war and peace?
My quicky synopsis of the latest news. Although four Hamas hostages have now been released, the war in Gaza rages on. Jenna Ellis pleads guilty to one felony in the Georgia RICO case. Michael Cohen is testifying today in New York's civil case against the Orange Julius, two of his sons, assorted others and the Trump Organization. And lo and behold: we just got a new Speaker of the House nominee. Can Tom Emmer break the stalemate that has kept the House from doing any business at all, no matter how urgent? We shall see.
But seriously, the situation in the Middle East is precarious. I don't usually read Thomas Friedman's columns in the New York Times because he cheered so obnoxiously for the Iraq war. In fact, his predictions were so notorious that cheeky wags created a neologism for them: the Friedman Unit. It has garnered a Wikipedia page devoted to it. His op-ed in the Times (gifted so no paywall) on October 20 is not so sunny or sanguine about the outcome of Israel's stated plan to invade Gaza in the near future:
It could trigger a global conflagration and explode the entire pro-American alliance structure that the United States has built in the region since Henry Kissinger engineered the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
I am talking about the Camp David peace treaty, the Oslo peace accords, the Abraham Accords and the possible normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The whole thing could go up in flames.
Jenna Ellis's statement of remorse to the Georgia Court seems heartfelt but essentially she blames others — presumably Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell — for leading her astray. I'm sure every media outlet in the U.S. is covering the story with plenty of detail and maybe even some sympathy for the poor dear. But if you just want a quick hit and a short video of her reading her statement to the court, visit this Daily Kos post: Watch Jenna Ellis’s teary-eyed court statement during her plea deal. What I don't really understand is why she merits such a sweet deal. Her sentence is the same as Ken Chesebro's but she seemed like such a bit player in the whole sorry saga. I'm left wondering how important any information she has on the ring leaders could be. I guess we will just have to wait until the Georgia trial to find out.
Michael Cohen is testifying today in the New York Attorney General's civil case accusing the Trump Organization and several of its top officers, including Dirty Don himself of fraud. He is of course sitting at the defense table today and of course is claiming to the press assembled outside that he's untroubled by Cohen's testimony because his one-time fixer is a convicted liar. What nerve, eh? He's at the trial to intimidate Cohen or something. He does not have to attend it so his presence is a choice. What he hopes to gain with his scowls and whispers to his lawyers is unclear, at least to me. And he's already been convicted of the fraud alleged in the indictment. What remains to be determined is whether he has to pay a penalty (and how much that might be) and whether he violated any other laws.
Meanwhile, almost buried in the rush of other news, the Cowardly Lyin' has filed FOUR NEW motions to have his case in Judge Chutkan's court dismissed. The first one filed a week or two ago argued that, as president, our Butternut Berlusconi had complete immunity from prosecution. Jack Smith's crew made that ridiculous claim, well, ridiculous. See the filing here. In this new one, Trump Throws Everything But The Kitchen Sink At Dismissing The Jan. 6 Case. Today's Washington Post article about this latest filing is well below the fold (as if online news publications had a fold), but the piece itself is thorough. Check out the (gifted) article: Trump files new challenges to federal election obstruction case in D.C.
And in stunningly good news for Wisconsin voters, in case you missed it, the GOP supermajority in the state Senate who voted to fire Wisconsin's Elections Administrator have now admitted in court that "a September vote to fire ... Megan Wolfe was 'symbolic,' and that Wolfe is 'lawfully holding over' in that position despite her appointment expiring July 1," according to Wisconsin Public Radio on October 16. This is a case of the MAGA Republicans being hoist on their own petard. Just last year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court "upheld a lower court ruling that an appointee of former Gov. Scott Walker to the state Natural Resources Board can remain in his role until his replacement is approved by the state Senate, despite the appointee’s term" having expired in 2021 (The Cap Times, June 29, 2022). Plus the Wisconsin Assembly MAGAites have blinked, as Ben Wikler eloquently states in his weekly newsletter from October 13. Speaker Vos is still threatening to impeach Justice Protasiewicz if the Court issues a ruling he and his gerrymandered buddies don't like, but it would clearly be an unpopular move. And maybe even unlawful.
The important thing now is to prepare the ground for next year's big, big, big elections. I have posted a page detailing the campaign contribution limits for local, state, and federal elections. By early December, we will know what offices will be up in the spring nonpartisan election on April 2. (This will also be the date of the presidential preference primary in Wisconsin.) In early Janiuary we will know and will post information on any primaries that will take place on February 20, 2024. And we will work to find online information about candidates that you can consult as you make your plans to vote.
But the most important thing to do is to participate in the Democratic Party's One Year to Win canvasses taking place on Saturday, November 4, and Sunday, November 5. You'll find the sign-up links in the Events listings but I'm providing them here too for the sake of convenience. By clicking on the sign-up link, you will see the shift days and times for each location.
Whitefish Bay Dems One Year to Win Canvassing: Sunday 11/5
Grassroots Glendale One Year to Win Canvassing: Saturday 11/4 & Sunday 11/5
Fox Point/Bayside Dems One Year to Win Canvassing: Saturday 11/4 & Sunday 11/5
stand up for fair maps! Again!!
I want to begin today with the fate of AB 415, the so-called Iowa-based model for achieving a nonpartisan process for producing electoral maps. In other words, a bill that would prohibit partisan considerations from affecting the way the maps for electing state Assembly Representatives and thus state Senators are drawn. In last week's newsletter, I informed you that Senate President Chris Kopenga had said that the Senate did not have the votes to pass the bill. That was in an interview with WisPolitics's "UpFront" on October 6. But SURPRISE! It turns out that SB 488 (the name of the proposed bill in the Senate) is going to the committee on Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection for a hearing on Thursday, October 19, at 9am in room 411 South of the Wisconsin Capitol. The Fair Maps Coalition urges everyone who cares about this issue to turn up, even if they don't want to testify. Sign up here. If you do want to testify, either in person or on paper, see messaging guidance here.
Middle Wisconsin has posted an article, This is not a credible offer, explaining why AB 415 and SB 488 are unacceptable. Calling the bill "a ploy to manipulate the system," the piece reveals the flawed process by which it was introduced: "AB415 was thrown together to look like the often referenced ‘Iowa Model,’ but they [the GOP representatives] also placed major loopholes in it to ensure they would remain in control. There was no committee hearing, no input from the public or any of the many organizations that have been working on this issue for years, and no consultation with Assembly Democrats."
Here's the ask: even if you can't drop everything to attend the hastily-called Senate hearing on Thursday, call and write you state senators, even if they are Democrats, to object to the bill. Also send written testimony to the members of the committee and to the Fair Maps Coalition:
- Senator Knodl, Chair: [email protected];
- Senator Feyen, Vice-Chair: [email protected];
- Senator Quinn: [email protected];
- Senator Spreitzer: [email protected];
- Senator Smith: [email protected];
- and share with Iuscely at [email protected].
The horrifying news from Israel and Gaza continues to dominate the media, as it rightly should. But that does not mean other important stories should be overlooked. In a number of states — including Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and West Virginia — voters have filed lawsuits seeking to disqualify TRE45ON from appearing on the ballot, either in the primary or in the general election. Notably, in the case in Colorado, "a judge denied Donald Trump’s attempt to dismiss the 14th Amendment lawsuit CREW brought on behalf of six Colorado voters. This ruling means that CREW is one step closer to presenting our clients’ case in court at the upcoming October 30 evidentiary hearing."
