against Democrats in Wisconsin.

And really, there is no good outcome for Green at this point now that he went to court over this. If he wins, he keeps the money and all the baggage that comes with it after weeks of negative press about it. He gets to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars raised by his corrupt friends in D.C. Friends that soon will be able to fill a wing in a federal prison .

If he loses, he loses the money and the ability to even talk about ethics at all. And he will still have the baggage from the funds that come from jailbirds.

Of course soon we'll all know whether or not it was a smart move because with only three weeks left, Green doesn't have much time to start focusing on something new and actually get the message across to voters statewide.