It's Governor Tim Walz for Vice President! The news outlets are filled to overflowing with the announcement and with details about the man and his life story. Here's how Talking Points Memo's David Kurtz succinctly summed up the choice: "A former teacher and coach and longtime National Guardsman, Walz has not been a prominent figure on the national Democratic stage. He was not known to have presidential ambitions. But in the weeks since President Biden ended his re-election bid, Walz’s solid record as a progressive governor, his perceived appeal in the critical Blue Wall states, and his direct, folksy manner had catapulted him into the top rank of vice presidential contenders for Harris."

Here's the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel approach: "after Harris' announcement [Wisconsin Democrats] pointed to Walz's working-class background as a former high school teacher, his military service and his six terms in Congress as experience that could appeal to voters in a key swing state like Wisconsin."

A lot of other news has been relegated to the virtual back pages by the sudden burst of excitement surrounding the presidential campaign. So here's a short list of stories you might find newsworthy. In the Arizona fraudulent electors case, former Orange Julius attorney Jenna Ellis is now cooperating with prosecutors. You can see coverage and a video of her statement at Politico.

In a sign of how potentially violent and intimidating our elections seem to have become, Arizona's Maricopa County "public school district isn’t opening its schools to voters as polling sites." It's not clear from the article in the Washington Post (gifted to you) exactly how widespread this phenomenon is: "Heightened school safety protocols and sustained attacks on voting systems and the people who run them — largely by Trump and his supporters — have prompted school leaders across America in both red and blue states to close their doors to the democratic process, according to interviews with nearly 20 school district leaders, county officials, school safety officials and election experts."

Don the Con is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18. Roger Parloff, Senior Editor of Lawfare, has taken A Close Look at Trump’s Immunity Objections to His N.Y. Convictions. "With the filing of Donald Trump’s reply memorandum on Aug. 1, briefing is now complete on whether the former president’s 34 felony convictions, handed down by a Manhattan jury on May 30, can survive the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 1 presidential immunity ruling. New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has pledged to rule on that question by Sept. 6 and, if he rules for the People, to then proceed to Trump’s sentencing on Sept. 18." Parloff recognizes just how fraught the territory Judge Merchan must cover and foresees the case traversing the trial and appellate courts in New York only to land yet again at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Before turning to more immediate and proximate matters, let's take a minute or two to poke the bear! The one RFK Jr. dumped in Central Park a decade ago. Unfortunately he posted his strange confession video on X(Twitter). But you really should hold your nose and go see it. He's telling this story to Roseanne Barr and some unnamed and unseen others, and they're all laughing it up. But it should not be funny. RFK recounts how he saw coverage of the bizarre events on the news, with "a mile of yellow tape, 20 cop cars and helicopters flying over it." So, the dead bear discovery involved an extensive public safety response. Ha ha?

The euphoria around our new Democratic ticket cannot blind us to the work we need to do in our own backyards. So here are some immediate ways for you to engage: On Saturday, August 10, and Sunday, August 11, we are volunteering with the Democratic Party to Get Out the Vote for next Tuesday's election. Even if you don't have a lot of contested races on your ballot, it is imperative that we all vote and VOTE NO on the two ballot questions you will find at the bottom of the second side or your ballot. In addition, we are knocking on as many doors as we can. So please pitch in. In general, you can find events near you by going to Mobilize, but here are some happening in the North Shore:

If you can't canvass, show up for a shift and offer to navigate and drive for a canvasser. It will make a huge difference.

As you know, Jodi Habush Sinykin is running to represent state Senate District 8. The district encompasses Assembly Districts 22, 23, and 24. And Democrats have candidates running in all three of those districts, too. Jodi's campaign is already up and running and she needs our support for the five canvasses she has scheduled in August. (These are in addition to canvasses organized by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.)

• August 7th @ 5:30 - Germantown
• August 9th @ 4:30 - Menomonee Falls
• August 14th @ 5:30 - Port Washington
• August 20th @ 5:30 - Menomonee Falls
• August 26th @ 5:30 - Mequon

If you have not seen Vice President Kamala Harris's first ad for her campaign for president, give yourself a brief treat, complements of The Guardian. The spot is called "We Choose Freedom." Beyoncé's song "Freedom" provides the musical accompaniment as Kamala Harris frames the election: "the freedom to get ahead; the freedom to be safe from gun violence; the freedom to make decisions about your own body." She defines herself as a prosecutor versus a felon. Most importantly, she is looking toward a hopeful, joyous future as opposed to the MAGA agenda taking us back to an age of illegal abortions and an era of manifest inequality before the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act became law. As she exclaimed in her speech in Indianapolis last week, “These extremists want to take us backward, but we are not going back.”

