So last week there was no newsletter. It turned out to be a bad week to take a vacation! As I'm sure you're all aware, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that presidents and former presidents enjoy absolute immunity for "official acts" that are within the "core powers" of the presidency and "presumptive immunity" for other, unspecified acts. Many gallons of ink, pixels, and oxygen were consumed with analysis, but the bottom line of all of it is this: it's a terrible ruling that gives The Former Guy a lot of shelter. Exactly how much remains to be seen, so I'm not going to spend a lot of the newsletter's pixels with summaries and links to those analyses.

Also national attention, in the media anyway, has been consumed with the meaning of President Biden's terrible debate outing: his age, whether he suffers from some neurological disorder, whether he's capable of doing the job — not just for the next four years but NOW. Again, I will not spend time and energy on this story. You can find it everywhere. And it just leads to despair. Let's face it: President Biden, as AOC said yesterday, is the Democratic nominee. (I'm not linking to any of the coverage because the media embed the AOC and Bernie Sanders's expressions of support in the narrative journalists prefer: 'these officials are supporting him, for now' they opine.)

We need to stop wringing our hands, what-iffing, worrying. We need to roll up our sleeves and get to work! President Biden has been one of the best presidents of my lifetime. When I told him so, he kissed me on the top of my head. We need to extoll him for the masterful way he has handled governing at home and rallying our allies abroad. So as far as I am concerned, I'm tuning out all the efforts to persuade him to release his delegates and step aside. He's not about to do that. End of story.

What I want to foreground here is one of the other egregious rulings from SCOTUS that was handed down in the last days of the term. The case for which this ruling was made — Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo — demolished the so-called "Chevron deference," a precedent decided in 1984 that required the federal judiciary to let experts in federal agencies interpret laws that broadly regulate various aspects of our lives but do not spell out every jot and tittle of the rules the laws are meant to engender. In short, Chevron deference meant that people deeply versed in, say, the science of air pollution or food-borne pathogens could make the specific rules that would govern in those areas.

Amy Howe, writing for SCOTUSblog explains: "In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Friday cut back sharply on the power of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer and ruled that courts should rely on their own interpretion of ambiguous laws. The decision will likely have far-reaching effects across the country, from environmental regulation to healthcare costs."

In an article titled "Here’s What the Court’s Chevron Ruling Could Mean in Everyday Terms," (link gifted) the New York Times article states that the decision "could lead to the elimination or weakening of thousands of rules on the environment, health care, worker protection, food and drug safety, telecommunications, the financial sector and more." It is likely also to prompt "a rush of new litigation, while also injecting uncertainty into businesses and industries."

The 6-3 ruling in this case not only overturns settled law — Chevron deference has been the law of the land for 40 years, after all — it also provides the blueprint for dismantling any and all regulations that have protected our lives, our liberties, and our sense of living in a just society. Rather than relying on experts to determine what rules in the public interest can "limit toxic smog, ensure that health plans cover basic medical services, ensure the safety of drugs and cosmetics and protect consumers from risky corporate financial behavior," judges will have to make the rules themselves. Or not. And of course they lack the requisite knowledge to do so. Also worth noting: the ruling transfers power from the executive branch of government to the judicial branch and to the tender mercies of people who are appointed to lifetime tenure!

On a brighter note, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that drop boxes can be used for returning absentee ballots. But two words of caution about the ruling. One, what the court did was return the issue to the discretion of municipal clerks. So not all municipalities in the state will use them. And two, even where municipal clerks choose to use them, drop boxes will not be available for the August 13 election. The ruling will go into effect for the November 5 election. As WisPolitics explains, "This decision is a major win for Wisconsin voters and will make voting in Wisconsin easier, more reliable, and more secure in this year’s general election and beyond."

And speaking of elections, we have a vital one coming up SOON. On August 13, or in the weeks preceding that date, you will have an opportunity to vote in the partisan primary for a range of offices including for US Senator, Congressional Representative, State Senators, State Assembly Representatives, and some county offices. But the most important thing on your ballot comes at the very end, where you're least likely to see it. And that is the pernicious ballot questions that, if approved by the voters, will amend the Wisconsin constitution. Both ballot questions deal with who has the authority to appropriate or allocate federal moneys. You can see the text of the questions on our website. Grassroots North Shore urges you to vote in this election and to VOTE NO on both ballot questions.

Here's why:

Learn more about these proposed amendments and why YOU MUST VOTE in this election this Sunday, July 14, at Doctors Park (1870 E Fox Ln, Fox Point) from 4:00 - 6:00pm. Grassroots North Shore has three dynamic speakers on tap — Maggie Daun, the dynamo political radio talk show host of The Maggie Daun Show on the Civic Media Network; Sarah Godlewski, Wisconsin State Treasurer; Ian Schmitt-Ernst, Southeast Organizer for Wisconsin Conservation Voters — to explain exactly what these amendments will mean to us and to our government. Please don't miss this opportunity to get the information you need: Sign up.

By the way, you should soon be able to see what will be on your ballot at MyVote.WI.gov. You can also request an absentee ballot at that site, either for the August 13 primary or for both the August and November elections.

Finally, another must-attend event is coming on Thursday, July 18, at 3900 Estabrook Parkway at 4:00pm. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin will have what I'm told will be an "amazing speaker" to headline the event. And it will be a great occasion to meet fellow liberals from the area. Stay tuned for more details. And meanwhile, sign up for something, okay?

If a majority of Wisconsin voters approve the August Ballot Questions, the Constitution of Wisconsin will be amended.

Question 1: Delegation of appropriation power. Shall section 35 (1) of article IV of the constitution be created to provide that the legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated?

Question 2: Allocation of federal moneys. Shall section 35 (2) of article IV of the constitution be created to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the legislature by joint resolution or as provided by legislative rule?

Why we recommend voting no: Wisconsin Statutes delegate to the governor the authority to accept and allocate federal moneys without the participation of the legislature, and to distribute money approved in the ballot. The amendments would hamper the ability to respond to emergency needs in a timely fashion. Only the governor is in a position to do that.

In addition, the legislature, which only meets half the year, has been sitting on budget-approved funds for child care relief, PFAs relief, and rural hospital relief, but has not released the funds. These amendments would enable more inaction and gridlock.

This amendment would provide the opposite of the Wisconsin Constitution’s original intention, slowing down responses to threats to public health, education, and the environment. It is opposed by Wisconsin Public Health Association, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, Wisconsin Association of Local Health Associations and Boards, and the League of Women Voters.

WHY ARE SUCH IMPORTANT CHANGES ON A

LOW-TURNOUT ELECTION BALLOT?

Because the legislature wants to sneak this by while people are traveling and likely to ignore a supposedly low-stakes primary election.

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS – VOTE NO  

WI Conservation Voters www.wivotesno.org  

Grassroots North Shore 

It's going to be a big week in national politics. The Adolph Twitler news is thick, as in molasses or mud. Judge Aileen (Loose-y) Cannon is hearing some ridiculous motions that began on Friday, June 21, with an all-day hearing on whether special counsel Jack Smith's appointment is constitutional (asked and answered multiple times in various courts already, but could always use one more trot around the track). Today (Monday, June 24) she's hearing arguments about whether funding for his office is constitutional (ditto). Also on Monday, she will hear the prosecution's request to "restrict Trump from making more incendiary claims that falsely suggest FBI agents were 'complicit in a plot to assassinate him.'" On Tuesday, she will hear arguments "on Trump’s efforts to bar from trial the audio notes that investigators got from one of Trump’s attorneys, Evan Corcoran." In that same hearing, Dolt 45's lawyers will also argue that "investigators gave misleading statements on the affidavit to obtain the warrant to search his Mar-a-Lago property" (Washington Post, June 24,2024).

Meanwhile the whole country awaits long-delayed major Supreme Court decisions (from Wikipedia):

1. Fischer v. United States, argued on April 14, 2024: Did the D.C. Circuit err in construing 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c) ("Witness, Victim, or Informant Tampering"), which prohibits obstruction of congressional inquiries and investigations, to include acts unrelated to investigations and evidence?
2. Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, argued January 17: Whether the court should overrule Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. or at least clarify that statutory silence concerning controversial powers expressly but narrowly granted elsewhere in the statute does not constitute an ambiguity requiring deference to the agency.
3. Trump v. United States, argued on April 25, 2024: Whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.

These are only three of the most consequential pending cases in a Supreme Court term that normally ends on June 30! According to The Hill, 14 cases that were argued this term are yet hanging fire. Reuters reports that "the court is having its second-slowest term since 1946, according to Adam Feldman, a legal scholar who tracks court data on his Empirical SCOTUS blog."

The Fischer case has to do with whether one of the January 6 insurrectionists can be charged with obstruction of justice if the congressional procedure he and others disrupted was certification of the electoral college vote and not an inquiry or investigation. The statute Fischer is challenging was used in many other Jan 6 cases and is also one of the charges Benedict Donald faces.

The Loper case is notable because another longstanding precedent — familiarly called Chevron — might be overturned or significantly curtailed. If decided the wrong way, it would jeopardize the entire regulatory apparatus of the government. That's because the Chevron case granted to the agencies and their experts the ability to develop and deploy the means to carry out the laws Congress has passed even if those laws do not fully specify the means by which they are to operate.

The third case is of course the presidential Immunity case. The length of time it is taking for the Court to render judgment is cause for alarm. As the set-up to her conclusion that the US Supreme Court needs substantial reform, Jennifer Rueben, in today's Washington Post, begins "Another day of Supreme Court decisions passed on Friday, another day without an opinion on presidential immunity. No better evidence of the bad faith and bias on the part of the right-wing Supreme Court majority exists than its foot-dragging on the decision concerning whether felon and former president Donald Trump can be prosecuted for an insurrection. In deciding to delay the case for more than six months, the court itself commits election interference." Strong words, eminently justified.

On Thursday, we'll have the Great Debate. Not only should you not miss it; you should watch it with your fellow Democrats at the Debate Watch Party the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County is hosting from 7 - 10pm at Broken Bat Brewery Co. (135 E Pittsburgh Ave, Milwaukee). Be surrounded by friends and fellow Democrats as we cheer on President Biden and get motivated for our 2024 general election campaign. To join in on the fun RSVP to let them know you’re coming, and don’t forget to bring a friend or family member! Alternatively, invite a like-minded friend or two over to your place so you can laugh at the gaffes and cheer at the zingers together. The debate begins at 8pm CDT and runs for 90 minutes.

Maybe some time soon we'll get a decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court on the issue of using drop boxes to return absentee ballots. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is pre-planning rapid response rallies in Madison and Milwaukee either to celebrate the return of drop boxes to Wisconsin elections or to respond to an adverse decision. Stay informed about ballot drop box issues and/or RSVP for the rally.

On the home front, I hope you are still reading this missive because Grassroots North Shore has truly VITAL INFORMATION for you about the otherwise ho-hum primary election on Tuesday, August 13. In our presentation on Sunday, July 14, "Hot Topics," experts will explain what the two ballot questions (aka constitutional amendments) mean and what they will do to governance in this state. We're going to meet in Doctors Park (1870 E Fox Ln, Fox Point) from 4:00 - 6:00pm. Maggie Daun (host of the radio talk show The Maggie Daun Show), Sarah Godlewski (Wisconsin Treasurer), and Ian Schmitt-Ernst (Conservation Voters organizer) will fill us in. So please RSVP. Also please bring your own water bottles and lawn chairs if possible.

The newsletter is a couple of days early this week and will be AWOL altogether next week as I'm taking a little R & R to visit with our grandson. But if things really blow up this week, you'll undoubtedly hear from me again.

Before I sat down to write today's newsletter, I was running a few errands in the course of which I saw a bus displaying, not its destination, but an exhortation. "Juneteenth today: Celebrate Freedom." It's an uplifting message in the city our Trumpelthinskin calls "miserable."

But it's also sobering when we realize that our imperfect but beloved country practices slavery by another name. An essay by Andrew Ross, Tommaso Bardelli and Aiyuba Thomas in today's New York Times — End Legal Slavery in the United States (a gift to you) — explains "that Emancipation did not legally end slavery in the United States. The 13th Amendment — the culmination of centuries of resistance by enslaved people, a lifetime of abolitionist campaigning and a bloody civil war — prohibited involuntary servitude 'except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.'" Thus our prison systems use forced, and largely uncompensated, labor. "Today, a majority of the 1.2 million Americans locked up in state and federal prisons work under duress in jobs that cover the entire spectrum, from cellblock cleaning to skilled manufacturing, for wages as low as a few cents per hour or, in several states, for nothing at all."

Of course we face a multitude of crises both at home and abroad, including the presidential election racing towards us. And we may perforce have to attend to them first. But on this joyous holiday, spare a thought for those who, while incarcerated, are also compelled to involuntary labor. And that's just slavery by another name.

