That Damned Smiley Face

This might be no big deal.  Then again …

I’ve had little interaction with Mark Pocan, but my impression of him is generally positive.  For most of his legislative career he played the amiable back-bencher, a lefty with whom even some Taft Republicans could work.

Now Mark Pocan has bided his time, has been re-elected five times, and has been active in the Democratic takeover of the Assembly.  According to Capitol protocol, Pocan has paid his dues and has thus been rewarded with an appointment to co-chair the Joint Committee on Finance.

Few people outside of Dane County have heard of Mark Pocan, but taxpayers everywhere hope he’s up to his new job.  If we are to believe Marc Eisen’s Milwaukee Magazine piece which polled Capitol insiders, Pocan is ready. 

Me, I have my doubts, largely based on a February 25 letter in which Pocan attacked the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.  While Pocan dressed up the attack as an open letter to the press, it was no more than a press release.  For those who live in the world beyond the Capitol square, dozens of these releases are issued each day, most of which constitute little more than a legislative spit wad. 

My purpose here is not to defend the WTA from Pocan’s attack– WTA’s decades of solid, unbiased reports speak for themselves.  No, what I cannot get out of my mind was what was at the bottom of Pocan’s letter.  There on the signature block was a smiley face.  That’s right, a smiley face for goodness sake.

I cannot recall ever receiving correspondence from an adult that included a smiley face.  I fear that Pocan’s smiley face speaks volumes.  At the moment in time when our state government faces its most severe fiscal challenges in fifty years, Pocan occupies one of the key government postings.  By virtue of his position, he will have a lot to say about how Wisconsin weathers our financial storm.  What he says and does, decisions he makes, will affect thousands of families and businesses who are in no laughing mood. 

These are serious times that call for serious solutions.  I just cannot erase the image of that smiley face from my memory.   Families who look to state government for unemployment payments or health care don’t see anything funny.  Small business owners who worry about their viability aren’t laughing.  They want reassurance that serious people are working on serious solutions.  Pocan’s smiley face was as appropriate as a whoopee cushion at a state funeral.

I think what underlies my misgiving is what lies behind Pocan’s smiley face.  This act, which probably seems juvenile to most of Wisconsin, is just another day at the office in the state Capitol.  I’ll bet most people who collect a paycheck in the Capitol didn’t even notice the smiley face.  It’s just another day

I’m hoping that the Honorable Representative Pocan will come to understand the heft of the office he holds.  He is the Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, not the Co-Chair of the Prom Committee.  All of Wisconsin is counting on him.

-March 16, 2009