... or former Wisconsin governor Lee Sherman Dreyfuss, to the uninitiated. He was the dark horse Republican candidate for governor in 1978, starting his campaign with a grand total of $17,000 in the bank -- and he won! He was a unique politician in that he was an educator, and he understood the value of education. He ran a populist campaign much like Paul Wellstone's, crisscrossing the state in an old school bus, wearing a signature red vest, and shaking hands with people.He was the kind of Republican that perhaps people mean today when they say, "I'm not a Bush Republican." He was very progressive on social issues, and signed into law landmark legislation protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination. Just last year he publicly opposed a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions in Wisconsin. I believe he was also pro-choice. Both he and his wife were huge supporters of funding for the arts.
He had a few moments of infamy. He signed a law decriminalizing oral sex between consenting adults, with some comment about how everyone does it so it shouldn't be illegal. I remember my brother saying, "Governor Dreyfuss is a muff diver" at which we both laughed hysterically. He also took a record surplus and gave it back to Wisconsin citizens in the form of a check in the mail, a move which later caused an economic crisis when the next recession hit. But I still have a print on my wall that I bought at an art fair using my LSD refund. His wife, Joyce, infuriated Wisconsin beekeepers when she made the comment that when she was a little girl she thought that honey was "bee poop."
I don't remember when the Bee Gees came to town, but it must have been when they were riding the disco wave. It's hard to tell in a black and white photo, but LSD has a shiny Bee Gees jacket and the Gibb brothers are wearing red vests.
This is all to say that they don't make Republicans -- and indeed, politicians of any stripe -- like they used to. That's a loss for all of us.
(Read more about LSD here.)
