America is Already Great

America is Already Great

You can see for yourself

If you want to truly understand what a wonderful country we live in, you have to travel and see what it looks like. My partner and I have driven through a lot of it, but we have been able to see the diversity and bounty of America best when traveling by train. Over the years, we have taken Amtrak trains to Pittsburgh, Omaha, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Most recently we traveled from Milwaukee to Emeryville, California just outside of San Francisco. Every trip has shown us both the best and the worst of America.

We first picked up the Amtrak Hiawatha at Milwaukee’s airport stop and took it to Chicago’s Union Station. Along the way, we passed small bedroom communities, villages and cities, farms, businesses small and large and the vacant expanse designated for the ever-changing Foxconn debacle. Arriving in Chicago, we passed through rust-belt abandoned factories and buildings adorned with some spectacular graffiti artwork. Not to be outdone, the street artists have also beautified bridges, tunnels and freight cars waiting for the next load on sidings off the main line.

Union Station, built in a time when elegance and style meant prosperity, still serves as one of Amtrak’s main hubs sending passenger trains in every direction carrying all who can afford the fare. We waited for our train, the California Zephyr, in the Metropolitan Lounge where we were served free coffee and soda and browsed a small salad bar. When our train was called, a redcap took us and our bags to our car on a powered cart.

Our days of sitting up in airplane type coach train seats are long over. We opted instead for one of the bedroom units in the sleeper cars. Ours was cozy and slightly tattered, as much of Amtrak has become. We had a couch that converted into a super twin size bed and a smaller bed that folded down from the ceiling, requiring a ladder to enter. When configured as a day room, we could move around. At night, not so much. There was also a single chair that faced the couch, a small sink and a closet that contained a toilet and doubled as the shower. The car attendant handed the changeover and took reservations for meals in the dining car. All our meals were included in the fare.

We left Chicago at 2 pm and wandered west through the suburbs into flat farm fields that stretched to and into Iowa. We crossed the Mississippi around sunset after a nice meal. Meal seating is at tables for 4 so we usually sat across from other couples and all of the ensuing conversations were interesting and lively. We only encountered one grumpy silent pair on our trip.

We slept though Iowa and Nebraska in woke up early the next day slightly east of Denver. After a quick breakfast, we grabbed seats in the observation car. The whole day our train climbed into and passed through the spectacular Rocky Mountains. We soon entered snow capped ranges that lifted into the sky. The steep, rugged terrain made it very clear just how difficult it must have been for those who laid the first tracks across the land. We passed through over 35 tunnels that went through mountains too tall to cross or across slopes prone to avalanches. Even though it was late in April, we saw places where the snow was still over six feet deep along-side the tracks.

By nightfall, we were back in our room sleeping soundly as we traveled through Utah. The next morning, we awoke in the high desert of Nevada just east of Reno. After another quick breakfast, it was back to the observation car so we could watch as we climbed up the Sierra Nevada range and into California. Again, the snow piled up and the tunnels were long. We passed forests of lodgepole pine surrounding clear mountain lakes. 

In stark contrast to the beauty of the mountains, we descended into the central valley of California which is flat and permanently irrigated to feed the country’s insatiable appetite for fruits and vegetables. As we had across the plains, freight trains with oil tankers and coal cars passed in the opposite direction, often interrupting the view. 

As we got lower and warmer, the trackside became increasingly populated with tent camps. We saw all the homeless human hues in these camps that continued sporadically until we reached our city destination. In a country of such bounty and wealth, it is criminal that so many live in such precarious conditions.

Our ultimate destination was a small community north of the bay area, Pt. Reyes Station. It is a sleepy farming village, except on weekends when tourists come to visit the ocean and the National Seashore which protects a unique coastal forest area. Pt. Reyes is located on top of the San Andreas fault that runs off the mainland into the Pacific Ocean though Tomales Bay, just outside of town. We come here to recharge and chill out walking pristine beaches on sea shores filled with birds, seals and whales as they migrate up and down the coast.

We in America are truly blessed to have these places to see and enjoy. Once traveled to, they are impossible to forget and command our ongoing protection for future generations to enjoy. 

