Despite some positive steps, more work remains.

MADISON- Today, Representative Stubbs called attention to the COVID-19 legislation’s lack of robust, equitable measures needed to meet the needs of Wisconsin citizens during this crisis. “Today cannot be the final date the Assembly meets. This situation is rapidly evolving, and we must be responsive to the needs of our state and the many unforeseen challenges in the days ahead,” Rep. Stubbs stated. “The health and safety of the people of our state must continue to be our top priority, and our state government must do everything possible to keep our communities safe, protect our democracy, and support our businesses.

Rep. Stubbs expressed, “Assembly Democrats offered amendments that would help achieve those goals. First and foremost, we cannot seek short-term solutions to long-term problems. I am ready to work on whatever is needed to help get our state through this crisis. We cannot turn our backs on the people we represent who are relying on us to act in their best interest during this unprecedented time.” The bill has some positive provisions. But this is not nearly enough. States like Minnesota have passed multiple, bipartisan bills addressing COVID-19 and are already considering more legislation. We need to do more.

Rep. Stubbs asserted, “Inequities in access to the workforce, healthcare, and education still exist and are now compounded because of this crisis. These underlying issues have not changed; instead, they are leading to disproportionate mortality rate as almost half of COVID-19 related deaths in Wisconsin are Black people despite the extremely small population of us (6%) in this state.”

Rep. Stubbs urged, “This cannot be the last time the Assembly meets. We need to pass equitable, comprehensive, and immediate legislation that takes care of all of our citizens with more support than is being offered in this bill. And we need to do it now.”

The bill passed Tuesday was a positive first step, but this cannot be the end.

MADISON – Today, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed 2019 AB 1038 regarding the state’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Assembly Democratic Leader Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) released the following statement:

“One of the core responsibilities of government is to keep people safe, and to prevent people from getting sick and dying. Our state government has a role to play in helping people manage and navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented public health and economic crisis has caused harm to so many families and businesses across Wisconsin,” Rep. Hintz stated. “While too often our politics are broken and dysfunctional, more than ever people are looking for leadership and not politics. In this moment, we must assess and act upon what government can do right now to best support the public.”

“The bill we passed today was a positive first step. Eliminating the one week waiting period for Unemployment Insurance and securing additional federal resources will help those struggling immediately. However, today cannot be the final day the Assembly meets. This situation is rapidly evolving, and we must be responsive to the needs of our state and the many unforeseen challenges in the days ahead. I refuse to admit that what we passed today is all we can do as a state. The fact is, we don’t know where things will be a month from now, and what the needs will be. I am hopeful we can build on today’s actions if we all keep trying to move together to do everything possible to end this crisis. Let’s not write off coming back for the things we need to get done for the people of our state.”

Work of the legislature to address the COVID-19 crisis is not done.

MADISON – Today, the State Assembly met in an extraordinary session to address the COVID-19 crisis. Representative Gruszynski (D-Green Bay) released the following statement:

“The health and safety of the people in Green Bay is my top priority and our state government must do everything possible to keep our communities safe, protect our democracy, and support our local businesses. Since March 13th, I have called upon the state legislature to take action to repeal the oneweek waiting period to collect unemployment benefits, and to lift Medicaid restriction in order to accept federal aid. Today we passed a bi-partisan bill to get those provisions done and we should be proud of that action, but this needs to be the start, not the end of our work.

There is still much more to do for the constituents of Green Bay and today cannot be the final date the Assembly meets. The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly evolving, and we must be responsive to the needs of our state and the many unforeseen challenges in the days to come. We cannot turn our backs on the people we represent who are relying on us to act in their best interest during this unprecedented time.” Rep. Gruszynski stated.

The Wisconsin GOP tried to steal an election, but last night, we found out they lost. Please sign my petition demanding universal vote-by-mail be included in the next coronavirus relief bill.

WASHINGTON, DC - Last week, the Wisconsin GOP tried to steal a seat on the state’s Supreme Court by refusing to move our election or provide safe voting options during this unprecedented pandemic.

Last night, we found out they lost.

No one should have been forced to choose between their safety and their right to vote — and far too many Wisconsinites were unable to participate in this election. It was a disgraceful act of voter suppression on the part of Republicans.

Even in the face of these unprecedented circumstances, Judge Jill Karofsky won a well-deserved seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I have no doubt she will work to make sure everyone can participate in our elections moving forward. But we must join her in that fight.

Republicans will continue their dangerous voter suppression tactics unless we act, and the best way for us to stop them is to demand universal vote-by-mail.

That’s why I’m asking you to sign my petition demanding universal vote-by-mail be included in the next coronavirus relief bill to avoid this sort of disaster from happening again. We must do better in November.

Thank you to the Wisconsinites who showed their resiliency in last week’s election. We won’t forget you.

Stay safe and healthy.

— Tammy

We cannot fix a broken system with broken tools, bad bosses, inferior materials, co-opted workers and corrupt corporate leaders and federal politicians says Richland Center progressive. We need to think bigger.

RICHLAND CENTER, WI - Setting aside the pain and suffering of the infected for a moment, this pandemic is pulling back the curtain on the fragility, corruption and venality of the economic/political system of Trump’s “greatest country on earth.”

