La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

He's the La Crosse Talk PM political blowhard, Adam Murphy, talking about why debates aren't that great — as Democrats in Wisconsin's 3rd CD may not have one — how Ron Johnson forgot to tone it down, Democrat Bob Menendez guilty of gold bars under his mattress, and the Teamsters president speaks at the RNC in Milwaukee.

Began the show talking about the ridiculous story of US Sen. Bob Menedez being found guilty, after he was caught with $150,000 worth of gold bars and $480,000 in stacks of $100 bills. 

After that, we got into debates. The 3rd US House District Democrats may not have a televised debate (they have had multiple forums throughout the district). Murphy gives his take on why debates aren't all that helpful.

After that, we get into the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, including JD Vance as Donald Trump's running mate, and how Ron Johnson's unity speech wasn't all that unifying — even the rewritten one he forgot to give on stage. And, lastly, Murphy talks of the uniqueness of Sean O’Brien, the Teamsters president, speaking for 17 minutes at the RNC.

Murphy is a small business owner of Big Bang LLC in Milwaukee. He holds degrees in economics and political science from UW-Milwaukee.

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Dr. Joe Heim, professor emeritus at UW-La Crosse, in studio to discuss the politics around the Donald Trump assassination attempt, JD Vance being named the ex-president’s running mate and Joe Gow’s recommended firing at the university.

And that’s where we began, with the decision last week by a UW-L faculty committee recommending Gow be fired from his tenured faculty position. Gow was already fired as chancellor late last year, essentially for being caught producing pornographic videos with his wife and affiliating with adult film stars.

After that (7:40), Heim talks about the Trump assassination attempt in various ways, including comparing it to the 1981 Ronald Reagan assassination attempt, how the news now days is instantaneous and how this will play to the hands of both Trump and Joe Biden, as they seek reelection.

We also briefly talked about some of the conspiracy theories being floated out there, plus whether Biden could/should be replaced on the ticket.

Lastly (32:50), Heim gives the good and the bad for Trump naming Vance his running mate for the Republican Party.

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Tara Johnson joins to discuss the housing crisis, funding public schools and Wisconsin’s 175-year-old abortion ban, as she runs for state Assembly in the 96th District.

Began the show getting a bit of Johnson’s experience. The Democrat was the first female president of the La Crosse County Board, where she was a member for 20 years, and was executive director of the United Way in La Crosse, before retiring in 2020. 

The first big issues (7:30) Johnson said she’s heard from while campaigning was the state’s 175-year-old abortion ban law, and how the Legislature, controlled by Republicans, has addressed that.

After that, we got into education funding, and how many school districts continuously have to go to referendum to help improve schools, and how the state has never come through on what’s supposed to be ⅔ funding for schools.

And, before the big break, we also hit on Republicans’ refusal for well over a decade now to expand Medicaid in the state and why Johnson sees that as a must.

In the second half of the show (19:00) we got into more of Johnson’s experience on the county board and how that might transfer to the state Legislature. 

We then transitioned (24:00) to the state having a $3.5 billion budget surplus for over 2.5 years now and what the Legislature could do with that extra funding.

Lastly, Johnson brought up (28:30) affordable housing and childcare, which kind of rolled into a homelessness conversation and how all three are intertwined. 

Johnson is running in a primary election against Steven Campbell of Viroqua. The voting period for that ends Aug. 13. The winner will face Republican Loren Oldenburg, who is the defacto incumbent, but the 96th District will change next year as it inherits the south side of La Crosse and becomes much less rural. 

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La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds in the WIZM studio Monday for La Crosse Talk PM discussing the homeless legislation coming to city council, challenging the historic designation of the former south side library and creating a city administrator position.

We overview those topics to start the show, then begin talking (5:40) about the process of creating a city administrator position, what that role would entail and how that might change what the mayor does for La Crosse.

Began the second half of the show on the Mayor’s appeal of the Historic Preservation Commission’s decision to grant the former South Community Library historic designation. That designation came a month before the city’s Economic and Community Development Commission endorsed a housing proposal for the building.

Lastly, we discuss homelessness in multiple facets, including camping rules and having the city council be in charge of camping bans, plus what the Wisconsin state Legislature is(n’t) doing when it comes to this crisis. 

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Dr. Charles Franklin, the architect for the Marquette University Law School poll joined La Crosse Talk PM on Friday, along with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky.

We, of course, discuss the Joe Biden-Donald Trump debate and how the polling will play out over the coming weeks and how the latest Marquette Law poll is a perfect representation of the two presidential candidates.

We also talk about how debates have impacted the polls of the past, plus what the polling showed after Trump being convicted of 32 felonies.

The second half of the show discussion was about Wisconsin matters, including the US Senate race between Tammy Baldwin and Eric Hovde, plus public education — right in the midst of the Milwaukee public school debacle — and PFAS pollution, which state lawmakers are still fighting about. 

