Battleground Wisconsin

We discuss the shameful legislative week for Wisconsin Republicans that included ignoring Gov. Evers’ call for a special session on education in favor of bills locking up more people at great cost and politicizing sexual assault kit testing. Our panel reviews the state of the Democratic presidential primary contest after the New Hampshire primary and looks forward to the spring primary election next Tuesday, Feb 18th. A Milwaukee TV station finds registered voters who are wrongly targeted for purging from the state rolls. We also welcome Citizen Action co-op member Alex Brower who is running for City of Milwaukee Comptroller on a progressive agenda that includes replacing WeEnergies with a public municipal utility and establishing a public bank.

We discuss this historic week that included the anticlimactic conclusion of the Trump impeachment trial, the State of the Union reality TV show, and the epic data problem at the Iowa Caucus. We also review Trump’s new plan to gut Medicaid through a block grant program and Vos’ possible softening on a GOP redistricting fight in 2021. We welcome state representative Jonathon Brostoff to discuss his legislation to phase out state funding of private voucher schools to fund a guaranteed 18:1 class sizes in all public schools.

We discuss the historic tentative agreement with the Milwaukee Bucks 1000 workers that will set new wage standards for the for the sector with Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers (MASH) president Peter Rickman. We announce Citizen Action’s endorsement of Ed Fallone and Jill Karofsky for state Supreme Court and Chris Larson for Milwaukee County Executive. The panel previews the Iowa Caucus and makes its predictions. We also discuss a new executive order from Gov. Evers establishing a public redistricting commission that will ban elected officials and lobbyists from participation. Finally we talk about Evers' decision to delay implementing Scott Walker's Medicaid work requirements, and his signing an executive order creating a student debt task force.

We discuss Governor Evers’ State of the State speech. Claire and Robert tell us about the Families USA healthcare conference they are attending this week and we dive into a deeper discussion of Trump’s failure to deliver on lowering prescription drug prices. We talk about the 2 new open state Senate seats following the announced retirements of Democratic Senators, Dave Hansen and Mark Miller. We close with a discussion of the disappointing Wisconsin Association of School Boards’ rejection of the proposal to retire Native mascots in Wisconsin schools.

Following a discussion of the latest impeachment news, we discuss Trump’s visit to Milwaukee and his continued strength with white evangelicals, the Warren/Sanders dispute, and the latest developments in the vote purging scandal in Wisconsin. The panel closes with a discussion of the Assembly’s failure to override a Governor Evers veto of legistion to de-skill nursing home care. What does it mean and where do we go from here?

We welcome back panelist Rebecca Lynch to the show and dive into a discussion of Trump’s assisination of a top Iranian general and his failure to establish any imminent threat. We review a new Kaiser Family Foundation report that finds the Affordable Care Act is remaining stable despite Trump's many efforts to sabotage it. The panel talks about new developments in the Republican voter purge effort and reviews the latest Democratic presidential primary news. We welcome new Citizen Action Movement Politics Director, JoAnna Bauch, to discuss her exciting new plan to recruit, develop, and elect a new generation of leaders throughout Wisconsin who will champion progressive reform.

We discuss the latest news surrounding the organized conservative effort to hold state election commission officials in contempt for keeping voters on the rolls following the Election Commission’s deadlocking on whether to purge people from the voter registration roles. Illinois’ legalization of marijuana started on January 1st and saw huge lines across the state, particularly at locations near the state boarder. We talk about the Democratic presidential primary race, including the of Secretary Julian Castro. We close by reviewing Governor Evers’ first year in office and look towards 2020.

What a 24 hours! We review the potential implications of a terrible court ruling endangering the future of the Affordable Care Act. Citizen Action’s national network, People’s Action, endorses Bernie Sanders for President. Ryan Greenwood, People’s Action’s Movement Politics Director, joins to tell us why. We discuss the third impeachment of a president in American history, and the latest GOP effort to suppress the vote in Wisconsin, the purging over 200,000 Wisconsinites from the voter rolls

We discuss the new House Democratic prescription drug plan that passed the House on Thursday. We review a new study that found for the first time in history, U.S. billionaires pay a lower tax rate than the working class. Also, Senator Tammy Baldwin joins only 26 other U.S. Senators telling Donald Trump to fire white nationalist advisor Stephen Miller. We close with a discussion of defrauded loan student borrowers who are being further abused by Trump’s Education Secretary, and finally some brief reflections on impeachment.

We discuss a series of violent incidents and threats of violence in Wisconsin high school this week and the reaction of elected leaders. We review a new study finding that a higher percentage of medical care in Wisconsin is wasteful and low quality. The study also concluds that if every primary care physician in Wisconsin provided the same quality of care the cost would be 30% lower. Claire educates us about nearly 700,000 SNAP recipients who will likely lose food stamp benefits under new Trump rule released this week. Finally, we welcome City of Eau Claire council member Kate Beaton to discuss the city’s new climate plan and their exciting goal to get to 100% electric cars.