Meanwhile, it's June 19th and the US Supreme Court has still failed to issue a ruling on the ludicrous arguments that Don the Con offered to claim that presidents, after they are no longer in office, are immune from prosecution for any and all acts they committed while in office. Noting the delay this dilatory opinion causes, Laura Litman's opinion piece at the New York Times (a gift to you) titled Something’s Rotten About the Justices Taking So Long on Trump’s Immunity Case, begins "For those looking for the hidden hand of politics in what the Supreme Court does, there’s plenty of reason for suspicion on Donald Trump’s as-yet-undecided immunity case given its urgency. There are, of course, explanations that have nothing to do with politics for why a ruling still hasn’t been issued. But the reasons to think something is rotten at the court are impossible to ignore." She notes that "some two dozen [cases] remain undecided that were argued even before the April 25 oral argument over Mr. Trump’s immunity."

Still, she goes on to note that "seemingly mundane, process explanations overlook some of the particulars in the immunity case. Mr. Trump’s lawyers put together a set of arguments that are so outlandish they shouldn’t take much time to dispatch. Among them is the upside-down claim that, because the Constitution specifies that an officer who is convicted in an impeachment proceeding may subsequently face a criminal trial, the Constitution actually requires an impeachment conviction before there is any criminal punishment." Read the piece and see what you make of it.

Also notable in the presidential campaign is President Biden's latest ad: "Character Matters." TPM notes that initially the New York Times story about the ad "takes on the kind of weird distancing that political reporting sometimes offers up as objectivity. The headline — 'Biden Campaign Ad Paints Trump as a Felon' — suggests maybe it’s an open question whether Trump is a felon. Sure, the Biden campaign is painting him that way, but who is to say, really?" The Times story continues in the same vein: "President Biden’s campaign on Monday began its most aggressive effort to brand former President Donald J. Trump a felon." The point, of course, is that Agent Orange IS A FELON, having been convicted on 34 counts.

A few hours after TPM published its critique of the Times story, a new headline appeared: "Biden Campaign Ad Calls Attention to Trump’s Felon Status." The story's text remained unchanged, still asserting that the president's campaign is trying "to brand former President Donald J. Trump a felon." So I repeat: FELON TRUMP is awaiting sentencing in this New York City case and faces another three criminal cases charging him with an additional 54 criminal counts. We need to call Dirty Don what he is: A CRIMINAL who will be sentenced on July 11. And we need to confront the claims of a "rigged" or partisan trial, passionately and without waffling. So here is what North Shore Fair Maps, working off messaging research by the Research Collaborative, recommends.

Those of you who participate in social media might post the four statements as a retort for those who scoff at TRE45ON's verdict.

We're steaming into summer, literally. It's pretty hot for mid-June by Wisconsin standards. The whole east half of the country is broiling. Because of the abnormal heat in the Atlantic ocean, on May 23, NOAA predicted that the hurricane season, which began June 1 and lasts to November 30, has an 85% chance of becoming an above normal season. "NOAA is forecasting a range of 17 to 25 total named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, 8 to 13 are forecast to become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 4 to 7 major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher)" (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, May 23, 2024).

Hurricane activity is not the only dire threat. Already this year, the world has experienced widespread coral bleaching: "Along coastlines from Australia to Kenya to Mexico, many of the world's colorful coral reefs have turned a ghostly white in what scientists said on Monday amounted to the fourth global bleaching event in the last three decades. At least 54 countries and territories have experienced mass bleaching among their reefs since February 2023 as climate change warms the ocean's surface waters, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch, the world's top coral reef monitoring body" (Reuters, April 16, 2024).

Of course, we're immune to hurricanes here and there are no coral reefs in the Great Lakes. But we have our own serious threats, albeit not related to the outdoor temperatures. We're facing a different kind of heat from our soon-to-be-transformed legislature: the MAGA Republicans are racing to alter the political landscape before their grip on legislative power wanes. They're trying to enact pernicious ballot questions that, if passed by voters on August 13, will amend the Wisconsin constitution to seriously alter the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. In short, these two measures will BURN us. To address this danger, Grassroots North Shore is presenting "Hot Topics!" Sunday, July 14, from 4:00 to 6:00pm.

We're gathering in Doctors Park (1870 E Fox Ln, Fox Point) to unpack the consequences of these two ballot questions. We'll serve light refreshments but we do ask that people bring their own water bottles and lawn chairs. RSVP here. Come meet some of the candidates on the August 13 ballot and learn why everyone needs to vote NO on the ballot questions.

Next week, on Thursday, June 27, President Biden will debate a man with a gag order from a New York City court and who is out on bail in four jurisdictions. The Democratic Party of Milwaukee County is holding a Debate Watch Party. It's going to be at Broken Bat Brewing Co., 135 E Pittsburg Ave in Milwaukee from 7:00 to 10:00pm. If Benedict Donald deigns to engage — after all Sean Hannity is providing a range of rationales for skipping out of the event — I'm sure it will be fun and energizing. I'm just not sure what will happen if the The Cowardly Lyin’ doesn't show.

A final note for residents of Shorewood, Glendale, and everyone who lives in the 10th, 11th or 12th Assembly District. There is a special election taking place right this minute to fill the vacant seat in Senate District 4. To find out more about the candidates, visit our page for the special election. Absentee ballots are already being mailed. In-person early voting began yesterday, June 18, and continues through Friday, June 28. NOTE: In Shorewood, there is no early in-person voting today because of the Juneteenth holiday. See the full in-person early voting schedule for Glendale and Shorewood.

You should be aware that the primary for this seat is tantamount to the election itself. Only Democrats are competing for the seat. Find out more about them before you vote. One of the two women on the July 2 ballot will be the only candidate on the ballot for the general election on July 30. So the July 2 primary will determine who fills the remainder of the Senate District 4 term.

We begin with a run-down of critical dates for the special election in state Senate District 4 and the partisan primary this August.

If you live in Glendale, Shorewood, Assembly District 10 in Milwaukee, Assembly District 11, or Assembly District 12, you will have a special election in July. Here are key dates.

Two Democratic candidates — LaKeshia Myers and Dora Drake — are running in this Special Election to fill the remainder of the current term in state Senate District 4. Visit our Special Election page for information on the candidates. The winner of the July 2 Primary will appear on the ballot on August 30. Since no other political party is fielding candidates for this position, the Democratic candidate on the July 30 ballot will win the election and will serve as a state senator through December 2024.

The same two candidates will be on the August 13 Primary ballot. The winner of that primary will appear on the November 5 ballot for the four-year term that begins in January 2025.

On August 13, all of us will have a Primary Election. Visit our Election Page for a list of offices and candidates together with links to their social media and web sites. For the contested election between David Cullen and Ted Chisholm for Milwaukee County Treasurer, we will post their responses to our questionnaire when they become available.

The August 13 Primary looks like a snoozy affair, but there are two very pernicious ballot questions in addition to the candidates. Question 1 would assert "sole authority to appropriate funds" to the legislature, an authority it currently shares with the governor. Question 2 would prevent the governor from allocating federal funds he is currently authorized to distribute. Together, these two Ballot Questions (aka amendments to our Constitution) would bring state government to a halt when we most need it to act quickly and judiciously, for example when we have a natural disaster or face an imminent public health emergency. We urge you and everyone you know in Wisconsin to VOTE NO to defeat these initiatives. To be an informed voter on these questions, visit our page about the August 13 Ballot Questions. And spread the word: have converstations, email, or text with your neighbors, co-workers, family, and friends. And ask them to spread the word also.

Because the Primary Election is so important to the welfare of our state, and because a lot of people have planned various trips during our lovely summers, you probably need to PLAN YOUR VOTE, especially if you know you won't be home on Election Day, Tuesday, August 13. You can request an absentee ballot at MyVote.WI.gov. Absentee ballots are mailed approximately three weeks before an election. So if you know where you will be on the date you could reasonably expect your ballot to arrive, you should request one NOW! If you will be at home at some point during the Early In-Person Voting period — Tuesday, July 30, to Friday, August 2, and Monday, August 5, to Friday, August 9 — make a plan to vote during one of those days.

Let's turn now to some national news. At their Indianapolis Convention, the Southern Baptists voted today "to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization. The vote was an indication that ordinary evangelicals are increasingly open to arguments that equate embryos with human life, and that two years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, 'fetal personhood' may be the next front for the anti-abortion movement" (New York Times, a gift article, June 12, 2024).

When those of us who fought for the right to bodily autonomy in the 1960s began in the 1990s to warn younger women that the right to choose was under threat both at the US Supreme Court (see Casey v Planned Parenthood) and in the growing number of TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws, we could not arouse enough concern about the constant effort to chip away at Roe v Wade. "Efforts to use clinic regulation [TRAP laws] to limit access to abortion, rather than to make its provision safer resurfaced in the 1990s and have gained steam since 2010" (Guttmacher, August 31, 2023). So abortion rights had long been under attack when the right to an abortion was overturned, seemingly abruptly, in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision.

The story of the right to an abortion and its slow undoing is a cautionary tale. Both infertility treatments and contraception are currently in the crosshairs of the theological fanatics we generally label as the Christian Right, even though there seems to be little about their views that could be called Christian. We still have no ruling from SCOTUS on Mifepristone or on whether states are required to allow emergency abortions when it is necessary to stabilize a patient. In fact, an AP article by Mark Sherman and Lindsay Whitehurst looked at the court's work and finds that "court heard 61 cases this term, and 29 remain unresolved." Theoretically the court has until the end of the month to render decisions on a range of cases that could upend the regulatory framework our nation has depended on for at least 40 years, grant presidential immunity which would place holders of that office above the law, and/or prevent the government from protecting domestic violence victims "by keeping guns away from the people alleged to have abused them," to name only three of the 29.

We definitely have some serious issues on our plates. But there's some good news also. In yesterday's Hopium Chronicles, Simon Rosenberg said, "As I wrote Sunday, it would not be surprising to see the race shift 2-3 points towards Biden after Trump’s dramatic 34 felony convictions. While some of the early post-verdict polling didn’t find the election moving that much, the last 4 national polls released have all found the race moving towards Biden." He cites a New York Times poll, a Yahoo/You Gov poll, one from CBS News/You Gov, and a Morning Consult poll. In three of the polls, Biden's numbers improved by 2 points since the verdict in the Trump election interference trial (I refuse to refer to it as a "hush money case"). In the fourth poll, Biden improved by 3 points. It may look small but this far out from the elections, the movement may well be significant. He goes on to say that "We also got some encouraging new polling of Latino voters from Voto Latino: 'In an allocated head-to-head matchup, Biden is leading Trump among swing state Latino voters by a robust 59% to 39%. This is within striking distance of Biden’s 2020 performance and shows no meaningful rise in Latino support for Trump, which contradicts the widespread narrative.'"

So worry less by doing more!

Unfortunately, I have to end this newsletter with a note of sadness. Jack Prater, who worked with Grassroots North Shore on our Steering Committee beginning in 2014 and later on our Advisory Committee, died on May 26. We leaned on Jack and his long and successful career as CEO for United Ways in Louisville, Milwaukee, and Chicago. And we missed him and his sage advice when he was no longer able to participate with us. A memorial reception will be held on Thursday, June 13 from 4:00- 6:00 pm at Shully’s ATS (143 Green Bay Rd, Thiensville WI 53092) with a brief service at 5:15 pm . All are invited to attend to celebrate his life and legacy. To honor Jack’s life memorial gifts can be sent to: United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, Humane Society of Ozaukee County, or Bethany College (Bethany, WV). See the full obit.

Wow. Wow. WOW! Two outstanding pieces of news. First Don the Con has been convicted 34 times! Sentencing has been set for Thursday, July 11 at 10am ET. Of course that's relatively old news since the verdict was rendered on Thursday, May 30. What remains to be seen is what the conviction means to voters come November. Ditto what the sentence for these 34 crimes will be.

But before I get into the instant polling on these questions, I should relate the second spectacular news item: our Wisconsin Attorney General, Josh Kaul, has finally charged three people who were behind the fraudulent electors scheme here. Kaul filed felony forgery charges against Kenneth Chesebro, Jim Troupis, and Mike Roman (a former Benedict Donald aide). Here's the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story.

These criminal charges flow from the lawsuit two Wisconsin Democrats filed in 2022 and settled in December 2023. In Takeaways from the Wisconsin 2020 fake electors lawsuit settlement (AP, March 4, 2024), Corey Williams and Sophia Tareen write "The settlement lays bare the orchestrated plan to keep Trump in office by creating paperwork and pulling together false slates of Republican electors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and belatedly New Mexico." Neither Chesebro nor Troupis admitted to any wrongdoing or liability, unlike the 10 false electors in Wisconsin. Nevertheless, they turned over "more that 1400 pages of emails, text messages and other documents." The documents reveal that the entire false electors conspiracy had its origins in Wisconsin. And by the way, one of the people who signed the fake ballots, Robert Spindell, sits on the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Back to the Cheeto Benito convictions. Steve Benen, who writes the Maddow Blog, surveys four polls — ABC News/Ipsos, Reuters, Morning Consult, and CBS News/YouGov — taken after the verdict was announced. Three of the four polls reported more than 50% of voters thought the verdict was the right judgment. The CBS News/You Gov was the most favorable to Democrats. Its results showed that 54% agreed that the trial was fair, 57% agreed with the verdict, and 51% consider the convicted felon unfit to be president.

