Top Lobbyists Will Replace Your Windows!

Broydrick & Associates is a public relations and lobbying firm with offices in Milwaukee and Washington, D.C. Founded in 1981 by Bill Broydrick and Cynthia Broydrick, the company’s motto is “We Open Doors.”

Well, anybody in the business can do that. What’s the Broydrick difference, you ask? Not only does Broydrick open doors, Broydrick will sell you the doors as well.

That’s because Bill and Cynthia Broydrick have embarked on a parallel adventure with Energy Plus Windows and Doors of Florida “Insured to $3 million.”

According to the window company’s website, “our Vice President of Customer Financing, Promotions and Technology Director, Bill is a proud resident of Palm Beach Shores, Florida for over seven years and is working hard to become a state of the art industry leader of impact window and door technologies here in Southeastern Florida. … Also, in 1981, Bill founded Broydrick & Associates, directing its rise to a nationally known firm with offices in Washington DC and the Midwest. He has developed a vast network of contacts and offers outstanding strategic planning. People know they can count on us.”

Cindi gets top billing as President. According to her biography, “In addition [to selling windows], Cindi is also currently the corporate CFO of Broydrick & Associates, a certified Women’s Business Enterprise. Broydrick and Associates has been considered the industry leader in Wisconsin in public affairs. She and her husband moved to Florida over seven years ago.”

Ah yes, that would be the lobbying firm we all know the Broydricks for, which was started in Milwaukee. Cindi, we’re told, still has her hand in affairs at the lobbying firm, producing “victories” in such fields as “federal financing, government contract procurement, and organ procurement issues,” while also offering “factory direct pricing — get a free quote today!”

Cynthia Broydrick also lists the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District as among her clients. As the former Cindi Kukor, she served on the Milwaukee Common Council, and as former Mayor John Norquist reminisced in a Milwaukee Magazine story in November, “there was a freeway revolt led by people like Cindi Kukor who’s now Cindi Broydrick, she’s a lobbyist now, lobbies for damn near anything, but she was a real hero. She was on the city council and she stopped the Stadium South [Freeway].” Bill served as Democratic Congressman Les Aspin’s press secretary, as Governor Patrick Lucey’s senior administrative assistant and as a Democratic assemblyman.

So, whether you need hurricane-resistant windows for your Florida home — or just need somebody to work with you to secure a government contract, Bill and Cindi Broydrick have the winning solution. See their ad on Angie’s List to save 40 percent on factory-direct service. [Discount not available for lobbying.]

As Bill says, “our clients and their employees are customers we appreciate and they deserve a salute, a smile and service that ‘wows’ them.” Act now, before hurricane season.

P.S. Bill Broydrick’s great willingness to help his customers might have extended to doing favors for them with a notorious prostution ring. As Urban Milwaukee editor Bruce Murphy has noted, “Broydrick’s cell phone number was among those on the list of DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey… Broydrick has top clients in both Wisconsin and nationally, and could have conceivably been doing favors for politicians.”

Women Candidates Emerge

Emerge America is an organization operating in 14 states, including Wisconsin, with a goal to “increase the number of Democratic women in public office.” On February 25th, one of its alumnae spoke at a fundraiser at the University Club. Kimberly Kane, who is running for a seat on the Racine Common Council, said she got involved in running for office after going through the Emerge program. She operates a media consultancy in Racine, and has strong ties to her Milwaukee home town, where she is involved in Tempo, Meta House, Safe + Sound and the UWM College of Health Sciences.

Kane was in town to raise funds for her campaign in Racine’s 2nd district. She said there is virtually no interaction between the two sides of her district. Half is along the lake, where conditions are far different from those in the interior. [Racine has 15 aldermanic districts, as does Milwaukee.] The former television news person also feels there should be more interaction between Racine and Milwaukee. “We have to bridge the gap that is undeniable between Milwaukee and Racine. Racine is not an island. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area.”

But can we get from Milwaukee to Racine to enjoy the splendors of our suburban neighbor just 25 miles to the south of our City Hall?

“Yes, by car,” she said.

Women Lead is another organization recruiting Democratic women candidates. On Monday four candidates for State Senate will appear at an east side fundraiser. They are Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber, who hopes to replace Senate President Mike Ellis; Rep. Janet Bewley, who hopes to keep blue the seat of retiring Sen. Bob Jauch; Rep. Janis Ringhand, who hopes to do the same for departing Sen. Tim Cullen, and political newbie, Martha Laning, a Sheboygan resident who hopes to unseat Sen. Joe Leibham.

MacArthur Genius Comes to Town

Monday provides an opportunity to meet MacArthur genius grant recipient Mary Jo Buhle and her husband Paul Buhle. Both are UW-Madison graduates and retired Brown University professors who will give a speech entitled “The Legacy of the 1848er’s and Progressive German Immigrants from the Civil War to the 1890’s” at Turner Hall March 3rd at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Some feel we are in a time that resembles the period the scholars will discuss. The Progressive and left-wing movements were a response to the rise of the corporate state and the troubled status of workers in society.

The Buhles “will discuss the contributions of women and the German language press to progressivism, socialism, and Marxism in Wisconsin and the USA.” Turner Hall, 1034 N. 4th St., played a large role in these movements, so the setting cannot be improved upon.

The presentation marks both Women’s History Month and the continuing commemoration of the U.S. Civil War, 150 years ago.

The Buhles are the authors or editors of dozens of history books, including the “Encyclopedia of American Left,” the” Concise History of Woman Suffrage, Feminism and Its Discontents,” and “Women and American Socialism,” as well as It Started in Wisconsin: Dispatches from the Front Line of the New Labor Protest.

Paul Buhle’s additional works include “The Wobblies, Jews and American Popular Culture”; “Marxism in the U.S.”; and with Howard Zinn and Mike Konopacki, “A People’s History of the American Empire.”

Walker, Ryan Not in NY Times Prexy Poll

The New York Times published a poll on February 27th gauging national voter sentiment. One set of questions asked about the presidential aspirations of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. No questions were asked about the sentiment for or against Scott Walker or Paul Ryan, the 2012 Vice-Presidential candidate.

Funny Business in GOP Poll?

My mother, who lives in Mequon, said she received a polling call the other day from the Republican Party of Wisconsin. She was asked about her interest in the upcoming gubernatorial election as a starter question. “The second and final question,” she told me, “was ‘A., Do you wish to retain Scott Walker or B., Do you wish to replace Scott Walker?’

“I said ‘B.’ Then the poll taker confirmed my statement saying, ‘You said A, is that correct?’

“No, I said ‘B.’ Replace Scott Walker.” I guess one way to gin a poll is to try to confuse an elderly voter. Just don’t try that trick around Rita Horne.