Elections Matter

 Elections Matter

 

There are three referenda questions on your ballot in the November election. I support two out of the three. 

 

I support the referenda providing capital improvement funds for Moraine Park Technical College. It will allow construction of new and upgrades to existing facilities which will put people to work and stimulate our local economies. It will allow MPTC to add new programs and training which will have long term positive impacts to our communities and provide options to new high school grads and others. Passing this one is a no brainer. 

 

My support for the so-called Anti-Crime referenda is based solely upon the addition of clinical social workers and plain clothes deputies trained to deal with the mentally ill. The criminal justice system has long been the dumping ground for those suffering from mental illness whose behaviors spiral out of control. 

 

My work as a criminal defense lawyer often involved dealing with the consequences of untreated mental illness. In the 1970s, courts across the country ruled that people with chronic mental illness could no longer be kept locked up in mental institutions when they could be treated successfully in community based mental health facilities on an outpatient basis. The rulings caused many of the in-patient facilities to close. 

 

Unfortunately, legislatures and local governments never stepped up to fund and provide the community-based treatment programs the chronically mentally ill need to become successful in their communities. Insurance companies limited or stopped providing coverage for in-patient treatment and limited out-patient services as well. 

 

As funding dried up, local communities like ours closed their in-patient units and cut back drastically on out-patient services. There are few places remaining in Wisconsin that will take people who desperately need in-patient mental health care, especially those without insurance coverage. We used to have an in-patient unit at the old St. Joseph’s Hospital in West Bend. It closed many years ago and the county has never moved to provide a new one. 

 

In a recent meeting with the Washington County Democratic Party, Sherriff Martin Schulties agreed that the absence of an in-patient unit in the county has put a huge burden on his department. He acknowledged that the addition of social workers and plain clothes deputies will help but is not the final solution to the problem. He said that every police chief in the county misses having an in-patient unit and treatment services to help the mentally ill. 

 

Hopefully, the information gathered by the social workers and deputies who will respond to mental illness calls will provide sufficient information to convince our county board to take proper care of those with chronic mental health issues. If the county does not act further to address mental health issues, the new additions will just amount to putting a band aid on an out-of-control cancer. 

 

The third referendum on our ballots has to do with elections. It proposes to ask the legislature to begin the process of amending the Wisconsin Constitution to make the election process uniform across the state as much as possible. 

 

I have worked as a poll worker in both the Town of Barton and, more recently, in the Village of Kewaskum. I have been a poll observer in the City of West Bend and Germantown as part of election protection for the ACLU and the Democratic Party. I know from first-hand observation that municipal clerks and poll workers put aside their political leanings and work very hard to make sure that the rules are followed and that every legitimate ballot is counted. 

 

Trying to make the casting and counting of ballots uniform across the state is a fool’s errand. Large metropolitan areas like Milwaukee, Appleton, Madison, Green Bay, and others require different staffing levels and greater technological support than smaller and more rural communities. In the end, all the ballots will be counted correctly everywhere if local communities are free to work within set procedural boundaries to get the job done as local conditions and populations require. 

 

The election referendum is on our ballot to satisfy the dwindling number of election fraud conspiracy theorists and should be rejected by the voters. 

 

This election, like all elections, is important. Voting is how we participate in our democracy.

 

Let's Talk Politics

Let’s Discuss Politics

Our current political discourse sucks. 

 

For months, we have been bombarded with hyper negative attack ads on TV and social media which do nothing but whip up anger and fear among those who unfortunately rely upon those sources for their world views. The result is more parroting than thoughtful, reasoned analysis.

 

I grew up in the era where Walter Cronkite read the evening news on CBS and people stopped to listen to what he had to say. He was trusted by his viewers as were most of the other network anchors. The Federal Communications Commission had a rule called the Fairness Doctrine which mandated that those with federal broadcasting licenses had to be as objective as possible when reporting on the issues of the day. They had to give all the sides of an argument equal time to present their case to the public. Political debates were more robust and nuanced then. This was long before the rise of the internet and the creation of Facebook, Twitter and their ilk. 

 

The Fairness Doctrine and objectivity are out the window with current broadcasting and social media. We now have a Wild West of lies and misrepresentation when candidates buy time to pitch themselves to the voting public. There is little debate and less opportunity for ordinary folks to sit down, one on one, with candidates to discuss what matters to them. 

 

Newspapers have struggled to keep up their important role informing the public. When we moved back to Wisconsin in 1979, Milwaukee had two major papers. Madison did as well. The morning and evening editions provided different opinions on the news, letting the readers choose what to believe. There were multiple smaller papers aimed at specific communities that covered more local interests and viewpoints.  The Sunday papers were full of well written, in depth news and opinion pieces. Now the news is found in snippets sandwiched in between pages of ads. Once competing papers have merged and the merged ones bought up by national chains which have let local news slide. 

