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2020 state legislative races cost a record-smashing $53.9M
Spending by candidates and special interest smear groups in the 2020 legislative elections tallied a record-smashing $53.9 million. Candidate and group spending in last fall’s elections was about 50% higher than the previous record $35.8 million spent in the 2018 elections and about 92% higher than the $28.1 million spent just four years ago in […]
Fitzgerald cited for campaign violation but doesn’t pay penalty
Former Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s campaign committee agreed to a $3,600 settlement last October for accepting excessive campaign contributions, but never forked over the cash, campaign finance records show. Fitzgerald’s settlement was part of $5,448 in forfeitures paid by the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate (CERS), which is one of four legislative […]
‘We are late to the pot party here in Wisconsin’
Gov. Tony Evers says proposal for cannabis legalization would generate $165 million and help underserved communities
Wisconsin GOP’s COVID callousness
Amid the outcry over the insanity of Republican legislators trying to overturn Gov. Evers’s mask mandate, a particularly outrageous display of Republican COVID callousness hasn’t received the attention it deserves. And that’s the GOP’s effort to block inmates from getting immunizations ahead of the general population in Wisconsin. Never mind that the COVID outbreak has […]
Sen. Cowles takes a stand on masks
State Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) deserves our thanks for bravely parting company with his Republican Caucus on Tuesday over Gov. Tony Evers’ mask mandate. Cowles was one of only two Republican senators — the other was Sen. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) — who voted to uphold the mandate. While Kooyenga wanted to have it both […]
State Dem party raised nearly 2.5 times more than state GOP in 2020
The state Democratic Party raised more than $23.6 million last year, nearly 2.5 times more than the $9.8 million accepted by the state GOP.Year-end fundraising and spending reports filed by the parties for their regular state and segregated accounts show the Democrats spent more than $24.7 million and had cash balances totaling $552,710 as of […]
“Let’s start afresh”
President Joe Biden hit just the right notes in his splendid Inaugural Address. You could almost hear the sigh of a relief coming from the vast majority of Americans when he said, “Let’s start afresh.” He acknowledged what needed to be acknowledged, and he affirmed what needed to be affirmed. And in his down-to-earth manner, […]
Why no one should have been surprised
I was not surprised by the mob assault on the Capitol on January 6, nor should you have been, nor should the police have been. I was horrified and outraged, but not surprised. Not in the least. We have known, all of us, for years now, that Donald Trump has no respect for the truth, […]
Powerful special interests behind lawsuit immunity in Republican COVID bill
The state’s most powerful special interest business and trade groups support a Republican bill that would give businesses broad immunity from lawsuits brought by customers and employees who contract COVID-19 even if businesses don’t follow public health guidelines. The measure, Assembly Bill 1, was introduced Monday by GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, of Rochester, and […]
Pay attention to the risk of martial law
History will record that on Friday, Dec. 18, Donald Trump held a discussion in the Oval Office about imposing martial law. Martial law! Disgraced Gen. Michael Flynn was in the Oval Office urging Trump to engage in this grotesquely unconstitutional and anti-constitutional maneuver. So was Trump’s lawyer, Sidney Powell. This will leave the ultimate stain […]
How to counter the anti-democracy movement
I’m really worried about the fate of democracy in America. Because we’ve never seen anything like what we’ve just been witnessing: A president of the United States refusing to concede, A president spewing lie after lie after lie that undermine faith in our democracy, A president seditiously urging other elected officials to go along with […]
Judge tosses Marsy’s Law
Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington was right to toss out the victims’ rights amendment known as Marsy’s Law, which passed with 75% of the vote in Wisconsin in April. The question on the ballot wasn’t the amendment itself, which is very long, but a summary of the amendment: “Additional rights of crime victims. Shall section […]