Gov. Evers supports legalization of marijuana, what's next? Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s new legal effort to strike down some abortion damaging restrictions.

STATEWIDE - We welcome Eric Marsch, Citizen Action of Wisconsin co-op leader and executive director of Southeastern WI NORML, to discuss news that Tony Evers supports legalization of marijuana. Evers announced this week that as a first step to full legalization he will include medical marijuana in his state budget.

We discuss the junk GOP pre-existing conditions bill that is moving with lightening speed through the legislature, which is much worse than doing nothing.

The panel also reviews Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s new legal effort to strike down some abortion damaging restrictions on women's reproductive health, and looks at the growing negative impact on Wisconsin of Donald Trump's government shutdown fiasco.

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MADISON - This week Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes presents himself to the people of Wisconsin.

Audio File of Radio Address

Hi, I’m Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.

It’s a new day in Wisconsin with the inauguration of Governor Evers last week, and I’m honored to serve our great state by his side as Lieutenant Governor.

As your Lieutenant Governor, I intend to focus the work of my office on promoting equity and sustainability across Wisconsin.

We have a responsibility to make sure that opportunity exists in every community across our state, because a person’s zip code should not determine their destiny.

I’m excited to work with Governor Evers to improve great access to healthcare, provide great schools in our neighborhoods, invest in our crumbling roads and infrastructure, and ensure sure that clean and safe drinking water is available in all of our homes.

So right out the gate, we’ve been traveling across the state, meeting with community members and talking about how we can come together to address the critical issues that impact every one of us.

What we’ve heard is that people are ready for their elected leaders to set aside political differences, in order to make Wisconsin work together to solve problems- which is exactly what we’re doing.

It’s truly an honor to serve as Lieutenant Governor of our great state.

I look forward to visiting you in your community soon.

Thank you.

ALTOONA, WI - Wisconsin Democrats entered a euchre player in a high-stakes poker game.

We’ll see how that goes. Early signs are worrying, though.

I don’t know much about euchre. Played it a couple of times as a kid. Seemed like a nice, friendly game. But I couldn’t wait to get back outside to play ball.

When I was willing to sit long enough to play cards, it was usually poker. It took no time to learn it’s generally a good idea to hold on to aces. The euchre player just discarded one, making an early concession to legislative Republicans by backing off his plan to eliminate the state’s failed economic development agency in his budget.

Bad opening play.

Bad because it violates the first rule of deal-making: Never make a unilateral concession, never negotiate with yourself. Only give up something when you get something in return.

Even worse, an invaluable trump card is lost and bargaining leverage is surrendered.

The state budget process starts with the governor’s proposal, which will be coming sometime next month. The legislature tears it apart and puts it back together, amending it to lawmakers’ liking before returning it to the governor’s desk. The governor signs it into law, but not before being able to substantially alter the legislature’s preferences with partial vetoes.

The first hand that’s dealt should be played with the final hand in mind. The governor should ask for the moon and the stars. Budgets are first and foremost declarations of priorities. What’s important to spend money on and what’s not. By setting spending priorities, budgets are also vision statements. Proposing a budget is the governor’s opportunity to put dollar signs next to his aspirations for the state.

He won’t get everything he wants, so he should ask for more than he wants. And trump cards need to be held for the final stages of horse trading. I can think of at least two. Both are state subsidy programs beloved by Republicans. Both have been colossal wastes of taxpayer money. Both have been around for years and have failed to produce the promised results.

One is taxpayer-subsidized private schooling, otherwise known as school vouchers. The other is the state’s corporate welfare office, officially called the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Both are miserable failures. Yet Republicans remain deeply invested in them. The governor can single-handedly make them vanish. He can propose eliminating funding for both. Republicans who control the legislature can and will vote to restore funding. The governor can then use his partial veto authority to zero out the funding again, and two-thirds majorities in both houses are required to override those vetoes. Republicans don’t have two-thirds majorities.

This gives the governor considerable bargaining leverage, if he chooses to keep it and use it. If Republicans don’t grant him more than a few of his budget wishes, he makes two of their most cherished pet programs go away. The governor holds some good cards. How he’s able to play his hand depends on which cards he keeps and which ones he throws away, of course.

As the Irish used to say, politics ain’t beanbag. And crafting state budgets ain’t euchre, either.

Visit highlights the contrast with leadership of the past.

