The news biz went crazy both with the TFG's announcement of a target letter setting him up for indictments in his multiple efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and with the superseding indictment in the documents case. It seemed like all they could talk about for the last week and more. But we do not have to follow suit. If you want a more fulsome explanation of one of the elements in the target letter — the one that mentions 18 U. S. C. section 241 — you might want to read An Overlooked January 6 Charge: The “Stop the Count” Scheme by Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann on the Just Security site. The piece looks at how the Justice Department has used the charge in the past and how it applies to the current inquiry.

I would rather look more carefully at the voting patterns from the special election for AD 24. It's a bit of an exercise in reading tea leaves: with the low turnout, it does not necessarily translate into highly likely predictions for the future. But it still shows gains in some of the redder areas of our state. In an email to supporters, Bob Tatterson pointed out that although he lost the overall election (though only by 7%), he did win five of the seven communities in the district. And it's true! He won the Village of Grafton, Mequon, and Menomonee Falls, as well as the Town of Germantown and the one ward of Port Washington in the district. That Port Washington ward is my favorite: there were all of 2 voters and BOTH voted for Bob! I've compiled all the data so you can look at it yourself. Download a pdf of the spreadsheet.

Democrats have made steady gains in the WOW counties in the last several elections. The results from the special election continue that trend. In last week's newsletter, Ben Wikler linked to what we used to call a tweet by Anthony Chergosky, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Chergosky points out that the "district was Trump +24 in 2016, Trump +17 in 2020, and Melotik (the GOP candidate) +7 today." As I said in the last paragraph, comparisons with past elections as a way to understand the political landscape may be skewed by the lighter-than-average turnout. For a special election in the middle of summer, though, the turnout was more robust than expected: in the mid-to-high 20s in three communities in Waukesha and Washington counties and in the mid-30s in the Ozaukee county communities. (Port Washington's one ward, of course, had a turnout of 100%! I'm not counting that as a realistic view of what the future holds.) That trend is an excellent reason not to take too long a break from working toward future elections. The Democratic party is certainly not resting for long. They've scheduled deep canvassing events for at least one weekend a month through November. You'll find the first of these in the North Shore in the Events list.

Deep canvassing is a way of holding conversations with voters when there's no election in the offing and the goal is to elicit voters' concerns. The technique was first developed in 2012 and has been studied since then. Professors David Broockman and Josh Kalla have conducted six studies and "have found that deep canvassing does have measurable effects" (See Deep Canvassing in Wikipedia). For a readable, non-academic account, see Andy Kroll's article Can Millions of Deep Conversations With Total Strangers Beat Trump — and Heal America? in Rolling Stone (July 15, 2020). I'm told the group of voters the party wants to contact have been somewhat neglected of late. And this is a good way to expand the pool of likely voters for 2024. So look for the opportunities near you and sign up for a shift.

Our friends at Swing Left Milwaukee are working closely with WisDems on bridge building canvasses this summer and fall. You can join their group for a weekend of action on August 19-20, where they'll be talking to voters we don't have as much data on yet – which will be crucial to laying the groundwork for 2024. If you can't make it this time but you're interested in working in Bay View or other city areas, join Swing Left Milwaukee's group email list to stay in the loop on future ways to get involved with voter registration, canvassing, phone banking, letter writing, and texting. Please sign up if you'd like to try it in Bay View. For more information, contact Dale Nook, 414-690-0311.

And in joyous news, Judge Janet Protasiewicz becomes Justice Janet Protasiewicz today. The investiture ceremony is completely booked, unfortunately. So if you have not already RSVP'd, it's too late. But even if you can't watch her "fly up" as it were, you know that her presence on the Supreme Court of Wisconsin (SCOWI) foretells legal rulings that will impact many lives in our state. A lawsuit challenging our partisan voting maps is likely to be filed within days of the investiture. And because the suit basically appeals an earlier SCOWI ruling, it will go directly to the Supreme Court without the lower courts ruling first. If the court is reasonably expeditious, Wisconsin could have new maps — presumably both congressional and state assembly/senate maps — before candidates for those offices will have to begin circulating nomination papers in spring 2024. Election maps that define more competitive districts will begin to reshape the sour politics we have endured in this state since Scott Walker's first election. And wouldn't that be welcome!

A fun blog post on Daily Kos Monday, quotes from the judge who dismissed TFG's suit that argued to quash the report of the Georgia Special Grand Jury and "demanded that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis be barred from prosecuting any cases against him, claiming she is biased." Both the demand to burn the report and to remove D.A. Willis from the case were denied. The footnotes to the opinion are priceless. For example, the blogger notes that in footnote five, the judge uses an idiom — "a blot on an escutcheon" — that derives from the heraldic shield, also known as an escutcheon, and means a stain on one's reputation. The full context of the remark is "in this situation, movants overwrought allegations of prosecutorial overreach and judicial error do not suffice to show there is a significant risk of a ‘wrongful’ indictment (or even a blot on an escutcheon)." On pages 7-8, he quotes this passage: "The drumbeat from the District Attorney has been neither partisan (in the political sense) nor personal, in marked and refreshing contrast to the stream of personal invective flowing from one of the movants." We don't even need to guess who he means.

Finally today, I leave you with this bit of wisdom from Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo. By Every Imaginable Measure, Trump Crushing GOP Primary Race. Marshall begins, "the Times is out today with a poll that is absolutely devastating for Ron DeSantis. But in truth it is devastating for every Republican candidate not named Donald Trump. It is only devastating for DeSantis inasmuch as he is the only candidate who appears to be in the race at all rather than running what amounts to a novelty or lifestyle campaign." In a head-to-head comparison of TFG and DeSantis, the poll asks whether a specific word better describes *rump or what Marshall dubs "the Jebbite" candidate (a reference to the Jeb Bush campaign in 2016). DeSantis has his best showing with "likable" and "moral." But Marshal focuses on "fun," unpacking what TFG supporters take it to mean:

I think Marshall is right on the money. No number of indictments, civil suits, or convictions will derail that candidacy. We need to get and stay busy to defeat him here in Wisconsin.

PS: Someone left a black sweater at the July 9 Grassroots North Shore event at Doctors Park. It's a Chico’s Size 1 Black Rayon/Polyester Sweater. If this belongs to you, please email or call Ginny Goode: [email protected], (414) 460-5686. Thank you.

Here's a piece of Wisconsin news I bet you didn't know. Last Thursday, July 20, the Elias Law Group — "a mission-driven firm committed to helping Democrats win, citizens vote, and progressives make change" — filed a lawsuit to "once again allow voters to return absentee ballots in drop boxes, a practice that was barred by the state Supreme Court last year following criticism by former President Donald Trump." The suit filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission will begin in Dane County circuit court but is probably destined to end up at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It argues that barring drop boxes "severely burdens the right to vote." It also argues that a requirement that absentee ballots be signed by a witness also constrains voting illegally. The AP has the story.

Of course the make-up of the Wisconsin Supreme Court (SCOWI) is about to change in a way that may make a difference to a host of voting rights and laws governing elections. Justice Janet Protaseiwicz will be invested on Tuesday, August 1, at 4:30pm in the State Capitol. She's been a great friend of Grassroots North Shore. She even showed up for our event in Doctors Park on Sunday, July 9. So the least we can do for her is to show up in Madison to cheer her on. You can RSVP for the investiture and the reception that will be held on Monona Terrace. I hope a few of you, at least, will make it.

As you no doubt know by now, Bob Tatterson was defeated in the special election for Assembly District 24 last week. This election was always going to be a tough one, dependent on our ability to turn out our voters and hoping that the opposition would kind of sleep through this one. But there are some incredibly bright spots in the data. As Ben Wikler wrote in his Weekly News email, there are three great reasons to celebrate Bob's loss. First, Wikler links to a Twitter post by Anthony Chergosky (whom I've never heard of): "The GOP held this Assembly seat in a special election today, but this is another data point showing the shifts in the suburban WOW counties of Wisconsin. The district was Trump +24 in 2016, Trump +17 in 2020, and Melotik (the GOP candidate) +7 today." Wikler's second reason looks to future elections because the extensive canvassing the Democrats accomplished "found people who rarely vote, but when they do, they vote for Democrats" and also "found people who used to vote Republican, but now feel that the GOP has gone off the deep end." The third reason is so far just a hope: that what he terms "cartoonishly rigged district lines may be redrawn before the elections in 2024." If that happens and the result is even a somewhat competitive district, I'm betting Bob will run again. AND WIN!

Meanwhile, in Michigan legal news, the 16 fraudulent "electors" have been indicted on eight felony counts each last week. The charges include "forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery" among others. One of them, Michele Lundgren, claims she was duped. You can see a WDIV 4 news report on YouTube. Lundgren's version is undermined somewhat by the fact that she and three others "appeared at the state Capitol on December 14, 2020, with then-state Rep. Daire Rendon, who said the 'electors' were there to cast their votes." In the video of the face-off at the state capitol, we can hear several people in the group claiming to be "electors." The indictments in Michigan are the first to accuse any of the fraudulent electors of crimes. Georgia is still investigating but has given eight fake electors immunity deals "in an ongoing criminal investigation into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election there" (CNN politics, May 5,2023). It's not clear why Attorney General Kaul is not pursuing the matter in Wisconsin.

In another promising development, the Michigan Bureau of Elections — the equivalent of our Wisconsin Elections Commission — has notified the Shelby Township clerk, one Stan Grot, that he is now "prohibited from administering elections" while the felony charges stemming from his participation in the fake electors scheme are still pending. According to the AP, "conducting elections is one of the primary duties of a clerk. Grot is an elected official and will continue in his other roles as township clerk, such as preparing agendas and recording meetings." And Grot is not alone. Tina Peters, a former clerk in Colorado, is accused of trying to "breach voting system technology that is used across the country following the 2020 election." And then there's Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump, who was removed from his elected position as a county commissioner for his role in the January 6 insurrection. The case is important because it is so far the only time "an elected official has been removed from office for their participation or support of the US Capitol riot. It also marks the first time a judge has formally ruled that the events of January 6, 2021, were an 'insurrection' (CNN politics, September 6, 2022)."

TAKING ACTION

We should all be luxuriating in this relatively quiet period in Wisconsin, absent any elections until February 20, 2024. That will be the primary for non-partisan positions, like judges, county boards, school boards, village and town boards and the like. The general spring election AND presidential preference primary will be held on April 2. We'll be trying to keep our fingers on the various pulses out there in the meantime. But issue advocacy never ends. And to that end, it's important that as many people as possible stay engaged. One thing you can do is call or write voters in Ohio to urge the defeat of Issue 1 appearing on their ballots on August 8 (two weeks from today). Make calls with various groups by signing up here. Write letters with Vote Forward by signing up on the Vote Forward site.

Another thing you can do, right here in Milwaukee, is attend a planning meeting the League of Progressive Seniors is holding on Friday, July 28, to figure out how to be a "presence" at the first GOP debate here in Milwaukee on August 23. The planning meeting is being held at Knickerbocker Condos, 1028 East Juneau Avenue, Milwaukee, at 11:30am. Come with your ideas. But let Patty Yunk, 414-218-1299, know you're coming so there will be a lunch for you.

THE BAD AND THE UGLY MEET THE GOOD

Turning to the future, we can already see some worrying things and some really bright spots without even considering the excited pronouncements every day about federal and state indictments coming for TRE45ON any day now. Among the clouds on the horizon: the No Labels organization — in some contexts on some days a political party but on other days just a simple organization proposing various "common sense" ideas. It styles itself as "an insurance policy" and says it should be welcomed as an expansion of choices for Americans. But do not be fooled. While I'm not altogether sure what their end goal is, it's pretty clear that if they manage to get on the ballot in November 2024 in the "swing states" and enough other states, they could make a difference in the outcome.

