Choices

 We Have Choices

 

In the good old days, being Speaker of the House or a United States Senator were jobs worth seeking and having. Not so much these days. 

 

First, we saw the debacle around Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) rise and fall. It took the GOP caucus 15 votes to elect McCarthy as Speaker after squeaking out a razor thin majority in the last congressional election. McCarthy had to give away what little power he might have had as the Speaker to bring the hard right Freedom Caucus on board. In the end, those concessions were his undoing after he crafted a way to keep the government open without sticking to the hard right demands from the Freedom folks to use the spending bills as leverage for their social agenda. McCarthy was voted out and has just announced he will retire from Congress at the end of the month. 

 

After McCarthy’s ouster, several GOP House members ran for the post, but none could secure the votes needed to take the reins. GOP House leader Patrick McHenry (R-NC) presided over this series of failed elections as interim Speaker. He too has announced his intention to leave the House.

 

Finally, a little-known House member, Mike Johnson (R-LA), emerged as the only one willing to give it a try. He is a neo-conservative, evangelical Christian who represents all the hard right Freedom members might have asked for from their Speaker. Faced with another potential government shut-down, Johnson crafted an 11^thhour, short-term solution to keep basic governmental functions up and running while kicking aid for Ukraine and Israel down to road for stand-alone votes. That was enough to bring Democrats on board to pass the bills, but this move will probably end his time in the Speaker’s chair as the hard right members still want to use their bills to leverage support for their anti-abortion, anti LBGTQI, anti-Ukraine, pro authoritarian Christian Nationalism, Make America White Again agenda.

 

Since those bills were passed, the House has once more become paralyzed and ineffectual in finding anyway forward towards responsible governance. Aid to Ukraine and Israel must pass the House to keep those countries and democracy safe. So far, Johnson has not found a way to get that done and may well need democratic votes once more to make it happen. If he turns again to cross the aisle, his time as Speaker will surely end. 

 

Over in the Senate, Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has finally caved to the pressure from his fellow republican and democratic senators and lifted his 10-month hold on approval of senior military promotions. He held up all these promotions of highly qualified commanders to protest military support for member abortions. His block created vacancies in senior positions in all the branches of our armed services, leaving important decisions to less seasoned minor ranking officers and several branches without top commanders. While he released the blocks on three-star officers and below, his blocks remain for four-star admirals and generals who would lead their respective branches and serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tuberville represents yet another GOP leader willing to use the power of his office to wreak significant damage to our government and national security to leverage an agenda opposed by most Americans. 

 

Other GOP intransigence in the Senate has caused Vice-President Harris to cast a new record of tie breaking votes to secure passage of bills aimed at improving the lives of working citizens.

 

Even with GOP congressional craziness, President Biden has been able to get a lot done at home and to safeguard democracy abroad. We have his leadership and experience to thank for the infrastructure bills that are now fixing American roads, bridges, ports, and airports. We have him to thank for our newfound ability to negotiate drug prices for seniors on Medicare which has already brought the cost of life-saving insulin down to no more than $35 a bottle. We have his administration to thank for lower inflation and significantly lower gas prices. We have him to thank for the lowest unemployment rates in decades as more manufacturing and supply chains have been repatriated. We have him to thank for protection of women’s reproductive healthcare and the rights of LBGTQI Americans. We have him to thank for student debt relief. We have him to thank for aggressive action to mitigate climate change and protection of our shared environment. 

 

As elections loom, think about what matters to you and your family. We have a choice between an authoritarian would be dictator and a calm reasonable adult who gets things done for everyday Americans. We have a choice between those who would govern for all of us by cooperating and compromising or a clown car that spits out those who put on faces to make us laugh and believe their craziness. 

 

We have choices. Make them wisely.

Thankful

 Thankful

 

Once again, we come to a holiday where we are asked to give thanks for those things we value. 

 

Here’s my list.

 

I am thankful for the glimmer of bipartisanship in the House of Representatives caused by Democrats and sensible Republicans who came together to pass bills to avoid another government shutdown. The new Speaker, a MAGA extremist, saw that his only way forward was to work across the aisle to pass the needed appropriations. It may end up costing him his job as speaker with the Freedom Caucus expresses its anger over what they perceive as his betrayal.

