Part 2 Of 2

ED, TOMMY: THESE BROTHERS ARE NOT CLONES

Mayor Ed Thompson is the slightly smaller spitting image of his older
brother, Tommy. But politically they have almost nothing in common, said Ed.

So, what does he disagree with Tommy on?

"About everything," said Ed. "Medical marijuana, the war on drugs ..."

Then there's the issue of Tommy agreeing with Gov. Scott McCallum's
decision to eliminate Wisconsin's shared revenue program by 2004 in an
effort to balance a projected $1.1 billion budget deficit.

The 90-year-old program distributes money to local governments to pay for
municipal services like police and fire protection.

"I think that's terribly wrong. That's criminal. I am the mayor of a small
town," said Ed. "It's devastating to small town and small townships."

Tommy's support of McCallum's deficit fix is pure politics, said Ed. "If it
was such a good idea, why didn't he do it 16 years ago?"

Ed says he is "certainly not" trying to ride his brother's coattails into
the governor's mansion but admits his campaign gets attention because of
his last name.

"Tommy is a very important person in Wisconsin," said Ed, adding that once
people hear his message and get to know him, they will be better able to
separate the two.

"Although I love my brother dearly, we are quite different politically."