As many political pundits have warned, though, its Third-Whatever (Party?) is really A Plan that Will Re-elect Trump. Third Way, which is also a centrist group, points out that the No Labels plan is "offering an illusion, not a choice" (March 7, 2023). While No Labels spokespeople and publicity claim that the "moderate independent ticket has a real and viable path to victory," the Third Way folks beg to differ. "Rather than producing a third-party ticket that would defy the overwhelming odds and win, No Labels is on track to field a spoiler who would re-elect Trump or a Trump-like Republican. Problem Solver Democrats, close allies of No Labels, are reported to be 'in open revolt' over their 2024 plans, because it’s so clear they would hurt Democrats and help Trump." The election is still over a year away but it's never too early to recognize danger and to organize to avert it.

In very bright news, two different publications point out that young voters actually vote, unlike many of the generations that came before them. Celinda Lake and Mac Heller write: "2024 won’t be a Trump-Biden replay. You can thank Gen Z for that." They base their prognostication on the demographic changes that have taken place since 2016. So "between Trump’s election in 2016 and the 2024 election, the number of Gen Z (born in the late 1990s and early 2010s) voters will have advanced by a net 52 million against older people. That’s about 20 percent of the total 2020 eligible electorate of 258 million Americans." They go on to show that Gen Z, unlike previous Gens, vote. The Washington Post op-ed is gifted to you, so go ahead and read it all.

More recently "‘This Is a Really Big Deal’: How College Towns Are Decimating the GOP" also looks at younger voters, starting with what happened in Dane County in April. The American Communities Project produces typologies of US counties, among which are 171 counties that are considered college towns.

It's no wonder that Cleta Mitchell, a *rump lawyer and MAGA political operative, is urging conservatives to "band together to limit voting on college campuses, same-day voter registration and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters" (Washington Post, April 20, 2023).

Finally, just a heads up about two initiatives on the horizon: this fall the Democratic Party of Wisconsin will begin some weekend canvasses to reach people the party hasn't talked to recently. The goal, of course, is to expand the Democratic electorate. The party will be doing "deep canvassing," an issue-oriented technique designed to elicit voters' concerns so that they can be addressed. You'll hear more about that from me in coming newsletters. Grassroots North Shore is also considering calling people in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington counties who are being purged from the voter rolls. Our goal is to reach people who want to be registered to vote next year and to help them do what is needed. Keep these two initiatives in mind as you make plans for September, October, and November.

Today is Election Day for the special election in Assembly District 24, a seat formerly held by the odious Dan Knodl. We should know by 9 or 10pm how this race came out. But I'm very hopeful. As I was hosting the North Shore canvass on Saturday, I learned that the Democratic Party had managed to get to the third pass of every turf in the district! That means each walk list went out three times, with the people a canvasser had already reached removed. Clearly coverage was outstanding and the number and commitment of volunteers must have been off the charts!

Grassroots North Shore's work included sending almost 6000 postcards and making almost that many phone calls — an outstanding effort for our hardy band. So a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who wrote, called and/or canvassed. Win or lose, and we hope it's WIN, we worked our tails off.

Our Wisconsin election cycles for the year may have drawn to a close, but there's always an election somewhere it seems. And on August 8, a weird election will determine the state of democracy in Ohio. The Republican-controlled legislature has concocted an Ohio constitutional amendment that would raise the percent of yes votes needed to pass a citizen-initiated referendum from 50%+1 to 60%. I wrote about this in last week's newsletter so I won't belabor the topic now. But I did want to reiterate that we should be helping to defeat the referendum called Issue 1. It's a ridiculous notion, of course, that voters would want to exercise less power in the future than they have now! There are two ways to help.

1. Volunteer to write letters to Ohioans with Vote Forward. The letters target young women. You can visit the Vote Forward guide for this project. And you can create a Vote Forward account to sign up. The organization will provide you with a template for your letter. As of this afternoon, the organization had 36,000 names and addresses that had not yet been assigned to a letter-writer. Letters need to be in the mail by August 1. So get cracking!
   
   
2. The Ohio Democratic Party, Indivisible Chicago, and a group of volunteers in DC are all holding phonebanks over the next two weeks. They're generally 2 hours long and in the early evenings. Training is included for those who've never participated in a phonebank before. Sign up with the group of your choice and make some calls for democracy.

The Ohio Issue 1 referendum is only one of a legion of voter restrictions passed or proposed all over the country. All of these efforts are concerning, but one state in particular has prompted the Guardian, a British publication, to publish Ten years of a crippled Voting Rights Act: how states make it harder to vote about the "wave of voter suppression across the country" the Roberts Supreme Court unleashed when the court ruled in 2013 that section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) was unconstitutional. As predicted, "states once covered by section 5 pre-clearance have enacted new laws requiring voters to show ID, cutting early voting, making it harder to vote by mail, aggressively removing voters from the rolls and implementing maps that blunt the electoral power of Black and Hispanic voters."

However, as Thomas Edsall argues in an op-ed in the New York Times on July 12, "within hours of the Shelby decision [to strike section 5 of the VRA as unconstitutional], Republicans announced plans both to enforce laws that had been blocked by the federal government and to pass laws designed to prevent Democrats from casting ballots." He goes on to ask "How effective has the onslaught of state-level legislation been at raising the odds for Republican candidates?" And his answer is not very. But the jury is still out. The rest of the article asks various election law experts to evaluate two key articles exploring the issue. Read the whole thing to understand the heat suppressive voting laws provoke and the light, if any, studying the outcomes has produced.

In a win that I hope is a harbinger of a similar outcome in Wisconsin, the New Mexico Supreme Court Rules That State Courts Can Review Partisan Gerrymandering Claims. The plaintiffs in the case contend that the partisan gerrymander violates the New Mexico constitution because the map currently both divides communities and splits counties and cities unnecessarily. It results, they say, in an unconstitutional gerrymander that achieves a partisan end. The court agreed and provided a standard for a lower court to apply to determine whether any given map amounts to a partisan gerrymander.

While I'm on the subject of voting and voting rights, you should know that National Voter Registration Day this year will be Tuesday, September 19. Grassroots North Shore will undoubtedly be participating in some voter registration activities that day and will want your help. So stay tuned for more information.

Right now, though, you can and should volunteer with the Democratic Party of Ozaukee County to staff their booth at the Ozaukee Fair, August 2 - 6. You can sign up for shifts here. As of this writing, the party needs help setting up on Tuesday, August 1, a Day Captain for Wednesday, August 2, and three or four shifts covered for each day of the fair.

In the same vein, volunteers are needed to staff the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County State Fair Booth, from August 3 - 13. It's important that we represent Democratic Party values, find volunteers to win elections, give our friends the information they need, and let the other side know we're not going away. The issues we face in the future are crucial and we will have the opportunity to come in contact with thousands of people during our time at the fair.  Sign up for a shift. There are 3 shifts per day: 10:00am - 2:00pm; 2:00 - 6:00pm; 6:00 - 9:00pm. You will be mailed a free admission ticket for each shift!!! Your contribution and effort to help make our booth a success is appreciated. If you have questions or problems with sign-up, contact Mary Jonker or call 262-497-4672.

I'm sure you've all seen or heard that TRE45ON received a letter from special counsel Jack Smith on Sunday announcing that he is the target of a DC grand jury investigation of the January 6, 2021, insurrection and the events that led up to it. May actual indictment(s) follow swiftly. And today, Judge Aileen Cannon is holding a hearing to try to sort out issues around the classified documents and the date for a trial in the so-called documents case. According to the Washington Post, Judge Cannon "did not set any new date for the trial, saying she would consider both sides’ arguments and make a decision on the timing 'promptly.'" Plus DA Fani Willis is still on track to issue charging decisions in the Fulton County, Georgia, investigation in the next few weeks. It's probably time to stock up on popcorn, folks.

Now is the summer of our .... writing letters to Ohio? Yep. Wisconsin does not have any more elections (knock wood) until February, 2024. But we cannot afford to estivate (i.e., go to sleep for the next 6 months). There's always an election somewhere, right? And while we cannot chase our tails about each and every one, the referendum taking place in Ohio is so important to our democracy that we should not pass it up.

Here's what's going on. The Ohio legislature — which like ours is totally gerrymandered and a wholly owned subsidiary of the MAGA mob — wants the voters of Ohio to amend the state's constitution so that it becomes harder for citizen-initiated proposals to pass. In Ohio, amendments to the constitution can either be legislature-referred or be citizen-initiated. Currently both types of proposed amendments require 50%+1 yes votes to be approved. The August 8 referendum — a legislative-referred amendment proposal — would change three rules for passing a citizen-initiated amendment.

According to Wikipedia, a YES vote would mean:

• Increasing the number of counties from which signatures are required to get an amendment on the ballot from 44 counties (50%) to all 88 counties (100%).
• Removing the 10-day cure period to fix any errors in the collected signatures.
• Increasing the passing percentage from 50%+1 of the vote to 60% on citizen-initiated referendums, but keeping the passing percentage at 50%+1 of the vote for legislature-initiated referendums.

A NO vote on Issue 1 keeps the Ohio Constitution as is:

• Keeps the number of counties from which signatures are required to get an amendment on the ballot at 44 counties (50%).
• Keeps the 10-day cure period to fix any errors in the collected signatures.
• Maintains the passing percentage of a citizen-initiated referendum at a simple majority (50%+1 vote).
• Does not create a difference between citizen-initiated referendums and legislature-initiated referendums.

Although the legislature SAYS this proposal is not aimed at any particular issue, it's clear that it's an attempt to stop Ohio voters from passing an amendment that "would establish a state constitutional right to 'make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,' including decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy" (Ballotpedia). The groups working to get an abortion rights amendment on the Ohio constitution "delivered nearly double the number of signatures needed to place an amendment on the fall statewide ballot, aiming to signal sweeping widespread support for an issue that still faces the threat of needing a significantly increased victory margin" (PBS News Hour, July 5, 2023). This sort of protection for women's rights is pretty popular in Ohio, as it has been elsewhere. But maybe not popular enough to pass a 60% threshold.

Needless to say, the proposed amendment is a direct and potent hit on Ohio citizens' ability to change their constitution. As Common Cause Ohio notes, the legislatively-referred constitutional amendment "is an attempt by powerful legislators to fool voters into giving away their power, so politicians can get what they want, instead of what the people want. Eliminating majority rule would mean that a minority of voters could override the will of the people, and would strengthen the power of the state legislature at the expense of the voters."

• Increasing the number of votes to pass a citizen-initiated amendment from 50%+1 to 60% simply means that a minority of citizens can block what a majority of citizens want.
• Requiring petition signatures from all 88 counties, instead of the 44 now needed, means that one county can prevent a petition from appearing on the ballot even if the people in the other 87 counties want it.
• Passing this constitutional amendment would give the legislature more power and would seriously undermine citizens' rights, taking one more giant step away from our representative democracy.

Two other states, Arkansas and South Dakota, placed similar measures on the ballot. And both were defeated. 

The effort in Ohio is just one of many ways to create and bolster minority rule. We've seen efforts to reduce voter turnout among college students (Cleta Mitchell saying the quiet part out loud) and to suppress the votes of minority communities (Robert Spindell, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, crowing about the work Republicans did to suppress the Black and Hispanic vote in Milwaukee).

At the federal level, the structure of the Senate and the Electoral College both work against majority rule. Wyoming, with its population of fewer than 600,000, has as many senators as California, with a population of nearly 39 million. So their voting power in the US Senate is the same. And because the number of votes in the Electoral College each state receives is a sum of the number of the state's Representatives in the House plus the two to account for the US senators, the representational weight of one vote in a small population state — like Wyoming (3), Delaware (3), West Virgina (4), Rhode Island (4) and many others — is much greater than the representational weight of one vote in a populous state like California (54).

In his book, Laboratories of Autocracy, David Pepper "explains how gerrymandering in 2010 has fueled a decade of corruption and rigged elections" (The Cascadia Advocate, February 27, 2022). And gerrymandering is a big piece of why the Ohio legislature wants to pass its anti-democratic constitutional change. The result of aggressive partisan gerrymandering is a legislature full of unaccountable legislators, representatives who are virtually unbeatable at the ballot box. Since these people face no credible competition, they are free to pass legislation that the majority of a state's citizens oppose. And when the governor of the state comes from the same political party, the hateful legislation becomes law. In Wisconsin, exactly this process brought us Act 10! In Wisconsin's November 2024 election, Democrats won 53% of the votes overall for the Assembly but Republicans sit in 63 of the 99 seats because our state's election maps skew that heavily toward Republican districts.