Here's another great Harris ad. Our fearless VP and presidential candidate calls Benedict Donald out for nixing the bipartisan border bill this past spring. Although she's only 10 days into this project, her campaign team is apparently in full swing. I don't usually recommend this but keep your eyes open for more of her campaign ads!

So, have you heard about "weird" as an epithet for The Big Lie-bowski and his Mini-Me JD? What do you think? Here's what Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo thinks. And here's a whole blog post (kinda crude) documenting just how weird the MAGA set are. It's a surprising way to define your opponents in a political race, but it seems to be catching on and, more to the point, working. An AP story explains how it came about and why it seems to work.

On the local scene, early in-person voting began yesterday, July 30. Generally, early voting takes place in your town, village, or city hall. If you have not requested an absentee ballot already, you should consider early in-person voting. Voting by absentee ballot or early in person has a significant upside: they're much more flexible ways to vote than planning to vote on Election Day. To see the early voting information for your community, visit our page Early Voting Information for August 13 Primary. You might also want to prepare for voting in this election by viewing a sample ballot and by reading up on the candidates. Our Elections 2024 provides the names of candidates and links to their online sites. And if you live in Glendale, Shorewood, or the part of the city in Senate District 4, you might want to review information about the two candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for SD4.

As those of us in Glendale and Shorewood know, Dora Drake has now been elected to Senate District 4 to fill out the term for that senate seat, vacant since February when Lena Taylor became a Milwaukee County Judge. Now as the incumbent, she is running in the August 13 primary to be the Democratic nominee for Senate District 4 on the November 5 ballot. You can find election information about Senator Drake and her opponent Representative LaKeshia Myers as well as other candidates on the August 13 ballot. Those of us in Assembly District 10 should also know that Grassroots North Shore enthusiastically endorses Senator Drake. So if you live in Glendale or Shorewood — or in Assembly Districts 10, 11, or 12 — you can vote for her again!

The 10 days or so since Vice President Harris became the presumptive nominee for president have been amazing and joyous. Filled with energy and enthusiasm. In the next week or so, we can carry her message of freedom and opportunity throughout our area. Here are some of the canvasses and other volunteer events you should really sign up for:

• High Traffic Canvassing in Glendale, Thursday August 1, 6:00 - 7:30pm. Stone Creek Coffe, 6969 N Port Washington Rd, Glendale
  
  
• Fox Point Volunteer Recruitment Phonebank, Thursday August 1, 7:00 - 8:30pm (repeats Thursday August 8) Address provided on sign-up.
  
  
• Weekday Canvassing in Fox Point Thursday August 1, 4:30 - 7:30pm (repeats on Friday August 2, Monday August 5, Tuesday August 6, and August 7 - 13 )
  
  
• Fox Point Canvass, Saturday August 3, 9:00am - 12:00pm and 12:00 - 3:00pm (repeats Sunday August 4, Saturday August 10 and Sunday August 11) Address provided on sign-up.
  
  
• Shorewood Canvassing, Saturday August 3, 9:00am - 12:00pm and 12:00 - 3:00pm, 94516 N Newhall St. (repeats Saturday August 10)
  
  
• Glendale Canvassing, Sunday August 4, 9:00am - 12:00pm and 12:00 - 3:00pm (repeats Saturday August 10 and Sunday August 11)
  
  
• Social / Relational Organizing Glendale & Fox Point, Tuesday, August 6, 6:00 - 7:30pm
  
  
• John Zarbano Meet and Greet, Tuesday August 6, 6:00 - 7:00pm, Cedarburg Library Community Room
  
  
• Get Out the Vote in Grafton and Cedarburg, Saturday August 10, 9:00am - 12:00pm and 12:00 - 3:00pm (repeats Sunday August 11), address upon sign-up
  
  
• Get Out the Vote in Port Washington, Saturday August 10, 9:00am - 12:00pm and 12:00 - 3:00pm (repeats Sunday August 11), address upon sign-up

As you know, Jodi Habush Sinykin is running to represent state Senate District 8. The district encompasses Assembly Districts 22, 23, and 24. And Democrats have candidates running in all three of those districts. Jodi's campaign is already up and running and she needs our support for the five canvasses she has scheduled in August. (These are in addition to canvasses organized by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.)

• August 7th @ 5:30 - Germantown
• August 9th @ 4:30 - Menomonee Falls
• August 14th @ 5:30 - Port Washington
• August 20th @ 5:30 - Menomonee Falls
• August 26th @ 5:30 - Mequon

It's great if you can canvass. But if you can't, you can really assist a canvasser by volunteering to drive the canvasser through the route. Because her district includes a large chunk of Ozaukee County — some of it very difficult to walk without a driver/navigator — and chunks of Washington and Waukesha counties — areas with which most of our canvassers are unfamiliar — having a driver and navigator makes knocking on doors more efficient. So please sign up for one or more of the Habush Sinykin events above.