 

I am thankful that Democrats in Congress and the White House are the adults in the room in the halls of power. The Biden administration has racked up a series of impressive victories improving the economy through infrastructure spending, negotiating lower drug prices for seniors on Medicare, supporting reproductive healthcare, standing with striking auto workers to help secure a fair contract, standing up to protect democracy in Ukraine and working to rein in Israel’s excesses in Gaza while supporting its right to exist, working to build lasting alliances in the Pacific and South America, and a host of others.

 

I am thankful for Democrats in Washington County. We are the fourth largest county party in Wisconsin, quite an accomplishment in one of the state’s reddest areas. We weathered Covid and the reconstruction of Main Street, keeping our office open year-round downtown and banking enough to meet expenses for each year by the end of the previous one. We are looking forward to a spirited campaign year supporting candidates up and down the ticket. We stand for reproductive healthcare without restrictions and continue to advocate for sensible gun law reform. 

 

One of our latest projects is a benefit concert to end gun violence at The Bend on December 6^th, featuring local and regional musical groups which are donating their time and talents to support the cause. All the proceeds from tickets will be donated to activist groups working to end gun violence. You can get tickets at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/benefitconcertdec6

I hope to see you all there. 

 

I am thankful for my family. We are all mostly healthy and secure and visit when we can. We support each other and love unconditionally. While we are spread across several countries and continents, we keep in touch and enjoy each other’s company. I am grateful to have been married to my best friend for over 50 years. Our children and grandchildren are thriving and productive. My family history has helped put my own life in a greater context understanding now that my paternal grandfather paved the way for my own progressive activism.

 

I am thankful to live in a small community. It is a joy to enter local small businesses where they greet me by name. Keeping up with local politics and events in our area are easy and fun to observe. We look out for our neighbors, and they look out for us. 

I am thankful for my careers as a lawyer and as a guardian for those who can no longer make decisions for themselves. While both careers are over, the life lessons learned and the memories of people I have helped during my working years provide much comfort and satisfaction. Both endeavors took me into worlds I had not experienced and helped me expand my horizons. 

 

I am thankful for the opportunity to write this column every other week. I’ve been keeping tabs on local, state, and national politics here for 12 years and have never run out of things to write about. I appreciate the constructive criticism some of my readers express in letters to the editor and chuckle some when those who cannot find a way to address the issues descend into personal attacks and name calling. I appreciate the tips and leads readers send my way. 

 

All in all, I am thankful to be alive right here and right now. I hope you and yours can be as thankful.

 

Be Careful What You Wish For

 Be Careful What You Wish For

 

Hard right GOP folks worked for years to get a Supreme Court that would overrule Roe v. Wade and interpret the Second Amendment differently than it had been for a century. They finally got what they wanted only to discover that most Americans did not want either result. What they ended up with is a whole lot of angry voters ready to turn them out of office whenever the opportunity arises. 

 

Democrats have hitched their wagon to reproductive health care unencumbered by governmental interference and common-sense gun law reforms and are finding success at the polls despite low approval ratings for President Biden.

 

The elections in key states on Tuesday showed that voters, especially women voters, have had enough from the hard right. 

 

Ohio voters approved an amendment to their state constitution protecting reproductive healthcare, including contraception and abortion, in the face of determined GOP obstruction and misinformation. First, the GOP controlled legislature tried to make amending their constitution more difficult. The voters said no. Next, the legislature and GOP leaders waged a mean-spirited misinformation campaign spreading lies about what the proposed amendment meant. Finally, GOP operatives dropped 26,000 voters from the rolls to try to defeat the measure. The voters saw through it all and voted to pass it anyway. Former Senator Rick Santorum took to the airways on Wednesday claiming that this exercise in “pure democracy” should be prohibited. Not surprisingly, he no longer holds public office and just comments on Fox News. 