SO TAKE ACTION. This is the final week of the special election in Assembly District 24. Election Day is Tuesday, July 18. Grassroots North Shore sent out almost 6,000 postcards and has made the same number of phone calls to promote Democrat Bob Tatterson to fill the currently open seat. The Events list below is chock full of opportunities to canvass for him in Germantown, Grafton, Menomonee Falls, and Mequon. For those of us in the North Shore, there's a convenient staging location for you to pick up a list and some lit. So don't sit on your hands this weekend or on Monday and Tuesday next week. Click on a link and take a step (really a bunch of them) to make Wisconsin's legislature a bit better!

OK, so maybe like me you can no longer canvass the way you once did. Here's something else you can do. Help out in Ohio. Vote Forward has mounted a letter-writing campaign to urge citizens in Ohio to vote "no" on Issue 1 in the special election on August 8. The organization provides the names and addresses as well as a template for your letters. Why is this organization engaged in trying to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment? Here's their answer: "Vote Forward is engaging in this special election because this proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution is an attack on democracy, and on the power of every Ohioan's vote. We're making sure voters understand what's at stake in this special election, and encouraging young women voters in particular to turn out and vote to make their voices heard." You can take part in this important effort to strengthen democracy in Ohio. Read the Vote Forward instructions and then sign up! (The sample letter on the page is the one they use for regular elections, not the referendum in Ohio.) Early voting has already started in Ohio. So there's no time to lose!

Last week, I announced I was not going to produce a newsletter this week. But I've changed my mind. Partly that was because I wanted one more chance to encourage you to sign up and attend our Grassroots North Shore party — To US: A Celebration of our nation's 247th birthday. John Nichols will treat us to a no-doubt rousing speech, inspiring us with hope for the 2024 elections. John leads an extraordinary life as the National Editor of The Nation and as Editor of Wisconsin's own progressive publication, Capitol Times. In addition, he's a frequent guest on MSNBC and the author of many political books. In short he has the perfect blend of national and Wisconsin political knowledge. Don't pass up this chance to hear him live.

The party — complete with cake and beverages — will also feature Bob Tatterson, the Democratic candidate for Assembly District 24. We need to get him over the finish line to prevent our local MAGA types from ramming through their "election integrity" schemes designed to keep them in power forever! (We did dodge a bullet on that one, which I explain in more depth below.) The party will be held on Sunday, July 9, at Doctors Park (1870 E Fox Lane) in Fox Point, from 3:30 - 5:30pm. So sign up, bring your friends and families and some lawn chairs!

A more pressing reason for wanting to write this newsletter, though, was the avalanche of Supreme Court rulings that were released last week. Many of us were deeply worried about the outcome of Moore v. Harper, a case that asked the Supreme Court to find that state legislatures and only state legislatures could determine the rules for federal elections. The plaintiffs in the case wanted the court to interpret the Elections clause of the Constitution to mean that state courts and governors could have no role in drawing congressional districts, determining who is eligible to vote, how ballots can be distributed and returned, and many more issues. And their plenary (or total) power in this area would hold even if they violate their own state's constitution. As Richard Hasen, a prominent constitutional and election law scholar, put it in an article in Slate (June 27, 2023), the ruling "made clear that legislatures do not have this free-floating power, and that one must understand the legislature’s power within the ordinary system of state government, including judicial review." (That's the bullet we dodged: the court's complete denial of what is known as the Independent State Legislature Theory.)

Nevertheless, Hasen finds a black cloud in what is otherwise a huge relief. "In the last part of his majority opinion for the court, the chief justice got the liberal justices to sign on to a version of judicial review that is going to give the federal courts, and especially the Supreme Court itself, the last word in election disputes." In essence, Hasen points out that the kind of ruling that the US Supreme Court issued in the Bush v. Gore and that awarded Florida's Electoral College votes to Bush was precedent-setting. "The Supreme Court has now set itself up, with the assent of the liberal justices, to meddle in future elections, perhaps to even decide the outcome of future presidential elections (as it has done in the past)."

There were a few other rulings the court released last week that were pleasant surprises for progressives:

1. In Allen v. Milligan, SCOTUS upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, barring "election practices that result in a denial or abridgement of the right to vote based on race." The ruling requires Alabama to redraw its congressional district map to create two congressional districts, not just the one majority minority district in the current map. Both of these districts must have a reasonable chance to elect representatives that voters in minority communities prefer.
2. In Haaland v. Brackeen, the court upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act, meaning that it is constitutional to seek to keep Native American children with Native American families rather than separating them from their families and preferring to place Native American children who have to be removed from their families either with extended family or with foster families who are also Native American.
3. In US v. Texas, the court ruled that Texas and Louisiana lack standing to challenge the Secretary of Homeland Security's guidelines for immigration enforcement.

There were several other big cases whose reactionary decisions were handed down at the end of June. They included Biden v. Nebraska, a ruling that the Secretary of Education does not have authority under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act to set up a loan forgiveness system. President Biden is seeking to ground his proposed program on a different law.

In two cases, Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, the court held that the affirmative action admissions programs violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, an amendment whose purpose was and is to allow remedies for the harms and disadvantages that flowed from slavery — not to protect those already privileged! In essence, selective schools may no longer use race even as a factor in admission decisions, striking down all affirmative action programs in college admissions. (For an interesting view of how affirmative action has affected college admissions nationwide, see this article in the New York Times today. I've gifted it to you so you won't have to breach the paywall.)

And of course, the court ruled, designing a wedding website, like baking a wedding cake, is an act of free speech. Therefore the wannabe web designer who has yet to design anyone's wedding site is free to discriminate against hypothetical same sex couples who have yet to request one from her business that also does not yet exist (303 Creative LLC v. Elenis). The implications of this ruling go far beyond websites, wedding cakes, and the LGBTQ+ community. It might be used as the thin edge of a wedge, with potential application to interracial marriage and other civil rights!

Because there does not seem to be a viable path to reforming the structure of the US Supreme Court — such as expanding the number of justices, imposing term limits, and other proposals to rein in some of the worst outcomes — our only recourse is to win more elections. Seriously. At every level of government and at every opportunity. It will be a long hard slog to wrest control of the court from the radical right, but we have no choice. So, we have a special election in AD24 that needs everyone's help. You'll find the Events listings overflowing with opportunities to canvass for Bob Tatterson. Please help if you can.

Last week the newsletter was late; this week it's early. And that's because I want to make sure you have an opportunity to attend Bob Tatterson's event from 5:30 to 7:00 on Monday, June 26, at SIP MKE (1515 W Mequon Rd, Mequon). You'll find the full description in the first item of the Events list. But you can also RSVP right here.

Also, if you have not yet signed up for To US: A Celebration of our nation's 247th birthday, you should. The event will be held outdoors in Doctors Park (1870 E Fox Lane, Fox Point) on Sunday, July 9 beginning at 3:30pm, and will feature one of Grassroots North Shore's favorite speakers, John Nichols. John is the National Editor for The Nation, Madison Editor of the Capitol Times, author of Dollarocracy and other books, and the Voice of Wisconsin Progressivism. And he always gives us inspiration to carry on the work of educating and persuading voters who care about the future of Wisconsin and the country.

Bob Tatterson will also be on hand and will speak at the birthday event. He's a terrific candidate with a real chance to win in this low, low, low turnout election to be held on July 18. So come out to cheer him on. Please RSVP so we'll know you're coming to the party. Bring a lawn chair and your family and friends.

And speaking of the special election in Assembly District 24, today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel publishes a piece about Tatterson's opponent that reveals his reaction to a costume competition in 2001. The winner wore an Aunt Jemima costume complete with blackface makeup! At the time, Paul Melotik "seemed less than outraged about the whole situation when he was interviewed several days later." When asked about it now, he basically shrugged and said he had noting to do with the Water Street Halloween party, even though at the time he was president of the Water Street Tavern and Restaurant Association, which sponsored the event and provided the $1,000 prize for the winner. At the end of the article, Daniel Bice writes: "At the very least would Melotik acknowledge that it's highly inappropriate for someone to don blackface while dressing up as Aunt Jemima? Nearly everyone agrees with that now, right?" Melotik finally coughs up a yes.

Another event you really shouldn't miss is the North Shore Fair Maps meeting on Monday, July 10, at 7:00pm on Zoom. The featured speaker is David Pepper, former chair of the Ohio Democrats and author of two books on the state of our nation and what we can do about it. The first book, Laboratories of Autocracy explores the ways statehouses have been undermining the democracies they were supposed to nurture. His most recent book, Saving Democracy: A User's Manual for every American, is exactly what the title says. You may have seen him recently on MSNBC discussing his latest. Our wonderful Lieutenant Governor, Sara Rodriguez will also attend the meeting. So sign up.

On the little matter of the fake electors in Wisconsin: in his weekly newsletter to Wisconsin Democrats, Ben Wikler writes: "From a slew of fake electors to the chief election denier himself, election conspiracy theorists were out in full force at the Wisconsin GOP’s convention last weekend, demonstrating that even years after Trump’s loss, the Republican Party is still dominated by the toxic election denialism that is profoundly alienating to Wisconsin voters."

Meanwhile, as our home state MAGAs parade around their state convention, it seems that Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating both the Mar-a-lago documents case and the January 6 case, has ramped the latter investigation. He's granted limited immunity to at least two of the fakes, from Nevada, and is compelling others to testify to the grand jury by the end of this month. CNN Politics notes, "That activity could signal that investigators are nearing at least some charging decisions in a part of the 2020 election probe." Also, the Department of Justice (i.e., Smith) has filed a motion in the documents case requesting that the trial date be set for December 11 this year. The postponement, the motion states, will allow enough time for TFG's lawyers to obtain the necessary levels of security clearance (see this piece in Reuters). And apparently the counsel's office expects the trial to be completed before Christmas.

There's a lot to say about the third party candidates as well as the also-rans in the GOP gearing up their campaigns and I will do a more comprehensive account of them in July. But an important item about Robert Kennedy, Jr., who has already declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination, is in the news right now. A few days ago Rolling Stone published "Pro-RFK Jr. Super PAC Has Deep Ties to Marjorie Taylor Greene, George Santos." The authors note that "There’s nothing abnormal about a candidate getting a Super PAC, even a candidate making a long-shot bid like Kennedy’s. What is abnormal, however, is that Kennedy is running as a Democrat in the Democratic primary, while the creators of the Super PAC have a deeply pro-Donald Trump bent — including ties to arch-MAGA officials such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, George Santos, and Herschel Walker." The article goes on to note: "It’s not just one MAGAfied Super PAC, however, that’s backing Kennedy’s run against President Biden in the Democratic primary. His bid is awash in support from Donald Trump’s allies in MAGA World, conservative media, and some of the Republican-donor elite." The point of this not-so-subtle GOP engagement is to make President Biden look weak by attracting a substantial number of votes during the primaries. Don't fall for it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July Holiday. I will be home by then but plan to take a one-week vacation from the Grassroots North Shore newsletter. So the next time you hear from me — unless there's another coup in Russia or we're in the path of an oncoming asteroid — will be on Tuesday, July 11.

Safe Schools Rally Resources

Moms Demand Action

Sign up for Advocacy Day, Tuesday, October 17, 2023, in Madison

Learn more and join Moms Demand Action

Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort

Sign up for Lobby Day on Sept 21, 2023, in Madison

Brady Campaign

Sign up for Lobby Day on Sept 21, 2023, in Madison

Messaging Resources:

• A new playbook for ending gun violence

• PROGRESSIVE PLAYBOOK > GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

• Alliance for Gun Responsibility

I apologize for the late newsletter. I'm currently 'on vacation' and trying to keep up with my 6-year-old grandchild. So I was just too tired yesterday to get to this. But I'm here now!

