Outside agitators don't help. All politics is local. Milwaukee voters yawned over the involvement of Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin, backing business as usual. People for the American Way sent someone to get pastors to include the evils of school choice in their Easter Sunday sermons. None of it helped.
Leaders have to step up to the plate.
Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist is a staunch advocate of building the inner city. Weaker politicians would have cringed at the expected might of the teachers unions. Norquist stepped up to the plate - and hit a grand slam for the children of Milwaukee. Under Republican Governor Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin has long been an incubator for education reform that strives for excellence.