Kudos to a Republican

Last week was a bad week for legislative Republicans trying to bash Governor Doyle. First, Mike Ellis flipped his lid over the support he gave to an ethics reform package. Then Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) went out swinging at the Governor over SeniorCare. But he got the issue all wrong.

Kudos though go to Fitzgerald for quickly issuing an apology for last week’s press release about 2,100 senior citizens in Wisconsin being abruptly shifted from Wisconsin’s SeniorCare prescription drug program to the complex federal Medicare Part D plan.

In the first release, Fitzgerald said, “I am appalled that the Doyle Administration would kick more than two thousand eligible seniors out of the SeniorCare program without notice.” And he went on to further trash the Administration.

However, after realizing his error – the Governor’s office had nothing to do with it - he issued an apology 45 minutes later admitting he had the wrong information and would work with the Governor on fixing the problem.

Fitzgerald is a smart pol who has a bright future in Wisconsin politics due to his likableness and his strong staff hires. I’m glad to see his reaction to the misinformation he put out in a press release was to accept fault and move on. (To be perfectly honest, I myself did the same in a press release my freshmen term in the legislature – but it took me an hour to get it right).

Now if I could only get Fitzgerald to move beyond the discrimination in the Constitution crap, he might even appeal to more than the ultra right wing of his party.