Dear Capital Times: Tom Tiffany's Record Makes Him the Better Candidate

Earlier this month, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany's plane experienced an emergency and was forced to land in Lake Wausau. Tiffany and the pilot, 73-year-old Leonard "Lenny" Boltz, suffered minor injuries but were able to escape the plane and swim to shore. Of course, the Wisconsin media tried to minimize this near-tragedy, with Journal Sentinel reporter Hope Karnopp saying Lake Wausau was "only 30 feet." Karnopp tried to explain away this by saying she meant the situation could have been much worse — so why didn't she say that from the outset? Her job is literally to report facts and communicate with readers, yet her original X post and the follow-up (now both deleted) failed to make this clear.

The Capital Times, on the other hand, didn't bother mincing words in a shameful op-ed about the emergency, saying it doesn't make Tiffany a better candidate.

Opinion | Near tragedy doesn't make Tiffany a better candidate pic.twitter.com/wtb3aIir9B

— The Capital Times (@CapTimes) September 28, 2026

Here's some of the garbage from that op-ed:

Belling got his chops in the '80s on the former WTDY in Madison where he served as program director, arranged for the station to carry Rush Limbaugh and hosted a talk show of his own. He insisted that the plane crash proved Tom Tiffany's "character."

"He (and the pilot) did everything right," he wrote. "They protected themselves on impact during the water landing, swam to shallow water (in the dark) and held their positions until rescuers got to them.

"If you can handle that, you can handle the crises a governor faces (riots, tornados, an uncooperative legislature, scandal involving staff, a strange virus)," he wrote. "I’ve heard for years from Republicans that Tiffany is a good guy. But now I know it for sure."

No, Mark Belling, what really tells us about Tiffany's "character" is his record of penalizing the poor, helping the rich, attacking women's health, denying the results of safe and fair elections, questioning climate change and ignoring polluters, opposing any gun safety efforts, and marching in lockstep with America's great divider, Donald Trump.

How a politician reacts to an emergency tells us a lot about how they'd lead in times of crisis. Tom Tiffany acted. Meanwhile, any time there's a problem with his campaign, David Crowley blames President Trump and MAGA – as he did with his prisoner tablet program after we learned three inmates used the program to abuse victims, witnesses, and police.

Fine, being in the near-tragedy doesn't make Tiffany a better candidate. Here's what does.

David Crowley has run Milwaukee County into the ground. Taxes have been raised each and every year Crowley's been in office, including an impending 26 percent property tax hike for 2027. Milwaukee County residents pay the highest property taxes and sales taxes in the state. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is short-staffed; crime is out of control in the county; Milwaukee Public Schools are failing, and services are still being cut.

As we mentioned earlier, under Crowley's watch, at least three inmates in the Milwaukee County jail have used his tablet program to harass their victims, intimidate witnesses, and even threaten a police officer. Crowley refuses to take responsibility for that and refuses to reform the program.

David Crowley will bar ICE from removing violent criminal illegal aliens from our state. He will blow through the budget surplus and add anywhere from $2 billion to $6 billion in new taxes by repealing Act 10. He will cost the state thousands of jobs by repealing right-to-work and harm families by ending the state's school choice program.

Meanwhile, prescription drug prices are at 60-year lows. Illegal immigration has all but stopped at the southern border, and crime rates have plummeted. Job creation is doing great too, and Americans have more money in their pockets thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts — something Democrats opposed — which also stop taxes on Social Security, tips, and overtime. Tiffany will work with ICE to keep criminal illegal aliens out of our state and return the surplus to the people while cutting property taxes and ending Gov. Tony Evers' corrupt 400-year tax hike.

So no, the plane emergency doesn't make Tiffany a better candidate. His record — especially when compared to the myriad failings of David Crowley – does.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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