 

Voters in Virginia rejected calls from their GOP Governor, Glenn Youngkin, to give him GOP majorities in both houses of the legislature so he could pass a 15-week abortion ban. Instead, voters returned Democratic pro-abortion and pro-gun control majorities to both houses to make sure Youngkin’s agenda never sees the light of day and causing him to drop his planned run for President.

 

Voters in Pennsylvania elected a liberal judge to their Supreme Court. He ran on an openly pro-reproductive healthcare platform and soundly defeated his MAGA endorsed opponent. 

 

Everytown For Gun Safety notes that 162 members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America ran for office in this cycle and a majority won. 

 

Today’s GOP is sadly way out of step with American voters on these issues. Now that eight states have passed state constitutional amendments protecting reproductive healthcare, the handwriting is on the wall. Clinging to these issues will certainly hurt them next November.

 

To make matters worse for the GOP looking forward to the 2024 elections, voters are embracing other issues they don’t like and rejecting issues they put forward. 

 

Ohio voters also enacted marijuana legalization in Tuesday’s election despite GOP opposition and efforts to kill the measure. It is interesting to note that more people voted for marijuana legalization in Ohio on Tuesday than voted to support reproductive healthcare.  

 

The extreme hate group Moms for Liberty, often praised by the former president, saw school board election results reject banning books on LBGTQI and racism issues in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Virginia, and Minnesota. 

 

Voters in Virginia elected Danica Roem who is openly transgender to their state Senate. She is the first trans person elected to state office anywhere in the South. She was opposed by a former police detective supported by Gov. Youngkin who openly supports banning transgender athletes from competing on sports teams. 

 

Other states saw Democratic victories in local races as well. Democratic Socialists won several seats on city councils in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Voters in Philadelphia elected a Black woman as their next Mayor. 

 

All these electoral trends spell trouble for the GOP in the foreseeable future unless they find more popular issues and candidates who are willing and able to govern instead of just breaking things that work.

 

Getting what you wish for sometimes comes back to bite.

 

Where do they Stand?

 What Do They Stand For?

 

The GOP dumpster fire continues to burn like Canadian wildfires. 

 

Wisconsin’s GOP controlled legislature, thanks to heavily gerrymandered districts, recently passed several bills relating to transgender kids which would ban gender affirming medical care and create artificial barriers to trans kids playing sports in their new gender. The bills were passed after legislators heard from medical experts and members of the trans community just how misguided and harmful they were. They passed the bills knowing that similar laws have been struck down by federal courts as unconstitutional. They passed the bills knowing that Governor Evers promised to veto them. In the face of so much concerted opposition, the only apparent reason those bills were passed was to pander to those who still believe in harming others just because they can. 

 

The GOP controlled House of Representatives ousted their Speaker and rejected three potential candidates before finally electing a little-known hard liner, Mike Johnson, R-LA, on Wednesday, ending three weeks of legislative paralysis. Johnson supports the former president and worked to overturn the last presidential election. An Evangelical Christian, he opposes abortion, supports forced birth, and opposes same-sex marriage. 

 

Before settling on Johnson, the GOP members of the house were deeply divided, and it remains to be seen if he can unify the various factions of his membership to keep the government functioning and supporting efforts to support Israel and Ukraine. In choosing Johnson, the MAGA forces now are in complete control of the House. Part of the Speaker’s job is to negotiate with the leaders in the Senate and the White House. His extreme views will make those discussions very difficult indeed. 

 

The former president’s legal problems continue to mount. The criminal conspiracy case in Georgia should scare him the most. Three of his lawyers and one other co-defendant in the case have already flipped and become witnesses for the prosecution. Their reversals will prompt other defendants in the case to pursue their own deals with the prosecution in exchange for their testimony against those who remain. I expect that the former president and his main lawyer, Rudy Guliani, will be the last ones standing when they go on trial next year. 

 

The former president’s Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, has agreed to cooperate with the government against his former boss in the Federal election interference case in Washington, D.C. Meadows knows where all the bodies are buried and will prove to be a devastating witness for the prosecution.

