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Rick Berg
Rick Berg: His antipathy to Donald Trump cost him many of his Republican friends.
In May 2008, Rick Berg wrote a column for Isthmus reflecting on the life and legacy of Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated 40 years before.
“The most extraordinarily gifted politician in my lifetime,” Berg declared. “Robert Kennedy brought passion, romance and poetry to American politics. A man who was comfortable quoting Aeschylus, Tennyson, Pericles, Shakespeare and Camus is a rarity in politics today. We used to call such a person ‘well-educated’ or ‘literate.’ Now we use the term ‘elite.’”
Later in the piece, Berg said: “Politics spends too much time holding up a mirror to American culture; reflecting back whatever it sees. Robert Kennedy held up the best there was in the human spirit and challenged us to raise our sights.”
Berg, a former Madison school board member and former Dane County Republican Party chairman who ran unsuccessfully for mayor, also worked as a speechwriter for Gov. Tommy Thompson. He wrote dozens of pieces for Isthmus over the years, from his conservative perspective. He was eclectic in his views, writing in favor of stricter campaign finance laws, and against commuter rail. He could be acerbic, but he was never mean. Over the years we became friends.
Still, he did manage to get under some people’s skin. “It amazes me that Isthmus will print the clueless babble that comes from Rick Berg,” exclaimed one letter to the editor. As Berg’s editor at the time, I don’t exactly remember his reaction to this and other critical letters, but I’m sure he got a kick out of them. He once jokingly referred to himself, in a missive to Isthmus readers, as “beloved local conservative Rick Berg.”
Not surprisingly, Berg loathed Donald Trump. He wrote an article for The Progressive in mid-2017 explaining just how much: “I am a political conservative. I believe in limited government and personal responsibility. While I have voted for Democrats [on occasion], from Reagan on I have aligned with Republicans. But it didn’t take long for me to be appalled by Trump’s campaign. This is not the sort of person I want in the White House.”
Berg did not leave the Republican Party so much as the Republican Party left him. He said his antipathy to Trump “has cost me many of my Republican friends. Some stopped calling, others blocked me from their email accounts. One person suggested that my anti-Trump feelings had something to do with my dietary choices. I never did learn what a pro-Trump diet might be.”
Rick Berg died Nov. 11 at age 73 after a long decline precipitated by a brain infection in 2009, an illness that cost him his home and his livelihood. As his functionality faded, his memory remained intact, and quite sharp. He died peacefully, even joyfully, surrounded by loved ones. In a hospice room with a view of the Capitol, he listened to music, had his son and daughter read him the newspaper, and sipped his beloved Pepsi, ending life much the way he lived it — with conviction and on his own terms.
A memorial for Berg was held at an unpretentious tavern in Middleton last Saturday. There was a man who knew Berg since high school in Fort Atkinson, and who spent his life working at small newspapers, from writing up sports scores to setting type. The guests also included a driver at Berg’s elder care facility who knew Rick in his later years; he told the story of how Berg claimed to have an immunization appointment at a south Madison health clinic as a ruse to catch a ride to Lane’s Bakery.
His obituary said: “In lieu of donations, Rick would like you to buy a newspaper, as he was an old school newspaper man at heart.”