MILWAUKEE - Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) released the following statement on Friday’s announcement that Governor Evers toured the Lincoln Hills & Copper Lake juvenile prison:

Governor Evers and Lt. Governor Barnes conducted a tour on Friday of the troubled Lincoln Hills juvenile prison with Secretary Carr of the state Department of Corrections. Bowen stated, “This stands in stark contrast to the actions of former Governor Walker who neglected to visit once during his tenure, even as the situation deteriorated to the point that an investigation was opened by the FBI.

“No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, we can be thankful for Governor Evers making this trip one of his top priorities in office and showing these youth, advocates, and workers that they finally have a governor who is willing to lead.

“As Ranking Member of the Assembly Committee on Corrections, I look forward to working with the Evers Administration and the other members of this committee to bring bi-partisan transparency to our juvenile correctional institutions. It’s time to further restoration and dignity-based reforms that put an end to the horrors that have been allowed to happen at Lincoln Hills & Copper Lake for far too long,” Bowen concluded.

A repair bill to last session’s legislation is forthcoming and being worked on currently.

MADISON - It’s been a busy start to the new year for us.

Last Wednesday, right after the holiday, we posted something on the NRA’s spending on Scott Walker in the last election, and the media jumped all over it. If you didn’t see the coverage, here’s the original item:

Influence Peddler of the Month: The NRA

Then earlier this week, we posted an article on the controversial powerline in the Driftless Area that American Transmission Co. and Dairyland Power are behind, and we noted that they’d been shoveling money on both sides of the fence:

ATC throws money around in Madison

And on Wednesday, I testified at the State Capitol against “Marsy’s Law,” an effort to amend our state constitution to protect victims’ rights, which sounds like a good idea. But the resolution contains a huge defect, as I pointed out here:

Why Marsy’s Law Is Flawed

I hope you like these postings.

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
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P.S. Please send us a donation today if you like the work we’re doing. We depend on you, and other concerned citizens of Wisconsin, to do this valuable research and to defend our democracy. Just click here.

MADISON - This week State Representative Shelia Stubbs (D - Madison) expresses hope in the new administration of Governor Tony Evers.

Audio File of Radio Address

Hello. I am State Representative Shelia Stubbs from the beautiful 77th Assembly District in the South and West sections of Madison, with this week’s Democratic Radio Address.

January 7th, 2019 marked the dawning of a new era for our state as Tony Evers took the oath of office and became the 46th governor of Wisconsin.

Assembly Democrats have full confidence in Governor Evers dedication to restoring Wisconsin’s values.

Under his leadership, our rich traditions of academic excellence, environmentalism, and opportunity will once again be honored in our great state.

We look forward to working side by side to achieve our shared goals of fully funding public schools, rebuilding our roads and bridges, and making healthcare affordable and accessible for every Wisconsinite.

2019 has presented Wisconsin with the opportunity to start fresh.

Governor Evers conveyed this best when he stated, and I quote, “We must dare greatly to go forward in the face of adversity and uncertainty.  We must dare to make space for hope here once again.”

Let’s get together.  Let’s go to work in the state of Wisconsin.

God bless you.  God bless the state of Wisconsin.  And God bless the United States of America.

Thank you so much.

Her greatest disillusionment isn’t Trump, it's that too many people are largely fine with all of the vicious, toxic filth and are not outraged or uncomfortable enough to take action or speak out.

GREEN BAY - Happy New Year to every person who didn’t vote for Donald Trump or who no longer supports him. Although I’m trying to look forward to the coming year with some optimism, the truth is I’ve become overwhelmed with disillusionment. I no longer think of the country in which I live, or many of the people who live in it, in the same way.

The greatest disillusionment to me isn’t Trump himself. I expected he’d be a horrible president because he’s a horrible person. He lacks a single kind or empathetic impulse, is impervious to compassion, and morally incapable of leading the country. Since his election, Trump has clearly caused the ugliness that exists among us to be elevated to a level not seen for over half a century.

My disillusionment comes with the reality that too many people I cared about and respected, people I thought were good people with admirable values, many of whom I considered to be friends, are largely fine with all of the vicious, toxic filth we’ve been infected with and are not outraged or uncomfortable enough to take action or speak out against the rising hatred and those who perpetuate it.

America will not return to the greatness and decency it once had until we all join together to hold our leaders to a higher standard of honesty and integrity. It’s the least we deserve as a nation.

MADISON, WI – Senator Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) offered the weekly Democratic radio address today.

The audio file of this week’s address can be found here.