The damage so far: In 2023 two Trump Organization companies were found "guilty on multiple charges of criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records connected to a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authorities" by disguising taxable expenses as deductible business expenses (CNN Politics, December 7, 2023). The man himself has been found to have committed sexual assault (i.e. rape) and of defamation, TWICE. He owes E. Jean Carroll almost $90 million in compensation and punitive damages. The civil case New York v. Trump found The Big Lie-bowski "and his family businesses of overstating his net worth by as much $3.6 billion a year over a decade to fool bankers into giving him better loan terms" (Reuters, February 17, 2024). Plus the four criminal cases, one that has found him guilty of 34 felonies.

Focusing on the election issues here at home, we really need to understand and DEFEAT the two ballot questions on the August 13 ballot. The first step is to understand what they mean.

• Ballot Question 1 reads: "Delegation of appropriation power. Shall section 35 (1) of article IV of the constitution be created to provide that the legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated?
  
  
• Ballot Question 2 reads: "Allocation of federal moneys. Shall section 35 (2) of article IV of the constitution be created to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the legislature by joint resolution or as provided by legislative rule?"

Question 2 is pretty easy to understand. Currently by statute the governor has the authority to allocate federal funds that flow to our state. The proposed constitutional amendment would nullify the statute and place the power in the hands of the legislature. As a result, it strips authority from the official who has been elected by ALL the voters of Wisconsin and gives it to the legislators, each one of whom is elected by district, making the whole Senate and the whole Assembly much harder to hold accountable through elections. In other words, this proposed amendment would enact another way for the legislature to undermine the governor's ability to allocate federal dollars swiftly during an emergency — a natural disaster, an economic crisis, or an urgent public health need, for example. The citizens of Wisconsin should vote NO on both questions. We do not need more red tape and endless gridlock when disasters strike.

Question 1 is more difficult to understand. Its legislative history creates some of the confusion. When the state Senate passed the proposed amendment, it read "Section 35 (1) The legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how federal moneys shall be expended." The Assembly changed the language to read "[Article IV] Section 35 (1) The legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated." By removing the word "federal," the proposed amendment appears to mean that every penny of the state's funds, both those raised from state taxes and those from federal sources, would be subject to legislative approval. Really? Does it mean that an agency would have to go to the legislature every time it needs to buy paper clips? Under this wording, it could!

The League of Women Voters has published a Toolkit to help voters understand the issues and to advocate voting NO on both questions. It also provides five major reasons to vote NO on both questions in a handout anyone can print and distribute.

So TAKE ACTION:

1. Download and read the League of Women Voters Toolkit;
2. Download the handout and print it, double-sided if you can;
3. Distribute the handout to your family, your friends, your neighbors and have a conversation about what the proposed amendments would do to undermine our government's ability to get things done.
4. Email 10 people you know, attaching the handout, and ask them to email at least 10 more people to spread the word.

MORE ACTION:

Sign up for a canvass shift on June 8, from the staging location in Glendale: 6563 N Crestwood Dr. Or sign up to canvass or to recruit new volunteers on June 9, from the staging location 3271 N Newhall St.

Support Jodi Habush Sinykin at her fundraiser on June 12 from 5:00 to 7:00pm. Remember Early Money Is Like Yeast: It Makes the Dough Rise!

I'll end with Simon Rosenberg's tag line: "Do More, Worry Less." When translated by Debbie Patel, co-chair of Grassroots North Shore, it becomes this: "You can't roll up your sleeves if you're wringing your hands."

Here's the biggest news this week: the jury has begun deliberations in the NY election fraud case against the abominable orange man. You can find coverage of the closing arguments and Justice Merchan's instructions to the jury just about everywhere you would think to look. CNN has a countdown clock to let people know how long the jury has been deliberating! It also provides a short profile of each of the 12 jurors and six alternates. The Washington Post has four front page stories about the trial and jury deliberations: Why a Trump lawyer’s prison reference was so ‘outrageous’ (gifted article), for example.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is an exception. The only headline on its virtual front page is an opinion piece: Every angle of Trump's trial has been analyzed except the law. Blame the media. | Opinion. Because piece was published before Justice Merchan gave the jury instructions on the law, blaming the media for its lack of attention to the laws involved in the case seems like an odd complaint.

And in BREAKING NEWS: Justice Alito tells Congress he will not recuse from Jan. 6-related cases. In the article (also gifted) Alito blames his wife, not only for the inverted flag at their home in Virginia but also for the so-called "Appeal to Heaven" flag flying over their summer home in New Jersey. In his letter to congress, he said he had asked his wife to take down the inverted flag but that she refused for several days. About the flag at their summer home and flags in general, he wrote "My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not." So he's not responsible and, he implies, they have no bearing on his own beliefs. So there.

What's important here in our corner of Wisconsin is the upcoming elections. I have now removed the links to potential candidates' nomination papers, which are due in Madison by 5pm on Monday, June 3. Although prospective candidates will not be officially certified until after June 3, our 2024 Partisan Elections page lists candidates we expect to see on the August 13 ballot together with links to their online information. I will be adding information to the page as it becomes available.

We also have a page devoted to the two ballot questions that will be decided by this low turnout election. You might recall that the April 2nd election also presented two ballot questions. And there's likely to be one more for the November 5 election. Any ballot question that passes immediately amends the state's Constitution. So while it's important to know what's at stake, it's devilishly hard to find out. The language of the questions is almost always vague.

Last week I briefly mentioned that the governor has set the dates for a special election for Senate District 4. The primary for this election will take place on July 2 with Election Day on July 30. Representative LaKeshia Myers and Representative Dora Drake have both indicated that they will run in that special election. Because the district is heavily Democratic (as much as 85% Democratic), it's quite possible that there will be no Republican candidate on the July 30 ballot. That means whoever wins the July 2 Democratic primary will win the seat. But that new incumbent will not sit in that seat for long. A new legislative term is slated to begin on January 6, 2025. The senator who will be sworn in on that date will be the winner of the November 5 election. Both Dora Drake and LaKeshia Myers have circulated nomination papers for the regular election also. So the special election will occur on July 2 and July 30. The election for the next legislature will occur on August 13 (the primary) and November 5. Again, if there is no Republican running in the district, the winner of the August 13 primary will become the next senator representing Senate District 4.

It seems that Wisconsin is the font of much of the sturm und drang bubbling up in our politics. First there's the matter of the fake electors. Four states have indicted these frauds. But not Wisconsin. Still Just Security ("an online forum for the rigorous analysis of security, democracy, foreign policy, and rights") recently published an exposé of the plot. In the settlement of a civil case against the Wisconsin fakes (Penebaker v. Hitt), Just Security "obtained thousands of emails, text messages, and other records from the defendants" that uncover previously unknown features of the scheme. The article focuses on "three major themes exposed by the settlement: (1) the role of James Troupis (a Wisconsin lawyer); (2) the earlier-than-understood origins of the plot, just days after the election itself; and (3) the design of the underlying scheme." The analysis of these documents reveals that the scheme was never designed to be a contingency plan dependent on successful litigation. "On the contrary, this was a premeditated effort to use fraudulent slates of electors to introduce uncertainty and chaos into the Joint Session, no matter what the courts ruled." Read the whole, jaw-dropping account.

Wisconsin also nurtured the strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade. In a New York Times (gifted) article, The Untold Story of the Network That Took Down Roe v. Wade, we learn that days after the 2016 election, at the annual conference of the Federalist Society, "the young solicitor general of Wisconsin, Misha Tseytlin was surprised when he overheard someone say that Roe v. Wade would never be overturned. There was no reason to think overturning Roe was impossible now, Tseytlin believed. Republicans had the White House, an open Supreme Court seat and legislatures passing a flood of laws restricting abortion in states across the country. If there really was no right to abortion in the Constitution, as many at the [conerence] believed, this was the time to prove it. And Tseytlin had an idea of how to do just that."

For the "elite strike force of Christian lawyers, activists and politicians ... the fall of Roe was not an end but a beginning in their effort to make all abortion illegal and, in effect, roll back the sexual revolution." According to the extensive article for which the authors interviewed 350 interviews, Tseytlin developed the strategy that ultimately overturned the 50 year old precedent. The critical elements were having some state adopt a law that would ban abortions many weeks before fetal viability (about 24 weeks) and working to ensure that the US Supreme Court would take the case. Thus the work of undermining Roe began. A mere five years later, the Dobbs decision came down.

Wisconsin seems to be the nursery for extreme, right-wing efforts to entrench power in the hands of the religious right, by providing the architecture for a coup and by removing key elements of our autonomy. Both men and women will feel the bite of abortion bans. Both will experience the life-altering events an unwanted pregnancy will bring. And both will suffer with loved ones whose untreated miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, or in utero fetal death caused by severe abnormalities will lead to life threatening conditions.

So, it's our job to push back. It's our job to expose and to defeat those who would fashion an illiberal world without our consent. Our new maps (see the assembly and senate districts) provide us with a powerful tool to redress the imbalance in our legislature. But we have to do the work. In the coming weeks, candidates will be officially launching their campaigns. In our area, we have several races to support. Amy Washburn and John Zarbano are vying to face off against Glenn Grothmann. Jodi Habush Sinykin will face off against Duey Stroebel, one of the most extreme MAGAites in the Wisconsin senate. Dana Glasstein will face incumbent Paul Melotik in the 22nd Assembly District, a fairly tough race for her.

This week's big ask: find a race and a candidate you can get behind and then volunteer to do something, anything, for that candidate. Texting or calling or emailing other people in the candidate's district. Or volunteering to occasionally drive the candidate to events. Hold a house party. Donate a little money (or a lot: visit our campaign contribution page to make sure you don't overdo it!). Canvass if you can. Hook up with the Democratic organizer in your area: Gilad Palley covers most of the Milwaukee County North Shore communities. For those in Ozaukee County, contact Debra Dassow, chair of the Democratic Party of Ozaukee County, to get directions for the organizer in your area.

In case you missed it, last week the Supreme Court of Wisconsin (SCOWIS) held oral arguments in a case seeking to overturn a previous ruling that prohibited the use of drop boxes for returning absentee ballots. You can watch the oral arguments on May 13. At issue really is the degree to which the Wisconsin Elections Commission or municipal clerks who actually run elections can exercise some discretion over the details of how elections are conducted. In Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission — the 2022 case that prohibited the use of drop boxes — the Court ruled that because state law didn’t explicitly permit drop boxes, they’re not allowed. SCOWIS's ruling implies that every detail of election administration has to be included in the statute, even though drop boxes had been used in Wisconsin elections for decades.

I bring this up because the two Ballot Questions on all Wisconsin ballots in the August 13 partisan primary also hinge on when executive branch agencies and the state's governor can exercise discretion over the allocation of federal funds. The MAGA-infested legislature is bringing these ballot questions to a vote because Governor Evers vetoed the bill that would have taken discretionary authority away from the executive branch and given it to the legislature. Grassroots North Shore, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, and many other organizations strenuously oppose these measures. Here's what will be on your ballot:

Lodging such power in a legislature dominated by one political party when the governor belongs to a different political party is simply a recipe for gridlock, especially in times of emergencies or crisis. We can see this sort of intransigence playing out right now with state funds. The current budget — passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Evers — included $125 million dollars to remediate PFAS contamination. "The Democratic governor and Republican lawmakers agreed to provide funding under the current two-year budget to address pollution from the harmful forever chemicals, but they’ve been at odds over how to spend the money. Last week, Evers vetoed a GOP bill that would have used the funds to provide grants to communities, landowners and others to address PFAS," citing limits the bill would have placed on regulators’ authority to address the chemicals (Wisconsin Public Radio, April 16, 2024). In Evers's view, the bill the Republicans passed would let polluters off the hook, giving them too much leeway to continue to pollute.

So why are we facing a record number of ballot questions this year? Simply put, the legislature resorts to these ballot questions to thwart the governor's veto power. Constitutional amendments require that the legislature pass the proposed measures in two successive legislative sessions and then put the measure to the voters. The governor has no role in amending the Constitution. It's possible that the MAGA GOP cannot imagine a day when there's a Republican governor but a legislature dominated by Democrats. So they cannot imagine being hoist on their own petard. But it does not take a lot of high level reasoning to see that what's bad for the goose would also be bad for the gander, to mangle the cliché. It may be very difficult to undo an amendment to the Constitution that strips the power of the executive branch and hands it to the legislature.

