Battleground Wisconsin

As COVID-19 surges dangerously out of control, we look forward to national and state course corrections. Next, we discuss the prospects for national healthcare reform in the coming Biden/Harris Administration. We evaluate Gov. Evers’ new COVID-19 Executive Orders, as health care workers and hospitals are on the brink. We preview the 2021-22 state budget process and the importance of pushing to include BadgerCare Public Option and other structural reforms in Governor Evers’ next two year budget.

We review this week’s historic election that saw huge turnout nationally, including Wisconsin. We discuss how the blue wave this year was met by an almost equal red wave resulting in some disappointing results down ballot based on expectations buoyed by failed polling and the Trump campaign’s ability to expand its base. We shout out Milwaukee and other cities where Black and Brown communities successfully organized and turned out in large numbers putting Biden over the top. We analyze significant progressive gains in the Milwaukee suburbs that resulted in 2 new state assembly members and some heartbreaking narrow defeats for Emily Siegrist and few other state legislative candidates. The panel previews healthcare reform in a Biden Administration that must contend with a likely GOP U.S. Senate. We close with a call to action to get serious about combating COVID-19 outbreak in Wisconsin and America.

We discuss the big election and the prospect of making major Democratic gains in the State Legislature. Next, we dissect Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ 11th hour turnaround on addressing the raging COVID-10 pandemic. Has he finally been persuaded by science, or is he desperately fighting for his political life? In a Battleground Wisconsin exclusive, we release a shocking voice mail of a disgruntled parent left for a union leader which perfectly reflects the hatred and disrespect of public employees fomenting by radical right politicians. Finally we delve into what progressives are organizing for protecting the vote on election day and post-election challenges to the vote count and majority rule from from Trump, radical right judges, and the State Legislature. Subbing for Claire Zautke on the panel this week is Citizen Action Movement Politics Director JoAnna Bautch.

We welcome documentary filmmakers, Susan Peters and Jim Cricchi, who will be debuting their outstanding film “Can You Here Us Now?” next week on Wednesday at 6pm. The film looks at the ways that years of one-party rule in Wisconsin have reshaped democracy in a state once known for its progressive history. We also talk with State Assembly candidate August Schutz who is running the gerrymandered 62nd District in Racine County. We discuss the shocking COVID-19 numbers in the state and our failed response from Republican leaders like Ron Johnson who asserts we are flattening the curve and State Representative Joe Sanfilippo who said the government has no role in helping deal with the pandemic. We released a report this week finding Wisconsin billionaires are getting richer during the pandemic. Also early voting has started in Wisconsin with long lines in many cities as the state prepares for potential militia activity on Election Day.

Another week, another set of record COVID-19 infections, deaths, and hospitalizations in Wisconsin. Will the do-nothing Republican Legislature start doing its job at this moment of great perril, or is undermining Govenor Evers all they care about? We discuss the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Amy Coney Barrett, who has been the most evasive Supreme Court nominee in modern history. She would not even commit on the right to birth control, or that climate change is a threat, let alone Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act. Robert talks about the civil rights violations by Wauwatosa Police in their outrageous and discriminatory response to peaceful protesters. Finally, we are joined by State Assembly candidates Kriss Marion and Shaun Murphy-Lopez who are challenging Republican incumbents in the “driftless” region of the state.

We discuss the continued failure to control the COVID-19 outbreak in Wisconsin, including the deliberate Republican state legislative effort to undermine any state response. We debrief the new MU Law Poll and the VP debate. Yet another police officer will have no charges brought against them for the killing of a Black teen in Wauwatosa. We close the show by welcoming State Assembly candidates Jacob Malinowski and Jessica Katzenmeyer to discuss their suburban Milwaukee campaigns.

We debrief the presidential “debate” this week, discuss the potential of a Trump strategy to use the state legislature to overturn electors and appoint new electors that support Trump, and sound the alarm on the deepening COVID-19 crisis throughout Wisconsin. We are joined by Kristin Lyerly and Kathy Hinkfuss who are running for State Assembly in the Green Bay area. Both are healthcare professionals who are running outstanding campaigns to win in gerrymandered districts.

We discuss the grossly insufficient indictment brought against only one of the Louisville police officers who killed Breonna Taylor. We welcome Citizen Action president Mark Thomsen to educate our listeners about new state legislation (LRB-6434/2) providing a blanket COVID-19 liability shield for businesses and how you can fight it. We continue our interviews with state legislative candidates talking with Deb Andraca and Sara Rodriguez who are making serious challenges to GOP assembly members in the Milwaukee suburbs. They tell us why these Republican gerrymandered districts are changing and ready to elect Democrats this year.

We discuss Wisconsin’s rapidly rising COVID-19 infection rate supercharged by the ill-conceived reopening of colleges and K-12 schools. We talk about the role of individual responsibility in containing the pandemic in the face of the worst national and state response in the developed world. Claire reviews a large national survey released this week finding the uninsured rate rose just before the country was hit by the coronovirus. We look at the huge opportunity Democratic State Assembly candidates have at winning seats previously thought safe for Republicans due to rigged district lines. What does winning these races have to do with creating fair maps? We welcome Citizen Action co-op member Emily Berge, who is a candidate for State Assembly in District 68 in the greater Eau Claire area, to discuss her campaign and what she is hearing on the ground.

Our panel discusses this week’s revelation that Trump knew the coronavirus was ‘deadly stuff’ in February and lied about it to the American people. Next we dig into the explosion of positive COVID tests on Wisconsin university campuses. What are the ramifications? Finally, we kick off post Labor Day campaign season with two Citizen Action co-op members who are running for State Assembly in western Wisconsin: Sarah Yacoub (District 30) and Kim Butler (District 28).