Noah Bookbinder, President and CEO of CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), wrote in his October 14 newsletter, "Trump’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit was brought under Colorado’s anti-SLAPP law, which seeks to protect people from being sued over exercising their free speech rights. But the judge ruled that 'this lawsuit falls within the public interest exemption to the anti-SLAPP statute,' and concluded that 'ensuring that only constitutionally qualified candidates can seek to hold the highest office in the country...seeks to enforce an important right which confers a significant benefit to the public.'"
As precedent, there's little to cite. In the only modern case, adjudicated last year, "CREW represented residents of New Mexico who sued to remove county commissioner Couy Griffin from office, the only successful case to be brought under Section 3 since 1869. The judge in that case determined January 6th was an insurrection under the Constitution and that someone who helped to incite it–even if not personally violent–had engaged in insurrection and was disqualified from office." See CREW's press release about this lawsuit.
And there's more good news. The gerrymandering action in Wisconsin concerns only state legislative districts, not congressional districts. But gerrymandering in other states has in the recent past affected the composition of the House of Representatives. German Lopez, writing in the New York Times on October 16, finds A Shift in Gerrymandering (gifted article): "the overall picture looks promising for Democrats. 'The House map is pretty equitable now, certainly more so than it was 10 years ago,' David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report told me. 'If the cases [now pending in federal courts] go in Democrats’ favor,' he added, 'it could make the House map even a little bit bluer on balance than a random map would be.'”
REAL TIME UPDATE: Even as I write this newsletter, the House is voting to fill the position of Speaker of the House. Apparently Jim (Gym?) Jordan failed on the first vote. Six representatives from districts that voted for Biden in 2022, voted against him. In all, he fell 17 votes short, receiving only 200 votes in the first round. Hakeem Jeffries beat him by receiving 212 votes from all the Democrats. There might be another vote later today, the Washington Post has said.
Now a word about gag orders. As plenty of TV pundits have remarked, criminal defendants who behaved and spoke as the Tangerine Palpatine has in the past several months would have had their bail revoked and have been tossed into pre-trial detention. Not Orange Julius. He's just prohibited from threatening court employees, the prosecutor, potential witness and families of all of the above. On his show last night Jimmy Kimmel thinks he and everyone else who watched the insurrection is a witness: “I don’t know about you — I saw the whole thing happen.” (See the BEST OF LATE NIGHT gifted to you.)
Judge Chutkan's order, made orally from the bench, will be followed with a written opinion soon. Meanwhile, Judge Engoron had issued a narrowly tailored gag order two weeks ago. On October 3, the AP wrote: "Rebuking Donald Trump, a state court judge imposed a limited gag order Tuesday in the former president’s civil business fraud trial and ordered him to delete a social media post that publicly maligned a key court staffer." Now let's see if these jurists can make their orders stick.
Down in Georgia in the trial of Chesebro and Powell, jury selection will be starting on Friday. Attorneys for the defendants wanted prospective jurors to give a favorability rating of every person charged in the RICO case. REALLY? A trial is not like "reality TV" — prospective jurors don't get a vote at the outset on which defendants aren't very popular! Both Judge McAfee and the prosecutors objected, thank goodness. But everyone "agreed potential jurors could be asked about pressures from the community or whether they would feel nervous or anxious about returning any verdict out of concern for how the public might respond" (See Lawyers and judge hash out juror questions for Powell and Chesebro trial in Georgia election case, October 16, 2023).
Attorneys for Chesebro and Powell "also wanted to include a string of questions about whether potential jurors believe Trump and his associates tried to steal the election and what they think about people who spread misinformation or tried to help overturn the election." As Judge McAfee said, "the questions seemed to cross a 'hard line in the sand' against asking prospective jurors whether they think someone is guilty or not." Sounds a little like a scene out of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: "Sentence first — verdict afterward." But in this case, it's more like "first the verdict and then the trial."
One more thing: don't forget to sign up for the online event we're holding on Sunday, November 12, at 7:00pm. It's all about Winning the Messaging War. Because one of our featured speakers — David Pepper, former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party and author of Laboratories of Autocracy — cannot be available in real time, we have to tape his interview ahead of the event. If you have questions for him, please submit them here.
Read morevoting rights issues are BOILING in WI
The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has upended my musings about this week's newsletter. The news from the conflict has been overwhelming and awful. Seen as an almost inevitable outgrowth of 75 years of intermittent conflict between the irreconcilable views of two groups fighting for a small part of the world, it may seem both consequential and simply in keeping with the long history of the region. Seen in the context of recent events worldwide, however, it may signify that we are witnessing dramatic changes in what had looked like a fairly stable world order, one ultimately dominated by America's vision and our might.
That's David Leonhardt's thesis in yesterday's column The Global Context of the Hamas-Israel War. He writes that "the world is in the midst of a transition to a new order that experts describe with the word multipolar. The United States is no longer the dominant power it once was, and no replacement has emerged. As a result, political leaders in many places feel emboldened to assert their own interests, believing the benefits of aggressive action may outweigh the costs. These leaders believe that they have more sway over their own region than the U.S. does." Leonhardt elaborates on this thesis clearly and concisely. Read the whole thing. I've gifted it to bypass the paywall.
Wisconsin is of course thick into its own internecine election wars. What follows is a brief summary of the action to date.
- As we are all now well aware, Boss Vos has been threatening to impeach Justice Protasiewicz and set up a secret panel of former Wisconsin Supreme Court (SCOWIS) justices to advise him on the subject.
- Two weeks ago, Speaker Vos the Boss suddenly introduced a bill to completely restructure the process of redistricting our legislative election maps, based on the Iowa Model, or so he claimed. (See the bill.) Then the Iowa State Auditor and other Iowa pols called the claim a lie, only in more polite language.
- This past Sunday, Vos the Boss published an editorial in the Journal Sentinel blaming Democrats for opposing his bill — AB 415 — to change the way our election maps are drawn. In it, he repeats the lie.
- And now, Senate President Chris Kapenga says the senate does not have enough votes to pass the legislation. Meanwhile, Kapenga is urging Vos to impeach Elections Administrator Meagan Wolfe. The senate claims to have fired her already, but that action has of course resulted in a lawsuit.
- Now STOP THE PRESSES: Former SCOWIS justice David Prosser has just advised the MAGA GOP in the Assembly that it would be ill-advised for the body to go forward with impeachment. In his letter to Vos on October 6, he wrote: "To sum up my views, there should be no effort to impeach Justice Protasiewicz on anything we know now. Impeachment is so serious, severe, and rare that it should not be considered unless the subject has committed a crime, or the subject has committed indisputable ‘corrupt conduct’ while ‘in office."
- And this just in: the Assembly Bill to change the process of drawing election maps, passed by the Assembly a few weeks ago, has now be submitted to the Senate.
So that's where the legislature stands: Vos threatens impeachment and then passes a bill that he erroneously claims is just like the Iowa model. Senate President Fitzgerald says he just doesn't have the votes to pass the bill (which seems not to have been the case) but wants Vos to impeach Meagan Wolfe (Wisconsin Elections Administrator) instead. Former Justice Prosser tells Vos to forget about impeaching Protasiewiz. Now Vos has become silent on the subject. Stay tuned for further legislative games.
While the state legislature was busy boxing itself into corners, the work of the Wisconsin Supreme Court went on. There have been quite a few important developments you should know about.
- On Friday, October 6, Justice Protosiewicz released her opinion declining the motion that she recuse herself from the redistricting case. (See her recusal opinion.)
- On October 9, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to hear part of the Clarke case challenging the current maps as unconstitutional. (See the Court's ruling.)
- SCOWIS also declined to hear the case known as Wright. (See the court's order.)The litigants in that case are submitting a motion to be included in the Clarke case as an Intervenor (i.e. as a party having "a clearly determinable interest in the outcome of the action." See Thomson Reuters Practical Law.)
