Mark Neumann Website Is Up, It's Good

The Mark Neumann for Governor committee filed its GAB-1 Campaign Registration Statement with the Government Accountability Board last week.

But a modern campaign is a campaign only when it gets its website up. Mark Neumann's site is up and it is not too shabby, though it's still in development.

Good colors, not text-heavy, and easy-to-find information.

Constructive suggestions, Mr. Neumann.

The upper-right and bottom quadrants of a given web page (in green in the above graphic) should be comprised of low-priority information. EyeTrack studies show readers’ eyes don't see these quadrants well. so whatever info you put on these spots ought to be low-priority. Your upper-right is a high-priority “Donate” button. Move this over to the left an inch or so.

Also, an industry standard is that hyperlinks should maintain the page a reader is using and open to a new, seperate page.

So your linked headline, for example, "Press Release: Mark Neumann Enters 2010 Gubernatorial Race," should open to a new window; it does not now. Easy fix. The current code for the linked headline is (in part):

-- a href="http://markforgov.com/pg/blog/MarkNeumann/read/53/press-release-mark-neumann-enters-2010-gubernatorial-race"> Press Release: Mark Neumann Enters 2010 Gubernatorial Race --

Simply place the following code target="_blank" between the " and > charactersin the code (that are bolded in above graf and in red) and the reader will open up a new window.

Like as follows (try it and hit this following link): Press Release: Mark Neumann Enters 2010 Gubernatorial Race. ... Whallah, a new window.

Mr. Neumann, I want you to win the GOP nomination for governor and then I sincerely want the best man to win the general election. I disagree with you on much policy; but you are an earnest man and such men don't grow on trees.

Lots of more ideas. Contact me if you are interested on my working on your primary as a consultant at: maleon@charter.net.

Mark Neumann Is Ready, Wisconsin Is Not

Former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann announces today that he is running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Neumann will face Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker in a contentious and likely divisive GOP primary campaign.

Though Neumann will run on a saccharin high taxes and wasteful spending platform, Neumann in his own words and deeds is a hard-right ideologue packing the same anti-gay, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic ideology as former state senator Tom Reynolds.

Daily newspapers and television news won't feature this aspect of Neumann though he makes it clear that his religious ethics and morals guide his politics and public behavior.

But the doctrines of Neumann's über-rightwing church, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), are mean-spirited and exclusionary and will become an issue.

The media campaigns of 2009-10 are not like those of 1998, the year Neumann last ran for statewide office.

And the result will be a focus on Neumann's rightwing ideology that is contrary to the views of the majority of Wisconsin citizens, but may prove an asset in the race for the Republican nomination. The new media will be an important part of Neumann's downfall.

See also:
Mark Neumann in His Own Words
Mark Neumann: The Mean Machine
Mark Neumann for Gov. - Please Jesus, Yes!
Mark Neumann's Church: An Unfair Topic?

From a past column, some examples of meanness and bigotry from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS):

- We recognize the Pope as the Anti-Christ by his false teachings and by his matching the traits of the Anti-Christ as revealed in Scripture, not by the alleged symbolism of something he wears or carries.

- (Luther) had hoped that the Reformation with its clear preaching of the pure gospel would convert the Jews. Luther himself provides examples from the Talmud in 'On the Jews and Their Lies' (Luther's Works 47:226-228): 'Their Talmud and their rabbis record that it is no sin for a Jew to kill a Gentile, but it is only a sin for him to kill a brother Israelite. Nor is it a sin for a Jew to to break his oath to a Gentile. ... '

- Christians must take care during their lifetimes not to regularly associate with any group or organization [like the Catholic Church] that would take their focus off Christ alone as their salvation.

- We must warn the impenitent that homosexuality, like all sins, excludes people from eternal life (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The church, therefore, must not, bless same-sex marriages or unions, since these are contrary to the will of God. The church must not place into nor retain in the public ministry of the Word people who defend, condone, or persist in words or actions that are contrary to God’s law.

From a purely political perspective, this yuckiness does not work in Wisconsin. Where is Catholic League president Bill Donohue?

Mark Neumann's Church: An Unfair Topic?

A Madison politico (a columnist for Isthmus magazine now) some 10 years ago objected to a piece I had written for In Step newspaper, a civil rights LGBT paper that was published out of Milwaukee [issue pictured above].