In other Wisconsin election news, the residents of Assembly Districts 10, 11, and 12 get to have two additional elections this summer! Whoopee! (If you're not sure whether you're in Senate District 4 which is comprised of those three assembly districts, you can check here: find your district.) Senate District 4 has been a vacant seat since Governor Evers appointed Lena Taylor to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, beginning January 30, 2024. The election to fill the vacant seat will be held on July 30. "State Reps. LaKeshia Myers, D-Milwaukee, and Dora Drake, D-Milwaukee, have announced plans to run for the Senate seat, which would set up a primary election for July 2" (Wisconsin Public Radio, May 15, 2024). The winner of the July 30 special election would occupy the seat until January 2025, when former senator Taylor's term expires.

A second election for that same senate seat will be held on November 5 with all the other partisan offices up for election. The primary for that election will be held on August 13. The winner of this second election will be the Senator for the 4th Senate District for four years, beginning in January 2025. The same two candidates — Dora Drake and LaKeshia Myers — will likely compete in the August 13 primary. If people in Senate District 4 are feeling a bit frisky, they can vote for one of the pair on July 2 and the other one on August 13. Special indeed.

In this week's ACTION ITEMS there are a number of volunteer opportunities with your local Democratic Party plus some national ones as well.

• Let's start with the Ozaukee County Dems:
  1. The party seeks people to walk in two upcoming parades, Saturday Fun before the Fourth in Thiensville and Fourth of July in Cedarburg. Sign up to march in one or both parades.
  2. Oz Dems are looking for day captains at the Ozaukee County Fair: 7/31 Wednesday, 8/1 Thursday, 8/2 Friday, 8/3 Saturday and 8/4 Sunday. Please consider being a day captain. We can't do it without you! Sign up to work the fair here.
  3. We are looking for Oz Dem office volunteers leading up to the November 2024 Election. Sign up to volunteer in the office here.
• Milwaukee County Dems are rapidly ramping up staffing and need to build up a supporter housing network so that they can get new hires on the ground as soon as possible. To volunteer to house a campaign worker, fill out the Supporter Housing Form.
• If you're interested in helping voters get to the polls during early voting periods and on election days, all you have to do is contact Ride2Vote. The organization is seeking two kinds of volunteers: those who want to be drivers and those who want to be dispatchers. Volunteer with the Drive2Vote Program or to Dispatch drivers or to Provide Voter Outreach.
• If you would like to join Postcards to Swing States' efforts to reach voters in swing states during the Get Out the Vote period for the November 5 Election Day, sign up now to write postcards to rally Democrats to vote in 11 key states! Writing postcards with us is the most effective action you can take from home to help re-elect President Biden and ensure that Democrats maintain a Senate majority. You can pick the state when you sign up, and we'll mail you free postcards along with voter lists and instructions with proven message options. You'll provide the postcard stamps and mail the postcards in October on the instructed date.
• If you like to post to social media, you can use the Amplify Toolkit to post ads and videos to help spread messages that have been tested and designed to disrupt despair, inspire defiance and encourage engagement ahead of November. Brought to us by ASO Communications, The Way to Win Action Fund, We Make the Future Action, and Gutsy Media. These organizations do excellent work. So you can rely on their products.

Also in case you missed the Forum on White Christian Nationalism brought to you by Souls to the Polls and League of Progressive Seniors, you can watch the video.

Now about that inverted flag that flew for several days in front of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's house: here's Steve Schmidt in his daily Substack publication The Warning.

Needless to say, the upside-down flag has been a much-used symbol for the "Stop the Steal" crowd and was prominently used in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. It's now become a symbol of Alito's partisanship and allies him with those who espouse the Big Lie. I'll have more to say about the US Supreme Court in future newsletters.

I'm going to start the newsletter today with ACTION ITEMS as we gear up for the next set of elections.

1. Grassroots North Shore is seeking volunteers for the following projects:
   • write postcards during the period June 17-25 (in packs of 30) — email Norma Gilson and let her know how many packs of 30 cards, 30 names and addresses, and 30 stamps you can take;
   • deliver flyers to designated houses in walkable neighborhoods during the period July 8-15 — email Norma Gilson for further instructions;
   • make phone calls to strong Democratic women to remind them to vote beginning July 8 and ending on Election Day, August 13 — email Nancy Kaplan;
   • join the roster of drivers to help make canvassing and delivering flyers a lot more efficient — email Nancy Kaplan;
   
   
   
2. Sign the petition from the Women's March to let the Supreme Court know that #JUSTICECANTWAIT. I've already signed it. Ordinarily I don't sign online petitions but this one is an exception to my rule. If you use any social media, post a link to the petition page with the #JUSTICECANTWAIT tag!
   
   
3. If you are interested in joining Team VoPro as a poll observer this year, fill out our poll observer interest form as soon as possible! Once you fill out the interest form, our team will reach out to answer any questions you might have and walk you through the next steps. Poll observers are the eyes and ears of our team on Election day and are a great resource for voters who might need help. If poll observing sounds like something you’d enjoy, fill out this form today!
   
   
4. Please join the Milwaukee County Democratic Party as we walk in the 20th Annual Milwaukee Pride Parade on Sunday, June 9th. We are planning on having 1-2 vehicles for those who are unable to walk the length of the parade (approximately one mile). We will have special t-shirts for all those participating with our group. If anyone has a truck that we could use please contact [email protected] as soon as possible. Also, please let us know if you plan to join us so we can have enough shirts for everyone. The parade steps off at 2pm from Scott and 2nd Street (we go north on 2nd)-things get very full and busy so we highly recommend you try to get there at least by 1pm to find us and get organized. We will not find out what number we are in the parade until 4-5 days prior to the parade. As soon as we know we will send an email informing everyone so you will know how to find us. Our registered motor units enter at Lapham and 2nd. Anyone who has participated in the past can tell you what a fun time this is. There are generally about 15,000 spectators along the route cheering us. We will be decorated fully and include some political signage.

For those of us who live in state Senate District 4 — that's everyone in Shorewood and Glendale plus a piece of Milwaukee — there will be a special election for this open seat on July 30. If you're unsure about what Senate District you are in, visit the legislature's home page and use the tool there to find your representatives. Two current Assembly representatives — Dora Drake and LaKeshia Myers — have nomination papers circulating for the November 5 election. But they will presumably have to circulate an additional set of papers for the special election. Stay tuned as we learn more information about this extra election for some of us this year! (Yay!! More elections!!!)

The ballot for the partisan primary election on August 13 will have a number of contested races, depending on where you live. But we will ALL have two more ballot questions which, if passed, will amend the Wisconsin Constitution. The League of Women Voters explains that "these potential changes will impact both the delegation of appropriation power and the process for allocating federal money. These are large sweeping changes that will impact a wide range of issues voters care about, from education to the environment to how quickly the government can respond to emergencies (like a public health crisis or natural disaster)." Grassroots North Shore emphatically urges everyone to vote NO on both questions. Here's what we know so far: currently, by statute, the governor allocates supplemental federal funds so that the monies can be distributed quickly and without disputes between the legislature and the executive branch slowing down or even halting the process. See our webpage about these ballot questions. And then spread the word!

1. Write, text, or call 10 family and friends wherever they live in Wisconsin.
2. Explain to them how pernicious these sorts of legislative power-grabs are.
3. And then ask them to pass the message along to 10 more people.

These ballot questions are statewide, so it is vital that we reach as many Wisconsinites as we can. Vote NO and then tell everyone you know to vote NO.

On the national scene, our best bet is to follow Simon Rosenberg's Hopium Chronicles for his clear-eyed assessment of the current horse race polls. I especially recommend yesterday's post — Alsobrooks Rocks It, Good Inflation Report, 2nd NYT Poll Has Biden Up 3 — and today's post — The 2024 Election is Close and Competitive - Neither Candidate Is Winning, But I Would Much Rather Be Us Than Them. In today's essay, the news about polling is pretty far down in the piece. So I'll give you the "nut graph," as the journalists call the meat of the matter: "12 national polls. Biden leads in 7, 4 are tied, Trump leads in 1. State polls by serious credible pollsters showing Biden in far better shape than the NYT polls" with Siena College. The NYT/Sienna poll spawned a large number of Times articles on Monday devoted to the idea that the Butternut Burlusconi is winning. I'm not including a link to any of them. Needless to say, it has been roundly criticized. The backlash from Joe Scarborough is definitely worth a gander.

Finally, my apologies for being a day late with the newsletter. I was hosting an event last night for two of our outstanding candidates for office: Jodi Habush Sinykin and Deb Andraca. At the moment it looks as if Deb Andraca will be unopposed on the November 5 ballot. Not so Jodi Habush Sinykin. Her opponent will be Duey Stroebel. We'll have a lot more to say about Stroebel in our election coverage. What's important to know, though, is that a win in Senate District 8 (where she is a candidate) is a must if Democrats are to have any hope of winning the majority in the Senate in 2026. Under our new fair maps, it will be possible at long last to be the majority party but because only half the Senate is elected every two years, the contest for SD 8 is a vital stepping stone. If you live in Assembly District 10, where Darrin Madison is the incumbent and will probably also run unopposed, consider volunteering with the Sinykin campaign. It's really important or I wouldn't ask!

The attack on access to voting is not just a national crusade. It has appeared in many guises here too. But with a newly elected justice on the Supreme Court of Wisconsin (SCOWIS), the ruling in a case called Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission has been challenged. In March, SCOWIS agreed to hear the case, filed by the Elias Law Group on behalf of "a liberal voting rights group that would overturn a 2022 decision by the Court to ban the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state" (Washington Examiner, March 12, 2024).

Naturally, three of the justices — Annette Ziegler, Rebecca Bradley, and Brian Hagedorn — lodged various objections. Both Ziegler and Bradley claimed that allowing voters to use drop boxes would favor Democrats. When SCOWIS subsequently permitted Governor Tony Evers to participate in the suit, Justice Hagedorn dissented. "Evers’ interest in the policy issues of the case and his commitment to free and fair elections 'do not create the kind of legally protected interest one must have to become a party to litigation'" (Wisconsin State Journal, April 19, 2024). In other words, Hagedorn was challenging Evers's standing to be a party to the lawsuit proper instead of just filing an amicus (friend of the court) brief.

Last January, a PBS Wisconsin story, Ballot drop box disinformation and the fight over voting in Wisconsin, examined the 2022 case and Dolt 45's instant use of it to continue attacking the legitimacy of the 2020 election. A day after the ruling came out, he wrote on Truth Social that "Other States are looking at, and studying, the amazing Wisconsin Supreme Court decision declaring Ballot Boxes ILLEGAL, and that decision includes the 2020 Presidential Election." The article goes on to point out that "absentee ballot drop boxes had been used in Wisconsin for over a decade."

WisPolitics sponsored a discussion of the issues by Denise Jess, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired and leader in the Wisconsin Disability Vote Coalition, and Bryna Godar, staff attorney at the University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative. One irony of the whole issue of election integrity is that voters can use US mail boxes to return their ballots. It's not clear that a blue box used by the postal service — let alone the mailbox at the end of my driveway — is any more secure than the drop boxes! Obviously, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," as Thomas Jefferson may or may not have said.

Needless to say, access to voting, counting the votes, and certifying an election are all foundational to our democratic republic. And all three steps have been openly under attack for many years now. Photo ID laws, for example, tighten the qualifications needed to vote and thus affect access to voting. Wild conspiracy theories about election tabulation machines (Italian satellites aka Italygate, anyone?) are used to cast doubt on the outcome of an election. And of course there's the whole fake electors scheme — now the subject of indictments in four states but not (yet?) in Wisconsin — and January 6, 2021, events that sought to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

But even before any ballot is cast, rigging the election district maps can be used to cement power in one party's hands. Now that we have new and fair election maps in place for this fall's elections, it's important to understand what the new maps mean, for you personally and for the statewide election. Well, Grassroots North Shore has your back. On Sunday, May 19th, at Plymouth Church (2717 E Hampshire St, Milwaukee), we will be discussing "The New Maps: What’s in it for you" starting at 4:30pm. Deb Andraca, Representative for Assembly District 23, and Debbie Patel, co-chair of Grassroots North Shore and of North Shore Fair Maps, will discuss issues. A number of candidates for offices in our area will also mingle with you. Don't miss it! RSVP.

And in other local election news, Mayor Chevy Johnson fired Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall and replaced her with the Deputy Director, Paulina Esperanza Gutierrez. Why the Mayor fired the head of elections six months ahead of what promises to be a high turnout election is not entirely clear from the article in Urban Milwaukee. Lots of news outlets covered the story — the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and WPR, for two — without shedding even a candle's light on the reasons for such a change so close to such a fraught election.