 

The civil fraud trial in New York proceeds as witness upon witness paint a picture of the con and fraud that permeated the former president’s businesses in that state. Michael Cohen and Alan Weisselberg, both testified that they cooked the books to inflate the values of certain assets enabling their boss to obtain more favorable terms from banks. The former president has now been fined twice for violating the gag order imposed by the judge in that case to protect witnesses and court staff. 

 

In Colorado, another trial is set to begin next Monday to determine if the Secretary of State there can keep the former president off that state’s ballot next year. The issue there is whether he can be disqualified from running under Article Three of the 14^th Amendment because of his role in fomenting the insurrection at the nation’s capitol on January 6^th. Similar cases have been brought or are under consideration in several other states. Should Colorado keep him off the ballot, other states will surely follow. 

 

How the GOP plans to find a path to win the 2024 elections for Congress and the White House is a complete mystery. We are weary from the divisiveness and ineptitude of those in charge of the Republican Party. They have no policy grounded platform to help Americans grow and fix the problems we all face. Being against everything Democrats stand for tells us nothing about what they might try to accomplish if they prevail, except the destruction of the national safety net and the persecution of those they do not like.

 

It is long past time to send the MAGA folks home from the halls of our government.

 

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and former guardian who lives in the Village of Kewaskum.

Don’t Ban Healthcare

 Gender Affirming Healthcare Bans Hurt People

 

Despite compelling scientific evidence to the contrary, Wisconsin Republican Legislators, including our own Senator Duey Strobel (R-Saukville) and GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), have introduced a new bill banning gender affirming care for people under the age of 18. The bill targets medical professionals who provide this kind of care with license removal. 

 

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services offers helpful definitions.

 

“A person who is transgender does not conform with gender norms for their biological sex assigned at birth. These norms include:

• Gender identities
• Expressions
• Behaviors

“Being transgender looks different for everyone. For example, some people might:

• Change their bodies with hormones or surgery. Doing so helps align their physical body with their gender identity.
• Express gender in less permanent ways. This includes through clothing, hair, makeup, pronoun usage, and other behaviors.
• Choose not to alter their external appearance at all.

“Ultimately, transgender people want to be treated with respect. They also want to be treated in a way that aligns with their self-identify.”

“Sexual orientation—the sex of people someone is attracted to. Transgender people may identify as heterosexual, bisexual, gay, or lesbian.

“Gender identity—how a person understands their own gender.”

The University of Wisconsin Health Clinic offers comprehensive gender affirming care as do many major healthcare systems serving Wisconsin residents.

 

Republican controlled legislatures across the country continue to put forward bills reducing gender transition services in the face of judicial decisions striking down the bans once they become law. Those who take an oath to support the Constitution should not pass laws that violate the constitutionally protected rights to due process and equal protection of the laws of patients.

 

Democratic legislators and LBGTQI advocacy groups were quick to condemn thislatest GOP intrusion into private medical decisions by parents and children. 

 

The Wisconsin Democratic legislative LBGTQ+ caucus issued the following statement in response to the bill. 

 

“Once again, Republicans are interfering with private medical decisions that belong in the hands of patients and their doctors — not politicians.” 

 

“Every major medical organization – including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Psychological Association – attests that gender-affirming care is safe, medically necessary, and saves lives.

 

“This latest bill demonstrates abject cruelty from Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature. A 2022 national survey by the Trevor Project found that 86% of transgender and nonbinary youth reported negative impacts to their mental health from anti-trans bills.

 

“We remain committed to protecting our LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin and will continue to be a voice for the LGBTQ+ community throughout our state. We will continue to fight to ensure that this bill – and any future legislation that harms LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites – will never become law in Wisconsin.”

 

Based upon a prior veto, Governor Evers will likely veto the bill if it comes to his desk. Earlier this year, Evers vetoed a state budget provision that would have blocked state citizens from receiving Medicaid coverage for certain gender affirming healthcare services.

 

Litigation to block laws banning gender affirming care for youth continues in federal courts in several states. Federal judges blocked similar bans in Arkansas, Montana, Alabama, and Florida. Similar cases are pending in Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, and other states.