We now have handlers telling the candidates what to say and what to avoid when speaking publicly. Messaging is coordinated by people whose identities are never disclosed and heavily influenced by anonymous contributions from sources with specific axes to grind. It has become increasingly difficult to parse out where some candidates truly stand on the issues of the day or if they have hidden agendas to spring on us after the election is over.

 

Those who pride themselves on being “independent” have their work cut out for them trying to get to a decision on which way to cast their ballot. The internet promised Information age has truly let them down as well.

 

We have been reduced to competing messages about what should be important to likely voters. Is crime in the streets a real concern? Does it win out over reproductive freedom and a woman's right to choose? Is the economy headed towards a recession or can we afford to fix the devastating impacts of climate change? Do we take care of those who cannot take care of themselves or are we a nation of personal responsibility? Are we a Christian nation or one where all religious beliefs are tolerated? Are Caucasians the superior race or just one of many? Is it OK to love someone with whom you share similar gender attributes or who have different skin tones?

 

The upcoming election cycle has put some of these issues in stark relief and made the choice of who gets your vote a little easier. Unfortunately, we have had to ferret out these things from a mass of negativity and to dig far deeper than necessary to figure out where the candidates really stand.

 

It would be great if we had a system like the one in Canada where election campaigns are limited to six weeks and spending is limited. It would be much better if Election Day is a national holiday.

 

Political Speech

Political Speech Should Remain Free in Public Spaces

 

There certainly has been a robust discussion in our community about the display of a swastika over an image of the Democratic Party donkey symbol on a flag or poster at the Washington County GOP booth at last Saturday’s West Bend Farmers Market. 

 

The leadership of the County GOP blamed it on a “overzealous volunteer” and sought to distance themselves and their group by rightfully condemning the display and claiming it was not approved by the party leaders. Unfortunately, the condemnation did little to tell those who use symbols of hate and genocide that they are not welcome in their organization. The person who made the display and those who permitted it to go up in their booth obviously felt right at home doing so. 

 

The Downtown Association, which runs the market, also condemned the display, and took the extraordinary step of refusing to rent booth space to all “political” organizations in the future because of the display. 

 

West Bend Mayor Chris Jenkins weighed in condemning the display and threatening to impose prior restraints on future speech at the Market.

 

Social media posts on the local GOP Facebook page and an online poll by this newspaper elicited comments condemning the display while others deflected the complaints by claiming Democrats do the same thing or outright supporting the display as somehow making a true statement about Democrats. 

 

The display and community reactions to it bring us back to the marketplace of ideas concept embodied in the free speech guarantees of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. 

 

Our founders believed and enshrined in the First Amendment the notion that public spaces were the place for a robust debate about the issues of the day and subsequent decisions by the United States Supreme Court have upheld that principle throughout our history with only limited exceptions. One being along the lines of “you can’t falsely scream FIRE in a public theatre.”

 

Attempts by governments to impose prior restraints on public speech in public places have been consistently rejected by the Court. Banning all political speech from public streetcorners and the public square have also been uniformly rejected. Discriminatory application of speech bans that favored one side of the debate over others have also been rejected consistently. 

 

The underlying principle is that while public speech is and should be free, even when it reaches into controversial areas, the public exposed to that speech is free to reject the message and the messengers as they see fit. That is what happened on Saturday at the Market when members of the public, expressing their rightful outrage at the display, caused it to be removed before the Market closed for the day. The backlash on local GOP social media exposed the display to further condemnation within their organization and will, most likely, cost their candidates votes in November as some members of the GOP and independents who lean right reject both the message and the messenger. They will join the exodus of those who believe the GOP majority on the U.S. Supreme Court went way too far in overturning Roe v. Wade’s protections for limited abortions. 

 

This brings us back to the Downtown Association’s decision to ban all “political” organizations from renting space at future markets. While uniform in its application, it prevents political speech by those whose public speech and displays have not crossed the line into universally condemned hate speech symbolism. 

 

The Democratic Party of Washington County has also had a booth at the Farmers Market this season and for many others in the 12 years we have had our office at 132 N. Main St. at the end of the public street used by the Market. I don’t believe there have been any credible complaints about the content of the materials displayed at our booth. We are being banned from renting a booth for the transgressions of others not connected to us other than we both are involved in politics. It is not fair to punish us and bar our message because others choose to cross the line of publicly acceptable speech.