We’re all Socialists

We are all Socialists

Get over it.

Today’s GOP attack word is “Socialism.” It is not a new one, but one that has been used by conservatives to attack those government programs they do not like that actually help everyday working people. Our own Senate Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald, claims Gov. Evers’s proposed state budget is “socialist.”

To the uninformed, “Socialism” is the same as the dreaded ideology “Communism” that once held sway in the former Soviet Union and still is the governing system in Cuba and, to a lesser degree in China. 

“Communism” obliterated capitalism as the organizing principle of government. In a communist society, everyone works for the good of the state which, in turn, is supposed to supply everything one needs to survive. There is no room in these systems for individual growth or achievement or the accumulation of wealth.

“Democratic socialists” are much different than “communists” or “national socialists,” formerly known as “Nazis.” Democratic socialists believe that we need to work for the common good while allowing for individual achievement and the accumulation of wealth. We band together, pay taxes and do those things for each other that require a common approach. The major difference is that we believe those who earn more or accumulate or inherit wealth should pay their fair share towards the common good. 

Like it or not we in America are all “socialists” to one degree or another. As I pointed out in a column three years ago, there are many government programs that are inherently socialistic.

At the top of the list is tax funding for the Pentagon. Every soldier, sailor, airman, bomb, bullet, fighter jet and battle cruiser used by our military is paid for by tax dollars authorized by our elected representatives.

Big sports programs are played in large stadiums or arenas paid for, at least in part, by taxes. The National Football League has a huge government subsidy, as a nonprofit organization it pays no income taxes.

Social Security is a classic example of “Democratic Socialism.” Funded completely by payroll taxes, it pays a public and personal benefit that keeps millions of seniors, including many Republicans, out of poverty.

Medicare is another classic “socialist” program upon which millions depend for their healthcare. Funded completely by tax dollars, it is truly a single-payer healthcare system that actually works. 

Corporate bailouts, subsidies and tax credits are “socialist” programs at their finest. Not having to shoulder the same tax burdens as working families is supposed to help all of us through job creation and other trickle-down economic theories. It does not work out that way most of the time, but it makes for popular GOP politics as long as you do not call it “socialistic.”

Where would we all be without those “socialist” created local, state and federal roads and highways? We could not get to work or ship the products we make or grow to market without them. All are paid for and sometimes repaired with taxpayer funds administered by elected officials who are also paid for their services with taxpayer dollars.

When winter arrives, be sure to thank the “socialist” snowplows paid for by tax-levied funds, driven by government paid drivers, who clear our public roads so our kids can be picked up by “socialist” public school busses that take them to completely “socialist” public schools.

Better border protection and immigration restriction are battle cries for many of our tea party colleagues. All paid for with “socialist” collected dollars and administered by a representative democratically elected government.

Today’s political discourse would not be possible without that wonderful “socialist” created method of reaching millions of people known as the Internet. DARPA is a taxpayer funded agency that created the Internet and makes sure it runs smoothly so we can all tell each other what is wrong or correct about “socialism.”

There are many other things we all take for granted and rely upon every day that are “socialistic” in every sense of the word. Fire and police protection, sewer and water systems, agricultural supports and subsidies, electrical grids, universal mail delivery, public parks and forests, relations with foreign governments, sea ports and airports, the national railways and clean air and water regulation enforcement all come to mind.

Those who rely on the epithet “socialism” are afraid to debate the merits of the program they complain about. There is plenty of room to debate whether government or the private sector can do the job better or more efficiently. We have reams of data to support our arguments. Look at the facts, not the labels.

Stop Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering Must Stop

Wisconsin Deserves Fair and Competitive Districts

The time has long passed to correct and redraw Wisconsin’s partisan gerrymandered legislative and congressional districts. 

A coalition of groups have created a movement in Wisconsin urging the adoption of a non-partisan commission that would be charged with redrawing these district lines to make them equal and competitive. So far, they have convinced 39 Wisconsin county boards representing over 77 percent of Wisconsin citizens to pass resolutions demanding that the legislature adopt such a system. Eight counties have passed referenda urging the same result. 