The Fourth of July is rushing toward us and that means our next Grassroots North Shore event is also coming up quickly. We're holding a celebration for our nation's 247th birthday. In my family, we celebrate important occasions on the correct date if possible, but any nearby date that's convenient will also do. And that's what we're doing — on July 9, beginning at 3:30 at Doctors Part, 1870 E Fox Lane, Fox Point. We'll have cake, of course, but the big deal is what will no doubt be a rousing speech by John Nichols (National Editor for The Nation, Madison Editor of the Capitol Times, author of Dollarocracy and other books, and the Voice of Wisconsin Progressivism). If you've never heard John speak, you're in for a real treat. And if you have, you won't want to miss it. Sign up here.

The event — To US — will also feature Bob Tatterson, our candidate for an open seat for Assembly District 24. It's paramount to win this special election on July 18 to flip the district from its red history to a blue new day. And if we succeed, we will strengthen our ability to thwart MAGA Republicans in our legislature from attacking our fundamental freedoms. So enjoy beverages and birthday cake and spend time with others gathered to make a difference in our state and country. Bring a lawn chair and like-minded friends and family. And celebrate our stunning victory in April and the good work we're going to do together in the upcoming year.

Speaking of Bob Tatterson, he's about to make an order for yard signs and could use some help, both with funding and with distribution of the signs when they arrive. You could also canvass in the district. We'll do our best to pair you with a driver or another canvasser to make the effort faster and more enjoyable. We're only contacting people who are strong Democrats because, in a super low turnout election like this one, the key is turning out Democratic voters. The reports we've heard from the field so far is that few people we contact even know an election is happening! With your help, we can make sure that they know and that they vote.

The legislature looks poised to undermine Wisconsin's upcoming elections by failing to confirm Megan Wolfe to a second term as our election administrator. The election administrator is nominated by the Wisconsin Election Commission and must then be confirmed by the state Senate. For her first term, now ending, she was confirmed unanimously but now, of course, MAGA "politicians who helped sow the seeds of doubt about Wisconsin election results could reset election dynamics in a state pivotal to the 2024 presidential race" (ProPublica, June 15, 2023). If Wolfe is not retained, we will have a new administrator, one who is not as experienced as Wolfe and who might be, as the ProPublica article points out, "a staunch partisan or an election denier, tilting oversight of the state’s voting operations."

If we can be hopeful for a moment though, we might squint and see a slight decline in TFG's standing in his party. On June 15, Daily Kos ran Turns out crime doesn't pay: Trump's fundraising slides by Mark Sumner. It seems that not only did the indictments fail to boost his popularity, "the indictments weren’t even good for Trump when it comes to his wallet. Every time Trump gets in trouble, his well-oiled outrage machine reaches out to his massive email list with a cash ask." Yesterday, CNN reported that "his support has declined, as have positive views of him among Republican and Republican-leaning voters" and that "most Americans approve of Trump’s indictment stemming from his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office." The poll shows that among independents, Democrats and others outside the Republican party, "these [federal] charges are broadly viewed as disqualifying."

And on that uplifting note, I'll finish with this: please participate in at least one of the activities planned in our area over the next two weeks. Saturday, June 24, is especially replete with postive ways you can voice your concerns and support for a worthy cause, including a NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION with Reproductive Justice Action-Milwaukee at Red Arrow Park. Have a serious look at the Events list.

In last week's newsletter, I speculated that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — the only remaining mechanism in the VRA that could still be used to challenge election maps — would be declared unconstitutional or at least further curtailed. I'm overjoyed to tell you that I was wrong. In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh joined Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson in the majority. Because this momentous decision was released Thursday, June 8, it was overshadowed by the announcement that a grand jury had issued an indictment of the former president. NPR had a great account of the decision and what it means for Alabama and for minority communities in other states.

The indictment has dominated the news for days. Tuesday afternoon TRE45ON will be arraigned in Miami. No doubt everything will be obsessively filmed for posterity, including the transportation that brings him to and whisks him away from the court house. He's scheduled to rant that evening at 7:15 CDT from his Bedminster abode. I don't know which news outlets, other than Fox, Newsmax, and OAN, will carry it live. Because the indictment's had such thorough coverage, I'm not going to discuss it today. You can read the pdf of the whole 49-page document. It's meticulous and detailed but still an easy (and enjoyable!) read.

Instead, I want to alert you to an ongoing threat to our next presidential election, a threat almost no one has yet heard of: No Labels, a 501c4 organization aiming to put a third party candidate for president on the ballot in all 50 states and all voting US territories. Reasonable, commonsense, bipartisan governance is the way No Labels presents itself. And that sounds great, doesn't it? But it's a trap that will help elect TFG — a.k.a, the former guy. The organization has produced a map that purports to show how the No Labels nominee will win at least 270 electoral college votes. A memo from another nonprofit group, the Third Way, has written extensively on the effort. See Does No Labels’ Math and Map Get Them to the White House? The answer to the question? In no known universe does this math work. The memo makes a very detailed argument, the gist of which is this:

Even more worrying — the Third Way analysis used polling from December 2022 to show that the presence of a No Labels candidate would almost surely syphon enough votes from President Biden, or presumably another Democratic candidate, to elect the putative front runner for the Republican nomination, i.e. that abominable orange man. In an update to their original analysis, Third Way argues that even if the No Labels claim that their candidate would earn 70% of the undecided voters were true (which they are at pains to say it isn't),

Be On the Lookout (BOLO) for much more of this BS as we get closer to the election. As Third Way's memo notes, "History makes clear that the No Labels candidate is unlikely to win even a single state. The most successful third-party candidate since the dawn of the modern two-party system (Teddy Roosevelt) won only six states. And though the seven closest states in 1992 were all decided by less than 2.5 points, Ross Perot won zero of them."

—— Take Action ——

Support Bob Tatterson's run for the open seat in Assembly District 24. Election Day is fast approaching and in a super low turnout election — with nothing else on the ballot and in the middle of high summer fun — he who wins will have turned out more of his voters. So, voter contact is key. Most people in AD 24 are simply unaware that this election is taking place, our phoners and canvassers are reporting. Making strong Democrats aware is leading to more people requesting absentee ballots, or making a plan to vote early in person, or planning to go to the polls on election day. You can pitch in by

• volunteering with the campaign,
• donating to the campaign,
• making phone calls for Grassroots North Shore (email Nancy Kaplan),
• and canvassing with the Wisconsin Democrats.

All these methods work. But it takes many hands.

Even if you don't live in AD 24, consider attending a fundraiser for Bob on Monday, June 26. It will be held at SIP MKE (1515 W Mequon Rd, Mequon) from 5:30 to 7:00pm. RSVP via Act Blue.

You can strengthen our democracy by volunteering with Supermarket Legends to register voters at one of Milwaukee's 3 DMV's. This is indoors in a safe environment under supervision of DMV management. The Teutonia DMV schedules two-hour shifts weekdays 8:20am - 4:45pm. Mill Road DMV schedules Saturday morning. All training and materials are supplied. The approach is non-partisan. Supermarket Legends provides voter education and encourages voters to use absentee ballots. This is very productive and rewarding work. Contact James Balk.

Vote Forward is launching a new letter writing campaign to encourage voter turnout in Ohio’s August special election. So many reached out to request an Ohio-specific campaign, and we heard you loud and clear. Letters will be available starting this week!

Republican lawmakers in Ohio want to increase the voter approval threshold for constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%. Ohioans will have the chance to vote "no" on that proposed change in an August 8 special election.

The impetus for the attempt to make it harder for citizens to amend the constitution by referendum is the MAGA fear that the voters of Ohio will successfully protect access to abortion. If you would like to help defeat the change that would make it harder for voters in Ohio to make a change to the constitution that is responsive to a simple majority, sign up here.

While we're all holding our breath or crossing our fingers waiting for Special Counsel Jack Smith to indict TFG (see NBC News coverage), we're also waiting for the US Supreme Court to vitiate the remaining section of the Voting Rights Act that still permits aggrieved voters to turn to the federal courts for relief. That opinion, like the indictment, could drop any day now. (See NPR's coverage from October 2022 and an AP story in Daily Kos that also reviews the history of the Court's weakening of the Voting Rights Act.) In this pregnant pause, other important national news is not getting the coverage it deserves.

I want to call your attention to four pieces about how elections in this country are changing. First, Open Secrets — a nonpartisan nonprofit that tracks money in U.S. politics — recently published The nationalization of political contributions and the rising role of out-of-state donations. The piece demonstrates that "federal candidates are increasingly reliant on out-of-state contributions." But it opens with data from the April 4 election in Wisconsin. "Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal, outraised her conservative opponent Daniel Kelly five to one. More than $2.6 million of Protasiewicz’s $14 million fundraising haul came from out-of-state donors." So the percent of her funds from out-of-state remained modest compared to the money she raised in state, from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin as well as from individuals. The point is, though, that even down-ballot races are attracting funds from people who cannot vote for the candidate in question. And it may mean that big dollar donors, like the Uihleins, will dominate races everywhere.

Second, Republican-led states like Texas and Florida "have resigned their membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan data clearinghouse that helps states keep their voter rolls accurate and up-to-date" (New York Times, 6/6/2023). Why is this a problem? It turns out that ERIC is the only "comprehensive, secure and useful database of voter information. That information — drawn from voter rolls, D.M.V. records, Social Security death records and change-of-address data — gets analyzed, matched and compiled into reports that are provided to the states to help them clean up their rolls." Without ERIC, states have no way to communicate and coordinate voter information with each other.

ERIC uses states' information to identify people who have moved, either within a state or to another state, and have not remembered to change their status as a voter in their old location. But recently, MAGA Republicans have begun vilifying ERIC with the usual rhetorical accusations: the program is dominated by the left, funded by George Soros, connected to Democratic Party databases, and so on — none of it true, of course. And the point of the exodus? To allow voting rolls to become bloated and to foster a kind of chaos. That way they can point to poorly maintained voter rolls in their continuing efforts to restrict access to the ballot to shore up "election integrity." And Voila! Bring on more voter suppression.

Third, YouTube has now reversed its policy of preventing certain false "information" about prior elections from circulating on its platform. "YouTube will leave up content that says fraud, errors or glitches occurred in the 2020 presidential election and other U.S. elections" (Election Law Blog, 6/2/2023). The policy removing such content was established in December 2020, but now the company is concerned about squashing campaign speech without having a discernible effect on the threat of violence. The story first appeared in Axios.

This fourth piece returns to the pending Supreme Court decision on a case about racial gerrymandering. Richard Hasan, a constitutional law professor and scholar, and Dahlia Lithwick, a Slate reporter covering the courts and the law, find that There’s Unsettling New Evidence About William Rehnquist’s Views on Segregation. The article shows that, in 1952, Rehnquist seemed to support the infamous reasoning in Plessy v. Ferguson, a case that pronounced the 14th Amendment protected racial equality before the law but could not be the foundation for establishing social equality for Black people. Rehnquist still believed Plessy was correctly decided as late as 1993, when as Chief Justice he wrote a memo to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor saying "The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination; it does not require integration, and I think it is a mistake to intimate that it does even as a 'goal.'"

Hasan and Lithwick then draw the connection between Rehnquist's views and those of the current conservative justices: "Tragically, Rehnquist’s thinking on the 14th Amendment currently infects the conservative supermajority of the Supreme Court and could have devastating consequences for the end of this term." The piece concludes, "In short, Rehnquist consistently contended—and the current Supreme Court majority is likely to contend—that the Reconstruction Amendments were drafted not to protect disadvantaged groups from racially biased treatment at the hands of the government but rather to prohibit the government from using race-conscious measures to ever remediate inequality." If their reasoning is correct, we will see the court undermine the Voting Rights Act in their forthcoming opinion in Allen v. Milligan, a redistricting case "challenging Alabama’s congressional map" that diluted Black votes (Brennan Center for Justice, 9/29/2022).

On the large and increasing field of Republican candidates vying for the presidential nomination, Josh Marshal has an interesting (and somewhat amusing) take. Schrodinger’s Candidates: They’re Running and Not Running at the Same Time looks at the field and surmises that "aside from Trump, all of the people running for President in the GOP primary, with the semi-exception of Ron DeSantis, aren’t actually running for President. Normally, long shot entrants at least think they have some chance or they have some plan for career advancement by making a solid showing. But in this race, every candidate is in that category." Marshall posits that these people are probably thinking that running now is good preparation for their real campaign in 2028. He notes that "They’re running, sort of. But they’re not saying anything out of line with Trump and they’re definitely not criticizing Trump. Ferreting out the implicit critiques amounts almost to a latter-day variant of Kremlinology."