Trump says yah, sure, some of those commies and socialists had better resources and quicker responses - So What? We have better bombers!

We have planes that work half the time and Congress wants to buy more of them! Over 120 Dems and Republicans urge the military buy 24% more F35 fighters than it requested. $80 million each in the midst of the virus crisis! F-35 cost $1 Trillion to develop so far, fly only half the time the rest being sidelined with mechanical problems.

Yet America’s leaders have known about the coronavirus for 5 months and they cannot figure out how to make enough $25,000 ventilators for our hospitals!

The fact that the biggest, most capitalized corporations go broke shortly after a natural disaster implies they’ll go bankrupt again after the next disaster. The feds prop them up, instead of allowing those corporations to fail as Trump’s dogma requires weak actors to fail. The failure of this “competitive market economy” proves for everyone to see, that we are living a lie.

The very core of our mythology is that when times get tough we hunker down, or pick up stakes and find a new place, grabbing our bootstraps and jumping into the next opportunity to prosper.

Ha Ha - Not the CEOs. They demand bailouts to maintain stock portfolios. They demand government’s stockpiles of ventilators released to RESELL to hospitals at a profit. That's how it's supposed to work say the kleptomaniacs! “How can we trickle down anything to you little people, if the feds don’t pour the gravy on the top for us important people?”

We know all those lies.

The current crisis really exposes the inability of the “liberal party”, and its supporters, to understand their culpability, or their inability, to find an off-ramp from our trajectory into the abyss down the road.

Shame! The solutions are all around us. We learned from the very beginning that competition is good, cheating is bad, winning is no more important than playing a good game, communities do things together for the common good. If people are hungry you divide the loaves and multiply the fish.

That’s all naive to the CEOs - they advocate monopoly, cheat daily, peddle winning is everything and the heck with communities.

We’re told be “Pragmatic,” accept what is, and work to change it by electing people who want to buy more bombers!

Baloney! We need Medicare for All! Costs half as much as insurance, works better, encourages health over letting problems fester, and covers everyone.

We need renewable energy! America has 250,000 solar installer jobs paying family wages of $40,000 to $70,000 per year and many are union jobs with benefits! They’re healthier jobs, improving air quality, offering sustainable solutions to our energy requirements - versus 50,000 coal miners nationwide, having black lung, who’ve lost their unions, have a hard time getting paid, and their product is wrecking the Eco-system.

If there ever has been a moment in our lifetimes, when we must aspire for great change – it is now.

We cannot fix a broken system with broken tools, bad bosses, inferior materials, co-opted workers and corrupt corporate leaders and federal politicians.

To survive, we all need to think bigger and more radically or our grandkids are going to be in that abyss down the road!

****

Tom Crofton’s a social activist, long time progressive Democrat, former 3 term Richland Co. Bd. Supervisor who ran for the Assembly in 2008 & 2016 on a platform of Green New Deal and Medicare4All, is a member of Movement for a People's Party, a retired union carpenter and a grass fed beef farmer from Richland Center

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/vote-47-mb3-s5.jpgThanks to the Republicans everyone will need to be extra vigilant with social distancing.

Well known progressive commentator Matt Rothschild on this week's election.

MADISON - I’ve never been so mad in my life!

The insistence by Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald, aided by the rigged Wisconsin Supreme Court and the reactionary U.S. Supreme Court, to go forward with the election on April 7 in the midst of this pandemic was the most despicable thing I’ve ever witnessed in politics.

Here’s what I wrote about it:

Shame! Wisconsin GOP Scrapes Bottom of the Barrel

Now that I’ve told you how I really feel, please let me share another article we posted on the outside spending in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race:

Special Interest Group Spending at $4.4M in Supreme Court Race

And here’s the astonishing amount that Marsy’s Law in Wisconsin spent on the constitutional amendment about victim’s rights, which we opposed:

Group Behind Marsy’s Law Referendum Spent $3.3M+ On Media

As you’ve probably already heard, we had to cancel our 25th anniversary celebration that we were going to hold on April 29, which is a drag because we had some good panels and speakers lined up.

Our next Big Money Bulletin is due out soon after election results are announced next week. All members will be receiving a ballot to elect our board of directors. So please watch for that in the mail.

And if you like what we’ve been doing, please send us a tax-deductible gift by clicking here: https://www.wisdc.org/get-involved/donate.

Thanks for your support.

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
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Will ensure Safe Elections During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support an April 2020 Special Session as called for in Executive Order 73.

Every voter in Wisconsin has a right to have their ballots counted, but also to know that in the practice of exercising their constitutional rights, they are not exposing themselves, or anyone else, to a public health threat. Ensuring safe elections during a pandemic would be a challenge enough, but the ongoing and still uncertain guidelines for next Tuesday’s elections have made it nearly impossible for voters to navigate.

An April 2020 Special Session would allow legislators and the Governor to provide clear guidance to voters about how this election will proceed. Any legislation considered should allow voters the opportunity to vote from home by sending an absentee ballot to every registered voter, facilitate drop boxes for voters to safely deposit ballots, and move the date for in-person voting to a time when systems are in place to make sure that all voters can vote safely and local governments can handle the additional workload.

