Where Have You Gone Jeff Tyberg?

No, we don't mean physically, we mean the guy who said he was going to campaign based on his ideas and not mention his Republican opponent in a negative light.

Yet according to a tipster this morning, the Burnett County Sentinel is running a story where Tyberg calls out Reid on his contract with the district. Tyberg calls on Reid to return any money received from outside the 7th district.

If this is true, and we believe this is a reliable source, then first we want to address the facts, then we'll address the intelligence.

From our tipster, the story says, "Tyberg is "very pleased" that Reid said he "agrees with the points highlighted by Tyberg" in response to Tyberg's interview on WAOW TV as posted on it's website."

Actually the WAOW story Tyberg refers to does not quote Reid. It makes a statement by the reporter about his interpretation of what Reid says. We called the Reid campaign. Reid said he told the reporter he agrees with Tyberg on some of the points (taking money was not the only point in the contract) and was glad that Tyberg was highlighting that Obey was not a fiscal conservative. Moreover, if you read the rest of the sentence the "agrees" part was in it says, "but adds, the personal contract released by Tyberg doesn't worry him at all." Does that sound like Reid had any intention of signing the contract to anyone other than Jeff Tyberg?

But Tyberg goes on to say, "I welcome Mr Reid's agreement with the points I made about not taking campaign donations from anyone who is not a resident or property owner in the 7th district or contributions from any political action commitee or lobbying group.
"I invite him to sign the contract along with me and begin immediately returning all funds recieved from individuals outside of the 7th district and from pacs and lobbying groups."

Now as to the intelligence of this whole strategy. This is what's wrong with Tyberg's campaign. People who know how politics actually works know you have to raise money to win. Why would anyone unilaterally disarm from having campaign funds to spend when Dave Obey is raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars from special interests in Washington? It's nice that Tyberg is trying to be a "man of the people," but it's like the tree falling in the forest, if no one hears it who cares what kind of sound it makes when it falls or what type of tree it was. With no money, Tyberg would be that tree.

Now for the non-sense.

Also from the tipster, the story concludes with, "Tyberg also noted that both he and Pat Synder, host of WSAU-AM's 55 Feedback talk show, have invited Reid to participate in a debate but that Reid has not returned phone calls relative to the matter."

This makes absolutely no sense as Nick Reid was in studio with 55 Feedback this morning - one of several appearances Reid has made on the show. Either Tyberg's making this up, or he's got his facts mixed up.

A few posts ago, a commenter encouraged us to quit calling fouls and focus on offense against Dave Obey. We agree with the sentiment, but here's the thing. Tyberg agreed to an endorsement process and then backed out. He made an impassioned plea that he was being picked on by Reid supporters back in July (posted here, called every county chairman and complained, sent out an e-mail to his supporters, etc) and this was about Dave Obey, but he has now gone on the radio and in the newspaper taking on Reid, not Obey. This speaks directly to his integrity. It also speaks to his character that as the pressure of the upcoming primary approaches, he's turning into another politician who will say one thing to one group of people and turn around and do another. This isn't the common man's way of doing things, it's Dave Obey's way.