Years ago, I was the Controller for a county government about 50 miles north of Madison, WI. One of the stormiest board meetings I ever attended was a debate on building an animal shelter. On one side, we had farmers who took an unsentimental view about the way to deal with sick, destructive or superfluous animals. On the other, we had members of our little arts and boutiques community, and university types from Madison, some of whom actually wept during the debate. It was quite the dramatic evening.

As for myself, if I had a dog that attacked people and killed my neighbors’ chickens, I would have no problem putting it down. That would seem to be the responsible thing to do. But I wouldn’t brag about it in a campaign biography. That strikes me as politically tone deaf.