Battleground Wisconsin

We debrief the Spring Primary elections and discuss the latest news in the important State Supreme Court election on April 2nd. The panel tears apart the junk Koch Brother funded research Republicans unveiled this week in effort to provide cover for their shameful opposition to expanding BadgerCare. We talk about Evers’ new proposal to add $28 million in the budget for women's health care. We close with an in-depth discussion of Amazon’s decision to back out of a deal to build a headquarters in New York City, and how it is dividing Democrats while providing a false narrative to Wisconsin Republicans desperately trying to defend the Foxconn implosion.

We discuss the latest state news including Gov. Evers plan to expand access to dental care for low income people and fixing lead pipes throughout the Wisconsin. We welcome state treasurer and Citizen Action member Sarah Godlewski for the 2nd installment of “What the Godlewski does the state treasurer do? This time Sarah has some shocking news about censorship on climate issues. State Senator Chris Larson joins us to unveil his new package of campaign finance bills to start restoring democracy to our elections.We announce some important political endorsements, including Judge Lisa Neubauer for State Supreme Court and several key local races. We close the show with a discussion of tax cuts, the Colin Kaepernick/Black History Month controversy in the Legislature, and Gov. Evers' refreshing action on to the Paris Climate targets.

We discuss the latest on the Foxconn scandal, including a devastating new investigative report exposing the fraud and lies behind boondoggle of the century. We contrast the political cynicism behind Foxconn with the bold vision for a “Green New Deal” introduced this week by freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Ed Markey, and other progressives. Finally, Trump sides with payday lending loan sharks over working families on the economic edge.

We welcome State Representative Jonathan Brostoff to discuss the predictable implosion of Foxconn’s manufacturing plant in Wisconsin and the implications for Wisconsin and the progressive movement. We also talk about new scandalous and hateful revelations about the bigotry of Scott Walker's handpicked Supreme Court candidate Brian Hagedorn.

We review Gov. Tony Evers’ first State of the State address this week, and the GOP lock step propaganda message in response. We discuss new reporting revealing the Walker campaign and its dark money allies spent an astounding $58 million in 2018 election, and its implications for democracy. We also check in on the latest GOP legislator attack on the Wisconsin Idea. Finally, we welcome Angelina Cruz, president of the Racine Education Association, to discuss the recently settled Los Angeles educators’ strike and the implications for Wisconsin.

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.

We welcome the new state treasurer and Citizen Action co-op member Sarah Godlewski to discuss the her first week in office. Sarah will join the show every 2nd week of the month to educate us on priorities to strengthen and improve the office’s financial watchdog functions. We talk about Governor Evers’ healthcare executive order and his direction to new AG Josh Kaul to reverse Wisconsin’s stance on the anti-ACA lawsuit. We also review news that groups will sue over lame duck session, a bipartisan legislative commission report proposing increased public school funding, and Sen. Chris Larson bill to prevent lawmakers from destroying public records. Finally, we are joined by Citizen Action Northeast Wisconsin Co-op organizer Jolie Lizotte to talk about what members are doing in this critical region and how to get involved.

We welcome in 2019 by discussing the upcoming state budget fight. We look at the budget priorities Tony Evers rolled out this week in the media, the potential timeline for his expected battle with the GOP-dominated Legislature, and how the fight for Medicaid expansion will be central. We review new GOP legislation that yet again fails to protect those with pre-existing conditions. Finally, we also preview the April 2019 Supreme Court race.

We close out 2018 by contrasting the legacies of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker as they prepare to leave office in early January. We review the lame duck session fall out, including the latest on the motion filed in Citizen Action's early voting lawsuit with One WI Now to block voting restrictions. We also discuss Tony Evers’ first cabinet appointments and a new audit revealing WEDC plans to pay for Foxconn jobs not located in Wisconsin.

We discuss the latest on the scandalous GOP lame duck, including the pending legal action against the early voting in Wisconsin. We welcome Citizen Action North Central Co-op organizer Joel Lewis to review the Wausau budget listening session with Tony Evers, which in openness stands in sharp contrast with the infamous GOP lame duck session. Former podcast panelist Jorna Taylor joins us to discuss Inaugural events and how to participate. We close with a special interview with Citizen Action Northeast Co-op member Eric Genrich, who is running for Mayor of Green Bay next spring.