MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin political science professors involved in the creation of a new publicly funded policy center expressed concern that there wasn’t enough balance between Democratic and Republican speakers at its first planned major event, newly released emails show.
The Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership was announced in May and it received $3 million in the state budget that Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed last month. Liberals worried it would serve as a conservative think tank despite assurances from university leaders that it wouldn’t be partisan.
E-mails obtained by the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now under the state open records law that were provided to The Associated Press on Wednesday show that professors raised red flags early on.
That included political science professor Barry Burden, who has been involved in helping start the center. On March 1, Burden sent an email worrying that the center’s first big event, a Nov. 17 panel discussion on leadership, wouldn’t be bipartisan enough.
“The list of people who have expressed some interest is a real set of stars in current politics,” Burden wrote, noting that it would be a “real coup” to get House Speaker Paul Ryan. “But I wonder if it is wise to have essentially all of them be prominent Republicans. I can’t imagine another center on campus that would only invite public officials from one party or ideological camp.”
Fellow political science professor David Canon agreed in a reply: “I too think it would be good to have a broader range of folks (in terms of partisanship) for the leadership conference.”
The two were responding to a Feb. 24 email listing potential speakers sent by Ryan Owens, a political science professor and attorney who formerly worked in Thompson’s gubernatorial office. Owens came up with the idea for the center and has been working to get it off the ground.