The issues here are complicated but we can tease out a few salient ones. The Clarke petition raised five issues:
- Whether the state legislative redistricting plans proposed by the legislature and imposed by this Court in Johnson v. Wisconsin Elections Commission are extreme partisan gerrymanders that violate Article I, Section I, of the Wisconsin Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under law; and whether this cause of action is justiciable in Wisconsin courts.
- Whether the state legislative redistricting plans proposed by the legislature and imposed by this Court in Johnson III are extreme partisan gerrymanders that retaliate against voters based on their viewpoint and exercise of free speech and abridge the ability of voters with disfavored political views to associate with others to advance their political beliefs in violation of Article I, Sections 3 and 4 of the Wisconsin Constitution; and whether this cause of action is justiciable in Wisconsin courts.
- Whether the state legislative redistricting plans proposed by the legislature and imposed by this Court in Johnson III are extreme partisan gerrymanders that fail to adhere to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue and fundamental principles in violation of Article I, Section 22 of the Wisconsin Constitution; and whether this cause of action is justiciable in Wisconsin courts.
- Whether the state legislative redistricting plans proposed by the legislature and imposed by this Court in Johnson III violate the requirement of Article IV, Sections 4 and 5 of the Wisconsin Constitution that legislators be elected from districts consisting of "contiguous territory."
- Whether the state legislative redistricting plans proposed by the legislature and imposed by this Court in Johnson III violate the separation-of-powers principle inherent in the Constitution's division of legislative, executive, and judicial powers by usurping the Governor's core constitutional power to veto legislation and the Legislature's core constitutional power to override such a veto.
SCOWIS declined to hear issues 1, 2 and 3 but agreed to hear issues 4 and 5. In its rationale for declining to take up the first three issues, the majority wrote that although those "raise important and unresolved questions of statewide significance, the need for extensive fact-finding (if not a full-scale trial) counsels against addressing them at this time."
The Court then asks that the parties and any intervenors write briefs addressing four questions. (1) Whether the current maps violate the contiguity requirements in the Constitution. (2) Whether the Court's adoption of the existing state legislative maps violated the Wisconsin Constitution's separation of powers. (3) If the existing maps in fact violate the contiguity requirement or violate the separation of powers, what standards the Court should use to develop a remedy for the violations. (5) If the existing maps are found to violate the Constitution, what fact-finding will be necessary and what process the Court should use to resolve issues of fact.
One interpretation of the SCOWIS order dismissing the partisan gerrymandering issues sees the decision as conserving precious time so that if warranted new maps that do not violate the contiguity requirement or the separation of powers can be in place in time for the 2024 elections. That interpretation is bolstered by the aggressive schedule the Court has set: October 10 for Motions to Intervene; October 12 for initial briefs; October 30 for responses to initial briefs; November 8 for Amicus briefs; and November 21 for Oral Arguments. Moreover, the Court's opinion noted that "a decision on Issues 4 and 5 set forth in their petition 'could render it unnecessary' to decide Issues 1-3."
No doubt that there will be lots of news emanating both from actions at the Wisconsin Supreme Court and from the Legislature. We'll keep on it!
Although Wisconsin has no election in the offing — a welcome respite in a state that routinely has four or more of them every year — there's plenty to do to keep your hand in vital electoral matters elsewhere. So this week's Action Items are managed by some powerfully effective national groups. I hope you sign up with them.
VOTE FORWARD volunteer opportunities:
- Help Democrats Win in Virginia: To deny Governor Glenn Youngkin a statewide Republican trifecta, Democrats need to hold their majority in the Virginia State Senate or win a majority in the House of Delegates this November. Sign up to write Vote Forward letters to potential voters, join a national phone bank, or if you’re in or near Virginia, join other volunteers to knock on doors and help voters make a plan to vote! Take action in VA.
- Protect Abortion Access in Ohio: In August, organizers helped lay the groundwork necessary for abortion access to pass via ballot measure in November. Now it’s time to see it through. Every Vote Forward letterwritten, phone call made, door knocked, and donation contributed between now and Election Day to remind Ohio voters to vote Yes on Issue 1 gets Ohioans a step closer to protecting reproductive freedom statewide.
- National Phone Bank to Ohio Voters: No matter where you’re located, join our national phone bank on Tuesday, October 17 at 6pm ET! We’re calling Ohioans to remind them to vote YES on Issue 1 to protect reproductive freedom. If you’ve never phone banked before, don’t worry, there will be a quick training beforehand to help you get started. Sign up today.
ACTIVATE AMERICA volunteer opportunities:
- Protect Abortion Rights in Ohio: This November, Ohio voters will be heading to the polls to vote on an amendment that would enshrine abortion protections in their constitution. We know a majority of Ohioans support protecting abortion rights with an amendment. We can help them get the info they need to make their voices heard! Let's Get Out The Vote! Sign up for postcard lists today to ensure Democratic voters have the info they need to vote. Please write postcards now and mail them starting October 4 through October 28 at the latest.
- Write Postcards to Voters in CA, NY, AZ, and OH!: Join Third Act and Activate America to write postcards to voters and help safeguard our democracy! We will win elections in Fall 2023, and build voter enthusiasm and turnout to elect progressives and climate champions in 2024. Sign up. On the sign-up page, click on "Complete Your Registration Here," and fill out the order form to let us know how many names and addresses you want us to send to you.
buckle up, it's crazy out there!
The past few weeks, I've focused a lot of newsletters on Representative Robin Vos's threat to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz and his sudden introduction of a bill (AD 415) to implement a so-called nonpartisan process for developing and adopting maps of electoral districts, a proposal that only looks nonpartisan until we examine the actual bill. And it turns out that the version adopted as amended allows the legislature to revise the proposed maps any way they choose — as long as the Republicans with their near veto-proof majority can persuade at least one Democrat to vote for it — and gives the partisan legislature the final say. The Assembly is currently on hiatus and will not return until next week. And the Senate has so far not taken up the redistricting bill the Assembly passed a couple of weeks ago. So all is quiet on the threat to impeach Justice Protasiewicz and the attempt to fool everyone into thinking the GOP has seen the light now and is in favor of nonpartisan redistricting, two parts of the three-part effort to keep legislative power out of the hands of the voting public: "fire" Meagan Wolfe, the current state administrator of elections; impeach the possible fourth vote on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to redraw the election maps; adopt a bogus version of the Iowa Model for nonpartisan redistricting. We're keeping an eye on all three.
Since last week's newsletter, The Big Lie-bowski has taken center stage again. This time the Big Lie isn't about "rigged elections." It's about the value of real estate. New York Judge Engoron has already issued a partial summary judgment declaring that "Donald J. Trump persistently committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets" (gift article: NYTimes, September 26, 2023).The trial on this civil matter is simply to assess how much the penalties (disgorgement) should be. In the ruling Judge Engoron has already issued, the business certificates (i.e. licenses) of all New York entities The Cowardly Lyin' owns and all business that are"controlled or beneficially owned by the individual defendants" have been cancelled and a receiver will be appointed to oversee all matters pertaining to those entities.
And this just in: Judge Engoron has issued a gag order against Donald Trump. If he violates the order, he will go to jail for 30 days, apparently. See the Washington Post's account here. Or this much longer and more detailed account in The Messenger. Now taken down, the post on Truth Social that prompted the gag order attacked Judge Engoron's staff. It apparently read "Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!" In the election denial case, prosecutor Jack Smith requested a limited gag order and followed up with a reply to Trump's filing with an even more urgent argument. You can see Glenn Kirschner's take on the latest on YouTube. Judge Chutkin scheduled a hearing on the gag order motion for October 16.