Washington County is not among those supporting the fair maps campaign and that needs to change. 

A recent Marquette University Law School poll shows that 72 percent of Wisconsin citizens want to ban gerrymandering. That included 63 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Independents. This is not a partisan issue.

Governor Evers has proposed, as part of his new budget, having the state’s non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau redraw the maps after each census under the supervision of a bi-partisan Redistricting Advisory Commission. Those drawing the lines would not be allowed to use political demographic data and would be required to follow strict guidelines to ensure fair and competitive districts. 

Wisconsin voters should be choosing who gets to represent them in the halls of Congress and the state legislature. Under the current system, Wisconsin republicans set up districts that do just the opposite. Those in power now get to choose their voters having drawn districts stacked with republican voters and crammed democratic voters in to smaller, more disbursed districts that isolated them into smaller voting blocs. 

The process used by the GOP legislature was clouded in secrecy when the maps were drawn in the offices of a private law firm hired by the legislative leadership. Normally, legislative committees draw the maps in public sessions open to all.  Democratic legislators and even members of the GOP not in leadership positions were excluded from the process. Republican pollsters and demographic mapping specialists were hired to maximize each republican district into a stronghold with solidly republican voters in significant majorities ensuring continued republican representation. 

Some of the groups in the Fair Maps Coalition brought suit against the gerrymandered districts and won favorable decisions in the lower Federal courts that considered their claims. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped the main issue, are the maps fair and competitive, by sending the case back to the lower courts for the plaintiffs to make a showing of individualized harm. The case is far from over and is sure to come back before the high court. 

As the litigation continued, the GOP legislative leadership intervened in the case supporting the maps they drew. When the plaintiffs sought to question Assembly leader Robin Vos, he declined claiming legislative immunity from suit. Vos lost any immunity he might have had by joining the lawsuit and now must submit to questioning from the plaintiffs about the secret process he used to create the maps.

Wisconsin voters have the ability to demand fair maps and competitive districts. They can petition their county boards and city and village governments to pass resolutions demanding their legislators pass new laws adopting non-partisan commission models or supporting Governor Evers budget proposal. We can and should call and write to our legislative representatives directly to demand this change. 

You can find out more about this issue at www.fairelectionsproject.org/fair-maps-wi/

Judging Judges

Judge Judges by their Actions

“Faith” does not excuse Illegality

Judge Brian Hagedorn and many of his supporters have bought into the false narrative that his critics are just attacking his faith and not accepting of his claimed ability to put his religious beliefs aside when deciding cases that come before him. He chooses to advance this false narrative rather than address directly the propriety of his actions over the years

When I pointed out that he had spent his adult life criticizing and demeaning homosexuals and those with gender dysphoria, this was not an attack on his Christian beliefs. They were direct attacks upon his actions that show he actively discriminates against protected classes of human beings in violation of the law. Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land because the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the U.S. Constitution to protect those marriages the same as those between members of opposite gender or sexual orientation. Hagedorn’s paid speeches to a hate group that actively promotes forced sterilization and other illegal acts against homosexual and transgendered people show that he does not support the rule of law, much less the constitutional guarantees we all enjoy.

While ours is a nation built upon Judeo-Christian values, it is not a “Christian” nation. Our governing constitutions prohibit state sanctioned religions or required religious doctrines. There are no religious tests for those holding public office. One does not have to be a Christian to get elected. You can be, but it is not a requirement for holding office. Our founders believed that America is a place where all religious faiths are welcomed and honored. All religions are equal in the eyes of the law. Our founders also established that while we are individually free to worship or not as we see fit, we may not and our governing bodies certainly may not impose specific religious beliefs or doctrines on others. We do not allow one set of religious beliefs to the exclusion of all or even some of the others. 

Christian evangelicals, like Judge Hagedorn, are free to believe what they want about their religious teachings. They are not free to impose those beliefs upon those who have different beliefs. By actively engaging in discriminatory practices in the “faith based” school he founded and still helps run, he violates those rules that prohibit such discrimination and demonstrates that he puts his “faith” above the rule of law that establishes we are all equal. This is intolerable behavior for anyone and beyond the pale for public officials in any office.