I'll leave the professional pundits and gossips to deal with the Stormy Daniels matter and also the shocking but not surprising announcement that the case Aileen Cannon is "overseeing" has been indefinitely postponed. But I want to end today's missive on a high note. And for that, I turn to Simon Rosenberg's Hopium Chronicles.

We may seem to be in a kind of an electoral lull right at the moment, but it's an illusion: nomination papers for the August 13 primary and the November 5 general election have been circulating for two weeks already! Because we have new legislative district maps, you should check to make sure you know both your Assembly and Senate Districts. A good way to check is through the "Who Are My Legislators?" tool on the legislature's home page.

Once you know your state legislative districts, please visit our Elections 2024 page, download the applicable nomination forms, fill them out (collecting additional signatures if possible), fill out the Certification of Circulator portion of the form (after you have finished collecting nomination signatures!), and arrange to get it back to the hopeful nominees either by sending them by mail or by dropping them off at the candidates' homes. The nomination papers require candidates to include their address. Because nomination papers are due in Madison by 5pm on Monday, June 3, please make sure you get them back to the candidates in plenty of time.

Also as you get ready for the next two elections, you should visit MyVote.WI.gov.

• Make sure you are registered to vote.
• Request an absentee ballot. Voting absentee is the best way to guarantee that your vote will be recorded. And having an absentee ballot also means that you will have a bit of time to find out more about the candidates — and especially the two ballot questions you will need to understand (more on them below).
• Find your polling place.
• Find information about early in-person voting days and times.
• See a sample ballot: these are available about 47 days before an election with federal contests.

Hear Deb Andraca and Debbie Patel discuss the new legislative districts and what these fair maps mean for the November election on Sunday, May 19, from 4:30 to 6:00pm at Plymouth Church (2017 E Hampshire St, Milwaukee). Sign up for Grassroots North Shore's first in-person event of the year! After a brief annual business meeting, we will hear from our speakers, enjoy each other's company and some light refreshments, and meet several candidates.

Now about those two new ballot questions to amend the Wisconsin Constitution: they are, if anything, more pernicious than the two that were unfortunately approved in the April election. The April lot dealt with how and by whom elections can be funded and run, which was bad enough because they implicitly sowed doubts about the security and integrity of our elections systems. But the two on the August ballot seem designed to disrupt the smooth functioning of state and local governments. Although we do not yet have the precise language that will appear on your ballot, here is the information available right now.

Question 1: Prohibit Legislature from Delegating Appropriations Power Amendment

Question 2: Require Legislative Approval for State Expenditure of Federal Funds Amendment

The first question seems aimed at exerting more legislative control over executive agencies. Requiring the legislature to appropriate the funds for each agency need or program, if in fact that's what this constitutional amendment would mean, is a recipe for governmental stagnation and unending impasses between the executive and legislative branches of government. The second question takes away a governor's statutory power to allocate federal funds coming to the state. Currently, Chapter 16, Section 54 of the Wisconsin Statutes authorizes the governor to accept and allocate federal funds. If the Constitution is amended the legislature would, in effect, have veto power over the allocation of federal funds proposed by a governor.

As an example of how such wrangling between the governor and the legislature works out, a piece in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published on April 16, chronicled one such impasse. It seems a $125 million PFAS (forever chemicals) "trust fund" was part of the budget passed last year. The legislature then passed a bill "outlining how the Department of Natural Resources could spend" the funds. The bill, which the governor vetoed, would "limit the actions that the DNR could take to address contamination or hold polluters accountable. Environmental groups, the Evers administration and residents in impacted communities argued the bill would harm the Department of Natural Resources's "ability to enforce cleanup of PFAS and that it would have allowed businesses to get away with contamination."

Just imagine the monkey wrench in government operations that will follow from giving the legislature sole power to allocate funding for every agency and program, and from removing the governor's ability to distribute federal funds! Please alert friends and family to this looming threat to our communities and plan to vote NO on these questions on the August 13 ballot.

Nationally, it's suddenly ACCOUNTABILITY TIME. The New York case charging Dozy Don with election interference continues apace with ample national news coverage. And perhaps you have heard about the Arizona case charging the eleven phony electors and seven of the organizers with the effort to overturn the 2020 election. Fun fact: our own cheesehead lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro is an unindicted co-conspirator in that case. For extensive coverage of the indictment, The Guardian has a great article.

Pretty much crowded out by the Don Snoozeleone case, the gob-smacking SCOTUS hearing on Benedict Donald's claim of absolute immunity from prosecution, and the four states now indicting fake electors — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada — the D.C. Bar issued its opinion on Jeffrey Clark's disbarment on April 29, and it's a doozy: "Disbarment is 'the only possible sanction' for former Trump administration official Jeffrey Clark, DC Bar officials said in a filing Monday." Clark, you may recall, was the Department of Justice knucklehead who was scheming with Dolt 45 to become Attorney General so he could issue a letter falsely claiming that the DOJ was investigating the election outcome in Georgia and other swing states.

John Eastman also faces disbarment: "A judge in California is recommending that an attorney who worked for Donald Trump be disbarred for his work trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election" (NPR, March 28, 2024): "Judge Yvette Roland found that Eastman intentionally misled the courts by making voter fraud claims that he basically knew were bogus, she found, and recklessly relying on really flimsy evidence to claim the election was stolen. Judge Roland found that Eastman, 'conspired with Donald Trump to obstruct the certification of Joe Biden's victory' and that the scheme was illegal. She writes, 'Eastman's wrongdoing constitutes exceptionally serious ethical violations warranting severe professional discipline,' and she's recommending both disbarment and a $10,000 fine."

And you don't want to miss the Time magazine interviews in which Butternut Berlusconi spills his evil plans for destroying America as we know it: "Over the course of the interviews, Trump discussed his agenda for a second term, which includes deporting millions of people, cutting the U.S. civil service, and intervening more directly in Justice Department prosecutions than his predecessors. He also discussed his thinking on other issues, including abortion, crime, trade, Ukraine, Israel, and the prospects for political violence in this election cycle." You can read the lightly edited transcript and also what the article claims is "a full fact check."

The work of defeating the Cowardly Lyin' is not stopping. Nor is the work to elect great Democrats like Deb Andraca and Jodi Habush Sinykin — not to mention Senator Tammy Baldwin and Representative Gwen Moore. This year, there are TWO Democrats vying to take on Glenn Grothman, one of the worst congressional representative ever! As soon as the ballot for August 13 is set in the first week of June, we'll provide you with links to find out about the candidates and their positions on issues we care about. Meanwhile, just visit the Elections 2024 page, to see who is working to get on the ballot in our communities.

Yesterday was another primary, this one in Pennsylvania. The downballot races were interesting but what caught my eye, really, was the percent of the GOP presidential primary vote that did not vote for TFG. In the five Philadelphia suburbs, that percent ranged from a high of 25% in Montgomery County to a low of 19% in Bucks County. Although the comparisons are not exact, that led me to calculate the percent of the GOP primary vote for Nikki Hayley in the North Shore and the main population centers in Ozaukee County. (A small percentage of anti-Trump votes went for Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, or Ron DeSantis, but those dissenting votes were not tabulated in this data set.) Here is the percent of votes for Hayley in key cities and villages:

Learn more about Wisconsin voters who have turned away from Adolf Twittler by visiting a page of video testimonials from Wisconsin voters who supported Orange Julius in the past.

The Washington Post has a decent article about the Pennsylvania results, even though it dabbles in "bothsidesism" see: Protest votes in Pennsylvania primary loom over Trump, Biden in November. The piece does note the Wisconsin results as well as those from Pennsylvania. In Wisconsin, Biden's share of the Democratic vote in the North Shore and Ozaukee County was pretty consistently at 90% or above. So the Democratic Party here looks pretty unified. But the Republican party in our neck of the woods does not. After all, Nikki Haley had dropped out of the race on March 6, almost two weeks before early in-person voting in Wisconsin took place. When I look at the numbers, I see fertile ground for persuasion. Even if disaffected Republicans can't see their way to vote for President Biden, we will make progress if we persuade them either to stay home or at least to refrain from voting in the presidential election.

Looking foreward: consider attending Grassroots North Shore's presentations on the new election maps in place for the November 5 election. We're holding the New Maps: What's In Them For You event on Sunday, May 19, at Plymouth Church (2017 E Hampshire St, Milwaukee) from 4:30 - 6:00pm. Come meet the candidates and kick off their campaigns by signing their nomination papers. For the first time in over a decade, we can begin to rebalance the legislature this November. Four seats in particular are within reach: Assembly Districts 22, 23, and 24 plus Senate District 8. You can RSVP now. Even if you can't come, you can sign the nomination papers for candidates in whose districts you reside. Just visit our Elections 2024 page for instructions and links to download the forms.

You have probably heard that the package of aid for Ukraine, Israel, and our allies in Taiwan and other Pacific countries has at last passed both House and Senate. President Biden is scheduled to sign the bill into law today. It has taken six long months of obstruction by MAGA Republicans in the House. All the while President Biden remained patient but engaged. Speaker Mike Johnson indulged his right flank for quite a long time before he decided to build coalitions of more moderate Republicans and virtually every Democrat in the House. The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate too, although there were definitely some contrary views too. You can see how every member of the Senate voted on this urgent bill at the Washington Post (link gifted to get you past the paywall). Speaker Johnson finally turned the cranks, but President Biden gets another bipartisan win!

This week is full to overflowing with news from the judicial system. Now you can see the transcripts from the first two days of testimony in the New York State criminal election interference case, though using a page by page, undownloadable system. You can also learn about what the posting contains in New York Court System to Publish Daily Transcripts of Trump’s Trial.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has a particularly potent end-of-term calendar for oral arguments.

• On April 16, SCOTUS heard arguments in Fischer v. U.S., a case that seeks to prevent the government from bringing charges based on a law that prohibits a person from destroying documents and other forms of evidence or who "otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so." A January 6 felon wants the court to rule that the statute on which his conviction partly rests applies only to destruction or alteration of evidence during an investigation or trial. Not to participating in a violent (but peaceful) attack (or protest) seeking to overturn the government. Audio of the oral argument is here.
• On April 22, SCOTUS heard arguments that will determine whether cities can, in effect, criminalize homelessness. At issue is whether sleeping outside on public property is illegal, even if the people sleeping outside have nowhere else to go. Audio of the oral argument is here.
• Today, the case was Moyle v. U.S. The question is whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act preempts the state law banning abortions in Idaho. Amy Howe's article on SCOTUSblog, Supreme Court divided over federal-state conflict on emergency abortion ban, analyzes the day's argument. Generally, national laws override state laws, in accord with the Constitution's Supremacy Clause. But with this results-driven court, the showdown between the federal and state governments may not be as clear cut as it should. After all, the court allowed the the Idaho abortion ban to be in effect while SCOTUS considers the matter. Audio of the oral argument is here.
• And tomorrow, SCOTUS will hear Benedict Donald's plea for "total immunity" from all prosecutions. Technically, the question at hand is "whether and if so to what extent does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office." The crux of the matter may well be who decides what acts are "official." The oral arguments will be streamed live on the court's server or through the New York Times, the Washington Post, or your favorite cable news channel.

Finally, here's a recommended action item for the week: Wisconsin Environmental Justice aims to build a statewide coalition to increase understanding of the connection between fossil fuels and climate change. We are also seeking the state of Wisconsin and cities and counties across the state to begin litigation against the fossil fuel industry for the harm they have caused our planet. We would like you to visit our website, W4EJ.org, to learn more and sign our petition.

I also want to recommend Robert Kagan's clear-eyed and thoughtful look at the ideological traditions into which Trump supporters fit, titled We have a radical democracy. Will Trump voters destroy it? The article is quite long — an excerpt from his forthcoming book Rebellion: How Antiliberalism is Tearing America Apart — Again — but well worth the time you'll need to devote to it. A key assertion sets the tone for the bulk of the piece: "For a significant segment of the Republican electorate, the white-hot core of the Trump movement, [his supporters will vote for him] because they want to see the system overthrown. This should not come as a shock, for it is not a new phenomenon. On the contrary, it is as old as the republic."

Monday was a historic day: your federal income taxes were due, Orange Julius's NY election interference trial began, AND candidates for partisan offices in Wisconsin began circulating their nomination papers — in many cases in newly drawn districts! I have collected a number of them so that you can download them to sign as a nominator and to circulate as a circulator. To sign a candidate's nomination papers, you must reside in the candidate's district. Because of the new legislative district maps, you may not be sure which district includes your residence for the Assembly — all Assembly districts are up for election in the fall — or the state Senate — all even-numbered state Senate districts are up for election this year. To find out whether you have been moved to a new district, use the legislature's tool. When you type your address into the search box, the result will show you who represented you under the old (2022) maps and under the new (2024) maps.