 

Given the opposition to these bills and their shaky legal footing, the only apparent reason they keep coming up is to gin up the faltering base of GOP voters ahead of upcoming elections. 

 

It is time for the GOP to stop creating divisive issues that hurt people who need quality healthcare to live. Those given the responsibility for governing all of us need to pay attention to the needs of all of us, not just those who think like them. 

 

It is time to put aside unfounded prejudices about gender and accept that not all of us fall neatly into a binary model. Gender fluidity is real and here to stay. Our legislators need to pass laws that provide quality health care to all and not laws which harm people in need. 

Politics of Destruction

 Politics of Destruction and Power

 

The GOP politics of destruction continues apace here and in the nation’s capital. 

 

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) continues to try and find a path to overturn the last Supreme Court election by threatening to impeach the winner, Justice Janet Protasiewicz, for perfectly proper comments she made on the campaign trail.

 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, under heavy pressure from the Freedom Caucus, launched an impeachment inquiry looking for something that might be grounds to impeach President Biden. 

 

These shenanigans have nothing to do with actual governance in Wisconsin or the country and everything to do with dismantling our democracy in the pursuit of political power.

 

Wisconsin has some of the most gerrymandered legislative districts of any state in the nation. By every legitimate measure, Republicans have drawn districts to prevent any meaningful challenges to incumbent legislators and maintain their grip on legislative power even when a majority of Wisconsin voters elect Democrats in statewide contests. Justice Protasiewicz told it like it is during her campaign, stating her belief that Wisconsin’s legislative district maps are “rigged.” 

 

Wisconsin non-partisan election rules allow candidates to tell voters about their values and beliefs. They do not allow candidates for judicial office to tell voters how they will rule on a particular case or issue. Justice Protasiewicz never crossed that line during her campaign. 

 

Even if she did cross that line, it would not be grounds for impeachment under Wisconsin’s Constitution. Before a Wisconsin public official can be impeached, they must have done something corrupt or committed a crime or misdemeanor. Campaign statements don’t meet either standard. 

 

Recognizing he was on very thin ice with impeachment threats, Speaker Vos pivoted to suggest legislation allowing the non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau to draw new legislative maps that would then be subject to an up or down vote by the sitting legislature. If voted down, the maps would then be drawn again by GOP legislators like those who drew the gerrymandered maps in the first place. Governor Evers rightly condemned the plan as “bogus” and indicated he would veto any bill with those provisions if it hit his desk. 

 

If Vos wanted an impartial group to draw new legislative district maps, there are many ways to get that done, but that would threaten GOP legislative dominance and is a non-starter with his members in their very safe seats. 

 

Meanwhile in the nation’s capital, the GOP controlled House of Representatives is faced with another showdown over keeping the government open and functioning. 

 

Under the deal struck during the last showdown, the government was given funds to keep the lights on which will run out again at the end of this month. The hard right Freedom Caucus believes that McCarthy sold them down the river last time and won’t have it again. They have threatened to withhold approval of any new spending agreement unless McCarthy holds firm to their various demands that would cripple the government anyway. McCarthy holds his position as Speaker subject to any single member being able to call for his replacement. Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) has indicated that unless McCarthy agrees to their demands he will make that call and force a vote on McCarthy’s ouster as Speaker every day.

 

To try and placate the Freedom Caucus, McCarthy reversed course and announced the opening of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden without calling for a vote by the House.  GOP efforts to turn up impeachable evidence of Biden’s alleged corruption over the past nine months have unearthed absolutely nothing to connect the President to his son’s questionable business dealings or anything else of note. 

 

The impeachment smokescreen won’t last long or satisfy the Freedom Caucus whose sole legislative agenda appears to be the destruction of the institutions of government. The spending bills, necessary to keep the government operating, still face an uncertain future as does McCarthy as House Speaker. 

 

Republicans have not begun to grasp that a majority of Americans are fed up with their power grabs and obstructionism when there are real problems and issues which impact our everyday lives that need national and statewide attention. None of the current crop of GOP presidential hopefuls seems able to extricate themselves from the former occupant of the White House and his authoritarian populism.

