Battleground Wisconsin

We announce Citizen Action’s endorsement of Jill Underly’s re-election as Superintendent of Public Instruction. There is a primary election next Tuesday, February 18th. Please make sure you vote.

Next Tuesday evening Governor Tony Evers will give his budget address speech commencing the legislative portion of the state budget process which will play out over the next few months. We preview our call for Governor Evers to veto any state budget that doesn’t include better public school funding, accepting the federal Medicaid money for BadgerCare. He should also veto any budget that builds new state prisons. We are partnering with Wisconsin Public Education Network and WISDOM in this organizing campaign and urge all our listeners to call Governor Evers office next week and urge him to fight for these public priorities.

As we head into a critical State Supreme Court election, Justice Janet Protasiewicz announces she will not recuse herself in the upcoming Act 10 case. We comment on the “Our billionaire is better than your billionaire” election funding of our major elections.

We note the overwhelming bi-partisan support in a state Senate Committee this week for an expansion of Medicaid Postpartum Care, which Speaker Robin Vos continues to block. We urge our listeners to call their state representatives and urge them to push for a vote.

We close with the many low lights of the 4th week of Trump Regime 2.0, including more clarity on Trump and the Congressional Republicans’ plans to gut federal Medicaid funding, denying healthcare for millions of Americans.

In the 3rd week of the Trump Regime the pace of disruption continues to intensify with escalating attacks on the Constitutional order and the President’s outrageous ethnic cleansing proposal for Gaza. As the liberal resistance to authoritarianism begins to build, Robert prepares us for the pivotal federal budget fight where tax cuts for the wealthy will result in massive cuts to Medicaid. Given that 20% of all Americans and 50% of Children get their healthcare through Medicaid, this is a winnable fight if we mobilize for a large-scale campaign.

In Wisconsin we are preparing for the Governor’s state budget release in mid February, and the Legislative stage of the budget process. Citizen Action will host an upcoming Capitol Lobby Day on March 4th. We also preview new legislation requiring the Legislature to pass a concrete and enforceable plan to meet the global targets necessary to avert runaway climate change.

Finally, we have an in-depth conversation with Citizen Action organizer Jeremy Gragert and child care provider Julia Bennker to discuss the vital importance of ongoing organizing to increase funding for child care in the state budget.

We continue to highlight that Boss Vos is blocking bi-partisan health care for children and mothers for the first year of the child’s life and is creating a wedge among Republican Legislators. Is this a foot in the door to more legislative independence from the powerful “boss” of the Assembly? We think it is an important fight that must be won or there will be more futility in the upcoming state budget and next legislative session despite new maps. We urge our listeners to call their state representatives immediately, especially Republicans.

We preview the upcoming state budget battle on public education funding by revealing new data finding Wisconsin again has the widest disparity in US between Black and White reading scores following over a decade of state budgets failing to properly fund public schools, including the last state budget that gave away a historic increase to failed voucher schools. We encourage our listeners to sign up for an upcoming Citizen Acton lobby day at the state Capitol on March 4th.

We highlight the mainstream media taking the bait on a fake Susan Crawford scandal hook, line, and sinker, with Wisconsin Public Radio’s awful headline leading the pack of poor coverage. We encourage our listeners to attend our An Evening with Susan Crawford, February 13th, 6pm and hear directly from the candidate.

We review and try to provide context to Trump’s continued chaos this week, including ramping up ICE raids, Trump’s flagrantly illegal order to freeze all in-direct federal social spending causes confusion and pain. We discuss our appreciation for the leadership many state and local leaders have shown standing up to Trump actions during the first couple of weeks, including Wisconsin Democrats proposing legislation to forbid state and local officials from cooperating with mass deportation. The leadership of state and local progressives will be vital to continue making progress on the issues and values we care about as the federal government descends into dysfunction on these critical priorities.

Welcome to Trump’s America. We review the first 72 hours of manic action by the Trump Regime. We commend the moral courage of the pastor that stood up to Trump on behalf of the most vulnerable among us: “was anyone going to say anything.” Trump illegally impounds IRA and IIJA money, causing massive confusion. Meanwhile popular and essential healthcare and green infrastructure projects are put on the chopping block to fund massive new tax cuts for billionaires and the most profitable corporations. However, time remains for public response to popular issues to make a difference.

We discuss Governor Tony Evers’ State of the State speech on Wednesday evening, highlighting key priorities including; increased investments in K-12/tech colleges and universities, state funding to fill in expiring federal child care funding; new climate jobs and apprenticeships; and reigning in prescription drug costs. But while the Governor signaled support for many key priorities, what does it mean that he started the speech praising a decade and a half of Republican initiated tax cuts? Will the Governor raise the revenue needed to sustainably fund public schools, child care, health care, shared revenue, and the many other underfunded state priorities?

We close highlighting Boss Robin Vos’ effort to kill a bi-partisan Medicaid deal to expand access to healthcare for postpartum moms and their infants! We encourage our listeners to contact their state legislators to support the bi-partisan deal. Contact your legislators today.

