Author

Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner. She formerly served as Editor-in-chief of The Progressive Magazine where she worked for many years from both Madison and Washington, DC. Shortly after Donald Trump took office she moved with her family to Oaxaca, Mexico, and covered U.S./Mexico relations, the migrant caravan, and Mexico’s efforts to grapple with Trump. Conniff is a frequent guest on MSNBC and has appeared on Good Morning America, Democracy Now!, Wisconsin Public Radio, CNN, Fox News and many other radio and television outlets. She has also written for The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications. She graduated from Yale University in 1990, where she ran track and edited the campus magazine The New Journal. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and three daughters.
Special needs students disproportionately subjected to seclusion, restraint
By: Ruth Conniff - May 19, 2022
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released a report Wednesday documenting incidents of seclusion and physical restraint of students in Wisconsin schools during the 2020-21 school year. The annual report, required under a 2019 state law, shows that public and private Special Needs Scholarship Program schools statewide reported 4,314 instances of seclusion and 4,949 […]
Seizing on tragedy, Republicans seem determined to make things worse
By: Ruth Conniff - May 18, 2022
There is no shortage of godawful news to turn into fodder for this year’s political campaigns. True to form, Wisconsin Republicans are preparing for their political convention this weekend by putting out statements seeking to one-up each other in a game of Who’s the Toughest in response to the shootings last Friday night outside the […]
Advocates discuss practical, political implications for Wisconsin if Roe v Wade is overturned
By: Ruth Conniff - May 6, 2022
“We have to remember that this is still a draft opinion and not a formal decision, and abortion remains legal in Wisconsin today,” said Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. Atkinson spoke during an online town hall meeting her organization convened on Wednesday to discuss the implications of the leaked draft […]
‘We saw this day coming’ — midwives prepare to protect abortion access in Wisconsin
By: Ruth Conniff - May 4, 2022
The morning after the terrible news broke about the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v Wade, I called my homebirth midwife, Ingrid Andersson. Ingrid is my hero. She helped me have all three of my daughters at home. No one is more dedicated to women’s health and bodily autonomy, to creating a warm, nurturing […]
Draft U.S. Supreme Court decision overturns Roe v. Wade
By: Ruth Conniff - May 3, 2022
Politico reported Monday on a leaked draft opinion circulated among justices of the U.S. Supreme Court calling for overturning the Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing abortion rights. “The immediate impact of the ruling as drafted in February would be to end a half-century guarantee of federal constitutional protection of abortion rights and allow each state […]
Sexism and the Marquette Poll
By: Ruth Conniff - April 29, 2022
Two startling questions in the latest Marquette University Law School Poll ask participants how much they agree with the following statements: Women seek to gain power by getting control over men Women exaggerate problems they have at work The wording, poll director Charles Franklin explains, was chosen from a battery of 22 questions designed by […]
Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Michels is no political ‘outsider’
By: Ruth Conniff - April 26, 2022
With multimillionaire construction company owner Tim Michels’ announcement Monday that he’s joining the Republican primary for governor, yet another “outsider” is vying to “take back” Wisconsin from the “radical left” as well as “establishment Republicans.” Michels, who challenged former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold unsuccessfully in 2004, then dropped out of sight, is running against former […]
Primary challenge stirs up the race for Wisconsin Secretary of State
By: Ruth Conniff - April 21, 2022
The head of the Dane County Democratic Party, Alexia Sabor, will challenge Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette in an August primary, Todd Richmond of the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Democratic consultant Sachin Chheda confirmed that he is helping Sabor prepare for her run and that she will make an official announcement soon. “After […]
Five signs of hope in Wisconsin’s dreary political landscape
By: Ruth Conniff - April 20, 2022
The Wisconsin landscape has been looking pretty bleak lately, and not just because of the late April snow. The Supreme Court’s late Friday decision to reverse course, approving the voting map drawn by Republican legislators it had previously rejected, creates an even bigger gerrymander than our already heavily lopsided map, locking in large Republican majorities […]
Tommy Thompson out of governor’s race
By: Ruth Conniff - April 19, 2022
“After much thought and difficult deliberation, I’ve decided against another race for governor,” former Gov. Tommy Thompson said in a one-page statement released Monday. Thompson, who was elected governor four times and served fourteen years starting in 1987, was already the longest serving governor in Wisconsin history. He was considering joining a Republican primary field […]
Ron Johnson’s tax rebellion
By: Ruth Conniff - April 14, 2022
On tax day this year, wouldn’t you like to be Sen. Ron Johnson? Wisconsin’s senior U.S. senator paid only $2,015 in state income tax in 2017, despite earning more than $450,000 that year. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Dan Bice, who first reported on Johnson’s teeny-weeny tax bill, pointed out that the multimillonaire’s 2017 Wisconsin tax […]
Evers sets a veto record as toxic partisanship ramps up
By: Ruth Conniff - April 11, 2022
Gov. Tony Evers took action on 78 bills Friday, signing 35 bills passed by the Legislature this session and vetoing 43 bills — bringing the total number of bills he has vetoed in the latest session to 98, a new record for Wisconsin governors. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos immediately put out a press release deriding […]