 

As GOP Utah Senator Mitt Romney noted in announcing he won’t be running for re-election in 2025, it is time for a new younger generation of conservatives to step up and offer constructive solutions to the issues of our time. I expect some will but not until the current GOP finishes digging its own grave in the relentless pursuit of power. 

Celebrate Labor

Celebrate Labor

    Every Day

 

This weekend we celebrate organized labor recognizing the benefits unions have given all of us since they started organizing.

 

We have unions to thank for a five-day work week, time and a half for overtime and double time on holidays. We thank unions for workplace safety, representation during grievance procedures, anti-discrimination employment laws, laws limiting or banning child labor, living wage laws, parental and family leave, domestic partner benefits, employer paid pension and health benefits, minimum wages, farm labor laws, workers compensation benefits, unemployment insurance, equal pay laws, Social Security, sick leave, paid vacation, and the ability to force change by walking off the job.

 

Even if you work in a non-union shop, you probably have some of these protections and benefits because your employer recognizes that his competitor down the street offers them and will lose workers to the competition if he fails to follow suit. 

 

It was not always like this. The Labor Movement started in earnest in the 1920s and 30s and came into its own after World War II as GIs came home to a booming economy. Early efforts to unionize workers was met with fierce resistance in many industries, including the use of armed strike breakers. Men and women died to gain the right to strike which started the process of leveling the playing field in the workplace. 

 

The movement has seen its ups and downs over the decades. The Red scares and communist influences are a thing of the past. Organized crime has been rooted out of major unions like the Teamsters. In recent years as new segments of the workplace are becoming unionized, more and more in service industries and retail establishments are flexing their work withholding muscle to get employers to share the wealth labor produces. It is not surprising that a majority of Americans in recent polls support unions and the right to organize and strike. 

 

Some might say that Labor overplayed its hand in the public sector by aligning with Democrats. When Republicans gained control of states historically favorable to unions and began to scale back collective bargaining rights, we saw new laws like our own Act 10 under then Governor Scott Walker’s administration. Act 10 crippled public sector union strength in Wisconsin and Wisconsin’s economy paid the price. 

 

Public sector workplace morale is at an all-time low. Teachers have felt the gut punch most dramatically as their ability to have a significant say in the conditions of their employment has all but vanished. With bans on strikes in public sector employment in place, many feel powerless to change their lot. Many are leaving those public sector jobs for more secure and lucrative private sector employment. Those that have stayed find their income reduced, their workloads increased and their ability to bargain strictly limited. It does not have to be this way.

 

As Democrats beat back gerrymandered electoral districts and regain control of courts and legislatures, a better balance will hopefully emerge making those public sector jobs attractive once more. The alliances are in place and are slowly becoming reactivated. 

 

This is not to say that organized labor is perfect. In the early days of the emerging movement, efforts were made to get organizers to work on more than wages and working conditions. There were some, like my grandfather, who saw the need for organized labor to get involved with the whole family by promoting and supporting progressive education for workers’ children. Progressive unions like the International Ladies Garment Workers, the Pullman Porters Union and others supported progressive education efforts aimed at teaching students about the benefits of organizing. These fell by the wayside as the American Federation of Labor merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations to become the AFL-CIO and focused organizing efforts on workplace issues. 

 

Current unions are gaining concessions never thought possible with recent strike votes. UPS drivers won significant pay increases, better benefits, and air conditioning in new trucks without having to walk out. Baristas in Starbucks stores across the nation are standing up and getting recognized in the face of union busting efforts by management. Screen writers, actors, and others in entertainment work have been on the line for several months. They are supported by non-striking union members who refuse to cross the picket lines and are making contributions to strike funds so striking workers can feed their families. Time will tell, but as more shows cannot finish filming for lack of scripts or actors to portray the characters those scripts describe, the producers will have to come up with a better division of the wealth the shows produce. 

 

In the end, organized labor is the greatest force ever devised to secure an equitable division of the wealth their labor creates. All it takes is a willingness to say enough is enough and stand up like Norma Rae with a simple sign that says “Union.”