Q&A: David Crowley on the state of Wisconsin governor’s race, Madison police shooting, ‘Dirt McGirk,’ Muslim voters and more

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley sent shockwaves throughout the country when he announced he was reentering the race for Wisconsin governor. 

Almost immediately claims that he is the “establishment” pick were presented, bringing up painful memories of the recent presidential elections in which populist candidates were snuffed out for more career politicians, which some argue resulted in President Donald Trump. 

“I was not born into the establishment. I was born into the struggle,” Crowley told the Milwaukee Courier in an interview on July 23. 

His position in the race was one of many issues discussed during the interview, including the Democratic Party’s legislative agenda, marijuana legalization, socialism vs capitalism, the “Dirt McGirk” Twitter account, his record as county executive and why he skipped a forum for Muslim voters.

The race also took a turn on July 22 after a Madison police officer shot and killed a Black man armed with a knife in the middle of a city street as onlookers recorded now-viral videos. 

The clearest video, recorded by Michael Doubek, shows four officers in a struggle with the man. It’s only seconds into the video when one officer decides to unload multiple rounds at point-blank range, killing the man, who police said injured an officer. 

The killing has resulted in protests in Madison and will continue to affect the race with just 19 days to go until Election Day. 

Here is a Q&A with Wisconsin candidate for governor David Crowley

I first want to touch on an item top of mind. The police shooting in Madison. Have you seen the videos? What was your reaction? 

I have not had a chance to look at the video. I know it has been shared. As you can imagine, there’s a lot going on.

To my knowledge, I heard there was a struggle that ensued and that a Madison city police officer actually shot an individual and killed that individual. I was told there was a knife involved.

But when you think about these types of situations, it can bring trauma. We have seen what happened during George Floyd and with Jacob Blake here in Kenosha. Just consistently seeing those types of things brings a lot of trauma back. 

I want to make sure that a full investigation is done, but it’s extremely important to recognize that a life has been lost.

We continue to pray for not just that individual, but their family, their friends and the impact that has on the community overall. 

What do you think it means for the governor’s race?

Honestly, I think this speaks to the broader politics of America and how we really need to come together and figure out ways to make sure that we respect one another. 

We have to figure out how to stop this in its tracks from ever happening (again), which means we need to invest. How do we keep people housed? How do we give people access to employment? Access to opportunities that’s going to not only help them survive but ultimately thrive. 

I think with this race, it’s something that we have to talk about. We have to face this because this isn’t the first time and we know that it won’t be the last. So it’s important that the next governor understands how to bring people together. 

Another item in the news is the NBC News report that ties you to an old Twitter account, “Dirt McGirk,” which posted homophobic and sexist language over 15 years ago. You deny you wrote the tweets, instead saying you shared the account with multiple people and some of those people have passed away. Do you stand by that statement? 

Absolutely. 

Anybody who knows me knows that is not a part of my character. That was back in the day when there were a bunch of us. Some of us were immature, some of us still here, some of us gone today. 

I will say, they had to dig up 16 year old (tweets) to try and get to me, to try and tear me down. 

But this race isn’t about old tweets. This race is about how we focus on affordability. 

How do we make housing more affordable? How do we make groceries more affordable? Bringing childcare and healthcare to every corner of this state. That’s what we’ve been doing in this campaign. 

We’ve addressed the issue head on. We’re not running from it. We’re not lying about anything. But now we’re focused on winning the governor’s race. 

Let’s live in a world where you win the governor’s race and the Democrats win both chambers of the State Legislature. What can get done immediately under a Crowley administration as people are struggling? 

I think it’s extremely important that we be bold as Democrats and we have to focus on the policies that matter most to the state of Wisconsin.

First and foremost, that’s making sure that we are fully funding our public schools. 

And that’s not just about making sure we’re investing in our children, because they are the best commodities that we have here in the state of Wisconsin, but it’s also about how do we save more money in people’s pockets. 

So by fully funding our public schools across the state, this will naturally ease the property tax pressure that many communities are facing. So they’ll save more money on their property taxes, but we also have to tackle the issues of childcare and healthcare. 

When we talk about childcare, it is non-existent in many places. But even in some of the urban communities that we have all across the state and suburban communities, it’s extremely expensive. And in some cases, it’s more than people’s mortgage, to where people have to make a decision whether or not they’re gonna go to work, or if they’re gonna stay home with their own children. So that’s incredibly important. 

On healthcare, we have to expand BadgerCare as a public option. Doing so allows us to incentivize by increasing the reimbursement rates to keep more providers and bring holistic care all across Wisconsin, providing mental health, providing dental, providing vision. And making sure we end the no wrong door model so nobody falls through the cracks when trying to get some level of assistance. 

We have to make sure we are repealing Act 10. We are repealing the right to work for less and really enshrining workers’ rights into the state Constitution, all while increasing the minimum wage here in Wisconsin. 