 

The Association’s decision also will impact other groups with booths at the Market which choose to try and influence public policy through political action. Think about Veterans advocacy organizations, environmental groups, insurance companies, telephone companies, and others who lobby for legislation and provide financial support to political candidates. Under the Association’s decision, they, and the rest of us who speak about politics, will be limited to speaking on street corners or in Settlers Park or walking through the market handing out literature.

 

I for one support political speech limited to the confined space of a rented booth at the market where people can stop and engage or merely walk by. Let the public be the judge of the content of the messages on display and make their support or opposition known at the time or later at the polls where it really counts.  

Tell me what you’re for

 Tell Me What You’re For

Not What You’re Against

 

Many years ago, I worked with a former union organizer at the Credit Union National Association in Madison who had a motto that has stayed with me ever since. He often told me, “Tell me what you’re for, not what you’re against.” I try to remember this as I organize and work with folks who want to make the world a better place. 

 

Generally, I am for ideas and legislation that benefit working people and their families.

 

A prime example of what I am for was recently passed by Democrats in Congress and signed into law by President Biden. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 passed both houses without a single Wisconsin Republican legislator’s vote. 

 

Here’s what the new law does for us. 

 

It extends subsidies that help make the Affordable Care Act coverage more affordable. The subsidies were set to expire at the end of this year and the new law extends them through 2025. For those who were set to lose ACA coverage when the subsidies expired, you get to keep your health insurance.  The Act will save the average middle class family of four in Wisconsin $6,259 on their yearly premiums. 

 

The Act also reforms Medicare to lower prescription drug costs for those who have Part D coverage. Seniors with Part D coverage will have their out-of-pocket prescription drug costs capped at $2,000 per year and their insulin copays capped at $35 per month. The Act gives Medicare the ability to negotiate prescription drug costs with pharmaceutical companies which will drive costs down for consumers. 

 

The new Act contains the largest ever national investment in the fight against climate change, speeds up private companies’ transition to clean energy technologies, expands domestic manufacturing of clean energy products and boosts American energy independence.

 

The Act provides $80 billion in financial rebates to homeowners who buy clean energy products, such as solar panels, electric vehicles, and other more energy efficient products. They can get $8,000 for a heat pump, $4,000 for an upgraded breaker box, $2,500 for upgraded electrical wiring, $1,750 for a heat pump water heater, $1,600 for insulation, air sealing and ventilation, $840 for an electric stove and $840 for an electric clothes dryer. 

 

The Act pays for these measures and helps reduce the deficit by making large corporations pay their fair share of the tax burden. There will also be a 1% tax on stock buy backs to help reduce corporate executive pay boosts. The Act does not raise taxes on small businesses or on Americans who earn less than $400,000 annually. 

 

Closer to home, Governor Evers popular Main Street Bounceback Grant Program continues to deliver for local small businesses, especially those damaged by the pandemic. Recently, Evers and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation announced an additional $25 million investment in the program, bringing the total to $100 million. The program has helped over 6,200 small businesses across all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties have been approved for $10,000 grants to help them move or expand into vacant spaces. More businesses can still apply for this assistance.

 

Funded largely by federal American Rescue Plan Act, Evers’ Main Street Bounceback grants have helped our economic recovery, lower our state’s unemployment rate, increase Wisconsin exports, open more new businesses and attract businesses from other states. 

 

I support these government programs that use tax dollars to help us all grow and prosper. They are positive examples of government in action that must continue as we dig out from under the COVID cloud. I fail to understand why Republicans in Congress or here in Wisconsin oppose these efforts to help us all grow. 

 

Democratic legislators we send to Washington are getting it done. Send more Democrats to Wisconsin’s legislature and still more positive things will happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate Labor

 Celebrate Labor

Collective Action Brings Change

 

Another Labor Day weekend is here to celebrate all the accomplishments brought to us all by the American labor movement. Most will enjoy the extra day off from working for someone else by spending time enjoying family, friends, and the fruits of our labor. We should take some of that time to recognize what collective action has accomplished.

 

The American labor movement grew out of the excesses of the robber barons in the coal, steel, garment, auto and transportation industries around the turn of the last century. Workers came to realize that if they banded together and came up with a list of demands, their employers would rather negotiate and meet those demands than suffer the consequences of a strike when those that produced their products withheld their labor. No labor, no product, so sales, no profits. 

 

Over time labor unions brought us all safer working conditions, living wages, 40-hour work weeks, overtime pay, fringe benefits like employer paid health insurance, paid vacations, sick leave, family leave, workplace safety regulation and enforcement, the weekend, paid holidays and many others. Unions, collective action, helped level the playing field between workers and employers and helped build a strong middle class. 

