Republican Candidate Nancy Mistele's speech Really Someone Else’s? Not if You Believe the Denials

Chalk up another one for Madison Isthmus’s Bill Lueders. Because of a botched 911 call, the current Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk is being challenged by Republican elitist Nancy Mistele, who promises to save the day with her conservative common sense approach to government. Or is it someone else’s approach and agenda? Mistele’s puppet master “strings” were exposed for the world to see, and should haunt her run for office right into the losers circle.

Candidates beware: The electronic documents you share may reveal more than you'd care to. Nancy Mistele's 1,000-word speech announcing her candidacy for Dane County executive … sent the text of her speech to media and others, as a word document, from her personal email. If you save this word file to desktop and check "Properties," then "Summary," an interesting thing happens: The listed title of the document comes up as "PUGH." Pugh who? Jim Pugh, the spokesman for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the "nonpartisan" big-business lobby that backs mainly Republican candidates? That's the fact, Jack … explains Mistele campaign manager Jon Horne. "When Nancy was drafting her announcement, she considered input from Jim Pugh, who is a personal friend of Nancy's and has no position in our campaign. Nancy writes her own speeches, and her announcement was no exception."

Whew! At first I thought maybe the state’s conservative business lobby might have influenced Mistele’s talking point run for office. There’s more…

Another peculiarity occurs in the two-sentence press release that Mistele sent out as a word document the day before her talk, giving the when and where of her announcement. If you save and examine it, the listed author of this very brief and perfunctory document is "Rick." Could that be Rick Berg, noted local conservative and valued Isthmus columnist? You betcha! The day before the speech, Berg says he spoke to Mistele and asked whether she had put out a media advisory. She hadn't, so he sent her a template; thus his first name ended up in the DNA for this document. "I just did it as a favor for a friend," says Berg, who has written favorably about Mistele's campaign, as is his right, as a conservative commentator. "I've talked to Nancy and others about issues I think they need to raise," he says, adding that he considered a bid for county exec in 1988, "so I have my own personal views on what needs to be done to make Dane County an even better place to live and do business. It's my impression that Nancy likes to do her own thing," he says.

Whew! I’m glad Berg didn’t contribute anything to her press release or political agenda. After all, she “likes to do her own thing.” I guess there’s nothing to see here. Move along now.