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Tom Reynolds is not your typical state senator.
He's so out there, in fact, that Republican Party bosses are worried that Reynolds' peculiarities could cost them a Senate seat the party has held since 1993.
And they haven't even heard some of the best stories.
When the freshman from West Allis went on a family vacation to Whitefish Dunes State Park in Door County a couple of years ago, he was angered by a sign that said the sand dunes were off-limits. Reynolds was so perturbed by what he viewed as an assault on his personal liberty that when he got back from the Door County getaway, he put his taxpayer-paid Senate staff on the case.
"You asked me to determine why the dunes were closed," Steve Krieser, Reynolds' then-chief of staff, wrote to his boss in a Sept. 19, 2003, memo. "You also asked me for information on the closure of formerly public areas in other state parks. Finally, you asked me to obtain the actual sign you saw at the state park in Door County."
Yep, you read it right a state senator told his top aide to rip off a sign.
"He felt that it was an intrusion of government," said Les Wakefield, a former Reynolds aide. "He wanted (the staff) to drive up and get the sign and bring it back to Madison.
"Finally, he just let it drop because we wouldn't do it," said Wakefield, who has worked for Republicans and business groups in and around the Capitol for 30 years.
As we said, Tom Reynolds is not your typical state senator.
Once viewed as a fringe candidate who was repeatedly trounced by then-U.S. Rep. Gerald Kleczka, Reynolds was elected in 2002 after he upset veteran Sen. Peggy Rosenzweig in the Republican primary. And before you knew it, the west suburban district went from being represented by a moderate Republican to one of the quirkiest men in Wisconsin politics.
"They didn't know who they were electing," declared one top Republican operative.
"We don't know what to do with the guy," he complained. "There are people who are really concerned with that seat it's ripe for the picking."
Here's the type of things they're worried about: A half-dozen sources told...