Once you have downloaded a form, be sure to follow the instructions on our website or that accompany the nomination form. You can be a nominator on the form and also its circulator. When you have collected all the signatures you can, even if it's only ONE (yours), sign the Certification of Circulator at the bottom of the form. Then mail the nomination papers to the candidate no later than May 13. The physical papers must be delivered to the Wisconsin Elections Committee by 5pm on June 3. So we want to make sure candidates receive signed forms in good time.

Alternatively, you can attend a signature gathering event, like the one for Jodi Habush Sinykin and Tammy Baldwin being held at Three Lions Pub (4515 N Oakland Ave, Shorewood) on Friday, April 19, at 7:00pm. As Andy Berger, the host of the occasion, says, "It’s about more than just putting names on a petition; it’s about coming together as a community to support progress. Special Feature: We're thrilled to announce that Jodi Habush Sinykin herself will be joining us! Don’t miss this chance to meet one of the candidates in person. Kindly let us know if you can make it by clicking on this link."

And while we're on the subject of the new state legislative maps, Grassroots North Shore will feature a discussion of their impact at an event on Sunday, May 19th, at Plymouth Church (2017 E Hampshire St, Milwaukee) from 4:30 - 6:00pm. Featured speakers will be Representative Deb Andraca and our own Debbie Patel, who, in addition to co-chairing Grassroots North Shore, leads the North Shore for Fair Maps organization. It's a month away, but you can RSVP now.

We're still in need of a Treasurer. And frankly we cannot sustain the organization without one. So if you or someone you know enjoys bookkeeping, is comfortable with Excel, and is willing to learn how to navigate various software platforms and ecommerce sites (ActBlue, NationBuilder, PayPal), please contact Cheryl Maranto via email or by calling (414) 429-1583.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is still in need of people to become delegates to the 2024 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Here's the ask: DEADLINE APPROACHING: we need more Wisconsin Democrats to apply for a delegate position at the Democratic National Convention this August. This is your opportunity to join fellow Democrats and make history in the 2024 election! Apply by this Friday at 5 PM to be a delegate for Wisconsin at the Democratic National Convention?" If you live in Milwaukee County, you could probably team up with Linda Frank, a long-time supporter of Grassroots North Shore. She needs us to be present at BOTH caucuses to be elected. I have committed to supporting her and hope to see some of you there too.

To be elected as a delegate, you need to attend two caucuses.The first one is the Milwaukee County Caucus on April 28 at South Division High School, 1515 W Lapham Blvd in Milwaukee. Registration begins at 1:00 and the meeting begins at 2:00. The second one is the 4th Congressional District Caucus on May 19 at McGovern Senior Center, 4500 W Custer Ave, Milwaukee. Registration begins at 1:00 and the caucus begins at 2:00 pm. Your presence, even if you don't apply to be a delegate, and your vote for Linda will be appreciated!

By the way, I was a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. It's a wonderful experience. You get to meet with other delegations and hear from outstanding speakers like Senator Cory Booker (one of the most memorable speakers who met with the Wisconsin caucus for breakfast one morning). Senator Tammy Baldwin will be there too. And you'll never be in another arena with so many Democrats. It's a great way to gear up for the November 5 elections. End of my soapbox speech!

Moving on to news in the broader world, one of my favorite New York Times writers, Jamelle Bouie, lays bare the "leave it to the states" scam the Dobbs decision brought us two years ago. The op-ed "The Smothering of Abortion Rights Reveals Something Else About Republicans" comes down to this:

Fortunately, in Wisconsin we have finally succeeded in breaking out of the gerrymandering straightjacket. To keep it that way, though, we're going to have another fraught election year in 2025 now that Justice Ann Walsh Bradley has announced her retirement from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The election next April will determine whether the court remains dominated by center-left jurists or reverts to control by conservatives who would no doubt look favorably on strict abortion bans and even a new attempt at gerrymandering our state maps. According to a piece in Daily Kos from April 12, four or five liberal judges may be vying for a place on the April 1, 2025, ballot. Meanwhile former Attorney General Brad Schimel is already running. He might be joined by one or more conservatives, but right now he has the field to himself. "Both sides, however, will need to be on guard against getting locked out of the general election. That's because Wisconsin will hold an officially nonpartisan primary on Feb. 18, when all candidates will run together on a single ballot. The top two vote-getters will then advance to an April 1 general election, which means it's possible that two liberals or two conservatives could face off in the second round of voting."

Yeah, I know. Not exactly the news we need right now as we head into what has to be the scariest election of our lifetimes. So here's a little Hopium to buoy us up: Simon Rosenberg — whose motto is "Let’s Do More, Worry Less" — writes, "The NYT poll which came out Sunday showed the race changing from Trump +5 to Trump +1 (great news). The Morning Consult/Politico poll released Monday had Biden up 45-43. Biden was down 4 in Morning Consult’s polling a few weeks ago. Yesterday, Echelon, a respected Republican pollster, released a poll showing Biden up 3, 49-46, and the Congressional Generic was also +3 Dem. Trump led in this poll by 4 points in February. This poll is a “big yikes” for Rs, and is going to create a bit of a panic in DC Republican circles" And it's not just national polls. In fundraising, Democrats are out stripping Republicans nationally and in key Senate races. In Tammy Baldwin's case, her first quarter haul was $5.4 million. Her opponent, Eric Hovde, raised only $1.1 million.

I'm not a big fan of kicking anyone when they're down, BUT...   Speaker Mike Johnson started the week with a proposal to try to pass four bills — one to fund aid for Ukraine, one for Israel, one for Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific allies, plus a fourth bill full of MAGA foreign policy desires. Now apparently he's added a fifth: to address MAGA demands to strengthen the southern border. The whole thing might come a-cropper, though, and apparently cannot work without shifting coalitions of Democrats and Republicans supporting each of the bills. Meanwhile in the mean kids' playpen, a motion to vacate the speaker's chair is dangling over Speaker Mike's head. Right now, there's a two vote margin in the House. After Friday, when our own Mike Gallagher resigns, the margin drops to one. (Apparently, according to the Washington Post, though, Gallagher has agreed to stick around long enough to pass the foreign aid pieces. So Saturday?)

Also I've just learned that the MAGAites in the Arizona legislature have provided excellent supporting evidence for Jamelle Bouie's piece. To wit, "House Republicans in Arizona on Wednesday scuttled another effort to repeal the state’s 1864 law banning abortion, defying pressure from prominent Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump, who had urged them to toss the ban that many voters viewed as extreme and archaic." There will no doubt be more in-depth reporting on the Arizona mess, but for a reasonable explanation of the current state of affairs, you can read this (free) New York Times article.

The "Worry Less" part is up to you, but here's your "Let’s Do More" list for the week.

Before we get to a host of newsy items, an appeal for a vital volunteer position at Grassroots North Shore:

The state of electoral play with the new Wisconsin legislative maps in place deserves our early attention. And there's news.

• In a star-studded announcement yesterday, Jodi Habush Sinykin jumped into the race for Senate District 8. It's unlikely that she will have a challenger for the Democratic nomination — though of course it's still possible. Her likely opponent will be MAGA Republican Duey Stroebel, an incumbent state Senator representing Senate District 20 under the former maps but drawn into SD8 under the new maps. Grassroots North Shore will be going all out to elect her, not only because she is an outstanding candidate but also because SD8 is pivotal to our ability to win majority control of the state senate in 2026.
  
  
• Senate District 4, formerly held by Lena Taylor, has been vacant since late January when Governor Tony Evers appointed her to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. It's unclear whether there will be a special election to fill this seat before the November 5 election. It's also unclear whether there will be a need for a primary ahead of that special election. If a special election is called, a primary would be necessary only if more than one candidate from the same political party filed nomination papers. It's a pretty safe Democratic seat and largely unchanged from the former maps. One potential candidate got in touch with me this week and I heard a rumor that a second Democrat may also be vying for this seat. SD4 includes Assembly Districts 10, 11, and 12. So Grassroots North Shore supporters in Glendale, Shorewood, and parts of Milwaukee, stay tuned.
  
  
• Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an OB/GYN in Green Bay, has launched her bid to for the Democratic nomination for the 8th Congressional District. (Visit her Facebook page.) Michael Gallagher, the incumbent, will be resigning his seat on April 19, making it impossible to hold a special election to fill the seat before the November 5 Election Day and leaving the GOP with a one-vote majority in the House of Representatives until the end of the congressional session in December or perhaps even earlier! In her announcement email, she wrote: "I have seen firsthand the effects of Wisconsin’s abortion ban – which stems from a law passed in 1849 that went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Most doctors didn’t even know that germs caused diseases back then. It was nearly 70 years before women would even be allowed to cast their first votes. As a result of this draconian ban, I can no longer treat my patients and pregnant women in Wisconsin under threat of criminal prosecution. Republicans have targeted my medical licenses and personally singled me out in their lawsuits for my work with Planned Parenthood to make me an example of what would happen to others who do the same."

And in other political news, let's support Linda Frank, chair of the newly formed Jewish Caucus of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. She's seeking to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and needs people to vote for her, TWICE. As President Biden would say, so here's the deal: you have to attend TWO events. The first one is the Milwaukee County Caucus on April 28 at South Division High School, 1515 W Lapham Blvd in Milwaukee. The meeting begins at noon. The second one is the 4th Congressional District Caucus on May 19 at McGovern Senior Center, 4500 W Custer Ave, Milwaukee. Registration begins at noon and the caucus begins at 1:00pm. Although voting for her seems like a pretty heavy commitment, Linda has been a stalwart supporter of Grassroots North Shore for many years. She deserves whatever support we can give her in return.

Last week's newsletter was too soon after Election Day to provide you with much information about what happened and this week is still a bit early. Because Wisconsin elections are all run by municipal clerks and because the spring elections are all local and nonpartisan, it's really difficult to get an early picture of statewide election results. The deadline for the Wisconsin Elections Commission to certify the results of the April 2 elections is May 15. At that point we should be able to assess voter turnout and other data from those elections. In the meantime, John Johnson, a research fellow with Marquette University Law School, has published an extensive analysis of voting in Milwaukee County.

Especially notable is the chart showing the presidential preference vote by municipality. The split between votes for The Former Guy and Nikki Haley in our North Shore communities shows deep dissatisfaction with Benedict Donald. In Shorewood, for example, only 13% of voters participated in the Republican presidential preference primary. Of that sliver, only 47% voted for him while 37% of the Republicans voted for Hayley. In Whitefish Bay, 29% of the votes cast were Republican. Of that bunch, Adolf Twittler garnered 56% of the vote and Nikki Haley received 32%. These numbers are pretty astonishing since Hayley suspended her campaign weeks before the Wisconsin primary. You can look at the chart to get a picture of the Republican strength in the North Shore and to see what share of that vote went to Hayley. The big takeaway, though, is that the numerous Hayley voters in our midst should be our "persuasion targets" as we gear up for the crucial fall elections.

Make sure you look at the new legislative maps in Wisconsin. You can find WisPolitics' maps and an assessment of the partisan lean of the new Assembly Districts 10, 22, 23, & 24 (as of March 11) and the new Senate Districts. You should take a look at Senate Districts 4 and 8 with their partisan lean to get a sense of what the Democratic candidate in each of those districts will have to contend with. On May 19th, Grassroots North Shore will be hosting a presentation about the new maps, featuring Representative Deb Andraca and GRNS Co-Chair Deborah Patel. You can get more information and sign up now.

Finally, some good news for WisDems. According to WisPolitics' Battleground Wisconsin (March 29), "the state Dem Party has outraised its GOP counterpart 15-to-1 over the first three months of 2024 — a huge resource advantage ahead of what’s expected to be a fierce battle for legislative seats this fall.

"It also shows the fundraising disparity between the two parties hasn’t improved since Republicans brought on Brian Schimming as a full-time, paid chair in late 2022. Last year, with both parties heavily involved in a state Supreme Court race that flipped control to liberals for the first time in 15 years, the fundraising disparity was more than 4-to-1 in Dems’ favor."

Meanwhile, in the MAGA movement, things are also looking a little dicey. A blogger on Daily Kos points to a Raw Story article that suggests the Cowardly Lyin' and his campaign are a little green around the gills: "Two Republican operatives privately told NBC News Trump and the Republican National Committee have fewer than five staff members between them in Pennsylvania and Michigan. And Trump reportedly can't afford to expand the campaign's staff to full capacity in some places, like Pennsylvania, until the summer." Yay for our side, I say.

Spring has surely sprung, weeks early this year it seems. One of my dogwood trees is already blooming! So herewith a bit of coming attractions. The next election cycle is nearly upon us. So not much rest for the weary. Hopeful candidates for the November 5 election will begin circulating nominating papers as of April 15 — that's this coming Monday (also the start of Don the Con's first criminal trial). As usual, Grassroots North Shore will make as many of them as we can available on our web server for you to download. I also hear that the WisDems are going to host some signing parties in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for them. The nomination papers will be due in Madison by 5:00pm on June 3. Shortly thereafter we will know which races will have primaries. Regardless of how competitive the primaries are likely to be, we have to show up in force. There are likely to be two new ballot questions in the primary. If they turn out to be what Ballotpedia says they are, we need to pull out all the stops to defeat them.