Also, in Congress, Kevin McCarthy has just been booted from his speakership. In the Washington Post, Phillip Bump headlines his analysis of the Republican party's trajectory over the past decade The future of the GOP is now its past. Even Newt Gingrich, the original Congressional bomb thrower, is arguing that "Republicans must expel Matt Gaetz," calling Gaetz "an anti-Republican who has become actively destructive to the conservative movement." So now there's a pro-tem speaker, Representative Patrick McHenry, until a new speaker is elected. What a day! But the government is still up and running. Justice Thomas actually recused himself from the Supreme Court decision not to hear John Eastman's appeal to keep his evidence of crime (by which I mean his emails) from prosecutors. And Ukraine continues to receive robust support from other nations, including the United States. Some of the more hopeful signs that democracy may yet survive.
So much drama for the media to qvell* over. In the real world, there are still meaningful ways to help realize the policies we desire. If you act quickly, you can participate in Vote Forward's letter-writing campaign for elections this November in Ohio and Virginia. As you might recall, Ohio voters have a chance to pass a constitutional amendment to guarantee access to abortion in that state. Sign up for the Ohio Ballot Initiative. In Virginia, the November election provides a chance to flip the lower house from red to blue. You can participate in several issue-oriented letter-writing campaigns. For example, Climate Change or Reproductive Freedom.
In other news, North Shore Fair Maps is holding a vital zoom you really don't want to miss on Monday, October 11, at 7 pm — Math, Science, and Maps — with guest speaker Attorney Sam Hirsch (from the law firm Jenner & Block) providing insights into the second gerrymandering lawsuit filed in August with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Robert Yablon (from the Democracy Research Initiative) will bring us up to speed on the Legislature's "recusal / impeachment" power play. It really is the maps, stupid, that have turned Wisconsin into a perpetually bitter political battleground. If it's true that Democrats would need a huge majority of the votes in any given election to eke out a tiny majority in the Assembly, then MAGA Republicans can clearly ignore constituents and their policy preferences. Under the 2011 maps and strengthened by the 2021 maps, Wisconsin voters are trapped. North Shore Fair Maps and a coalition of advocacy groups are both calling attention to the matter and fighting it with every tool at their disposal. Join in and sign up
Read morethe legislature's sneak attack
Before I dive into the contentious issues brewing in our state, I want to call your attention to the next big Grassroots North Shore event: Winning the Messaging War, to be held on Sunday, November 12. Our featured speakers are David Pepper (author of Saving Democracy), Melissa Agard (Minority Leader in the WI Senate) and Mandela Barnes (President of Power to the Polls). Although the event itself is still six weeks away, we'd like to hear your questions and concerns. We especially welcome questions for David Pepper who will have to appear in a pre-taped interview owing to scheduling issues. So submit your questions as soon as possible.
Over the past two weeks, the Wisconsin legislature, especially the Assembly, went berserk. In the Assembly, MAGAites hurriedly crafted a bill supposedly designed to implement a fair and nonpartisan process for drawing election districts — AB 415 — at 3am on Tuesday and then presented the bill for amendment and passage Thursday night. No committee hearing. No public hearing. No time to read and think carefully about the bill's effects.
Boss Vos presented it as a nonpartisan redistricting law based on the Iowa model. But according to the Iowa State Auditor, the Wisconsin bill omits KEY PROVISIONS that safeguard against reverting to the same kind of rigged maps we have had since 2011. As two Iowa officials note, "The clearest and most consequential difference [from the Iowa model] is that Wisconsin’s proposal rejects our system of judicial review. In Iowa, the legislature has limited opportunities to accept or reject the maps drafted by legislative staff. If lawmakers fail to reach consensus, the maps are drawn by the Iowa Supreme Court and enacted" (WisDems: Bipartisan Iowa leaders: 'The proposal currently in front of the Wisconsin Legislature cannot be accurately called the Iowa Model').
As the bill heads to the Wisconsin Senate, you might wonder why Vos suddenly chose to adopt a bill that pretends to create a nonpartisan process for redrawing our election districts in time to be adopted for 2024 elections. Here's why: "Vos offered the plan to nullify pending lawsuits over the 2022 redistricting" (Wisconsin Examiner, September 15, 2023). In other words, the goal is to prevent the Supreme Court of Wisconsin (SCOWIS) from reviewing the maps it approved when the court still had four conservative justices sitting in judgment. Now that there are four progressive justices, they fear that SCOWIS will throw out those maps and adopt ones that are truly nonpartisan.
The same change in the make-up of SCOWIS prompted the threat to impeach Justice Protasiewicz. Never mind that the only grounds for impeachment our state constitution recognizes are corrupt conduct in office or commission of a crime. In short, Vos has been pulling out all the stops so that the power to stay in power remains in the hands of the MAGAites.
TAKE ACTION
- In his weekly newsletter on September 22, Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler noted that the Assembly gaveled out of session last Thursday and won't be back in session until October 10. So, for the rest of this week and all of next week, the Assembly cannot impeach anyone! He goes on to say:
You made this happen. Without your voice, your outrage, and your organizing, it’s entirely possible—and in fact, based on what we’ve heard, more than likely—that Robin Vos and the Assembly Republican caucus would have already voted to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz by this moment, and Wisconsin would have been at the center of an explosive constitutional crisis.So, keep it up. Keep calling and writing your Assembly representative and the state Senator to let them know how you feel about the bogus effort to take the judiciary out of the redistricting process and the equally bogus effort to impeach Justice Protasiewicz. Even if your elected officials are Democrats. (After all, Representative LaKeisha Myers voted for the amended AB 415, the only Democrat to do so.) Legislative staff keep a running account of public views, even if those views don't always sway legislative opinions. To find your legislators and their contact information, visit the Legislature's home page.
* * * * - Sign up for a Poll Worker Info Session with the Wisconsin Democrats. The Voter Protection Team has added Saturday sessions from 11:00 - 11:30am on September 30, October 14, and October 28. If you'd like to get involved in volunteering with the Dems, this is a perfect opportunity. It's also one of our final big chances to spread the word ahead of the November deadline to submit poll worker nominations. See all the available days and times and sign up. And bring a friend!
* * * * - The Wisconsin Senate recently voted to fire Wisconsin Elections Administrator Meagan Wolfe. She is being pushed out of her job as the state’s top election official. She is non-partisan and non-ideological and carries out decisions made by the Commissioners. A significant part of her job is ensuring that local clerks and other election officials have the resources and technology they need to conduct a safe, accurate, and successful election.
Here's what you can do:
Please write a thank you note WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe. Feel free to use one of the sample messages on the page linked above or personalize the message to put it in your own voice.
Mailing Address:
Administrator Meagan Wolfe
Wisconsin Elections Commission, Second Floor
201 West Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53703
As I was finishing this newsletter, a news flash arrived. Apparently when it convenes on Thursday, the Senate will not take up the redistricting bill the Assembly passed late last week. That's a huge relief. As Ben Wikler says, the public outcry about impeachment has the upper hand right now. And it seems we might have at least temporarily derailed the bogus Assembly bill also. Make your voices heard. Call and write your legislators!
Read moreIt's all about RIGGED MAPS
Today's newsletter is entirely devoted to summarizing the ongoing battle for fair election maps for our state. If you care about this issue — and you should, since every other issue we care about hangs on restoring fairness to our election districts — you need to call, write or email your state senator and your assembly representatives to oppose firing Meagan Wolfe, to oppose impeaching Janet Protasiewicz, and to oppose a sham nonpartisan method for drawing election maps. To find who represents you, how to contact them, and where they currently stand on the threat to impeach Justice Protasiewicz, go to Defend Justice.