Last week, Politico published ‘Numbers Nobody Has Ever Seen’: How the GOP Lost Wisconsin. The piece asks "Did abortion make Wisconsin a blue state again?" It's long, chatty, and leans heavily on talking to and quoting people — some ordinary folks and some dignitaries from both parties. But it has some interesting bits. For example, it reveals that Scott Walker thinks his elections and Ron Johnson's were exceptions. Then Walker said, “Wisconsin has historically, and I think largely continues to be, a blue state.” An even more stunning statement reveals that "If you lopped Dane County off the map and didn’t count any votes there, Protasiewicz still would have won. Same thing if you excluded Democrat-heavy Milwaukee." The clincher for the 2023 election: Ben Wikler (Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair) said, "abortion was so salient not only in Democratic-leaning areas of the state, but in redder, rural areas, too." It behooves us to pay attention to how much this one issue moves the needle. "Abortion, while slightly more resonant an issue for voters in the Democratic-leaning media markets around Madison, Milwaukee and Eau Claire/La Crosse, was the main vote driver for Protasiewicz in every market in the state."

There's little of note happening just this minute in the Wisconsin's political scene. Hence my focus on big national issues. But I like to bow out with a little bit of spice. So here it is. From Talking Points Memo, "George Santos Falls On Sword For Mystery Donors: Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has told a judge he’d rather be taken into custody pre-trial than reveal the donors who co-signed on his $500,000 bond."

           The debt ceiling issue has been resolved for now. But before we move on from this episode, let’s reflect on the recent history of the debt-ceiling law and its negative impact on rational economic policy. Perhaps a clearer understanding of the law would help us get rid of it. 

         First,  the debt ceiling law is a cap on the amount the government can borrow even when borrowing would be necessary to meet all the spending commitments Congress has made. The cap would force the government to renege, or "default," on its obligations. The nation came close to default in early June 2023, but this was forestalled by bipartisan agreement to lift the ceiling until 2025.  

         Second, the nation was brought to this crisis by Republicans. That is, the application of the law is asymmetric: Democrats do not impose pre-conditions for raising the ceiling when Republicans occupy the White House, yet  Republicans do impose pre-conditions when Democrats occupy the White House.   This practice is long-standing and has become known as "the political business cycle."

         For example, prior to this latest default threat, the debt ceiling was raised three times during the Trump administration, in 2017, 2018, and 2019, without any default threat at all. The first two of these debt-ceiling increases were approved on a bipartisan basis without any pre-conditions; the 2019 increase was approved on a bipartisan basis, offset by a $77 billion cut in administrative spending.

The Economics Behind the Strategy

          This asymmetric political business cycle strategy relies on macroeconomics, a branch of economics designed as a tool for good -- achieving full employment with low inflation – – but which, like any tool,  can be abused. 

A closer look at core economic principles will show why the political business cycle works.  First, national product equals the total value of all the goods and services that people produce and distribute. This total derives from the huge number of daily trades between foreign and domestic individuals, business firms, and government agencies.  

          Second, all spending is someone's income. When a good or service is purchased, money is exchanged to reward the people who made, distributed, and provided for the sale of that good or service.

         Third, all spending is comprised of four categories: consumption, private sector investment, government spending, and net exports. If the total of these spending categories rises, the total demand for goods and services rises, thereby generating more jobs and income for those producing the goods and services.    In this scenario, the improvement in economic conditions improves the political prospects for the party in the White House.

         If, on the other hand, the rate of total spending is decreased, then the opposite is true; demand for goods and services will decline, as will the demand for the people who produce those goods and services.  Here the political prospects worsen for the party in the White House.

         The political business cycle strategy works because government spending -- a key component of total spending – is determined by policy.  Sure enough,   during Republican presidential administrations -- Reagan/Bush '41,  Bush '43, and Trump -- the debt ceiling was raised and spending on defense and non-defense categories rose.  By contrast, during Democratic presidential administrations --Clinton,  Obama and the Biden years thus far -- we have a curtailment in the rate of spending and, in the case of Obama, an out-right decline.     Moreover, those increases in the debt ceiling during Republican administrations --  three times during the Trump administration and several times during the Reagan Bush and GW Bush administrations -- were all with bi-partisan votes.  So, the debt ceiling weapon is available to both parties, but only one uses it.

 Return to "Regular Order"

         Regular order is the systematic assembling of information prior to legislative action. During regular order congressional committees gather supporting documentation and hold hearings compiling expert testimony from specialist members of Congress, experts within the federal agencies, and from think tanks and universities.  During regular order, each bill that is considered has a fiscal note or scorecard provided by the Congressional Budget Office so Congress knows the price of what they are proposing and how it will be financed.

          The ability to impose a debt ceiling enables members of Congress with far less expertise on any given subject to nullify the more rigorous procedures of regular order. The debt-ceiling law enables less qualified members to sabotage the work of those who participate in regular order.   

         To paraphrase Henry the Second, " Will No One Rid Us of this Meddlesome Law?"        

The big news of the weekend, of course, is the deal President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy reached to raise the debt ceiling until 2025. Before looking at the details, we should admire and rejoice at Dark Brandon's political jujitsu. The deal means that there will be no opportunity for MAGA Republicans to shut down the government during budget negotiations this fall and no opportunity to use the debt ceiling as a hostige again until after the 2024 elections. Masterful. But that's of course not all.

Although I am one of those people who thought the President ought not to negotiate at all with people who basically think it might be a good thing to crash the economy, Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo makes a really good point. Like me, he was adamantly opposed to Biden engaging in negotiations in the first place. But as he points out, "Something like this set of concessions was more or less baked in the moment Republicans won control of the House. There was always going to be a budget negotiation this fall that shifted fiscal policy to the right. Again, baked in as soon as Republicans won the House." He goes on to say, "That’s why to me this is a very big win both in policy and political terms. In fact, such a big win that I’m still not totally clear how it came about. Once Biden started negotiating and appeared to rule out extraordinary measures, I was sure he was going to get taken to the cleaners. Somehow he didn’t. Score another one for Dark Brandon."

Here at home, we're finally going to see some public account of how the phony elector scheme started and worked (or didn't, of course). Remember the matter of the bogus "electors" who tried to construct the pretext for overthrowing the 2020 presidential election? Well, the issue has new life. The Fake Electors lawsuit Democrats filed in May, 2022, has been set for trial on September 3, 2024, and is scheduled to last a month (Urban Milwaukee, May 25, 2023). Dane County Judge Frank Remington set the trial schedule last week. Democrats are arguing that "the 10 Republicans and two attorneys who advised them broke a variety of laws, including one that bans people from falsely acting as public officials. Plaintiffs are seeking punitive damages of up to $2.4 million." Jeff Mandell, the lead attorney for the Democrats, "noted that one of the goals for plaintiffs was to prevent Republican plaintiffs from serving as electors in future elections. Mandell said the next slates of electors would be chosen in October 2024."

In early May, the same judge ordered the Wisconsin Election Commission, which had unanimously rejected a complaint about these pretend electors, first filed in 2021, to revive it. In his ruling, Judge Frank Remington wrote, "To emphasize, Wisconsin voters chose none of these persons to serve as presidential elector — on the contrary, each had been named to serve as the potential electors for a losing candidate." You can read the details in full at the PBS News Hour. His order requires the Commission to give "no deference to or consideration of its previous decision."

Are you tired of the anti-majoritarian institution, the Electoral College, enabling a candidate to win the presidency while losing the popular vote? The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is for you: See Robert Reich explain it. Minnesota just joined the Compact. The matter is still pending in Michigan. It's of course a long shot in Wisconsin and not just because the state legislature is thoroughly controlled by a political party that stands to lose a lot of presidential elections in the future if the nationwide popular vote determines the winner. Wisconsin would stand to lose its outsized influence in presidential elections. Why? Because there would no longer be "swing states" who get all the candidates' attention (and advertising money!). Nevertheless, it is the only way to rid ourselves of minority rule through the structure of the Electoral College without amending the US Constitution. And boy would it be worth it. With the NPVIC, John Kerry would have won in 2000 and Hillary Clinton would have won in 2016!

One of our three branches of national government — the judiciary — has fallen into disrepute, it seems. Or perhaps it is just the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) that has earned the disapproval of the population. The latest Marquette Law School poll, released on Wednesday, May 23, shows that disapproval in the survey conducted May 8 - May 18 has reached 59% while approval has slumped to 41%. The same poll conducted one year ago showed approval at 44% and disapproval at 55%. This poll only began 2.75 years ago, in mid-September 2020. Since then approval has plummeted from 66% then to a mere 41% now. Disapproval has risen just as dramatically: from 33% in September 2020 to 59% now, an increase of 26%! We can see disapproval of the court rising rapidly in just the last five months. Among Republicans, approval has dropped nine points since mid-January, 2023. The ratio of disapproval to approval among independents has stayed roughly the same during that 5-month period: 2-1 disapproval. For Democrats, approval has dropped from 31% to 24% while disapproval has risen to 76%, a 3 to 1 ratio!

Make sure you're informed about the Special Election in Assembly District 24. The League of Women Voters Wisconsin plans to post its special election voter guide on VOTE411.org. If you live and vote in AD 24, make a note of the URL and check it periodically for useful information. (Right now it simply returns no information and states that there are no elections, which is wrong. So give it a week or so and then try.) Like Grassroots North Shore, the LWVWI reminds you that "it’s important to plan ahead to make sure you’re ready to be a voter. If you’re in the district, consider requesting your absentee ballot for the Special Election today! Also, help your friends, family, and neighbors make their voting plan." Election Day is July 18. The district encompasses Grafton (town and village), part of Mequon, Germantown (town and village), and Menomonee Falls. To find out whether you live in the district, visit the home page for the Wisconsin Legislature.

—— Take Action ——

You can send Bob Tatterson to the Assembly to protect essential freedoms, like a woman's right to choose, fully funded public schools, fair election maps, and much more. You can help in three ways if you live in Assembly District 24 (find out here by typing in your address):

1. Volunteer with his campaign.
2. Donate to his campaign.
3. Vote for Bob
   • by absentee ballot (request one at MyVote.WI.gov);
   • early in person from July 5 through July 14 (in the office of your village/city clerk);
   • or go to the polls on Election Day, July 18.

If you DON'T live in AD24, concentrate on numbers 1 and 2 above.

You can strengthen our democracy by volunteering to register voters at one of Milwaukee's 3 DMV's. This is indoors in a safe environment under supervision of DMV management. The Teutonia DMV schedules two-hour shifts weekdays 8:20am - 4:45pm. Mill Road DMV schedules Saturday morning. All training and materials are supplied. The approach is non-partisan. Supermarket Legends provides voter education and encourages voters to use absentee ballots. This is very productive and rewarding work. Contact James Balk.

Protesting is also taking action. In this case, telling your cable provider that you don't want to pay even more than you're paying already (probably about $2 per subscriber per month) to have Fox News as part of your "Basic Cable" offerings. Media Matters has produced a site that will explain the whole thing and allow you to register your #UNFOXMYCABLEBOX views. It even allows you to calculate how much you've unknowingly paid in fees to Fox News.

I have finally understood that both the Washington Post and the New York Times offer subscribers 10 "gift links" per month and that they can be used in the Grassroots North Shore newsletter! So from now on, you can use those links to penetrate the paywalls these two important publications use. So click on the links with abandon. It apparently doesn't matter how many recipients use the links, only that the limit of 10 applies to the sender. Hurrah!

Today's newsletter begins with TRE45ON's troubles. This afternoon, the judge in the criminal proceedings brought by District Attorney Bragg will reiterate his protective order that is supposed to prevent TFG from using the discovery phase of the trial to share any information gleaned from the prosecution's evidence or to make disparaging remarks about witnesses, the prosecutors or the judge (Washington Post, May 23, 2023). E. Jean Carroll is seeking to amend her still pending defamation case (stemming from TFG's time in the White House) to include his latest remarks defaming her during his CNN Town Hall (ABC News, May 22, 2023). And Special Counsel Jack Smith has issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization for records of foreign business transactions since 2017 (Salon, May 23, 2023). Meanwhile, in Georgia DA Fani Willis has indicated that she will make indictments in all probability in early August (MSNBC, May 20, 2023). What with all these legal matters taking shape, it's a wonder the guy has time to golf!