We announce Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s endorsement of State Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford. Robert discusses the stakes of the race for Wisconsin, the difficulty for voters in assessing Supreme Court candidates, and the way ad campaigns degrade public understanding and democratic decision making.

Robert debriefs Biden’s historically significant farewell address, which includes stark warning about the rising oligarchy and climate crisis. We also review the accomplishments of the Biden Administration as we hurdle towards a dangerous period in American history, Meanwhile, Senator Ron Johnson embarrassed himself on NPR, denying climate change and calling for conditioning California disaster relief to environmentally unhinged MAGA demands.

Wisconsin breaks ACA enrollment record, as a new report says 1/3 of rural children depend on Medicaid for healthcare and warns Medicaid cuts planned by MAGA Republicans for fund massive new tax cuts for billionaires would harm the communities they claim to represent.

Finally, we discuss the loss of a true Wisconsin legend, Bob Uecker, who was the voice of the Milwaukee Brewers for over half a century, and became a national celebrity.

We open reflecting on the horrific climate generated fires burning in Los Angeles as we record the show. The scale of the fires is unprecedented, yet they are already being politicized by Donald Trump as families are being evacuated, a likely preview of future presidential efforts to divide us when we need unity to make it through such horror and pain.

In Wisconsin, we can see how the AI revolution is threatening the climate. Microsoft Data Center will be Wisconsin’s largest energy user, consuming more energy than all the houses and apartments in Milwaukee combined. Can we do this, and a second data center in Port Washington, and meet the climate emergency?

We review the latest massive health system merger in Wisconsin that will surely continue to drive up healthcare costs.

The state budget battle has begun. This week Speaker Vos took a shot at reasserting total control of the Legislature and the budget process, as he has for the last three state budgets. Vos threatened to do nothing to increase public school funding if he didn’t first get massive tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. Will the Governor or other state legislators stand up to Vos’ threats?

We preview the 2025 Spring election as nomination papers are submitted and a new Voter ID constitutional amendment passes the Senate and heads to the Assembly for certain placement on the the April 2025 ballot

We close by highlighting the great work of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), which finalized a new rule so Medical debt will no longer appear on credit reports for all Americans. The effort was part of a broader final push on anti-trust by the Biden Administration.

Welcome back! We head into 2025 with our eyes wide open and ready to organize for the future Wisconsin communities need.

We begin with a discussion of the tragic violence in New Orleans on New Years Eve. Robert offers some insights on MU pollster Charles Franklin and former MJS journalist Craig Gilbert’s discussion on polling lessons from the 2024 election. Will Wisconsin remain the ultimate battleground state?

We remind our listeners of some important 2025 Spring Elections. Candidate nomination papers are due on January 7th. We preview the potential political and organizing opportunities in early 2025. On the federal level, what will become of Speaker Johnson and what the turmoil in the House around his pending Speakership tells us about the House and organizing opportunities for the progressive movement. What should we expect in Trump’s first 24 hours? On the state level, we lay out critical state budget opportunities for progressives on public education and health and child care. Robert highlights a new report demonstrating that climate change is warming Wisconsin winters. The report found more days above freezing in the last decade, which creates a ripple effect throughout Wisconsin. Also, how is conference realignment in college sports damaging the climate?

We open with a discussion of the latest horrific school shooting, this time, it’s in our backyard.

We also discuss the significance of the latest Enbridge oil pipeline spill, Attorney General Josh Kaul announces a $1.7 million settlement with a sleazy Milwaukee landlord, and we preview next year’s state budget fight.

We welcome Danny Akenson, a field organizer with GROWW to hear more about their community organizing in Western Wisconsin and their recent victory against corporate farms (CAFOs).

We start with discussion of the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealth. We talk about at the immediate public response, connect to the unaddressed healthcare crisis, and the proliferation of guns in America.

In Wisconsin, we focus on the upcoming state budget battle and how Gov. Tony Evers has real power in the budget because it is the only bill that Republicans and the governor have to agree on, pass and sign in the next two years. We talk about the new opportunities that exist with 37 new state legislators and closer partisan margins in both the Senate and Assembly.

We are joined by Citizen Action member Jill Sexter from Wausau who organized a candlelight vigil outside of Wausau City Council to bring awareness to the fact that an unhoused man, Garrick Dixon, who tragically died in one of Wausau’s parks due to exposure last month.

We close by highlighting the excellent and successful community organizing in western Wisconsin by Grassroots Organizing Western Wisconsin (GROWW) that led to a huge win in Pierce County resulting in restrictions on large corporate farms in The town of Maiden Rock, Wisconsin.

As we prepare for Trump 2.0 Robert and Matt project some of the most important federal and Wisconsin battles of early 2025. From collective bargaining rights to health care to climate change, there will be a number of pivotal battles that we can win if enough good progressives get off the sidelines and get directlly involved. Plus, what are the implications of the big Act 10 court decision? And what is going on with the seeming division between WEAC and the Wisconsin Democratic Party in the Department of Public Instruction race?