The state of Wisconsin is in a fierce battle to retain even a semblance of representative democracy, a governing structure that relies on the ability of voters to choose representatives to its various governing bodies. (See Wikipedia: "Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy.") At the moment, we have a representative democracy in the executive branch of statewide governance. Four of the five top executive positions, three Democrats and one Republican, won their positions in the 2022 election. (The fifth was appointed after the person who was elected resigned.) At the apex of our judicial system, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is comprised of seven justices, all of whom have been elected to their seats. When Justice Janet Protasiewicz won her election against Dan Kelly by a resounding 11% in April 2023, the court's center of gravity shifted left. But that shift had been underway for the last several supreme court elections: for Justice Dallet in 2018 and for Justice Karofsky in 2020 — the one exception being the election of Justice Hagedorn in 2019. Clearly the resulting make-up of the court reflects the choices Wisconsin voters have made over the last six years.
The legislative branch of our government, however, is decidedly undemocratic in that the district maps have been drawn — first in 2011 and again in 2021 — to ensure a Republican majority. Recently Craig Gilbert asked Are Wisconsin's election maps 'rigged'? The answer, as he shows in the article, is YES: "the outcome had already been decided before any votes were cast. Forget about who the candidates are, forget about what the issues are, forget about what the polls say. The results in these legislative races were already 'baked in' by how the districts were drawn."
Our current legislature is again making an open frontal assault on representative democracy. In recent weeks the Senate and Assembly have taken three steps to help ensure that control of the legislature remains firmly in Republican hands and that state elections are overseen by someone the legislature chooses.
First, the senate, in the grip of a super-majority, voted on September 13 to fire Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) (GOP-led Wisconsin Senate votes to fire nonpartisan official targeted by 2020 election skeptics). Originally, Wolfe was unanimously confirmed by the senate after it rejected her predecessor who had worked for the Government Accountability Board (GAB). To understand the scope of the ongoing power grab, we need a little bit of history. The GAB was originally created as a reform measure in 2007 and "had a nonpartisan structure unique among election boards in the United States, with G.A.B. led by six former judges appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate" (Wikipedia). Republicans subsequently decided that GAB was inadequate because it pursued investigations into former governor Scott Walker's recall campaign. So it abolished that agency and created the WEC in 2016, undoing the nonpartisan approach and substituting a commission comprised of three Democrats and three Republicans all of whom were to be appointed by partisans.
But that reform also apparently did not seem to do, because it failed to satisfy the election deniers and skeptics repeatedly — and falsely — questioning the results of the 2020 election. So the senate voted to remove Meagan Wolfe from her position. In response to the senate vote to fire her, Attorney General Kaul immediately filed a lawsuit arguing that "Senate Republicans don’t have the authority to oust Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe and accused them of attacking the state’s elections." The AP article informs us that "Senate rejection would normally carry the effect of firing her." Because the WEC had not nominated anyone to serve as the administrator, however, "a recent state Supreme Court ruling appears to allow her to stay in office indefinitely as a holdover." The history of the constantly changing structure of election administration in Wisconsin shows how Republicans keep trying to control our elections, presumably to influence outcomes in their favor.
Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has been threatening to impeach Justice Protasiewicz if she does not recuse herself when the lawsuits challenging the current electoral maps are adjudicated by the Supreme Court. There are several reasons why this effort undermines the state judiciary. Perhaps most importantly, it amounts to yet another effort to overturn an election. Just watch Rachel Maddow and Ben Wikler explain. The effort has attracted a slew of national media. Here's Reid J. Epstein in the New York Times: Why Republicans Could Impeach a Liberal Judge Before She’s Heard a Case (gifted article). In the Washington Post, Scott Bauer and David A. Lieb publish GOP threat to impeach a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice is driven by fear of losing legislative edge (gifted). And Washington Post opinion columnist Jennifer Ruben posts Wisconsin GOP entertains a constitutional crisis. Again. (gifted). See also a New York Magazine article: Will Wisconsin Republicans Pull Off the Ultimate Power Grab?
And as if that weren't enough indication that the legislature is desperately trying to retain its lopsided power through rigged maps, Speaker Vos surreptitiously concocted a bill he claimed would be a nonpartisan method of drawing new election maps based on the "Iowa model." Vos presented the bill, AB 415, to the Assembly without a committee hearing, Democratic input, or public scrutiny. The bill passed with several amendments, but decidedly DOES NOT present a truly nonpartisan process for revising the rigged maps currently governing our elections. Representative Deb Andraca immediately warned that "the 'Iowa Model' that Robin Vos is proposing is actually a Trojan horse that threatens to undermine democratic fairness. Vos' 'Iowa model' harbors a perilous loophole that hands over unmitigated control of drawing districts to legislators, granting them the leverage to redraw and replace maps entirely on the third round of the drafting process."
Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck explain Why Wisconsin Republicans suddenly embraced redistricting changes and Democrats want no part of it in a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel piece. "The move is aimed at bypassing lawsuits before the state Supreme Court that seek to rewrite the current GOP-favorable maps that were adopted in 2021." In fact, the bill that passed does not truly embody the Iowa model. In a bipartisan statement, two Iowa politicos say "the proposal currently in front of the Wisconsin Legislature cannot be accurately called the Iowa model because it lacks the elements that have been the foundation for our system’s success. The clearest and most consequential difference is that Wisconsin’s proposal rejects our system of judicial review. In Iowa, the legislature has limited opportunities to accept or reject the maps drafted by legislative staff. If lawmakers fail to reach consensus, the maps are drawn by the Iowa Supreme Court and enacted" (WisDems: Bipartisan Iowa leaders: 'The proposal currently in front of the Wisconsin Legislature cannot be accurately called the Iowa Model'). But in the bill the Wisconsin Assembly passed on September 14, the Assembly can redraw the third round maps any way they choose, as long as there is at least one Democrat willing to vote for the maps. Andraca calls out this feature: "This loophole acts as a gateway to continued gerrymandering, allowing them to reject nonpartisan maps and instead sanction their own, bias-laden versions. This isn’t simply a flaw in the system; it is a purposeful mechanism that Vos identified to facilitate an undemocratic seizure of control."
So there we have it: the legislature's three efforts to undermine what should be our representative democracy: 1) fire the state's administrator of elections and put in her place someone more amenable to political pressure from the right wing currently controlling our legislature; 2) remove Justice Protaseiwicz to prevent the Supreme Court of Wisconsin from potentially tossing out the rigged election maps and adopting fair maps in their stead; and 3) pass a Trojan horse bill that purports to institute a nonpartisan process for drawing new maps but which in truth simply allows the legislature to continue to draw unfair election maps after a lengthy, drawn-out process. This third gambit is sure to end up in the courts after all but too late to have new and fair maps in place for the 2024 elections. So as our Grassroots North Shore Co-chair Debbie Patel says, we can turn to the courts now or we can turn to the courts later. The big difference is what maps will be in place for the next elections. Josh Marshall, at Talking Points Memo, has posted a thorough interview with Ben Wikler discussing the many aspects of the GOP strategy. It runs about 14 minutes but I highly recommend watching it.
Read moreWe have to fight back
We're facing a democracy emergency and we need EVERYONE to take action to protect it.
As you know, the MAGA crowd that dominates our legislature is planning to overturn the April 4 election for Wisconsin Supreme Court that we held just five months ago. Judge Janet Protasiewicz was elected by a landslide. But Speaker Robin Vos threatens to impeach her — before she has heard a single case — if she does not recuse herself from two redistricting cases (Clarke v Wisconsin Election Commission and Wright v Wisconsin Election Commission). Both cases were filed with the Supreme Court of Wisconsin (SCOWIS) in early August and are now waiting for SCOWIS to decide whether to hear them.