Even his lawyers are deserting him. In a recent interview, Ty Cobb, "who worked for Trump from July 2017 and May 2018, said he was confident 'The Apprentice' star 'will go to jail' for obstruction for refusing DOJ requests to return classified documents after he left the White House." He told CNN's Erin Burnett last Thursday that “all they really have to do is show that Trump moved these documents at various times when DOJ was either demanding them or actually present. That he filed falsely with the Justice Department, had his lawyers file falsely with the Justice Department, an affidavit to the effect that none existed ― which was shattered by the documents that they then discovered after the search ― and the many other misrepresentations that he and others have made on his behalf with regard to his possession of classified documents." (Huffpost, May 21, 2023)

An article by Azi Paybarah and Jacqueline Alemany in the Washington Post spills the dirt former TFG lawyer Timothy Parlatore dishes on CNN just after he resigned from the classified documents case. According to Parlatore, he quit because Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer on the team and a close long-time associate of the orange man who once occupied the White House, “had really done everything he could to try to block us — to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president.” And the critique did not stop there: “In my opinion, he was not very honest with us or with the client on certain things,” Parlatore said of Epshteyn. “There were certain things like the searches that he had attempted to interfere with.”

Two big issues are on my mind lately. The first is the spate of book-banning all across the country but especially in Florida. Finally, someone is taking to the courts to push back. In DeSantis’s book banners face a tough new foe: Angry moms with lawyers, Greg Sargent notes: "In one of the big political surprises of 2023, pockets of stiff resistance have sprung up to defend teachers, textbooks, novels and libraries against censorship efforts across the country. These efforts just took an important turn, with a lawsuit filed by Florida parents in federal court Wednesday to try to stop book bans in school libraries in Escambia County. In an important twist, the lawsuit doesn’t directly target DeSantis’s laws or directives. Instead, it argues that the removals themselves are unconstitutional."

The other big issue I've been stewing about is gun violence. This year has already been more horrendous than past years and it's only May. Paul Waldman, also in the Washington Post, asks How many guns will it take to make us safe? His opinion piece argues that gun advocates are tacitly using an argument akin to the raising-taxes-cause-diminishing-returns nonsense Republicans have long touted. "Good-guy-with-a-gun proponents imply that there exists a kind of Laffer curve of gun murders that will be our liberation. Recall the quack economic theory propagated by Arthur Laffer positing that raising tax rates slightly from a low starting point might bring in more revenue, but further increases would cause revenue to fall as people discouraged by taxation stopped working. Gun advocates seem to assume a similar arc for the relationship of guns to gun violence: At some point, there will be so many guns that the trends will reverse, crime will be deterred, and all arguments will be resolved peacefully." Yes, that does seem to be the gun nuts' basic argument. And if you believe that malarky, I might have a bridge to sell.

An intriguing post on Daily Kos speculates about how possible new congressional maps for Wisconsin after Judge Protasiewicz is sworn in to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, on August 1, might affect future elections in our congressional districts. The piece goes into substantial detail about two congressional districts that might be more competitive if new maps are adopted: WI 01 and WI 08. The more promising district is the 1st CD where the current representative is Republican Bryan Steil. The district encompasses southeastern Wisconsin and was once held by Paul Ryan. The optimism about CD1 is largely based on Protasiewicz's 53-47 win there. CD8 — Republican Mike Gallagher's district encompassing the Green Bay area — is somewhat more problematic. "OB-GYN Kristin Lyerly, who is one of the three doctors participating in Attorney General Josh Kaul's challenge to the state's 1849 abortion ban, says she's thinking about taking on Gallagher." Here's hoping.

And a final word on the upcoming special election in Assembly District 24. Bob Tatterson announced yesterday that he has gathered more than enough signatures to be on the ballot. Signatures are due in Madison tomorrow, May 24. Shortly after that we will know whether a primary will actually be necessary. One of the two Republicans listed on the Wisconsin Election Commission's form for tracking candidates has already turned in 369 valid signatures. The other Republican — Spencer Zimmerman, who oddly enough seems to reside in Janesville (well outside the boundaries of AD24) — has as yet filed neither a "Declaration of Candidacy" form nor any nomination papers. So we still don't know for sure whether there will be a primary. But we do know that Bob will need everyone's help. You can step up right now in two ways: (1) volunteer with his campaign; (2) DONATE.
Doctors Park, 1870 E Fox Lane, Fox Point
It's a party to celebrate our country's 247th birthday. John Nichols — National Editor for The Nation, Madison Editor of the Capitol Times, author of Dollarocracy and other books, and the Voice of Wisconsin Progressivism — will get us ready for 2024 with a talk on where we have been and where we are going. Bob Tatterson, now running in a special election for Assembly District 24, will also be on hand to speak, meet, and greet. Enjoy beverages and birthday cake. Bring your family, your folding chairs, and your hope for our future as we celebrate our good work in recent elections. RSVP.

If you missed some newsletters and want to catch up, you'll find them archived on our website.

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www.grassrootsnorthshore.com

Let's start with news about the AD24 election. First I want to correct an error. The 24th AD includes the following communities:

• In Ozaukee County: Town of Grafton (wards 1-6); Village of Grafton (wards 1-14); and City of Mequon (wards 1-4, 6, 10, 12);
• In Washington County: Town of Germantown; Village of Germantown (wards 1-14);
• In Waukesha County: Village of Menomonee Falls (wards 1-7, 9, 11).

It seems likely that there will be a June 20 primary involving at least two Republican candidates: Paul Melotik and Spencer Zimmerman. It is increasingly likely that Bob Tatterson WILL NOT have a challenger in the Democratic party. Nevertheless, if you live in the district, he will be on the primary ballot and really could use your vote. He could also use help RIGHT NOW getting signatures on his nominating papers. Again, if you live in the district and have not yet signed, please download the papers now, sign them (both as nominator and as circulator), and get them to Bob by Friday, May 19. The directions for filling out the form and for getting them to Bob are included.

We're now preparing to send postcards to support Bob Tatterson to 5000 strong and leaning Democratic women in AD24. And we need to buy a large number of stamps. The price of postcard stamps is set to increase on July 9 so we also want to purchase as many as we can to prepare for 2024. Help us beat the higher cost by donating to our stamp fund now. A roll of 100 stamps currently costs $48. You can send a check to Grassroots North Shore, PO Box 170684, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53217-8056. (Please write "stamps" in the subject line.) Or you can go online to support our election actions.

In other more-or-less local news, Alex Lasry will be at the Waukesha County Democratic Party meeting on Thursday, May 18. He's running to be one of two Wisconsin representatives to the Democratic National Committee. This is an important position and it would be worthwhile to attend, especially if you happen to live near Waukesha. RSVP if you can go.

Wisconsin Republicans are stalling elections reforms even though they're gung-ho on "election integrity" (whatever that means). The 545 items Republicans have stripped from Evers' budget bill include reforms unanimously backed by the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission. The WEC recommended establishing an Office of Transparency and Compliance that would be headed by an elections inspector general. See more about this issue in Urban Milwaukee.

As the legislature tries to wrestle with the budget, you might be interested in "How municipal governments would fare under Assembly Republicans’ and Tony Evers’ shared revenue plans."

The "fake electors scheme" in Wisconsin is back in the news in two different judicial rulings, both by Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington. A lawsuit filed a year ago by two Democratic electors and a voter "alleges that the defendants broke several criminal and civil laws when they met at the Wisconsin state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, in an attempt to cast the state’s electoral votes for Trump." The defendants wanted the lawsuit broken up and refiled in each county where a "fake elector" lives. Judge Remington ruled that "the law requires that the case be heard in Dane County where it was filed." The lawsuit seeks $2.4 million in restitution and disqualification of the 10 Republicans from serving as electors in the future.

In another action, Judge Remington ruled that the Wisconsin Election Commission must "reconsider a complaint filed against fake Republican electors." The election commission had dismissed the complaint earlier and had allowed Robert Spindell, one of the commissioners, to participate in the decision even though he was one of the "fake electors." The WEC and Commissioner Spindell together with those who had filed the complaint reached agreement that Spindell would not participate in the new WEC deliberation and decision. "The complaint asked the elections commission to investigate the fake electors' actions and declare that they broke the law (Spectrum News)."

Steve Schmidt, a former Republican consultant and prolific Substack author, writes today about the latest book-banning in Florida. The opening paragraph reads: "The state of Florida has banned textbooks that focus on the Holocaust under Governor Ron Desantis’s censorship laws that politicize and corrupt the teaching of history in Florida. All of this is a type of sick performance theater — a grotesque kabuki. Ron DeSantis has made an assessment that the fastest way to climb the greasy pole all the way to the top and reach the MAGA throne room is by engaging in poisonous theatrics that have come to include censorship of books about the Holocaust."

It's quite a long piece, ending with an address Elie Wiesel — Nobel Laureate, Holocaust survivor, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom — delivered to the United Nations commemorating Auschwitz on January 24, 2005. Schmidt and Wiesel both insist on the "obligation of future generations to bear witness" to the Holocaust, which Schmidt calls "a singular event in human history." Schmidt ends his post with the following sentences: "There is a new extremism rising, and it is happening in America. It is being led by men like Ron DeSantis." Will there be any blowback from this book-banning and others? Is this really what we as a nation have become?

Enough darkness for one day. So here's your woo-hoo goody for the week: Racehl Maddow interviewed E. Jean Carroll and Robbie Kaplan last night. Carroll is likely to file another defamation lawsuit against TFG for remarks he made just the day after a jury found him liable for sexual assault and defamation. According to Kaplan, the potential new lawsuit won't have to adjudicate liability because it's already been adjudicated. Meaning that the new one, if it materializes, will only have to show that the former president defamed Carroll, again.

And one more thing: a Randy Rainbow tribute to Ron DeSantis. You'll love it.

Hallelujah! We finally have a special election for Assembly District 24 scheduled for July 18. Nomination papers began circulating on Friday, May 5. You can get Bob Tatterson's here.They must be filed in Madison by 5pm on May 23. If a primary is needed, it will be held on June 20. Bob Tatterson ran for this seat in the November 2022 elections but he was running against a long time incumbent. It's now an open seat, meaning there is no longer an incumbent. And having just run, Bob is prepared to give it his all. This is a huge opportunity to flip an Assembly seat from red to blue! Help him out by going to his website to volunteer or to donate.

Not everyone can vote in this important election. But everyone can do something to help the cause. Anyone can circulate nomination forms but only residents of the district can sign as nominators. So if you know voters in AD 24, you can ask them to sign the form. If you are a resident of the district, you can both circulate the form AND sign as a nominator. Be sure to follow the directions exactly! Assembly District 24 includes the following locations:

• In Ozaukee County: Town of Grafton (wards 1-6); Village of Grafton (wards 1-14); and City of Mequon (wards 1-4, 6, 10, 12).
  
  
• In Washington County: Town of Germantown; Village of Grafton (wards 1-14).
  
  
• In Waukesha County: Village of Menomonee Falls (wards 1-7, 9, 11).
  
  

Grassroots North Shore is even now preparing postcards to be sent as soon as the candidates have qualified by turning in enough valid signatures on nomination forms. Norma Gilson will be recruiting people to write postcards. Nancy Kaplan will be recruiting people to follow up the postcards with phone calls. Additional actions will take place as we get closer to election day. Make a promise to yourself that you will help in some way. We're already collecting names and contact information for people who are willing to act as drivers for people who are canvassing. Send email to Nancy Kaplan if you are willing to be a driver.