What would you do differently from your opponents on the shared revenue issue? 

I would come up with a permanent fix. As the only candidate who has experienced running local government, running the largest government in the state of Wisconsin, and has relationships with the municipalities all across Wisconsin, this is the number one issue. 

It’s affecting people’s ability to invest in their infrastructure, invest in public health, invest in public safety. And so we need a fix and I’m glad that when we were lobbying for Act 12, that provided some relief for communities all across this state. But I would be the first to tell you it didn’t solve all of our problems.

The state’s shared revenue formula is over 100 years old. I don’t know anything, any business, that has been able to do the exact same thing for 100 years and been able to survive. 

And so we’re not going to survive as a community if we continue with the status quo. 

I’m proposing we get real about creating a real fix and not putting a Band-Aid over a broken leg, if you will. I want to create a blue ribbon commission. 

I want to bring labor leaders, business leaders, elected officials, community leaders, academics, you name it, bring them to the table. Let’s have a real discussion about how we tax and spend here in the state of Wisconsin, because the last time we took a holistic view of our finances was when Tommy Thompson first became governor in 1986. 

So much has happened in our economy. So much is happening in our society. It is time for us to revisit it. 

What about the school funding formula? 

The same goes for the school funding formula because so many communities are struggling right now because they aren’t even getting enough base pay. In other schools, they aren’t getting reimbursement rates, even though they are required to provide these services for students with disabilities. 

And so we really need to hunker down and bring the political will back to the State Legislature. 

Do you believe something that could immediately be done is marijuana legalization? Wisconsin is losing out on millions as residents travel to neighboring states to buy weed. 

We have to figure out how we bring new revenue into the state and marijuana legalization is one way. It is mind blowing that it has taken us this long to actually legalize it. 

We’re the donut hole. Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, they’re selling it and we’re losing millions of dollars. That could be paying for childcare. That could go towards healthcare. It could go towards public schools or public safety, keeping every dollar here in the state. 

So marijuana legalization absolutely would be a part of it. 

You recently skipped a forum hosted by the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance. Why did you skip this event? 

I represent the largest Muslim and Jewish population here within Milwaukee County. I want to be very upfront when it comes down to our Muslim community. I have been there and stood up with them. When Salah Sarsour was detained by ICE, I was there during that rally. And if you look within my administration, we have Muslims in high cabinet positions. 

So I don’t want our Muslim community thinking that I don’t support them because I’ve been supporting them throughout my entire time as Milwaukee County Executive. 

Now, I wasn’t able to make that particular forum because I was under the weather. And plus, quite frankly, I thought my basement was getting ready to flood because we had some pipe issues. And so that’s the reason why I wasn’t there. 

Francesca Hong has put forward a lot of policies. She’s riding a wave of leftist, progressive politics seen elsewhere with these DSA campaigns. In addition, Milwaukee has a lot of socialist history. I think it’s safe to say that you don’t agree with that philosophy and it was a reason to get back in the race. So how are you different? 

What makes me different is I’m a Democrat that has been able to get things done. 

When I was in the State Legislature, I was able to help close Lincoln Hills (youth prison). As county executive, we were able to get Act 12 done. We were able to bring close to $100 million per year back to Milwaukee County. 

And so I know how to navigate the political landmines because a lot of these policies that we are speaking to don’t become a reality unless we have the trifecta. 

I know my success as county executive, my success as a state representative under a Republican controlled legislature. And so I know, even if we don’t get that trifecta, we’ll be able to get things done. 

This is about having a campaign that is going to bring everybody to the table. We all have different factions within each party across the entire political spectrum. And so it’s important to understand that each of these voices mean something and we should uplift them. 

But I don’t think any particular faction within any party dominates policies. Many of the policies that we’re all talking about on the campaign trail, we all share. The question is, how do we get it done? 

Do you identify with the label progressive? Why or why not? 

Yes. 

I used to be the ranking member on the Criminal Justice Committee fighting for criminal justice reform, fighting to make sure that we had expungements and pardons, and looking at ways to reduce recidivism. 

As county executive, this particularly relates to our community. We have a great partnership with the Milwaukee Bucks, MATC and Marquette, to help provide vocational training so individuals can get the stuff they need when they reenter back into society. 

We’ve been able to close down the mental health facility in Wauwatosa and brought it closer to the communities where the clients live and work. 

We’ve built affordable housing all across Milwaukee County. The largest investments of affordable housing, close to about $50 million, and that doesn’t even include the single family homes that we built in Milwaukee and getting ready to build in Oak Creek.

So there’s a lot of progressive things that we have done here within Milwaukee County and across the state of Wisconsin. 

Do you identify more with the label socialist or capitalist?

I wouldn’t label myself either.   

I’m all about the people. It’s really about making sure that we’re not just bringing our ideas to the table. We have to bring our community to the table. 