Here's what the Legislative Council says about the grounds to impeach a civil officer of the state: "The Assembly may impeach an elected official by a majority vote based on specific reasons: corrupt conduct in office or for the commission of a crime or misdemeanor" ( Wisconsin Legislative Council, IM-2014-03). Has Justice Protasiewicz committed a crime or misdemeanor? No. In the five or so weeks that she has been a member of the court, has she engaged in corrupt conduct? No. So what the Assembly threatens to do, frankly, is just a display of raw power, an attempt to lock in their control of the legislature and deny the ability of Wisconsin's voters to choose their leaders.
Here's what impeachment will mean. If she is impeached — which requires a vote of 50% in the Assembly — she will be suspended from the court until the Wisconsin Senate acquits her. The GOP holds 65% of the assembly seats, way more than necessary to vote for impeachment. In the Senate, at least two-thirds of the senators would need to vote to convict her. But here too the GOP has enough members to meet that threshold. A conviction would remove her from her seat on the court at which point Governor Evers could appoint someone to fill the vacancy. However, if the Senate delays holding the trial, she would remain on the court while suspended from all Supreme Court duties. While she is suspended, the court will be deadlocked with three liberal members and three right-wing ones. As Philip Bump wryly noted in the Washington Post on September 6, Wisconsin’s gerrymandering rides to the rescue of its gerrymandering.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is mounting a vigorous campaign to persuade assembly representatives to announce opposition to the impeachment and state senators to announce their intention to vote to acquit her should the senate hold a timely trial. And that's where you come in.
This Saturday, September 16, from noon to 3:00pm, canvassing will take place in and around Whitefish Bay (targeting Senator Dan Knodl and Assembly Representative Paul Melotik) and in Wauwatosa (targeting Senator Rob Hutton). Please join one of these canvasses. The goal is to talk directly to voters and to urge them to contact their representative and senator to voice their opposition to impeachment and removal. In addition to canvassing, please call and/or email and/or send mail to both your assembly representative and your state senator. Even if they're Democrats! If you don't know who represents you, you can look up the information and find the contact information for them at legis.wisconsin.gov. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has set up a system that will simplify calling and will offer some instructions on what to say. The website Defend Justice displays each representative and senator's public position on the issue. The site also includes a section on the news, a utility for finding your representative and senator, a petition you should sign, and of course a link to donate.
The MAGAites have concocted their insistence that Protasiewicz recuse herself on the already debunked notion that her view of the current election maps shows that she has prejudged the case and that the money the Democratic Party gave her campaign somehow taints her judgment on the law and the facts of the election map cases. The first complaint about comments Protasiewicz made during the campaign have been litigated in the past. Because she did not announce how she would rule, what she said as her opinion on the matter falls under the category of free speech. Here's the crux: in line with Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion in a case at the US Supreme Court, "judges are entitled to express views on disputed legal issues, whether on the campaign trail or elsewhere, and that this does not preclude them from impartially deciding cases" (Explainer: Judicial Judicial Recusal in Wisconsin and Beyond, Senior Staff Attorney Derek Clinger and Faculty Co-Director Robert Yablon for the State of Democracy Research Institute).
The campaign contribution excuse doesn't hold water either. In a table of the Explainer, Clinger and Yablon demonstrate that Justice Rebecca Bradley's campaign in 2016 took $2.6 million from the Wisconsin Alliance for Reform. The contribution amounted to 46.2% of her total campaign funds. The $9.9 million the Democratic Party contributed to the Protasiewicz campaign accounted for only 19.4% of her funds. Clinger and Yablon note that "members of the court — both conservative and liberal — have likewise been backed by large campaign funders and then participated in cases in which those funders have an interest."
The Explainer goes to great depths, as if it were a brief in a case, citing both federal and state rulings and examples of recusal rules. They examine what judges and justices have done in recusal matters in the last decade. The bottom line is that the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to "adopt a rule requiring judges and justices to recuse from matters involving individuals and entities who financially supported their campaigns. Rather than a rule requiring recusal, Justice Rebecca Bradley stated that the optimal remedy when a judge fails to act with impartiality and integrity is for Wisconsinites to vote them out when they stand for election next." So some elections have consequences, just not this one? Ridiculous!
Watch Rachel Maddow and party chair Ben Wikler discuss the MAGA Republicans' hubris. Wikler announces the campaign to urge voters, who after all elected Protasiewicz by 11 points, to contact the legislature to voice their displeasure. He believes that the effort is already bearing some fruit.
But girding your loins to fight back against impeachment threats isn't the only thing we foot soldiers need to be addressing. Next up on what to do while we're gathering our strength for the 2024 elections: Volunteer for National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, September 19. As I mentioned in last week's newsletter, both Supermarket Legends and the League of Women Voters will be holding voter registration events.
Supermarket Legends is holding an event at four locations at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 2022, voter turnout among young citizens in Wisconsin was outstanding: the best of any state in the country! But we really need to do it again. Meeting with students in their dorms, their union, and their library can reach students who may have been too young to vote in 2020 and 2022 but are now 18+. Getting them registered to vote is the first major step to engaging them for next year's elections. The registration drive will take place in two dorms — Sandburg and Cambridge Commons — as well as the student union and the library. Contact Sue Schneidler (Supermarket Legends) or Norma Gilson (Grassroots North Shore). If you have a preference for a morning shift or an afternoon shift, include that information in your email.
Working with the League of Women Voters on their voter registration activities is another great way to get involved. In conjunction with the City of Milwaukee Election Commission and Vote Riders, the League will have a Mini Carnival and Mock Election. The City of Milwaukee Election Commission will provide voting machines for the mock election. The League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County (LWVMC). Milwaukee Public Libraries will have voting trivia questions, swag to give away, and refreshments of attendees. The LWVMC is seeking volunteers for the events at Good Hope Road Library and Mitchell Street Library from 3:30 to 6:30pm. Sign up to volunteer.
The September 10 rally and march to support common sense gun safety legislation — sponsored by Grassroots North Shore, Moms Demand Action, WAVE, and the Brady Center — was terrific. At least two major television news outlets filmed the speeches and talked to participants. At the march on North Avenue, lots of drivers announced their support by honking. And people at the rally filled out more than 150 postcards to send to their legislators in support of several bills that have been proposed. Activity around this issue will continue over the next weeks. I'll have more information for you in the next newsletter. So watch this space.
Read more
getting with the program
Today's newsletter is all about action with a little pertinent news thrown in. Labor Day is traditionally the kick-off for November campaigns. In Wisconsin, though, we don't have any elections on tap until February 20! Considering how many we've already had in our corner of Wisconsin this year — three of them, including a special election for AD 24 in July — having a stretch of months without one feels like a relief. BUT we still have work to do and issues we need to follow. So here are some of things in the immediate offing that you should do.
First, attend the rally and march Grassroots North Shore, Moms Demand Action, WAVE, and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence are holding on Sunday, September 10. We are gathering at North Point Water Tower Park (2288 N Lake Dr in Milwaukee) at 12:30pm to demand action on gun safety legislation pending in the legislature this fall. Keep Our Kids Safe at Schools includes a "shopping list" of legislative actions we want our representatives to pass. The rally and march call attention to Red Flag laws, Extreme Risk Protection Orders, Universal Background Checks, Safe Gun Storage, and fully funded Office of School Safety. Our only leverage right now is our numbers and our loud voices. So add your voice and swell our numbers!