Once upon a time, people in Wisconsin were blessed with one of the easiest systems for voting in the country. Now Wisconsin is one of the hardest states for voters to cast a ballot. Since 2010, when Republicans gained control of the legislature and the governor's office, rules for voting have become more restrictive. In a May 4 article in the Wisconsin State Journal, Matt Mencarini details how "Voting has gotten harder in Wisconsin. Organizers have found ways to help." In the section of the article called "How it’s gotten more difficult to vote in Wisconsin," Mencarnini provides the narrative. As I pointed out in an earlier email, Republicans are at least entertaining making it even more difficult for college students to access the ballot. Today's New York Times leads with the article "Under the Radar, Right-Wing Push to Tighten Voting Laws Persists." This link to it will get you past the paywall.

In June 2022, Attorney General Josh Kaul initiated a legal challenge to the 1849 law that prohibits abortion in Wisconsin. On Thursday, May 4, Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper convened a hearing on the defendants' motion to dismiss the case. In the course of the hearing, Judge Schlipper suggested that the 1849 law proscribes feticide and may not apply to abortions at all. (See 1849 feticide bill may not apply to abortions, Dane County judge suggests.) But not all media outlets covering the hearing even seemed to notice this striking part of the argument. Wisconsin Public Radio's piece, for example, doesn't even mention the feticide issue. The judge intends to rule on the motion to dismiss the case at a later date.

Almost every outcome for any political issue in our state results from voting maps that are so skewed that MAGA Republicans are almost guaranteed to retain the majority in both the Senate and the Assembly for the remainder of the decade. And by any political issue, I mean control of women's bodies, the epidemic of gun violence, the future of our climate, funding and supporting education from pre-school through graduate school, local control of key issues, revenue sharing, and even the right to propose non-binding advisory referendums. We know from surveys and past advisory referendums that large majorities of Wisconsin voters want to see changes in these areas. But we can't have nice things, it seems, until the voting maps construct fair districts. To learn more about how dark money has led to the landscape we now inhabit — and to get a legislative update from Representative Deb Andraca — join the North Shore Fair Maps Zoom meeting featuring Matt Rothschild discussing Money, Money, Money in our elections. The meeting begins at 7:00pm on Monday, May 8. You can sign up here.

Looking ahead, Law Forward is planning to "challenge the state’s voting maps based on the assertion that partisan gerrymandering violates the Wisconsin Constitution," according to The Cap Times. The plan is to file the suit soon after Janet Protasiewicz takes her seat on the Supreme Court of Wisconsin on August 1. Stay tuned.

And finally, a little schadenfreude: your gift article from the Washington Post — Even Tucker Carlson knew Tucker Carlson was out of control. Erik Wemple notes that the last straw seems to have been a texted conversation with one of his producers. "Carlson appears to believe that 'white men' somehow stick to principles of fairness and chivalry when fighting in the streets — whereas men of color presumably hew to a less honorable code of engagement. Racist trash, all of it." Wemple nails the wonderment many of us feel about why this particular message sealed Tucker's fate when his whole show revealed who he truly is.

t's budget time in Wisconsin. And you know what that means. The governor proposes and the legislature disposes: reportedly preparing to remove 545 items from Evers' plan. (During the last budget cycle two years ago, the legislature removed about 391 items.) In the crosshairs are the proposed 12-week paid family and medical leave program, legalization of recreational and medicinal marijuana, hiring additional mental health providers in schools, and much more. Tax rates, too, are coming in for their share of struggle. Evers wants to reduce the tax rates "by 10% for individuals earning $100,000 or less a year and married filers making $150,000 or less." Republicans plan to strip out that proposal and focus "their efforts on flattening the state’s more than 110-year-old income tax." The Wisconsin State Journal published an extensive article on the push and pull between the governor's proposed budget and the legislature's plan to strip huge chunks of it out. It contains a long list, though of course not an exhaustive one, of the Republican's likely cuts. The more you know, the more there is to dislike.

We still have no word on when the special election to replace Dan Knodl, the former representative of the 24th Assembly District, will be held. We do know, from an email he has sent to his constituents — and to me even though I am no longer his constituent since the new election maps assigned me to the 10th Assembly District — that at the end of his last Assembly floor session "my colleagues gave me a nice sendoff by unanimously messaging me over to the Senate." I have no idea what "messaging" someone over to the Senate could possibly mean, but he could be sworn in during the next scheduled Senate floor session. Or not. Maybe he's just enjoying a rest from his light record as a legislator? Who knows. According to the Senate's online calendar, though, the next Floorperiod is May 16-18, and he could take his seat then, setting the machinery of a special election in motion.

On the national scene, last week's news covered the Dominion lawsuit, Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon's departures from their respective cable news networks, and TFG's mounting legal woes. This week, the press seems to be preoccupied by the ethical morass some justices at the Supreme Court seem to have created and the E. Jean Carroll suit. The New York Times has of course provided lots of details about the relationship between Justice Thomas and his billionaire buddy Harlan Crow. And they've also discussed Justice Gorsuch's sale of property to the CEO of a prominent international law firm with plenty of business before the court. Plus the unreported income from commissions Chief Justice Roberts' wife was paid.

But the story most worth your time to read, and which is "gifted" to you so you can pierce the paywall, takes a close look at the relationship between the conservative justices and their sweetheart deals with the Scalia School of Law at George Mason University. "The documents [the Times reviewed] show how Scalia Law has offered the justices a safe space in a polarized Washington — an academic cocoon filled with friends and former clerks, where their legal views are celebrated, they are given top pay and treated to teaching trips abroad, and their personal needs are anticipated, from lunch orders to, in Justice Gorsuch’s case, house hunting." If these arrangements weren't verging on open bribery, the idea of providing a "safe space" for the justices' conservative thinking might almost be funny.

E. Jean Carroll's litigation has turned out to be strikingly interesting. She has now endured several days of testimony and cross-examination with what has been described as poise and good humor. The latest revelation from her testimony: that George Conway (erstwhile GOP lawyer, soon-to-be former husband of Kellyanne Conway, and Never Trumper) encouraged her to file the suit. The Guardian has a good article about the ongoing trial.

Looking ahead to the punditry we will endure during the endless 2024 election, which has of course already begun, Doug Sosnik, who was a senior advisor to President Clinton and who regularly writes political memos, has a relatively new piece out that goes into great detail about what he and others are calling "the diploma divide." Sosnik writes "educational attainment has increasingly played a dominant role in voting. This has led to a political realignment, with the base shifting for both political parties." He goes on to say that "educational sorting has made the vast majority of states no longer politically competitive. It is the battleground states in the middle - where education levels are neither disproportionately high nor low - that will decide the 2024 presidential election." Eight states, his analysis shows, will determine the outcome of the presidential election: "Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin."

This is a rather hodgepodge version of the newsletter. So let me end with something completely different and yet relevant to the national debt ceiling "debate" we must endure. In the April 30 edition of Middle Wisconsin, an online magazine, Dave Svetlik has two articles — SEEMS OBVIOUS – PART ONE and SEEMS OBVIOUS PART TWO — that take a rather jaunty look at how the country makes its money. Seriously: not earns but creates. He begins PART TWO with a brief recap of PART ONE: "So, we know the US Government is the creator, the source, of the nation’s money. We know the US Government always has money of its own (for Heaven’s sake it creates the money). We know the US Government can never run out of money. There, the review of Part One is done. Thank God!" And then he goes on to poke holes in the very notion that the United States government would ever need to borrow money in the first place. Now I was never any good at economic theory so I'm sure there's some snappy rejoinder a serious economist could make. But it's a fun read and some food for thought.

Saturday, May 13

Monday, May 15

Yesterday was a mind-blowing news day, what with Fox firing Tucker Carlson and CNN firing Don Lemon. If you watched, listened or read any news Monday, you couldn't miss the bombshell from Fox News. It was everywhere with oodles of speculation about why Carlson was fired. I won't bother with links. Just Google it. The Lemon matter was hardly covered at all but still made a little noise. You can Google that one too. And maybe you learned the E. Jean Carrol's lawsuit against TFG is beginning with jury selection today. It will no doubt take up some air space in the weeks to come.

Meanwhile DA Fani Willis sent letters to law enforcement agencies in and around Atlanta to warn them that she will be announcing criminal indictments between July 11 and September 1, 2023. She wrote to give the agencies "sufficient time to prepare the Sheriff’s Office and coordinate with local, state and federal agencies to ensure that our law enforcement community is ready to protect the public" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 24, 2023). She justified the early warning: "We have seen in recent years that some may go outside of public expressions of opinion that are protected by the First Amendment to engage in acts of violence that will endanger the safety of those we are sworn to protect. As leaders, it is incumbent upon us to prepare." It sure seems like she has someone in particular in mind.

But all the hubbub around the national press should not distract us from the urgent need to keep sharply focused on the constant GOP stratagems to rig our elections. As I mentioned last week, the April 4 election in Wisconsin featured record turnout, especially among college students. Here's a link to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel piece on April 13: Wisconsin college students voted in huge numbers for the 2023 spring election. What led to increase and will it continue?

Sure enough, a leading Republican lawyer, who also happens to be on the board of the Bradley Foundation here in Milwaukee, jumped right on it. It's a huge problem for the far right, of course, because these young people apparently don't seem inclined to vote for the current crop of Republicans. Our former governor Scott Walker thinks the problem lies in the way young people are "indoctrinated" presumably by the education system he worked so hard to undermine. ("On Fox, Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says result of the state Supreme Court election is 'liberal indoctrination coming home to roost'.") But Cleta Mitchell, the aforementioned MAGA lawyer, wants to tackle the voting behavior of college students by, you know, making it impossible or at least harder for them to vote. Here are a few accounts of the "private" remarks she made to top GOP donors: a gifted link (to get you around their paywall) to the story in the Washington Post on April 20 titled "Top GOP lawyer decries ease of campus voting in private pitch to RNC." On the same day, and based on the Post's story, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published "Bradley Foundation board member Cleta Mitchell bemoans college voting in private meeting with top GOP donors." MSNBC covered the story on Alex Wagner Tonight on April 22: "MAGA lawyer recorded while discussing ways to suppress the youth vote." (Skip the Alex Wagner video at the top of the post and read the blog post by Ja'han Jones.)

The attack on democracy, human rights, and our individual freedoms is pervasive and pernicious. What’s Next in Wisconsin, a sobering piece in the the Brennan Center for Justice's newsletter, looks at "how Wisconsin’s conservative state legislature might respond to Justice Protasiewicz’s win and the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s new liberal majority." From impeachment proceedings based on rulings MAGA Republicans don't like to "bills that target the court’s power or independence by, for example, stripping its jurisdiction or remedial powers," the legislature has several avenues to constrain the state's Supreme Court.

For the future of your personal pocketbook, here's the result of the Dominion defamation case: Fox Corp. and Fox News have been ordered to pay humongous amount of money to Dominion Voting Systems. But foxy Fox is now demanding that cable companies pay it more per customer to carry Fox on its basic cable system. In essence, Fox wants TV viewers to pay for its defamation costs! We do not have to stand for it. Call your cable provider to demand that they not raise the amount they pay Fox to carry its "news."

We do not yet have specific information about the special election to fill the Assembly seat in District 24. Once we have that information, Grassroots North Shore will be partnering with grassroots groups in Germantown and Menomonee Falls to work on the election. And I will be calling on you to get involved in all the usual activities: writing postcards, making follow-up calls, texting with the campaign of whoever runs (c'mon Bob Tatterson!), canvassing with the Democratic party. And with this election, we'll be trying something new: organizing a Driver Brigade to make canvassing in the district both easier and more fun. So stay tuned for announcements and pitch in when you can. (You can already to sign up to drive a canvasser.) It will be a turnout election and we stand a good chance of an upset here. There will be no incumbent and turnout will be especially low. That means every vote we get will really further our chances.

In the meantime, we're not just taking a vacation. Grassroots North Shore is partnering with the Democratic Party in a donation drive for kids' school supplies from May 1 to May 18. We'll be collecting notebooks, folders, crayons, markers, pencils, colored pencils, pens, erasers, glue sticks, highlighters, lined paper, and rulers. Drop items off at Shirley Horowitz's house at 4845 N Newhall St in Whitefish Bay or Andy Berger 's house at 7632 N Beach Drive in Fox Point. Andy will be hosting a gathering to celebrate the drive on Sunday May 21st. So hit those stores and/or scrounge in your homes for stuff to help kids thrive in school!