I do not know for sure if Judge Hagedorn can or will put aside his religious beliefs when cases involving same sex marriages or state obligations to treat gender dysphoria will come before our Supreme Court. Given his track record of discriminatory activities, I am not willing to give him a ten-year term in office to find out. Let him decide cases presenting these issues while sitting on the Court of Appeals and build a track record of fair and neutral sexual orientation and gender dysphoria decisions. If he can do that, then maybe he will have demonstrated the qualities needed to be a Justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

We cannot afford to go backward in our equality for all jurisprudence.

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney who serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled with a Sheboygan County non-profit agency.

Kewaskum School Board Turmoil

Kewaskum School Elections Matter

Ramthun must go.

As a new resident of the Village of Kewaskum, I set about learning how my new community works. As a long-time supporter of quality public education, I started looking at the Kewaskum School District and learned of its exceptional reputation for providing excellent educational opportunities for its students. As I dug a little deeper, I learned that the Kewaskum School Board has become overly distracted by the unfortunate actions of two of its members. To say that the Board is in turmoil is an understatement. School District records reveal the following information.

In recent months, a majority of the Board voted to censure both members, one repeatedly, for their actions. First, Jim Leister was censured for conduct at a high school athletic event that was clearly unbecoming a member of the Board. Rather than examine his behavior, recognize that it was unacceptable and apologize, Leister complained that the other members of the Board were out to get him. His remarks at the January meeting tried to shift the blame and claim the mantle of “victim.” It did not matter that several witnesses at the game filed the initial complaints against Leister. It was and is appropriately up to the Board to respond. He also claimed that his many contributions to the community and service to the District ought to count for something and somehow entitled him to a pass for his conduct.

The censure votes for the second member are even more troubling. Tim Ramthun serves on the School Board and has a history of promoting himself as the guardian of the taxpayer’s dollar. He recently was elected to serve as the Assembly Representative for the 59^th District that includes Kewaskum and other surrounding communities, some of which also contain their own school districts. 

Ramthun’s conduct was found by the Board to violate several Board policies. First, Ramthun had an email exchange with a parent about the hiring of a district employee. In the exchange, Ramthun represented that his opinions were that of the Board and that the District’s hiring and dismissal policies are “crap.” He also wrote that the issue would take time to resolve because of the opposition of other “Kool-Aid drinking” Board members. While Board members are free to express personal opinions about the district, none are allowed to represent those opinions as those of the rest of the Board. 

After first professing an apology and a desire to work with the Board, Ramthun soon started painting himself as the “victim” of some conspiracy by the rest of the Board to oust him. To make his point, Ramthun embarked upon a crusade to nitpick and waste District resources seeking details about policies, budgets and personnel. He refuses to put his requests in writing to ensure an accurate response. He has refused to meet with the Board President to work out his concerns. His concerns seem tailored to paint himself as the taxpayer’s guardian and over inflate his own importance. 

Ramthun was next censured for making false statements at a Village Board meeting about the District and exceeding his authority by claiming to speak on behalf of the Board. Rather than agree that his violation of District policy was wrong, he went after one of the other Board members who voted for the censure. 

Board member Mark Sette is a long-term employee of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, currently serving as a Detective. In my previous career as a criminal defense lawyer in Washington County, I had many occasions to work cases involving Det. Sette’s investigations. I never had any reason to doubt his credibility or the quality of his work. He was one of those cops I learned to trust. 

After the last Ramthun censure, our newly elected state Representative took it upon himself to contact Washington County Sheriff, Martin Schulteis, to complain about Det. Sette’s conduct as a school board member that Ramthun claimed was giving the Department a “black-eye.” Ramthun tried to use his new position as an Assembly Representative to convince the Sheriff that he should force Sette to resign from the Board due to an unspecified “conflict of interest.” Wisely, the Sheriff declined and told Ramthun he would not take any action against the Detective. 

Going outside established Board policy, while flexing imaginary muscle as a State Representative, and trying to get another Board member ousted crosses so many lines, they are difficult to count. Ramthun continually shows a complete disregard for the rules governing his position with the District.