 

I worked my way through college and law school with a good paying union job. I was a proud member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 251 in Madison, Wisconsin in the 1970s. I put in long hours, often well into the morning, helping to put on shows at the Dane County Coliseum for traveling companies of rock and roll performers, folk singers, Ice Shows, Auto Shows, political events, and others. My union brothers taught me what I needed to know and how to do it safely. If issues arose with the roadies, our business agent was on hand to iron them out. I took UW college classes in technical theatre and got to help put on the Bernstein Mass in New York City with our lighting instructor under the watchful eyes of the brothers and sisters of IATSE Local 1. 

 

Before I finished college, I joined VISTA and trained as a community organizer. I was posted to Houston, Texas where our team helped organize poor people of color to make the Houston Public Schools more responsive to their needs. We put together alliances with other community groups, and organized voter registration drives. I came to understand that individuals are essentially powerless, but groups of like-minded folks are not. Organized groups have the power to put pressure on decision makers and public officials to bring about change. 

 

After law school, I came to realize that community organizers owe a large debt to labor unions and their organizing strategies. We both utilize the same techniques to achieve mutually desired goals. We both recognize the power of collective action. 

 

Organized labor has long had a home in the Democratic party. Other organized groups have found friends and alliances in Democratic party efforts as their platforms are often aligned. Groups advocating for civil rights, opposing unjust wars, promoting reproductive freedom, same sex marriage, and universal suffrage have all found success working together with Democrats to achieve their goals. We have learned that we get more done if we work together. 

 

This explains why big business and their political allies work so hard to destroy the power of collective action. Wisconsin’s Act 10 is a perfect example. Teachers were organized and their statewide union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), had become a powerful ally of the Democratic party working to get more resources into local public schools and paying teachers well. They helped advance other Democratic party objectives. WEAC opposed a darling of the right, school choice and the now failed voucher system which stole funds from public schools and paid them to unaccountable charter and religious schools. When Scott Walker and the Tea Party took over state government, they dropped the Act 10 bomb which stripped organized teachers of much of their power. Unfortunately, we have now seen the result in underfunded public schools, demonized teachers bolting from their careers, local school boards strapped for resources and parents wondering how their children will continue to learn. 

 

So called “Right to Work” laws have further diminished worker power and made it harder to organize workplace unions. 

 

In today’s labor market, workers are once again feeling some sense of their collective power. Whole new sectors of our economy are seeing union growth. Witness the 200 Starbucks coffee shops that are now staffed by union members. Recent polling shows the approval rating for unions and union activity continuing to rise, surpassing post-World War II levels. Workers are demanding higher wages, living wages, and withholding their labor until their demands are met. There is not a shortage of people willing to work. There is a shortage of employers willing to pay workers what they are worth and recognize that labor produces the product, not the employer. 

 

Celebrate Labor Day and join a union. If your workplace does not have one, start one. There is power in collective action.

 

 

 

Choices

Our November Choices are Clear

Democrats move us forward

Now that the partisan primaries are behind us, the clear choices for the November elections are on full display. 

The Republican victors showed the hard right turn in the GOP platform still motivates the base of the former president’s cult. Tim Michels rode the delusional “Big Lie” and the former president’s endorsement to victory in a slash and burn campaign which will provide endless material for the Evers campaign to use against him. Independent ads are already highlighting Michels’ shifting positions on who might run for President in 2024, where he really lives given multimillion dollar homes in Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin, the fact that his children attend school out of state, and his legislative priorities if elected. Michels’ support for Wisconsin’s pre-Civil War anti-abortion statute which criminalizes a woman’s ability to control her own body shows just how out of touch he is in a world where generations of women have enjoyed that right. 

Senator Ron Johnson continues to amaze with his suicidal positions on ending Medicare and making Social Security discretionary or means tested. He too continues to question our election integrity, the government’s response to COVID and consistently votes against wildly popular measures like allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and lowering the price of insulin for people with private health insurance. Johnson remains convinced that the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol was no big deal. Don’t forget the tax breaks for his wealthy donors and his own company when the time comes to vote.  

In stark contrast, Governor Evers is running for re-election with a proven track record of getting things done over the obstruction of the GOP controlled legislature. Biden’s Build Back Better program is pumping federal funds into schools and communities helping them repair the damage brought on by Scott Walker and the Tea Party. Evers is fixing Wisconsin roads at a record pace with more to come. He is helping to revitalize rural communities by helping family farmers and local businesses grow. Evers has made it very clear that he will do all that he can to support women’s rights to bodily autonomy and reproductive healthcare.  