The last item on our "shopping list" for the rally and march shows our recognition that serious gun legislation means that we need legislators who support sensible gun safety laws. By now, it's clear that such legislators cannot be elected because of our highly partisan, rigged election maps. Thus, the next action you need to attend is the North Shore Fair Maps meeting on Zoom on Monday, September 11 from 7 - 8:30pm. As you probably know, two lawsuits are awaiting the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision on whether to consider the cases. On August 2, Law Forward, a pro-democracy nonprofit, filed a petition asking SCOWIS to hear Clarke v WEC challenging the gerrymandered state legislative maps on the grounds that the current maps violate the Wisconsin Constitution. Dan Lenz and T. R. Edwards from Law Forward will discuss the status and future of Clarke v WEC. You can read about the suit on the organization's website.
September 19 is National Voter Registration Day. Activities to register new voters will be occurring all over Wisconsin and the nation. You can pitch in locally in one of two ways.
(1) Supermarket Legends is hosting a big voter registration effort on the UW Milwaukee campus with tables in the union, Sandburg and Cambridge Commons (two dormitories) and the library. The Legends need 17 - 20 volunteers to staff all the tables in these locations. According to a Brookings analysis of the 2022 midterm votes, "young people (18 to 29 years old), especially young women, drove the Democratic advantage." The importance of registering and motivating younger voters cannot be overstated. As the Washington Post noted, "Youth turnout in some campus wards [for the April 4, 2023, election] was near that of November’s midterms, with voters largely casting their ballots for Protasiewicz." To sign up, simply email Sue Schneidler and indicate whether you prefer morning, afternoon, or either. Supermarket Legends has great printed material to help you register the UWM students. For more information, contact Norma Gilson.
(2) League of Women Voters: Voter Services is planning a number of voter registration events on National Voter Registration Day. The League needs volunteers for some of these events:
- a voter registration event at four libraries in Milwaukee County and one library in Waukesha County;
- a voter registration event at UW Waukesha;
- voter registration events at five MPS schools;
- supporting voter registration events at Gateway in Walworth County and Gateway in Racine County.
If you are interested in training to qualify for the high schools, please contact Leigh Ann Tidey or Judy Winn.
Canvassing will also be taking place on September 23 in Glendale, with shifts beginning at noon and at 3pm, and in a few other nearby locations (see the events list below). Why, you might wonder? The goal of much canvassing is to motivate voters and to get out the vote. These canvasses are quite different. Their goal is to listen to citizens articulate their chief concerns — kind of a fact-finding mission. The information people provide helps campaigns figure out what issues to emphasize with which potential voters and what kinds of messages to craft around those issues.
In its article Wisconsin fake Trump electors case to proceed to trial next year, the Wisconsin State Journal reported that Dane Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington denied a "motion to dismiss claims alleging that the 10 Wisconsin Republicans and two attorneys who advised them broke multiple laws, including impersonating a public official, public nuisance and engaging in conspiracy." Ensuring that so-called "contested states," including Wisconsin, create fraudulent electors is prominently cited in special counsel Jack Smith's indictment against Trump. "Federal prosecutors heavily cite the actions of the slate of 10 Republican electors [in Wisconsin] who gathered at the state Capitol in December 2020 to sign documents declaring Trump the winner on the same day Democratic electors cast the state’s Electoral College votes for Joe Biden." It's important to know that the legal action in Wisconsin is a civil, not a criminal, complaint. In that respect it fundamentally differs from the Michigan Attorney General's indictment of the fake electors in that state. The article states that the plaintiffs in the Wisconsin case are seeking substantial monetary damages. The case is scheduled for trial in September 3, 2024.
The worst of the COVID-19 epidemic is behind us, but a new variant, BA.2.86, has a lot of mutations and could mean that the virus can more easily evade immune responses acquired through vaccinations and/or earlier cases. According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (August 31), A highly mutated COVID-19 strain has infectious disease experts worried. It's not been found in Wisconsin - yet. While it is not clear whether the newest vaccine, which should be available this month, will be as effective against the new variant as previous vaccines have been against older strains, "the CDC believes the new COVID-19 vaccine will be effective at reducing severe disease and hospitalization." Ajay Sethi, professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recommends that everyone undertake a personal risk assessment and be vigilant about the circulation of the disease.
Summer's over. Time to get to work!
Read moreWhat we MUST do
Another hate crime. Three more Black victims. This time in a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida. A 21 year old, White, hate-filled man. A Glock and an AR-15 style rifle purchased legally.
After each new horrible, previously unthinkable mass shooting, we ask ourselves “But what can we do?” The only thing we can do: HOLD OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE and DEMAND that they pass legislation that will make our schools and communities safe. We've had enough of their “thoughts and prayers.” Instead, we demand laws to protect us from dangerous people and their guns. Join Grassroots North Shore and partner organizations — WAVE, Moms Demand Action, and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence — in a rally and march calling for our legislature to pass sensible gun safety legislation now.
The rally — on Sunday, September 10, at 12:30 at North Point Water Tower Park (on Lake Drive between E North Avenue and Wyoming Place) — features speakers from our partner organizations, from students, and from Senator LaTonya Johnson. And we'll march up E North Avenue to Murray Avenue and back to the park carrying signs to amplify our voices. At the park we'll hand out postcards with our message printed on them to send to legislators. You'll fill out the addresses of your senater and representative; we'll apply stamps and mail them. So take action: raise your voices and come to the Keep Our Kids Safe at School rally and march.
The day after we gather to advocate for common sense gun safety laws, North Shore Fair Maps will hold an online meeting (on Monday, September 11, from 7pm to 8:30pm) to hear from Law Forward about the redistricting case the organization filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court (SCOWIS). There's another case on gerrymandering also. "Madison-based law firm Boardman Clark has teamed with lawyers from Washington, D.C. to sue the Wisconsin Elections Commission over the maps," the Cap Times revealed. This second suit "was filed on behalf of a group of 'mathematicians, statisticians and computer scientists who believe in fair districting and believe that their disciplines are helpful in drawing fair maps,'" Sam Hirsch, a lawyer with the D.C. firm, explained. It argues that the SCOWIS ruling adopting the maps passed by the GOP legislature violates the state's Separation of Powers Doctrine "because the court 'effectively put themselves in the role of the Legislature that didn't have enough votes to override the [Governor Evers's] veto and gave them enough votes to do so.'"
Tied up with the thorny gerrymandering issue, though, is the MAGA GOP threat to impeach Justice Protasiewicz for failing to recuse herself from these cases. At the heart of the matter are statements the justice made during the campaign, statements that allegedly show she's "prejudging" cases, presumably about gerrymandering and abortion rights. Yesterday PBS Wisconsin published What are the prospects of Wisconsin Republicans impeaching Protasiewicz?. The article provides important information about the circumstances under which impeachment is permissible: "public officials can only be impeached for corruption or crime." It also analyzes the political dynamics that might ensue should the Assembly in fact impeach her.
Our local paper of record, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is like the dog that didn't bark. I say that because I've seen no coverage in it of Benedict Donald's trials and tribulations yesterday. Two hearings, one on Jack Smith's election denial case and the other on the Mark Meadows hearing to remove his case from state to federal court, occurred at the same time yesterday. And they blanketed the national news. Judge Chutkan set a March 4, 2024, trial date in the federal elections case charging Boss Tweet with four felony counts. And in case you missed it, the Washington Post has published an analysis of the Meadows hearing: Mark Meadows struggles to distance himself from Trump’s plot. The hearing included testimony from Meadows, a risky and possibly ill-advised maneuver. He appears to have considerable memory loss but the prosecution came well prepared. The article notes that "one lesson from the proceedings is that Trump’s co-defendants are going to struggle to distance themselves from the alleged conspiracy."