Even without consideration of Ramthun’s conduct, he has his own conflict of interest issues to consider. Serving as a member of the Assembly responsible for providing public school funding for the multiple school districts in his Assembly District, he may well have to vote on legislation that favors one of the school districts he represents over ours. Either way he votes, he could do harm to our district on whose governing Board he sits. 

Ramthun needs to resign from the Kewaskum School Board and certainly does not deserve to be re-elected to that post in the upcoming election on April 2^nd.

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled for a Sheboygan County non-profit agency.

Homophobic Judges?

Homophobic Hagedorn Unqualified for Supreme Court

Conservatives tell us that control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which boasts a 4-3 majority of conservative leaning justices, can only be maintained if we vote for Judge Brian Hagedorn in the April election to fill the seat of Justice Shirley Abrahamson who is retiring at the end of her current term. They fear if Justice Abrahamson is replaced by another “liberal,” then a loss by another Walker appointee, Justice Dan Kelly, in the next election cycle will tilt the state’s highest court too far too the left. 

Judge Hagedorn currently sits on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District Two, based in Waukesha. He is running against Judge Lisa Neubauer who is Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals and is also based in Waukesha. Judge Neubauer, a longer serving jurist than Hagedorn, is supported by many liberal organizations. 

Hagedorn was appointed to the Court of Appeals by former Governor Scott Walker after serving as Walker’s chief lawyer and overseeing implementation of many of Walker’s most conservative legislative initiatives. Before working for Walker directly, Hagedorn worked as an assistant attorney general in the Wisconsin Department of Justice after a short stint in private legal practice. He is by all measures a true hard line conservative by training and inclination.

Hagedorn’s history starts early on in conservative circles, especially those opposed to same-sex marriage and relationships based upon outmoded notions of evangelical Christian biblical teachings. In his personal blog, he wrote two particularly compelling posts. “The idea that homosexual behavior is different than bestiality as a constitutional matter is unjustifiable.” “Relationships between same sex partners are not equivalent to relationships between opposite sex couples. This is not bigotry or hate, just the truth.” 

The blog posts were written years ago, but Hagedorn has not disavowed them. He could not easily do that given the fact that after he became a judge he and his wife helped found a private Christian based private school in Waukesha in 2016 and still serve on its board of directors. Augustine Academy has a code of conduct that requires dismissal of any teacher who is part of the LBGTQ community, discipline and possible expulsion for students who come out as members of that community and even expulsion of students whose parents are in same-sex relationships. 

This is particularly troubling for a sitting judge at any level whose oath of office requires them to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States and of the State of Wisconsin. Both of our constitutions now explicitly sanction same-sex marriage and prohibit most acts of discrimination against LBGTQ people. 

Hagedorn dismisses these concerns as smear tactics, failing to recognize or acknowledge that they call into serious question his ability to set these clearly strongly held beliefs and render justice in all cases fairly and impartially.

If Hagedorn’s continued connection to Augustine Academy is not enough to disqualify him from a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, consider another recent revelation. Hagedorn has addressed and been paid over $3,000 for speaking to the Alliance Defending Freedom from 2015 through 2017. He accepted unspecified travel expenses from the group when he spoke to them again last year. This Christian legal organization supports criminalizing sodomy and sterilizing transgendered people and has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2004, while in law school, Hagedorn interned for the group’s predecessor calling it “a wonderful group” formed to fight “the culture wars.” Hagedorn’s campaign defended the Alliance as a leading legal organization that defends Christian values and noted that the judge would not remove himself from cases brought by the group to the high court if elected.

Judge Hagedorn sees these revelations as nothing more than an attack on his faith and claims to be able to put his personal views aside and decide all cases that come before him. With this kind of track record and political alliances it seems certainly plausible that reasonable people might not take Hagedorn at his word.

After these revelations were widely reported in the media, the Wisconsin Association of Realtors withdrew its endorsement of Hagedorn and asked that it’s recent $18,000 contribution to his campaign be returned. The realtors cited unspecified recent revelations that are contrary to the values of their membership as the reason for their actions. Other organizations and trade groups, recognizing that anti-gay activities are not good for business, are likely to follow the realtor’s lead.