Tying Governor Evers to President Joe Biden has been part of the GOP campaign since it began. Biden’s approval ratings are low, but his record of accomplishments since the election is staggering. Gas prices are coming down. He has helped secure passage of historic legislation to repair our ageing infrastructure. He just signed into law the most comprehensive bill to address climate change ever providing tax credits for solar and electric vehicles and funds designated to reduce carbon emissions. That bill also lowers premiums for health insurance purchased under the Affordable Care Act, allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, and caps the amount seniors on Medicare must pay out of pocket for medications at $2000 per year. The bill is paid for by closing tax loopholes through more vigorous enforcement and raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and large corporations. Biden rallied our allies to join in the defense of Ukraine and has pumped money and equipment into the fight to help Ukrainians defend themselves from Russian aggression. He appointed a well-qualified Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. He too stands tall for protecting a woman’s right to control her own body and enjoy comprehensive reproductive health care. 

Mandela Barnes pushed through a hard-fought principled primary to become the Democrats nominee to take Ron Johnson’s Senate see this fall. His background and family history are much different than Johnson’s. Barnes’ father was a union factory worker and his mother a teacher. Barnes understands the struggle middle class working families face and will join other progressives in the Senate to address those concerns. Barnes supports unions and their efforts to level the playing field for working people. He supports efforts to beat back the effects of climate change and to protect our environment. He believes corporations and the very wealthy should pay their fair share of the tax burden. He is a strong supporter of the right to choose and the LBGTQI community. 

Our choices in November are clear. If you want to see Wisconsin and the country move forward, you need to help Democrats win every election in which they run. Staying home is not an option as the cult of the former president will pull out all their tricks to put their candidates over the top. Democrats have an office in West Bend and active groups supporting Democratic candidates in Germantown, Cedarburg, and the rest of the WOW counties. Volunteer your time, send candidates money, talk to your friends, family, and neighbors. 

The time to act is now. 

Hopeful

Hope Encouraged

Stars are aligned

 

My wife and I worked the Washington County Democratic Party booth at our County Fair last Saturday. Several interactions we had there buoyed my hopes for a Blue wave in the November elections. 

 

The first came when a middle-aged women came up to our table and declared she was an independent voter who would be voting for Democrats in the Fall based upon a single issue, abortion rights. She was appalled at the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and believes Democrats should do whatever is necessary to protect a woman’s right to choose. 

 

The second came from several women, walking by with men, who turned and gave us a thumbs up as they passed. I took that to mean they approved of our positions supporting reproductive health care and women’s rights to bodily autonomy. 

 

The third involved a young man in his late teens with a younger sidekick who stopped by and asked what issues we would choose to turn someone from a Republican into a Democrat. As we discussed the issues of equality, same sex marriage, reproductive healthcare, gun control and others, he was joined by several other teen boys who started to troll us and disagree with some of our positive comments. He turned to them and chastised them with “be respectful.” It turned out that his father is a Democrat and his mother a Republican, so he was exposed to both parties’ positions in discussions at home and he was still making up his own mind. Not sure if we convinced him, but the discussion was refreshing.  

 

I came away from these interactions more hopeful than I had been before coming to the Fair.

 

Then came the vote on the proposal to amend the Kansas constitution which would have stripped abortion protection from that state’s constitution, and I was overjoyed. By a lopsided majority, Kansas voters choose to continue protecting access to abortion services in that otherwise reliably red state. That vote mirrored recent polling showing a solid majority of American voters favor making abortion services available, even after the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

 

Finally, I fully support the young women here in Washington County who stood up and organized to rally in support of their rights to reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. They effectively used social media and their own networks to bring folks together to stand up for their rights to equality and against efforts to turn them into second class citizens or livestock. These women did not come up from the Democratic Party or Persist but erupted spontaneously when their own freedoms became threatened. 

 

These strong determined women will be surely joined by their allied men, parents and grandparents who fought to establish women’s rights in the first place. They will be joined by the LBGTQI community, people concerned about governmental intrusion into their sex lives and the use of contraceptives, and those who marry who they love without concern for racial differences or gender identity. These folks too see their freedoms on the chopping block as long as the current majority of the Supreme Court remains in place. This new coalition will sweep away those who want to turn America into a theocracy which denies them basic human dignity.

 

These disparate but connected events strengthen my belief that politicians and judges making decisions should not make women and others angry by taking away the ability to control their own bodies and live their lives enjoying personal freedom.  

 

To all of those aggrieved and standing up I say, Onward, I’ve got your back.