Worthy Actions

"Kneel for 9," a nine-minute silent vigil at a busy rush hour intersection in the Washington Heights neighborhood, occurs M-F at 5:30 at the corner of Vliet Street and Hawley Road (Central West Side about one mile N. of Miller Park). It has been going continuously for 4 years since the murder of George Floyd. It is . Plenty of free side-street parking for anyone in the area able to spend 15 minutes. For more information, contact Shep Crumrine, MICAH leadership council.

Vote Forward is launching new letter-writing campaigns to California and New York voters in highly competitive U.S. House districts. Election outcomes in these key races are likely to determine the House majority this fall. As you finish writing a batch of letters this year, address and stamp your envelopes—but if you'd like to continue enhancing them throughout the year, don’t seal them quite yet. We’ll be in touch with details on how you can do this soon! Sign up.

Well, the Spring 2024 election is now behind us. You can find the significant results yourself, but a clear take-away is that the Democratic Party is showing its basic unity. The "uninstructed" vote, a protest vote designed to register opposition to the Biden administration's Israel policy — calling for a ceasefire and a two state solution to end the Israel-Gaza war while continuing its supply of US materiél to Israel — has some strength behind it but it's unclear whether people who recorded an uninstructed vote will stay home or vote for someone other than Biden in the general election in November. Biden won 88.6% of the votes in the Democratic presidential preference primary while uninstructed votes accounted for 8.8% with Dean Phillips at 3.1%.

Meanwhile, on the red team's side, Butternut Berlusconi managed to acquire 79.2% of the Republican vote, with Nikki Haley earning 12.8%, Ron DeSantis 3.3%, uninstructed 2.2%, Chris Christie 1.6%, and Vivek Ramaswamy trailing everyone with 0.9%. That adds up to ~20% of the primary vote going somewhere other than to Boss Tweet.

The press can make any news into bad news for someone. And the Journal Sentinel made sure to to tell us that "voters who chose 'uninstructed delegation' in Wisconsin's presidential primary Tuesday more than doubled the 20,682 votes President Joe Biden won the state by in 2020, sending a warning sign for his reelection chances in the battleground state." But the same Journal Sentinel article failed to notice that Biden won 506,969 votes, while Orange Julius garnered 472,227 votes, a difference of 79,742. That nearly 80,000 vote margin almost quadrupled Biden's 2020 winning margin. I say, it's better to be on our side in Wisconsin than on theirs. Today's Hopium Chronicles offers a bit more wind in my sails. 14 Polls Now With Biden Leads, Trump Is The Ugliest Thing Any Of Us Has Ever Seen.

For a reasonable look at what the new Assembly maps may mean, WisPolitics presents color-coded maps and an early peek at who is running for each seat. Grassroots North Shore is mostly focused on Assembly Districts 10, 22, 23, and 24. The posting is as of March 11, 2024, so things are likely to change as candidates begin collecting nomination signatures on April 15.</p

The WisPolitics maps for the state senate districts are also available. The maps and the discussion of each district are dated March 5, so again we will know more when candidates start collecting signatures. Right now, SD 8 has one declared candidate, incumbent Senator Duey Stroebel and the WisPolitics assessment of the district's partisan performance is that it leans Republican at 53%. On the Democratic side, Jodi Habush Sinykin, who Dan Knodl beat (under the old maps) in the spring 2023 special election, has been weighing a bid.

More complicated and confusing is the situation in Senate District 4, which includes Assembly District 10 representing Glendale, Shorewood and part of north Milwaukee. Here's how WisPolitics explains the dynamic in this district: "Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, resigned from the seat earlier this year to accept an appointment to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. The guv hasn’t yet called a special election, though both Drake and Myers have indicated they would run in one." We still do not have a date for the special election or the primary that would precede it if both Dora Drake and LaKeisha Myers declare their candidacy. Both currently sit in the Assembly but they would have to resign their seats to run in the special election. And that would mean two vacant seats, which also means that GOP Assembly Representatives could then override any Governor Evers's veto. A special election for SD 4 would also trigger elections to fill Drake's and Myers's seats! Any way you slice it, Grassroots North Shore supporters in Assembly District 10 will have two additional elections in 2024.

While having more elections to worry about may not be the most welcome news, on the fundraising front Wisconsin Democrats seem to be doing just fine. Again, as WisPolitics reported on March 29, "The state Dem Party has outraised its GOP counterpart 15-to-1 over the first three months of 2024 — a huge resource advantage ahead of what’s expected to be a fierce battle for legislative seats this fall. It also shows the fundraising disparity between the two parties hasn’t improved since Republicans brought on Brian Schimming as a full-time, paid chair in late 2022. Last year, with both parties heavily involved in a state Supreme Court race that flipped control to liberals for the first time in 15 years, the fundraising disparity was more than 4-to-1 in Dems’ favor."

It's very early days for the US Senate race in Wisconsin but Urban Milwaukee has already published an analysis of Tammy Baldwin and Eric Hovde's campaigns. Using Drastically Different Strategies To Win Votes. The piece looks at the candidates' strategies and also outlines their positions on key issues.

And now for some quick hits on stories that made the news. The woman who requested absentee ballots in the names of Wisconsin service people and had them sent to Representative Janel Brandtjen has been found guilty of election fraud. Urban Milwaukee explains that the "case comes as scrutiny around election integrity is on the forefront of many voters’ minds going into the 2024 elections, as the presidential race is shaping up to be a rematch of the 2020 election." And Jared Kushner sees valuable waterfront property when he eyeballs the Gaza strip and dreams of a "solution" to the war. Just move the Palestinians into the Negev desert, clean up Gaza, and build condos or something with lovely views of the Mediterranean!

But I'll leave you to consider the Milwaukee area's future as you scan the Events Listings. America’s Climate Boomtowns Are Waiting. "In a world running short on fresh water in its lakes and rivers, more than 20 percent of that water was right here [in the upper midwest]. From a climate standpoint, there couldn’t be a safer place in the country—no hurricanes, no sea-level rise, not much risk of wildfires. That explains why models suggest many more people will soon arrive here." So let's look on the bright side of life!

Rich or poor, it's nice to have money. Right? Two days ago, a New York appellate court reduced the bond Dolt 45 would need to produce while his fraud case was under appeal from ~$450 million to $175 million. And the court awarded him ten more days to post it. As MSNBC columnist Glenn Kirschner opined: "Many of our institutions of government seem to have decided that the rules, the laws and the Constitution apply differently to Trump than they apply to the rest of us." He calls Trump "the poster boy for special treatment." So Dirty Don and his fluffers may be correct when they talk about a two-tiered justice system. Only not in the way they mean that phrase. They should better appreciate the kid glove treatment TFG has been receiving from legal decisions both civil and criminal. Kirschner's reasoning is worth a read.

But not everything is going his way. On Monday Judge Juan Merchan set a trial date for the New York criminal case — often referred to as a "hush money case" or an "election interference case." It involves paying hush money to keep a scandal out of the public eye, but that in itself is not a crime. It involves falsifying business records to cover up the hush money payments and that IS as crime, though usually a misdemeanor rather than a felony. However, the crime becomes a felony once the actions the accused took served the purpose of deluding voters in the election for the presidency. Jury selection is set to begin on April 15. At the same time Merchan issued a gag order, citing Don the Con's penchant for "making 'threatening, inflammatory, denigrating' statements against people at all levels of the justice system, including jurors." However, if Orange Julius decides to appeal the gag order, as he has unsuccessfully done in other cases, he might be able to further delay the start of this trial too.

So it appears he's not rich enough to post a $450 million bond, but he is rich enough to squeeze every last delay he can out of every one of his criminal and civil indictments. With a little help from his friends (aka donors), he seems to keep his lawyers happy enough to stop each clock as much as they can. It takes resources — money — and what Kirschner senses as "a hesitation — a reluctance, even — to take on the wealthy, the influential, the powerful, the well-connected." Still the case New York DA Alvin Bragg has built, which was the first criminal indictment The Big Lie-bowski faced, may well be the first criminal trial he faces. While not holding our collective breaths, we continue watching.

Yesterday, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the mifepristone case. You can listen to the recording in full. And there are legions of news media takes on the hearing: here's ABC, CNN, and the (gifted article) New York Times. Whether the group and doctors who brought the suit have the requisite personal harm to be entitled to sue is featured in the oral arguments. The requested remedy also came in for scrutiny. But the most concerning line of questioning involves an 1873 law known as the Comstock Act. Justices Alito and Thomas, naturally, were very interested in resuscitating the long dormant law. Here's how their inquiries played in Jezebel:

Here in Wisconsin, some good news for labor in this state emerged from the legal system. "The Wisconsin Supreme Court let a lower court ruling stand that a group of Amazon workers in the so-called 'gig economy' in the state should be classified as employees in a case that was being watched closely for its impact on businesses statewide." The opinion was unanimous. The article in the Cap Times on March 26 lays out the complicated test for distinguishing independent contractors from employees and the complicated history of this particular case. "It is difficult to tell whether this ruling will transfer to other 'gig economy' companies, because Wisconsin law so heavily relies on the facts of a specific case," according to Samantha Prince, assistant professor of law at Penn State Dickinson Law.

And now for a last take on things to do for the April 2 election: a reminder about early in-person voting. in Ozaukee County and in the seven North Shore communities, early in-person voting ends on Friday, March 29, generally at 5:00pm. You can look up the days and hours for your specific community on our website. For residents in the City of Milwaukee, you'll find the information about early voting sites with days and times here. Early in-person voting is safe, secure, and flexible. Banking your vote before election day means that you will not have to stand in line to vote (especially at some of the more crowded polling places). It also means that no matter what comes up on April 2 — wretched weather, illness, or any other emergency — your vote will already have been cast!

To find your polling location for the April 2 Election Day, visit MyVote.WI.gov.

Those of you who missed the March 17 presentation about the two ballot questions that Grassroots North Shore hosted, watch Doug Poland's presentation. He explains the process of amending the Wisconsin Constitution, how these ballot questions were included in the April 2 election, their meaning and impact should they pass, and three more ballot questions that will be put to the voters this year. Two of them will appear on the August 13 primary ballot and the third on the November ballot. All five of the ballot questions being put to voters this year should be defeated. For more in depth information about the two on the April 2 ballot, visit our web page explaining them and why we encourage you to vote NO.

Canvassing with WisDems

North Shore Communities

• North Shore Dems Get Out the Vote in Whitefish Bay, 4845 N Newhall St., WFB: March 30 & April 1
• North Shore Dems Get Out the Vote in Shorewood, 4516 N Newhall St, Shorewood: March 30 & April 2
• Fox Point Dems Get Out the Vote, 7632 N Beach Dr, Fox Point: March 30 & 31
• Grassroots Glendale Gets Out the Vote, 6563 N Crestwood Dr, Glendale: March 30 & April 1

Ozaukee County

• Knock on Doors in Grafton/Cedarburg, 1930 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton: March 28 & 30 and April 1 & 2

Other Worthy Actions

Volunteer to Provide Rides to the Polls

Providing Supporter Housing

Did you watch President Biden take on his predecessor in his State of the Union last Thursday? Of course the most important part of the speech outlined his vision for the future and the kinds of policies that would move the country toward that future. But it sure was fun to hear him take on Cult 45 directly, though without saying his name. If you didn't see it live, you can enjoy it in a video posted on the White House website. It's well worth your time.

Last week, I focused on events happening locally. But this week there's so much going on in the various civil suits and prosecutions of Adolph Twitler that I thought it was time for a little catching up. The following list of events has been excerpted from Just Security's Master Calendar of Trump Court Dates: Criminal and Civil Cases.

• In the past week, the civil suit brought by police injured on January 6, 2021 (aka Blassingame), made some progress. Judge Amit Mehta set a deadline of March 8 for a status report that summarizes the parties' discussions of potential stipulations, disputed facts, and the scope of discovery. On Tuesday, March 12, Judge Mehta held a hearing on the status of the case.
• In the NY State civil fraud case that resulted in a HUGE penalty of $450 million (more or less), Monday, March 11, was the last day for the government to file its opposition to 45's application for a stay pending appeal of the district court's verdict. By Sunday, March 17, the Independent Monitor overseeing the Trump Organization's transactions is to file (1) a proposed order “outlining the specific authority that she needs, and the obligations of defendants, in order to effectuate a productive and enhanced monitorship going forward,” and (2) a list of “persons who she recommended be appointed the Trump Organization’s “Independent Director of Compliance.” The perp has until March 25 to pay up or secure a bond for the penalty amount.
• In the Georgia RICO case, Judge McAfee dismissed six of the charges in the original indictment, three of which were against TFG. Although he dismissed charges having to do with soliciting Georgia officials — such as Secretary of State Brad Raffensburger — to violate their oaths of office, the charges can be reinstated in effect if "prosecutors seek a new indictment." Here's the AP story.
• The Mar-a-Lago case has a number of hearings and deadlines coming up.
  • On March 14, Judge Cannon will hold a hearing on the Big Lie-bowski's motion to dismiss the case — based on claims of unconstitutional vagueness — and on the Big Lie-bowski and Mr. Nauta's motion to dismiss — based on the Presidential Records Act.
  • Replies in support of the two motions are due by 8am; replies in support of other pretrial motions are due by the end of the day.
• And the US Supreme Court set April 25 as the date for oral arguments in Benedict Donald's claim of complete immunity from prosecution for any acts he committed during his presidency.