I’m not about protecting myself. I’m about protecting the community that I represent because it’s the people that matter most. 

We have to figure out how we can put more money in people’s pockets, but also figure out how we can put people in position to make more money. 

Wisconsin incarcerates Black men at the second-highest level in the U.S. What will you do about that? 

This is something that is near and dear to me. I’ve had family members who have been in and out of prison and my first job out of high school was actually helping ex-offenders find employment and housing as they were returning home. 

Milwaukee County, we were one of the leading partners, investors when it comes down to community violence interrupters. We have to figure out more ways, more investments and more opportunities as it relates to alternatives to incarceration. Just because we’re incarcerating someone, it doesn’t mean we’re doing the best for them because it is not necessarily rehabilitation. In many cases, it does more harm than good, depending on the individual. 

What would you look for in judges for appointments if you are governor? 

The gauge is making sure that we have someone who’s going to be impartial and making sure that they are making judgements based on the Constitution. 

So I would be looking for someone who is going to be honest, someone who is open, who understands the values of the state of Wisconsin and the values of the people that they’re going to be representing. 

I want all of our judges to keep people at the center of all of their decisions because that’s who we’re here to represent. 

I don’t look to make these decisions on my own. I look to go out into the community, working with individuals to help me make these decisions. 

Where do you stand on data centers? Do you support a moratorium? 

I think there’s a lot of people when they hear of a moratorium they think we are going to end these data centers and I want folks to understand that is not the case, that can’t happen. 

We have data centers, not just in Milwaukee Country, all across the state. And so we have to focus on how we protect ourselves from the current infrastructure that is already in place. 

I find it mind blowing the State Legislature literally left session without actually putting some type of framework in place. 

When it comes down to data centers, they have to be held accountable. No local unit of government should be able to enter into a nondisclosure agreement when it comes down to anything happening at a local level. 

And local governments should have the ability to amend or outright reject a data center in their community. 

If they are going to be here, they should have to pay 100% of their energy use and pay 100% of any grid or infrastructure upgrades. And they have to adopt the “BeYONCE” approach, which means bring your own clean energy. They need to be investing in both solar as well as wind power to make sure they’re getting as close to 100% renewable energy as possible. 

I want them using project labor agreements and community benefit agreements and not just for the communities they’re in but for the entire state. They should be utilizing union labor to build these data centers. 

We have to make sure the community benefits. Is there a way for our schools, our municipalities, our small businesses, our legacy industries to be able to leverage this for our economic growth? 

We also have to make sure we’re protecting our precious resources, our land, our water and our people. 

We know they are already here. We have to find a way to protect ourselves. 

Some chatter says the establishment has coalesced around you. The nickname online is “Kamala-Crowley.” All this in fear of Hong as you have previously cited the Republican Governors Association ads touting her. Are you the establishment’s choice? 

I was not born into the establishment. I was born into the struggle. 

My parents taught me something very valuable, which is that you have to value hard work. And I think about my upbringing, with my parents, who struggled with mental health and addiction, moving from place to place, facing evictions. 

I’m a community organizer that wants to do good work. My job is not to protect any type of establishment. My job is to protect the people of the state of Wisconsin. 

I am in this race because it’s about the people. This isn’t about any other candidate. This isn’t about the Democratic Party. This is about the people of the state of Wisconsin. 

I want to be clear, we do live in a democracy. It’s not like I wasn’t on the ballot. And so we have choices. I made the choice to get back into this race because I think that there’s so much at stake with this election.

We have to make sure we have the best contrast to Tom Tiffany. 

And so hearing these types of comments are unfortunate. 

Would you support Hong if she were the nominee? 

It is our job to make sure we defeat Tom Tiffany. And so I think that all of us, no matter who is in this Democratic primary, our ultimate goal is to defeat Tom Tiffany. 

So whoever gets this primary on Aug. 11, I will be behind them. 

You’ve previously accepted corporate PAC money, including from We Energies, and other private equity investors and large real estate developers. What do you say to people who say you are bought and paid for? 

You can just look at my track record and see everything that I’ve done. 

My record speaks for itself. I don’t need to get caught up in everybody else’s rhetoric on what they believe I am. I have a pretty public image and so people could easily Google me. 

Should voters be concerned about some of the issues your office faced, like the healthcare scandal, which Mandela Barnes has attacked you over? 

No, absolutely not. 

No one lost healthcare. I want to be very clear about that. Milwaukee County is self insured and when we learned about what happened we immediately took action and we fired the guy. 

What (voters) should be concerned about is we have people running in this race that have absolutely no experience running government, no experience running large companies, no experience actually having to deal with adversity and making tough decisions. 

And that’s one of the reasons I’m honored to have Gov. Evers’ endorsement because he has good judgement. He believes in my leadership and I’m always gonna do right by the people of the state of Wisconsin.