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Kelly Leibold and Ethan Schumann in the studio Wednesday for La Crosse Talk PM teaching radio talk show hosts how to speak better. Or trying to, anyway. Leibold is the president of the La Crosse Area Toastmasters Club and Schumann is public relations with the group. Throughout the show, we discuss what the Toastmasters is, exactly, some of the fun things they do at the bi-weekly meetings and go through some of the things that help make a person a better speaker — including radio talk show hosts. The La Crosse Toastmasters meet the second and fourth Tuesdays in Room 430 of the La Crosse County Administrative Building downtown.

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We dive into the La Crosse area housing market with Gerrard Hoeschler Realtors owner Doug Billings, realtor Ben Bockenhauer and Granite Mortgage lender Jeff Thompson in the WIZM studio Tuesday for La Crosse Talk PM.

Some of that talk included whether a housing crash is coming, is it still a sellers’ market, where people are best able to buy houses in the Coulee Region right now and what the housing stock is like.

Bockenhauer and Thompson will also be hosting a first-time homebuyers seminar at 5:30 p.m. on July 10 at the Gerrard Hoeschler offices in Onalaska. Part of that conversation will include how potential homeowners can take advantage of down payment assistance programs in the area. 

Another thing we hit on included how mortgage rates are high right now, where and when they might fall and why some homeowners now aren’t selling due to those factors — plus the thought process behind that notion.

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Wisconsin Republican state Assembly Rep. Loren Oldenburg joins to talk about the possibility of inheriting La Crosse if he wins election, homelessness, taxes, what to do with the budget surplus, marijuana, vaccines and more.

Oldenburg is the incumbent in the 96th District, which will change next year, going from mostly rural to incorporating the south side of La Crosse. And that’s where we started the show, just the philosophy of having mixed city-rural districts, whether Oldenburg will legislate differently and how he separates himself from his Democratic opponents.

Oldenburg will face the winner of the Aug. 13 primary between Democrats Tara Johnson and Steven Campbell. 

With the possibility of representing La Crosse, we discussed what the state Legislature has done about homelessness, being the city has been dealing with the growing issue since the pandemic, and what ideas he might have to help solve it.

Also on the show, we discuss the $500 million in public funding to renovate the Brewers stadium, and if Oldenburg would sell the ballpark to the team for $1.

We also talked about taxes and what to do with Wisconsin’s $3.5 million budget surplus, which has been at or above that level for 2.5 years. Plus, where he stands on legalizing marijuana. 

Oldenburg brought up vaccines in regards to COVID, but also others and whether they should be mandated. 

Ended the show on the Wisconsin Senate’s veto overrides from a few weeks back, and why the Assembly didn’t even meet in session to take up any of the bills its counterpart passed.

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UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio talking about, what else, the Joe Biden-Donald Trump debate, replacing Biden, the amazing timing of Bernie Sanders coming to La Crosse, the debate moderators and the need for Snoop Dogg to be more involved in all our lives — including debates.

Spent most of the show covering the multiple angles of the Biden-Trump debate, including how the right made all the excuses heading into the debate that Biden would be drugged up and Trump saying he’s a worthy opponent. 

We also hit on what the moderator’s role was here, if there were flaws in the debate setup and if there will be a second debate. 

Began the second half of the show (19:30) talking about the overhyped — at this point — possibility of replacing Joe Biden on the ticket and what that would take, and got into some texters who claim the fake videos of Biden wandering off were not fake and the debate proves it — though that’s also false.

Then we lightened things up (31:30) talking how Snoop Dogg is both everywhere and not in our lives enough. He threw out the first pitch at a Brewers game last week and did some play-by-play. He ran the 200 dash at the Olympic Trials and then did some more commentary. But the true place America needed him most was Thursday night, moderating the debate.

Also (35:10), we hit on a couple final topics including the importance of debates, how presidential debates don’t often matter, but this one might. How Eric Hovde and Tammy Baldwin are only holding one debate for Wisconsin's US Senate seat. 

Back to the replacing Biden topic, someone texted in 25th Amendment in doing that, plus how the Republican-led US House has been clamoring to impeaching Biden since it took power, but now never would. And Bernie Sanders (27:45) is headed to La Crosse at a most peculiar time.

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Stacey Klein, who is running for Wisconsin state Senate in District 32, stops in the studio to discuss healthcare and Medicaid, the billions in budget surplus, broadband and her not currently living in the district she’s running for.

Klein also talks about her roots, growing up on a farm and working now as a financial advisor in La Crosse. She highlights the need to do more like the shared revenue deal the Legislature passed a year ago, and talks about what she’s learned on the campaign trail, hitting up many municipality meetings across the district.

Klein is running against Democratic incumbent Brad Pfaff of Onalaska.

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