• It didn't go unnoticed among politicos that the absentee ballots cast in the City of Milwaukee were taken to a secretive locale under tight security to be counted. It's a move that differed highly from the past practice of just counting then at City Hall in the Election Commission offices. Word on the street is that one of the reasons for the switch was due to a tete-a-tete between backers of Michael McGee and Milele Coggs at the Election Commission offices on the night of the February primary, where Coggs made an amazing electoral recovery after the absentee ballots were counted. District Attorney John Chisholm is investigating the voter fraud allegations as of this writing.
• One of the bigger upsets of Tuesday's ballot bout was Greendale Municipal Court Judge Anthony Machi's re-election defeat. Machi, known for his steady temperament and more so his affinity for auto racing, went down in defeat to Mark Kapocius, who's been out of law school all but a year. He does, however, wear his ideology on the sleeve a tad, being a member of the right-wing Federalist Society of legal thinkers. The Kapocius name, however, has been a mainstay in the tony Greendale community for many a decade.
• Dan Devine, who shares a name with a former Green Bay Packers coach, won an easy victory in the West Allis mayoral race. The former County Board member, while touting progressive leanings during his County campaign, was known more for adequately representing the views of his conservative-leaning constituency. We doubt, though, that Devine put a picture of himself with Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army, in his campaign literature. The picture was a prominent part of the back bar at the former Nash's Irish Castle, where Devine once worked as a bartender.
• Paul Lincoln Schueble, once known as New Berlin's Jerry Garcia, lost not only his bid to become a New Berlin alderman again, but his campaign for County board and his run for New Berlin School Board. It's the first known election trifecta defeat in modern history.
Schueble, who lives in a house once owned by former Wisconsin Gov. Julius Heil, was one of the first New Berlin officials to bring to the fore the serious issue of the lack of good water in western New Berlin. That part of the city relies on well water, while the eastern part of the ‘burb gets to slake itself with Lake Michigan water. But Schueble's outspokenness -- and his affinity for being part of the Rainbow Gathering hippy festival -- left voters a tad uneasy and he was a one-and-out alderman in the mid-1990s. His ability to take on the status quo of the power elite was a joy to watch.
• In Whitefish Bay, prominent developer Doug Weas didn't get far in his bid to become village president. Weas lost big to incumbent Kathleen Pritchard. There aren't too many issues than rankle the electorate in WFB these days except what to do with the armory, and Pritchard won her first election over controversy on what to do with the that building and the Jewish Community Center. Weas' projects include the UW-Milwaukee's Kenilworth Building, whose bidding process created a brief, but contentious lawsuit. He also has the option to build a high-rise boutique hotel in the Third Ward, which has yet to break ground.
• In Menomonee Falls, Jefferson Davis tried to resurrect the ashes of his political career, but failed. Davis was elected village president in one of those emotional taxpayer revolt movements, but was later forced out due to campaign finance issues, saving his butt from felonies by agreeing to quit. He has since tried to be president again but Davis couldn't rise again to even make it to status of village trustee this time.
• The Salentine dynasty in Muskego is apparently over. Most known for its car dealerships, the Salentine family has been in the mayor's chair and other official seats in Muskego over the years. This time, Nancy Salentine took one for the family in the mayor's race there, losing by a 73 to 27 percent margin.
• Burnett County Judge Mike Gableman certainly didn't win the Supreme Court election based on personality. Indeed, none of his TV or radio ads even featured him speaking. And with good reason. The few debates featured him delivering the canned party-speak of his media advisors. But his obscene lack of vocal inflection came across as if delivered by a ventriloquist's dummy. His monotone voice will likely keep lawyers in front of the court more focused on staying awake than on their oral arguments. But, he's got 10 years to work on it.
• Long-time eccentric Franklin pol Basil Ryan missed again at his attempt to get back into the fray at Franklin City Hall. This time Ryan lost big in his effort to unseat Mayor Tom Taylor. Ryan's last big headline splash was for his filling a valuable piece of Menominee Valley property with junk, even though he lacked a few permits and licenses to do so.
• Bryan Kennedy will no longer be considered an electoral loser. The twice-beaten congressional candidate won a seat on the Glendale-River Hills School Board.
• The best-named candidate on Tuesday's ballot? It's none other than Spyro Speedo Condos. Spyro is a former Lake Geneva mayor who was running for not only mayor, but Walworth County supervisor. He whiffed on both plays but not before trading defamation lawsuits with his mayoral combatant William Chesen.
• And in election news from afar, the former governor's brother and candidate himself, Libertarian Ed Thompson retook his Tomah mayoral post. The Libertarian Party was so proud of big Ed that they sent a statewide release touting the victory, calling Thompson "charismatic."
"Speaking from his Tomah supper club, the Teepee, Thompson said he found about 50 dusty yard signs in a storage shed, leftovers from his previous campaign for mayor in 2000. He also dug up four highway signs from his Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign of 2002," reads the missive.
It notes Thompson spent $20 on his campaign win, in which he tallied a two-to-one margin of victory. "Maybe I should run for governor again some day, but it would probably take more than 20 bucks, maybe more like a couple hundred."
An avid outdoors person he regularly takes extended paddling trips in the wilderness, preferring the hinterlands of northern Canada and Alaska. After a bet with a bunch of sailors, he paddled across Lake Michigan in a canoe.
He lives in Bay View.