Also, the Democratic party is looking for canvassers ahead of the May 2 special election for Milwaukee County Supervisory District 14 (in the south part of the county). The party has endorsed Caroline Gómez-Tom and will be hosting canvasses our of the county party's office at 2999 S Delaware St. on Saturday, April 29: sign up for a shift at noon or at 3pm. There will also be two shifts on Tuesday, May 2 at noon and 3pm.

Today, President Biden announced that he will run for President in 2024. As if we didn't know already. Anyway, there will be ample time to chew over the pros, cons, whys, and wherefores in future newsletters.

Probably because the April 4 election in Wisconsin attracted a lot of national attention and its results were so striking, there continues to be a lot of press and analysis of how different groups voted, including in the Washington Post. Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an article about the youth vote in the state, focusing particularly on the turnout among college students. "Across the state, college students showed up to the polls in droves for an election barely on their radar a couple of months ago. A number of voting wards on or near college campuses show students cast ballots near midterm-level, exceeding the expectations of local clerks and youth organizers."

At least some of the outcome stems from a new organization, Project 72, headed by Mike Tate, a former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin: "By Election Day, the Project 72 team topped 100 organizers who had set up shop at 15 institutions. They knocked on 40,000 dorm doors, tabled outside quads in judge's costumes and taped "my body, my choice" signs in women's bathrooms." It's worth noting that Grassroots North Shore was active on three campuses for this election: UM-Milwaukee, MIAD, and MSOE. So we can take a bit of credit too!

A more comprehensive look at voting patterns and trends, "Lessons from the Wisconsin Supreme Court race: Why the alarm bells for Republicans are ringing louder", examines the race for the WI Supreme Court in the broader context of recent elections. A key sub-head notes that "Republicans have a losing record in Wisconsin in the Trump Era." Craig Gilbert, the article's author, divides the elections of the past 15 years as two contrasting eras: the Obama years and the Trump years, including 2021, 2022, and 2023. He notes that six of the 22 major elections ("for president, governor, U.S. Senate and state Supreme Court") "were decided by roughly 1 point or less." However, since Trump became president in 2017, "only one side — the left — has won decisive statewide victories in Wisconsin. Democrats won an 11-point race for Senate in 2018 and a 3-point race for governor in 2022. Liberals won double-digit court victories in 2018, 2020 and 2023." The article goes into great detail about several past elections and is worth a careful read.

In news you may have missed, Mandela Barnes was named president of Power to the Polls Wisconsin, "an organization focused on voter turnout, especially in diverse communities like Milwaukee. Barnes worked with the group during the recent spring election." We've seen declining turnout in the city in recent elections. Perhaps Power to the Polls Wisconsin will help turn that around. In his statement, Barnes pointed out that "Organizing isn’t just about what happens right before an election – it’s about mobilizing communities to use their power year in and year out." Amen.

The national political news is hopping right now. The Dominion defamation case against Fox News and Fox Corporation is getting underway today. Next week, the E. Jean Carroll rape and defamation case against Donald Trump will begin. And then there are all the other investigations, both civil and criminal, into DJT. Business Insider has a pretty comprehensive list, noting that "It's hard to keep track of Donald Trump's very busy legal docket." The publication lists the Manhattan DA's most recent indictment plus the Trump Organization payroll case DA Bragg successfully prosecuted last year. In addition, there's the Fulton County, Georgia, probe; the Justice Department's investigation into schemes to overturn the 2020 presidential election; the DOJ investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents; New York AG Letitia James's civil suit against the Trump family and the Trump Organization; lawsuits alleging that Trump incited the violent mob that stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; a 'multi-level marketing' pyramid scheme case stemming from a promotion on "The Celebrity Apprentice;" Micheal Cohen's suit against Trump and Bill Barr for sending him back to prison for speaking to the press and writing a book. Then there are the civil suits Trump himself has initiated: against Hillary Clinton — which was tossed out of court last September and resulted in nearly $1 million in sanctions against Trump and his lawyer — and against his niece Mary Trump, the New York Times, and three of its reporters. Whew: so much litigating!

And then there's this news from the League of Women Voters: National Popular Vote Bills Introduced In Wisconsin.

I'm surprised — and pleased — to see that the events list this week is growing robust again. The Democratic Party of Ozaukee County invites residents of the 6th Congressional District to sign up to be "a delegate to the 6th Congressional District Convention in Oshkosh on May 7 and/or a delegate to the DPW State Convention in Green Bay, June 11-12. It is a great opportunity to meet fellow Democrats, vote on officers, both at the CD and state level, participate in various caucuses of interest to you and attend valuable workshops. Register here.

In addition, the 1st CD convention is listed in the events section. The 5th CD convention will be held May 12. You can see more information and sign up for that now. The 4th CD convention was held on March 25.

The state convention will be held in Green Bay on Saturday, June 10, and Sunday, June 11. Even without attending a congressional district convention, you can apply to be a state convention delegate.

In case you were wondering, the turnout in the communities we target was quite high in most cases. And GRNS takes some credit for that. We sent out thousands of postcards and made thousands of phone calls encouraging absentee and early voting both for the February primary and the April 4 election, for example. And we began these actions much earlier than the Democratic Party. The postcards and flyers we designed and printed explained WHY voting in these spring elections was so important. Our website offered a one-stop locale for finding both statewide and local candidate information as well as early in-person dates and times. In short, we were all-in from early January until the polls closed on Election Day. But when I say "we," I really mean YOU. All in all, we had more than 100 volunteers undertaking these vital actions. Grassroots North Shore is nothing without all of you. But truly amazing when we all pitch in.

Naturally, I have a lot more to say about last week's election results. For one thing, there is a lot of data to analyze and ponder. I've done my best to gather some election results for you. If you want to wade in the numbers, you can download the spreadsheet! The first tab is an overview of the areas of the state where Grassroots North Shore sent postcards, phoned, dropped literature, distributed yard signs, and encouraged our supporters to volunteer with the Democrats to canvass. The next several tabs provide more detailed information about how wards in the North Shore and in Ozaukee County voted, how wards in Milwaukee that are in Assembly District 10 voted, how the parts of Washington County in Senate District 8 voted, and how the Washington County communities voted in the Supreme Court race.

Here's a picture of how all 72 counties voted in the Supreme Court race:

And also a picture comparing the results of the Supreme Court race in the city of Waukesha to the results of the race between Tim Michels and Tony Evers in November 2022.

As you can see in the map and the accompanying data, Democrats did better in the most recent election in what used to be ruby red areas than they did only a few months ago.

With their narrow win in Senate District 8, Republicans maintained their supermajority in the Senate (the seat was formerly held by Republican Alberta Darling until she retired last fall). With a supermajority in hand again, there's been loose talk that the legislature could impeach and convict elected state officials without needing a single vote from Democrats. Before the election Dan Knodl expressed his view that the "Milwaukee County Justice system is failing" and that its prosecutors and judges need to be scrutinized. Indeed when he was asked whether he would vote to impeach Janet Protasiewicz, he said he "would certainly consider it."

Immediately after the election results came in, Devin LeMahieu, Senate Majority Leader, poured some cold water on the idea: "To impeach someone they would need to do something very serious, so no we are not looking to start the impeachment process as a regular occurring event in Wisconsin,” the Wisconsin State Journal reported. Braggadocio about impeaching people you oppose is easy when you're running for office. But not really effective once the election is over.

Actually, removing judges, prosecutors, or even governors would be pretty foolish. If the legislature impeached Governor Evers, for example, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez would serve in that capacity. If she were also impeached, the next person in line would be the Secretary of State, Sarah Godlewski! So too with judges and prosecutors. After all, that's how the now defeated William Brash obtained his seat on the Milwaukee Court of Appeals and how Dan Kelly got his former seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court!

What has turned our elections into national news has now been augmented by the ruling that the drug mifepristone will no longer be available to the nation's women after Friday, April 14, unless the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issues an emergency stay. In today's coverage of the issue in the New York Times, the connection between Janet Protasiewicz's stunning victory and the push to ban or seriously curtail medication abortions is explicit:

If Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's ruling on mifepristone is upheld, the consequences for federal regulations of all sorts could be awful. Take the article in The Hill: "Texas abortion pill ruling could impact other FDA-approved drugs, vaccinations: HHS secretary." On CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, laid out the problem: “When you turn upside down the entire FDA approval process, you’re not talking about just mifepristone. You’re talking about every kind of drug. You’re talking about our vaccines. You’re talking about insulin. You’re talking about the new Alzheimer’s drugs that may come on.” Other regulatory bodies may not be immune to similar attacks. Think about the EPA, the FCC, the SEC, and so on. We may be seeing the thin edge of a dangerous wedge: the long-running GOP strategy to cripple federal regulations entirely.

The events list is once again pretty sparse and is likely to remain that way for a while. Nevertheless, you should have a look. Something there might pique your interest.

The news is once again wringing its virtual hands over the latest — but certainly not the last — school massacre (see the coverage on NBC or CBS or any other news site you choose). The coverage is replete with pictures of the "shrines" the community constructs — the flowers and the candles and the teddy bears propped near the scene of the crimes. But not with pictures of what bullets from the weapons of war so often used in mass murders do to the human body. Thus the media mask the brutality, saving us from confronting what these events really mean. And of course the Governor of Tennessee offers his thoughts and prayers. The shock wears off and we go back to our routines. And then the next one happens. We lather, rinse, repeat.

Instead of fixing our dysfunctional gun culture, the legislature in the state of Georgia has passed a law to allow it to fire any elected District Attorney they please. Surely that means Fani Willis for daring to investigate TFG? Governor Kemp is apparently ready to sign it. So we're a small step ahead of Israel, where the current government is in the process of "bringing the judiciary to heal." In other words, making sure the judiciary does not act too independently, or at all. And saving big wigs from the annoyance of being indicted and tried.

It's all so maddening. And we feel helpless in the face of it. But we're not. We must simply redouble our efforts to elect people to represent us who refuse to seek power with lies. And first up is Jodi Habush Sinykin, who is set to debate Dan Knodl (currently the Assembly representative for AD24). Even if you are not in Senate District 8, contribute to her campaign. The election maps currently in place in Wisconsin have made Senate District 8 a bit less competitive than it was in the last decade. So the money to compete successfully is more important than ever. If you do live in SD 8, go to the debate in person. You may have already voted for her or plan to do so this week (using early in person voting) or on April 4. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that we show up and stand with her. Here are the details.

If you cannot attend in person, you can use the sign up form to specify that you want to "attend" the virtual event. A link to a video of it will be sent to you.

If you want to watch an interview with Judge Janet Protasiewicz, you could do worse than looking at this one. Irene Parthum, a long-time member of Grassroots North Shore, has shared a video of our candidate for the Supreme Court and the Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. It's recording of a live-stream from 3/20, with Judge Janet and Ben Wikler to get out the vote for the April 4 election. When you start to watch, fast forward to about the 11 minute mark (there were lots of technical troubles at the beginning).

There isn't any public polling on the race, but in today's New York Times online, an extensive article about the race, asserts that "she appears to have the advantage, with a lead in private polling and a major fund-raising and advertising edge" (Costly Court Race Points to a Politicized Future for Judicial Elections).

As we head into the final week of the campaign, I hope you will help GET OUT THE VOTE in any way you can. Here are links to canvassing opportunities, texting opportunities and to places where you may be able to get yard signs. Of course putting a sign in your yard, while helpful to signal your position to your neighbors, isn't enough on its own. If you absolutely cannot canvass, team up with a friend who can and offer to drive them through their turf to make the canvass quicker and the walking not quite so strenuous! And don't forget to urge like-minded family and friends to vote.

Finally, in the never-ending saga of special prosecutor Jack Smith's pursuit of justice, former Vice President Mike Pence must testify to the DC grand jury. In this case, the judge ruled that TRE45ON's claim of executive privilege is so much BS (New York Times) and that the "speech and debate" clause protecting members of Congress might apply to the former vice president under other circumstances but not when acts that are potentially illegal are involved. Reuters, however, is less nuanced, simply saying the Pence is shielded from testifying about Jan. 6, 2021." So, two cheers, maybe?