A written transcript of the address is below:

“Hi, this is State Senator Chris Larson with the Democratic Radio Address. It’s hard to believe that 2018 is already at a close. Hopefully, you were able to finish your last minute shopping and knock out all your resolutions before the start of the New Year.

“In this rush around the holidays, time never seems to slow down the way I want it to. Still, I hope that each of you got a break to spend more time with your friends, family, and neighbors.

“I am looking forward to 2019 which I hope will usher in a new opportunity to move Wisconsin forward.

“There are big issues that we must tackle, and to do that, we must find common ground. In this next session, I am hopeful that the appetite is finally there to change our drunk driving laws. With nearly 26% of Wisconsin adults admitting to driving while intoxicated, Wisconsin continues to top the national charts with the highest rate of drunk driving.

“We can and must do more to save lives and make our shared roads safe. Exactly 20 years ago I lost a classmate to a repeat drunk driver. Since then, families have continued to needlessly lose loved ones year after year. In fact, in 2017 we lost 179 more of our friends and neighbors due to drunk driving.

“We cannot rest until we change our culture around drinking and driving. In the meantime, I encourage you to please drive safe wherever you are going in the New Year and, if you're going out drinking, have a plan to get home safely.”

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/jeff-smith-s5.jpgSenator-elect Jeff Smith, who will take office January 7th to replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Kathleen Vinehout in the 31st District, shares his goal to help heal the political divisions in Wisconsin state government.

During the holidays, take the time to make a contribution to the fastest growing statewide progressive organization in Wisconsin, Citizen Action.

MILWAUKEE - As you make your end of the year donations, I urge you to consider a tax deductible contribution to the fastest growing statewide progressive organization in Wisconsin, Citizen Action.

People across the state are flocking to Citizen Action of Wisconsin because we have a real member-driven strategy for winning progressive victories in 2019 and beyond.

Health care is the most promising area for progress. We have a huge popular mandate to work with Governor Evers to expand Medicaid, open up BadgerCare as a public option, regulate outlandish prescription drug prices, and more.

If the GOP Legislature continues to block Medicaid Expansion, they will reap the whirlwind of public outrage. As I told the Associated Press last week: “The politics of Medicaid Expansion are very bad for anyone who wants to stand in the way right now. Evers understands the public is with us.”

If you agree with me that we have a huge opportunity to take the next big steps forward on healthcare, than please make a make a tax deductible end-of the-year donation to Citizen Action.

You probably saw all the headlines. Only 2 days after Scott Walker enacted new restrictions on early voting, Citizen Action and our partners went to federal court to block him. As I told Fox 6 News: "I think folks knew that this would be the first major lawsuit coming out of the lame-duck session."

We all know why Scott Walker and the GOP Legislature are again taking aim against voting rights. As I told The Guardian newspaper: “We have a political party in the United States that has decided it’s completely OK to hold on to power by reducing the number of people who are voting.”

That’s why it is so important that you make a tax deductible end-of-the-year donation to Citizen Action. Now more than ever we need smart and effective grassroots organizing to back up our new Governor as we fight to take back Wisconsin democracy!

There are many great reasons to to make a tax deductible end-of-the year donation to Citizen Action:

Cutting-Edge Local Organizing Statewide: Citizen Action’s Organizing Co-ops are spreading across Wisconsin in the places that we need to shift the balance of power, and creating the conditions we need to bridge the urban/suburban/rural divide.

Everyone Means Everyone: Citizen Action has hired a talented multiracial team of organizers which positions us to build a progressive base in every Wisconsin community. We are organizing deeper than ever before in Wisconsin’s rural areas, which are desperately in need of new investment, and in communities of color where economic opportunity is denied.

Bold Vision on Climate Change & Racial Justice: We launched a campaign earlier this year to create a Wisconsin economy where everyone who wants a living wage job can get one, racial inequality is eliminated, and carbon pollution is reduced to the level necessary to prevent a climate genocide.

Cutting-Edge Communication: Citizen Action is a leader in developing new message frames and narratives that are needed to pull the state in a progressive direction. We are very good at generating positive media coverage and deploying new media. Our popular Battleground Wisconsin podcast and radio show has over 35,000 documented listens per year.

The donations you make at the end-of-the-year will have even greater impact because they allow us to make even more ambitious plans for 2019. We need your to help today if we are going to make 2019 the first year of the great progressive revival in Wisconsin.

In Peace & Solidarity,

Robert Kraig
Executive Director
Citizen Action of Wisconsin/Citizen Action of Wisconsin Fund