The 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, commemorated over the weekend by a much smaller march, got scant coverage on Sunday, but Jamelle Bouie devoted his op-ed piece today to reminding us that it was really the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, with a far more expansive vision for society than formal equality under the law. The march wasn’t a demand for a more inclusive arrangement under the umbrella of postwar American liberalism, as it might seem today. It was a demand for something more — for a social democracy of equals, grounded in the long Black American struggle to realize the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the potential of Reconstruction." We need to remember that when MLK was assassinated in Memphis, he went to support city sanitation workers in their struggle for equal pay and equal treatment from the city that employed them.
Going to our rally/march and/or tuning in to the North Shore Fair Maps meeting on the gerrymander lawsuits are not the only ways to stay engaged with the issues that matter most. Vote Forward recently launched their issue focused campaigns. Have a look at their instructions and guidance for participating. "In these campaigns, we are sending 'please vote' letters to young voters with messages focused on specific critical issues: either reproductive rights, climate change, or gun violence prevention. The messages we write in these letters will focus on these issues as a way to motivate young voters in Virginia to turn out in their state legislative elections this year." The election in Virginia will take place in November.
On the local front, especially for all of you who live in Ozaukee County, don't miss the "There's No Stopping Us Now" event to support the Democratic Party of Ozaukee County. It's on Thursday, September 14, from 5 to 8:30pm at Shully's in Thiensville. There's more information about the price of tickets in the events list. But you can click right here to buy yours. (Also —hint, hint) Oz county is where we can have the greatest impact!)
Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. You'll hear from me next, as they say, on the other side.
Read moreFirst and Fourteenth Amendments in play
Now with four Dirty Don indictments filed, the action turns to the arraignment of the 19 people charged in the Fulton County case and the crowded trial and primary schedule ahead. While we're waiting for the next bunch of shoes to drop, you really should read the Fulton County indictment. It is fairly long, though, so in case you don't have the time or the patience to get through it all, Josh Kovensky, an investigative reporter for Talking Points Memo, published The 6 Interlocking Schemes Fani Willis Is Trying To Make Stick To Teflon Don to help us make sense of what is otherwise a pretty sprawling story. Here is a list of the six:
- Creating fake electors across the country
- Asking lawmakers to commit a crime
- Asking Georgia election officials to commit a crime
- Asking federal officials to commit a crime
- Sidney Powell’s voting machine caper
- Harassing Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman
In my view "asking" is simply a weaker version of what was really going on, namely soliciting.
The Tangerine Palpatine is not necessarily charged with every one of these, but he doesn't have to be. It is sufficient that every scheme advanced the common purpose all the folks indicted shared. Together the 41 charges make up the full conspiracy and support the overarching RICO charge. For Butternut Berlusconi, the total criminal charges from the four criminal indictments add up to 91! So, can he slither out of each and every one? And can he keep himself out of pre-trial detention. We shall see.
This week has seen a number of interviews and articles examining the question of whether TFG has disqualified himself from holding any state or federal office by engaging in and/or aiding and abetting an insurrection or rebellion. Former judge of the Fourth Circuit Court Appeals Michael Luttig and renowned constitutional scholar and emeritus professor at Harvard Law School Lawrence Tribe teamed up to write The Constitution Prohibits Trump From Ever Being President Again for the August 19 edition of The Atlantic. The authors carefully examine the language of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, focusing on whether the language of insurrection or rebellion properly applies to the totality of the efforts to overturn the election. As the title of the piece indicates, they answer the question affirmatively. On Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, Asa Hutchinson, current candidate for the Republican nomination for president and former governor of Arkansas, concurred. Talking Points Memo has a good article on this issue too.
Exactly how section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment can be legally enforced is a matter of some concern. Ned Foley, on Election Law Blog asks Do Voters Have a "Right" that Trump Be on the Ballot? Part of the inquiry about the means to disqualify a specific person or candidate hangs on timing. Thus Foley differentiates between the primary's voters and the general election's voters, writing that "in our electoral system, there is no 'right' belonging to voters to have their preferred candidate be eligible to participate in a political party’s primary." That is, even if Republican primary voters choose Trumpelthinskin, "the political party itself, given its First Amendment rights, can disqualify individuals from being its nominee" at pretty much any point in the calendar. Foley argues that if the the Supreme Court were to make a definitive ruling before the general election begins, the party would simply have to come up with another candidate. Exactly how would be up to the party itself to decide. That assumes, of course, that SCOTUS find TRE45ON in fact disqualified to hold any office by virtue of section 3.
In Wisconsin, the Attorney General has apparently decided not to investigate or indict the false MAGA electors, but Judge Frank Remington ruled that the 10 real electors for President Biden suing the pretend ones "met their burden to move forward with the civil suit." The plaintiffs are "seeking $2.4 million in damages from a dozen people who participated in an effort to falsely cast Wisconsin’s 2020 electoral votes." See the story at Battleground Wisconsin.
Lately, First Amendment issues have been surfacing a lot. Cheeto Benito's lawyers are signaling that issues of free speech are likely to form at least a part of his defense both in the D.C. case about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the Fulton County RICO case on the same matter. But it has been showing up in other recent events too. A small town newspaper in Kansas was raided by police (possibly leading to the death of its 98 year old publisher). The police seized computers, records, and cellphones. The raid may well have broken the law, some experts have said.
The role of local news investigations is especially fraught now. Here's a story from Wisconsin that highlights the way some are seeking to bankrupt media outlets. Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business: "As politicians have grown more comfortable condemning media outlets they view as hostile — banning reporters from covering events, attacking them on social media, accusing them of being an 'enemy of the people' — some public officials have started using the legal system as a way of hitting back. . . . The Wisconsin case, First Amendment experts warned, shows how a single defamation suit can become a cudgel against the media in a way the law never intended. For small local news organizations, many of which are barely getting by financially, the suits threaten to put them out of business."
- - - TAKE ACTION - - -
Here's the place where I call your attention to actions you can take now and in the near future. First up is a rally of progressives and unions to make our voices heard from 3pm to 7pm before the August 23rd Republican Presidential Debate in Milwaukee. The Cowardly Lyin' is giving it his little middle finger of course, but there may well be national press looking for some alternative programming to include in their debate coverage. Join the crowd at NO Studios (1037 W McKinley Ave, Milwaukee) and stand with partners and allies from WI and other states and with Democratic Party leaders to claim our space. Let the organizers know you're coming!
After the rally, at 7:15 on Thursday, August 23, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison is hosting a reception (and fundraiser for President Biden). The event will also feature DNC Secretary Jason Rae and DNC Member Alex Lasry. This is a great opportunity to hear about the 2024 campaign from leaders of the Democratic Party and to support President Biden and Vice President Harris for re-election. You can go to the union-organized Tailgate event and then watch the debate with the Democratic Party honchos! Who wants to miss that! Contribute and sign up.
The Democrats' Fall Regional Trainings: Our organizing team is planning to host in person volunteer trainings across the state this September/October where team leaders and county party leaders can come together to share best practices and learn from each other. We would likely host this training in Milwaukee. We are hoping to gauge interest in whether attendees would be interested in an in person training or a virtual training with teams/counties who have similar features. Please fill out a survey to let the Dems know what you are interested in.
A number of states are having important off-year elections, mostly for local and some state offices. More or less like Wisconsin's April elections but conducted in the odd-numbered years between congressional or presidential contests. You can help get voters to turn out in these states by signing up with Postcards to Swing States. You can purchase progressive postcards online from ProShop here. Activate America is organizing postcards to several congressional and senate districts to urge voters to get behind candidates who support gun safety legislation. If that strikes your fancy, you can sign up here. To give you some idea of the organization's reach, Activate America participants sent over 610,000 for Janet Protasiewicz's election in April 2023!
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