****

Conservation NOW (CNOW) announce the pro-conservation positions on issues before the senate, assembly and/or governor in the week ahead to state legislators. Others wishing to follow activities in the state legislature also receive CNOW, including legislative staff, conservation voters, and media. All of these issues are tracked on the Vote Tracker. Issues in the CNOW may appear in the Conservation Scorecard, to be released in the summer of 2020.

Matt Rothschild of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign provides an update on what to expect in this spring's crazy off and on election.

MADISON - We at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign feel strongly that the election should be postponed, and we’re outraged that our Speaker Vos and Majority Leader Fitzgerald refused to budge on this. We signed on to an excellent open letter from Wisconsin Voices expressing our outrage, which you can read here:

Statement on April 7 Election: An Urgent Call to Uphold Values of Access, Safety, and Equity

Our staff’s been busy this week tracking the money being thrown around in the important Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Judge Jill Karofksy and Justice Dan Kelly.

Here’s the article we posted on the direct donations to their campaigns:

State Dems Contributed $1.3M to Karofsky’s Campaign

And here’s the article on the spending by the outside groups:

Special Interest Spending Tops $3M in Supreme Court Race

You’ll also find, on your ballot, a binding referendum on whether to amend the Wisconsin Constitution to strengthen victims’ rights. We urge you to vote NO on this one. It collides with our Sixth Amendment rights to face our accuser and to have a fair trial, and it’ll embroil the state in costly litigation. On top of that, it’s been lavishly funded by California billionaire Henry Nicholas. Marsy’s Law in Wisconsin was the third biggest lobbyist in the entire state during the last two sessions. And from January 1 through March 23 of this year, it spent $3,457,000 campaigning for this!

An out-of-state billionaire shouldn’t be able to buy an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution.

If you live in the following counties, you have an opportunity take a stand against gerrymandering on a non-binding referendum we support.

• Marquette
• Milwaukee
• Monroe
• Pierce
• Portage
• Rock
• St. Croix
• Trempealeau
• Wood

Check out some of the recent Fair Maps WI Coalition outreach on the referendum -- hear the radio ad and download a flyer (dual language):  Vote YES for Fair Maps

And if you’re up north in Oneida and Vilas counties, check your ballot because you might have the anti-gerrymandering referendum as well as non-binding referendum to overturn Citizens United and to declare, finally, that corporations aren’t persons and money isn’t speech. We support that one, too, and we’re grateful to the tremendous activists at Wisconsin United to Amend for all their work on this issue.

There’s a lot on the ballot. That’s why it’s important to vote. And it’s why it’s so disgraceful that our elected officials haven’t made it possible – and safe – for everyone to vote.

Please be safe.

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
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Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes shares his thoughts on the pandemic.

MADISON - As we grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications, I would like to share my thoughts on what this crisis has revealed about our state and nation.

First, this crisis has exposed a glaring inequality that exists in our society. It begs the question: What does it really mean to live in the richest country on earth if we're unable to adequately care for people in need during an emergency?

While wealth continues to concentrate at the very top, working class people are struggling to get by, much less save for an emergency. And until healthcare is a universal right, people will die because of how expensive it can be to live when you're poor and facing a medical crisis.

This is why we must continue the fight for structural change - so that the needs of the many are prioritized above the interests of the few. Let's take this opportunity to reimagine society, our communities, and what quality of life actually means.

President Trump’s absence of leadership and racist rhetoric - referring to COVID-19 as the "Chinese-virus" - has hurt our ability to mitigate COVID-19 and unite as a nation.

The best response to a pandemic is prevention, and our failure to act decisively is the result of failed presidential leadership. President Trump's decision to dismantle a National Security Council directorate at the White House in 2018 charged with preparing for when another pandemic would hit the nation - and his cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) budget has seriously hampered our ability to respond to this pandemic.

We must also reject referring to COVID-19 as the "Chinese-virus." At a time when we should be setting aside differences and coming together, President Trump seeks to divide. Here in Wisconsin, we have already seen the harmful effects of this racist language: Milwaukee’s own Lucky Lui’s chinese restaurant has announced they will be closed indefinitely after workers received xenophobic and verbal attacks from customers. COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate based on race, and neither should we.

Despite everything, Wisconsinites are sacrificing for their fellow neighbor and displaying heartwarming generosity each and every day. Here are just a few examples of ways local businesses are helping out during these difficult times:

• Central Standard Distillery, based out of Walkers Point in Milwaukee, has pledged to turn their focus to producing free disinfectant and sanitizing products with their supply of distilled alcohol
• The Machinist Union (IAM) Local 1406, at GE Datex-Ohmeda in Madison, is fighting to produce much needed ventilators
• Monterey Mills, a Janesville-based textile mill and supplier of fabrics, and Oak Creek-based Eder Flag, have teamed up to take on the demand for respirator masks

Our greatest opportunities exist in our greatest challenges. We are going to come out of this stronger and together.

Thank you for doing everything you can to keep Wisconsin safe and healthy.

-- Mandela