Under the heading "stuff I'd rather not have to deal with," the No Labels crowd is forging ahead. The "movement" as yet has no candidates and as far as I can tell no settled process for nominating said (non-existant) candidates. As the Washington Examiner put it: "So now No Labels is also No Candidate."

One allure of No Labels (NL) for the ambitious person who thinks he or she can win on the NL ballot line may be access to the ballot in all or most states. As of mid-March, "No Labels has access to the ballot in 14 states and will perhaps win access to another 14 in the months ahead." But of course even if the organization pulls this feat off, the candidates will be on the ballot in only 56% of the states. (A second big threat to the 2024 presidential election has seemed to come from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But Axios is reporting that although he has secured ballot access in only one state — Utah — he is "poised to soon qualify in six more states, including three key battlegrounds.")

In fact the NL and RFK Jr. gambits seem aimed primarily at the battleground states. But that strategy can ONLY act as a spoiler since it would not be possible to acquire the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency. Doesn't that set of facts give away the whole game?

In head-scratchers closer to home, Wisconsin MAGA Republicans want to recall Speaker Robin Vos because he has been insufficiently devoted to the lie that the Commander in Cheese really did win Wisconsin and the whole presidential election in 2020. Wisconsin Public Radio reported the group's claim that they had collected 11,000 signatures. Although the article stipulates that a successful effort to put a recall on a ballot in Vos's district would require something like 7,000 valid signatures, the exact number depends on whether the signatures come from residents of Vos's district as it was defined by the 2022 maps or whether they need to come from the district now defined by the newly adopted maps.

On Tuesday, March 12, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "Wisconsin Elections Commission staff determined the recall organizers did not obtain enough signatures from residents in the district Vos was elected in when the recall began, falling about 945 signatures short." To add to the confusion about district lines, "the state Supreme Court declined to weigh in on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' request to clarify whether the state's new legislative districts apply to elections held before November, leaving potential questions about how election officials will address the proposed recall." Anyway, what's up with a recall election four or five months before Vos and all Assembly representatives are already facing the voters (in the new districts)?

In our own backyard, so to speak, Grassroots North Shore is hosting a program about the two ballot questions that, if approved, will amend the Wisconsin Constitution. Know What is on the April 2 Ballot will allow you to understand what the amendments say and what they actually mean. Like may progressive organizations, Grassroots North Shore has taken a firm stand. We urge everyone to vote NO on both questions. The shorthand reason is that both threaten to damage how we will be able to conduct future elections. But come to the program to hear attorney Doug Poland explain how these amendments pose a danger to our elections. State Senator Mark Spreitzer will also fill us in on the road these proposals took through the legislature and why they are now on the ballot. Also at the meeting, Anne O'Connor, who is running for a seat on the Milwaukee Board of County Supervisors, will have a chance to talk to some of the people she will be representing.

I've put two new sections into this week's newsletter and will continue that practice until after the April 2 election. One of the sections will provide you with quick links to sign up for canvasses in various communities. The second section will provide you with descriptions of other ways you can pitch in to help Democrats win. And after that rousing State of the Union speech, I hope everyone is now Ridin' with Biden and ready to plunge joyously into the work it takes to win elections. Remember that we are — always — within the margin of effort.

Canvassing with WisDems

North Shore Communities

• North Shore Dems Get Out the Vote in Whitefish Bay, 4845 N Newhall St., WFB: March 17, 24, 30, & April 1
• North Shore Dems Get Out the Vote in Shorewood, 4516 N Newhall St, Shorewood: March 16, 23, 30, & April 2
• Fox Point Dems Get Out the Vote, 7632 N Beach Dr, Fox Point: March 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, & 31
• Grassroots Glendale Gets Out the Early Vote, 6563 N Crestwood Dr: March 17 & March 24
• Grassroots Glendale Gets Out the Vote, 6563 N Crestwood Dr: March 30 & April 1
• Lakefront Dems Get Out the Early Vote, 7632 N Beach Dr, Fox Point: Sunday, March 17, and Sunday, March 24

Ozaukee County

• Knock on Doors in Mequon, March 16
• Knock on Doors in Grafton/Cedarburg, 1930 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton: March 16 & 17, at 9:00am and at 12:00pm
• Knock on Doors in Grafton/Cedarburg, 1930 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton: March 23 & 24
• Knock on Doors in Grafton/Cedarburg, 1930 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton: March 28 & 30 and April 1 & 2, various start times

Other Worthy Actions

Sign up to be a Poll Observer
Time is running out to sign up to be a poll observer on April 2nd! Poll observers are the eyes and ears of our team on Election day and are a great resource for voters who might need help. Poll observers are fully trained in Wisconsin election law and you will have full communication and support form our team on Election Day. Fill out the sign up form here to join our team for the April Election and you can reach out to [email protected] with any questions. Sign up here.

Go to the Wisconsin Grassroots Festival
The Wisconsin Grassroots Network (WGN) provides support to community-based grassroots organizations, helping them to grow. Our Grassroots Festival encourages networking among these organizations and is an ideal venue for connecting them to citizens who are looking for a way to get involved. We provide these services to promote democracy, justice, and equality throughout Wisconsin. The Fifteenth Annual meeting will be held on Saturday, May 4, at Lawrence University's Warch Campus Center, 711 E Boldt Way, Appleton, WI 54911. Visit the website and register online.

Write Postcards to Swing States
More than 2,900 people signed up or tuned in to the recent webinar about Swing States' 2024 postcard program. For those who missed it, you can still watch the webinar recording on YouTube. The webinar is NOT required or a training — we shared an overview of our program, how we know postcards work, and answered questions. Here are the key details: Sign-ups for free postcards start on May 1 at turnoutpac.org/postcards. They plan to send 25 million postcards for the Nov 5 general election to potential Democratic voters in swing states, states with key Senate races, and competitive US House and state legislative districts. You pick the state when you sign up, and they'll mail the cards to you with voter lists and instructions with message options within a couple weeks. Almost anyone can write postcards from anywhere as time allows between May and the mailing dates in October. They also have a 2024 Postcard Program flyer with all the useful information that you can download and share (may not open on all phones).

In today's newsletter, I'll have plenty to say about everything in the news from the past week, but the most urgent matters have to do with what WE need to do. Let's be upbeat for a change. With our new maps in hand, we have a chance to achieve a truly representative legislature for the first time in 13 years! So let's get to work.

1. Contact Norma Gilson to help with Campus Voter Engagement.
   MIAD, Monday - Thursday March 18 - 20: 11:00am - 1:00pm
   UWM Monday - Thursday March 25 - 28: 11:00am - 1:00pm
   
   
2. Contact Nancy Kaplan to make simple phone calls to strong Democratic women voters who received our postcard to make sure they have a plan to vote.
   
   
3. Call, Text or Email 10 friends, neighbors, and relatives to tell them to vote NO on Questions 1 and 2 on their ballots. Then ask them to contact 10 of their friends, neighbors, and relatives with the same message.

The Democratic Party is hosting two special events this week and next.

• North Shore Phone Bank Saturday, March 9th noon to 2:00 PM
  Virtual
  Join the North Shore Dems for a volunteer recruitment phonebank! We'll be meeting virtually to recruit other likeminded folks to knock on doors in the North Shore for Dem-aligned candidates running for office this April. We will train you on how to make effective phone calls before we start calling as a group. Bring yourself and your phone and call with us! Sign up.
  
  
• Fox Point Dems Blue Brunch, Sunday, March 17
  7632 N Beach Dr, Fox Point
  Join the Fox Point Dems for a Blue Brunch and get out the volunteer textbank! We'll be reaching out to our networks to get our friends and families involved in our get out the vote efforts for the Spring Election on April 2nd. Grab a coffee and a snack mobilize your network! Sign up.

In addition, the Dems have scheduled canvasses for North Shore neighborhood teams. Surely we cannot complain about the weather (after all crocuses are already blooming). So sign up for something. Click on the links to see the days and times.

• Whitefish Bay Dems Team Building Textbank, 4845 N Newhall St, WFB: Saturday, March 10
• North Shore Dems Get Out the Vote in Whitefish Bay, 4845 N Newhall St., WFB: March 16, 24, 30, & April 1
• North Shore Dems Get Out the Vote in Shorewood, 4516 N Newhall St, Shorewood: March 16, 23, 30, & April 2
• Fox Point Dems Get Out the Vote, 7632 N Beach Dr, Fox Point: March 16, 17. 23, 24, 30, & 31
• Grassroots Glendale Gets Out the Early Vote, 6563 N Crestwood Dr: March 17 & March 24
• Lakefront Dems Get Out the Early Vote, 7632 N Beach Dr, Fox Point: Sunday March 17 and Sunday March 24:

In Ozaukee County, there will also be several events between now and Election Day:

• Ozaukee County General Election Kick-Off, DPOC office at 1930 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton: Saturday, March 9, 12:00 - 2:00pm
• Knock on Doors in Grafton/Cedarburg, 1930 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton: March 16 & 17, at 9:00am and at 12:00pm
• Knock on Doors in Grafton/Cedarburg, 1930 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton: March 23 & 24, various start times
• Knock on Doors in Grafton/Cedarburg, 1930 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton: March 28 & 30 and April 1 & 2, various start times

Looking to the longer term, Grassroots North Shore — alas — needs a new Treasurer. Here's a job description. If you or someone you know might be interested in the position, contact Co-Chair Cheryl Maranto or (414) 429-1583.

And now for some news. As you will no doubt already know, Super Tuesday was yesterday. Depending on your point of view it was either a yawn or a Big F***ing Deal. The winners were of course President Joe Biden, for the Dems, and Dolt 45 for the MAGAites. Former Ambassador Nikki Haley dropped out but did not endorse you-know-who. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would be stepping down from leadership in the Senate and then endorsed the Barbecued Brutus despite his obvious loathing. This afternoon, Dean Phillips also ended his quixotic bid for the Democratic nomination for president and endorsed President Biden. Senators Manchin and Sinema have both called it quits. Political junkies could have slept through all these events, so packed were they with what everyone expected.

A lot of the outcomes were so thoroughly predictable, neither The Washington Post nor the New York Times featured analyses of the various outcomes in a major article above the (digital) fold. (The NYT does have a page devoted to Super Tuesday outcomes: scroll down to the section labeled "Analysis from our reporters.")

While all the breathless coverage of the foregone conclusion was going on, you may have missed some important stories. First Lady Jill Biden promoted her Women for Biden-Harris tour in Waukesha on Sunday. I was fortunate enough to be able to go. Her speech to the assembled throng was strong and uplifting: "Women put Joe Biden in the White House and women are going to do it again."

Federal prosecutors added 12 new felony counts to the indictment of Senator Bob Menendez and his wife. The scheme is pretty convoluted but involves bribery, fraud, extortion, and obstruction of justice. Perhaps you remember that when the FBI searched his house, they found a small fortune in gold bars stashed away there. Not the sort of thing a US Senator normally keeps under his bed, I imagine. See the account in Talking Points Memo for a fuller explanation. The senator has not, yet, resigned. But assuming he's convicted, New Jersey will need a new senator.

Has this bizarre winter weather freaked you out? Well wait until you see what spring is bringing us. It seems that "for the first time since Thomas Jefferson was president, two rare broods of cicadas will emerge at the same time." This event has a 221 year cycle. The last time the two broods emerged at the same time was in 1803! You can read about it in Here Come the Cicadas in Urban Milwaukee. The article warns that the noise from these insects could be really loud. The last time I experienced a major cicada invasion, I was living in Baltimore. Not only were the critters noisy, they were really crunchy underfoot and on the roads. And that's my off-beat tidbit for the week.

As the Biden-Trump rematch ramps up, everyone needs to engage now and for the rest of the year. The long first part of this email gives you a lot of choices. So, let's not wring our hands over every new poll and every new pundit alleging that Biden's age is more worrisome than The Former Guy's lies and nefarious plans. Don't agonize. ORGANIZE.