Conservatives rightly condemn activist judges who bring a personal or philosophical agenda to their decisions, except when those decisions involve issues about which they care passionately. Supporting a clearly activist homophobe like Judge Hagedorn demonstrates this conservative hypocrisy.

Waring Fincke is a retired lawyer who serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled for a Sheboygan County non-profit agency.

The Con Lives

Foxconn is still a Con

In August, 2017, I wrote a column here cautioning against the then proposed deal with Foxconn that would exchange tax incentives costing Wisconsin taxpayers for decades for a promise to build a brand spanking new facility to make high-end liquid crystal displays. I noted concerns beyond the fiscal, including damage to the environment, Foxconn’s less that stellar track record for keeping promises and others.

As we all now know, the deal was rushed through with little more than a “thank you ma’am” by the GOP controlled legislature and signed with much fanfare by now former Governor Scott Walker.

Foxconn proceeded with substantial help by state and local governments using the power of eminent domain to displace home owners whose presence impeded progress and ground was broken by Walker and Trump. The deal seemed to be full speed ahead until after the election of Governor Evers and other Democrats to all of Wisconsin’s administrative offices and Trump’s tweeted trade war with China heated up dramatically.

Apparently out of the blue Foxconn, decided to scale back or even eliminate the new manufacturing facility after the first of the year. After some blowback, Foxconn switched again. The next claim was that it would build a new research and development facility instead. The previous promise of 13,000 jobs somehow got lost in the shuffle. President Trump called Foxconn’s chairman and then tweeted that he had saved the day and the deal and the manufacturing plant he helped break ground for was back on track. Even though Trump was engaged in a tariff war with China, he somehow managed to convince Foxconn’s leader that the company would not be impacted.

All appeared to be well again, at least on the surface. But what about the promised blue-collar jobs and the resurgence of American manufacturing might Walker and Trump promised? Then Bloomberg published a scathing report that even under the reconstructed project, the 13,000- job promise will never be kept. 

The report outlines the external market forces requiring Foxconn to cut as many as 100,000 positions world-wide, the failures at the mini-Foxconn plant here that makes Sharp TVs, and internal resistance to the Wisconsin project by Foxconn managers. The first hard hit came at the end of last year when the company missed its’ projected job creation goal by 82 percent causing it to lose its tax credits for the year. There are only 122 jobs advertised on the company website, many at least 5 months old. 

Meanwhile, local and county governments have spent an estimated $120 million for land and the state is committed to at least $120 million in road improvements for the project. In addition, Foxconn was cleared to fill 26 acres of wetlands for the project after state regulations that would have prevented it were repealed by the legislature. 

Foxconn’s recent about-face after its chairman spoke with President Trump is, so-far, sadly lacking in specifics about Foxconn’s future in Wisconsin. It appears to be little more than a pawn in the US-China trade war that overshadows the whole mess. 

Not to be shut out of the limelight, Wisconsin’s Assembly leader, Robin Vos, and Senate Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald, immediately blamed newly elected Governor Evers for changing the environment for the deal’s success. Never mind that they offered not one shred of evidence to support their claims that Evers scuttled the deal. They claimed that no taxpayer dollars had yet been paid to Foxconn, omitting the $15 million the state paid to the village of Mount Pleasant to help with land acquisition and infrastructure costs, other promised funding for local government debt costs and road improvement guarantees.

Foxconn has a history of abandoning or scaling back projects after making grandiose promises of job and economic growth. This track record was ignored by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation executives wooed by Foxconn officials. That history was one of the reasons Gov. Evers campaigned on making the WDEC stronger and a better watchdog for taxpayer dollars. 

We may be stuck with this “pig in a poke” from the Walker era, but at least we now have people in office who will do whatever they can to hold Foxconn to its promises and minimize the damage done to our economy when the company abandons Wisconsin. Let’s hope they keep the light shining on the backroom deals so we all know when we are getting fleeced.