His objection was that the piece explores the extremism of then U.S. Senate candidate Mark Neumann and Neumann's church, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) that instructs its members in explicitly anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic and anti-gay teachings.

And to this politico, a politician's church is off-limits. He's wrong.

A reader brings to our attention more insight on Neumann's political decision-making process that is in Neumann's own words directly guided by his religion that micromanages its members' lives.

Heartland Hollar has a piece out this week, Neumann the One, linking to an interview with Christian Life Resources, a religious organization that "subjects itself to the doctrine and practice of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod."

And as the Christian Life Resources interview and another interview, Faith in the Political Arena, make clear, it is Neumann who makes his religion the public basis upon which he seeks and holds public office, specifically citing scripture text as interpreted by his church. So we're supposed to ignore it?

That said, Neumann is smart, driven, well-spoken and has the money to knock the socks off any GOP opponent, and though his religion is a political problem [what Catholic wants to hear that a U.S. Senate candidate thinks the Pope is the anti-Christ), look for Neumann to put up one hell of a fight for the GOP nomination

---

Christian Life Resources Interview
- Clearly Caring Magazine, Sept/Oct 2008, Vol. 28, No. 5

Will you run for office again?

The words of James 4:13-17 are useful tools in planning my life. If it is the Lord's will I would consider it a privilege to run for office again and serve the people if elected.

Was there any portion of God's Word that you leaned on while serving in public office?

The most worn page of my Bible referenced Matthew 6:25-34 where Jesus tells us not to worry. James 1:2-7 also reminded me that trials lead to maturity and that wisdom will be provided to those who do not doubt.

---

Asked how he made his decisions in Congress in an interview with the WELS Communication Services Director, Neumann replied, "What we did in our office, and Sue (wife) helped me a lot with this, we established a checklist, so to speak, on any bill that would come before us. And we'd ask ourselves first, 'Is there a moral or ethical reason to a cast a vote in any particular way.' And if there was, it didn't' matter what anybody else said to me, we were going with the morals and ethics first."

See also:

Mark Neumann in His Own Words

Mark Neumann: The Mean Machine

Mark Neumann for Gov. - Please Jesus, Yes!

Mark Neumann: The Mean Machine

Update: See Bruce Murphy's Can Neumann Beat Walker in Milwaukee Magazine.

Why do political operatives think Mark Neumann is the best candidate for the GOP nomination for governor?

Neumann is running for statewide office with the same rigid anti-gay, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic ideology that sent state senator Tom Reynolds packing a few years back.

For those who don't recall Neumann's last statewide run (1998), it was unrelentingly negative against heavily-outspent Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Middleton).

Neumann has the money and drive to win the Republican nomination against Scott Walker. And apparently believes he can target rightwing constituencies sufficiently well to put up winning numbers in the general election.

But the Neumann "church" work that James Klauser cites as a qualification comes from a highly politicized rightwing, Pope-is-the-anti-Christ church that is in a word: Mean.

Just yuck. See for yourself.

Go to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and use Roman Catholic as a search term (upper-right search engine), or gay or Jew. It gets very yucky very fast.

Neumann's rightwing ideology and intolerance is pervasive in his politics.

Some examples from Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS):

- We recognize the Pope as the Anti-Christ by his false teachings and by his matching the traits of the Anti-Christ as revealed in Scripture, not by the alleged symbolism of something he wears or carries.

- (Luther) had hoped that the Reformation with its clear preaching of the pure gospel would convert the Jews. Luther himself provides examples from the Talmud in 'On the Jews and Their Lies' (Luther's Works 47:226-228): 'Their Talmud and their rabbis record that it is no sin for a Jew to kill a Gentile, but it is only a sin for him to kill a brother Israelite. Nor is it a sin for a Jew to to break his oath to a Gentile. ... '

- Christians must take care during their lifetimes not to regularly associate with any group or organization that would take their focus off Christ alone as their salvation.

- We must warn the impenitent that homosexuality, like all sins, excludes people from eternal life (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The church, therefore, must not, bless same-sex marriages or unions, since these are contrary to the will of God. The church must not place into nor retain in the public ministry of the Word people who defend, condone, or persist in words or actions that are contrary to God’s law.

From a purely political perspective, this yuckiness does not work in Wisconsin.

Where is Catholic League president Bill Donohue?