There are lots of ways you can help get out the vote for this very low turn-out election in just under two weeks. Here's one. Rideshare2Vote Wisconsin: Help drive voters on a Ride2Vote! At Rideshare2Vote, our mission is clear: Our complimentary Ride2Vote Program creates access to the polls for voters and boosts Democratic voter turnout. Join the only team in the nation making sure voters cast their ballots. Our team contacts and schedules a Ride2Vote for nonvoting Democrats year-round to stave off the MAGA assault at every level of our government. You can learn more here, then sign up for training now. Sign up.

There's a lot of news to get to, including the drivel from the RNC, but first things first. Grassroots North Shore really needs a few more good people! Norma Gilson has 5 or 6 packages of flyers to be dropped off at houses in Glendale and Shorewood. This action differs from canvassing in that we are not asking you to knock on doors or talk to strangers if you don't want to. These turf packets are easily walkable. And they are part of our "VOTE NO on the ballot questions" campaign. To deliver flyers, contact Norma Gilson.

I have 20 some phone lists that have not yet been assigned. These are really easy calls to make to strong Democratic women who live in the new Senate District 8. These women have recently received a postcard from us alerting them to the August 13 election. The phone call reinforces the postcard message and provides a chance to give more information about the ballot questions. I started my call list yesterday and had two wonderful conversations with women who were only dimly aware of the election and were grateful for the call, and especially on the information about the ballot questions. We are leaving messages and/or texting people too. To sign up for a phone list, contact Nancy Kaplan.

Jody Habush Sinykin is recruiting people to canvass for her, separately from the canvasses the Democrats are hosting. She's running for the tipping point state senate seat (formerly held by Dan Knodl). Winning this senate seat is vital to the strategy for winning the state senate majority in 2026. Vying for that seat is the execrable Duey Strobel who is new to the redrawn Senate District 8. So it's a very winnable race and Jodi is a fabulous candidate. We need to give her all the support we can. To kick off her campaign in earnest, she is holding a campaign launch party for anyone who will canvass for her. The kickoff party takes place on Monday, July 29, at 5pm. To sign up, please email Talia Gottlieb or go to her Volunteer Sign Up page.

And the last ask of this week: The Democratic Part of Milwaukee County shoulders the responsibility for the Dems State Fair booth. The Fair runs from Thursday, August 1, through Sunday, August 11, with three shifts per day: 10am - 2pm; 2 - 6pm; and 6 - 9pm. In exchange for volunteering, you will be mailed a free admission ticket for each shift you sign up for. Sign up.

Now for the news! The Republican Convention is in town, of course. Tonight's big keynote speech will come from the newly anointed VP pick, Senator J.D.Vance. Republicans seem to be ecstatic about the choice. In the coming days, we will learn more about his positions on the issues, though he has been known to be something of a chameleon. Here's the Biden-Harris campaign's substack on his positions: DONALD TRUMP AND J.D. VANCE. Contrast those positions with President Biden's accomplishments.

In the past few days we saw two truly astonishing events. First, Don the Con's close call with a bullet from an AR-15 style weapon wielded by a 20 year old, apparently conservative, young man. As yet, the authorities know very little about the shooter so we should not speculate about even the most innocuous detail. The fact that he was able to get into a position close enough to attempt an assassination is troubling.

CNN is producing live updates on the House investigations into how such an event could have happened. CBS News notes that "a sniper from a local tactical team deployed to assist the U.S. Secret Service at the rally took a picture of the gunman and saw him looking through a rangefinder minutes before he tried to assassinate the former president, a local law enforcement officer with direct knowledge of the events told CBS News." We might be shocked, but not surprised, that we continue to witness such political violence. Now The Former Guy is both a fomenter and a victim of it. You can bet on the play his victimhood will get, both in his campaign and in its coverage.

Oddly enough, what Judge Cannon ruled in the Mar-a-Lago documents case is, to me at least, considerably more concerning. She has ruled that the special counsel, Jack Smith, "was illegally appointed by the Justice Department" (AP, July 15, 2024). "The dismissal by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon brings a stunning and abrupt halt to a criminal case that at the time it was filed was widely regarded as the most perilous of all the legal threats the Republican former president confronted." Andrew Weissmann and Mary McCord discuss both the attempted assissination and Jack Smith's options for the case on their podcast "Prosecuting Donald Trump: An Unsettling Few Days." Apparently Jack Smith has already indicated he will appeal, either to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals or directly to the US Supreme Court.

If it stands, the Cannon ruling will cast doubt on 25 years of special counsels, including the work of the odious Ken Starr and the cases against Hunter Biden. But more seriously, the ruling would mean much more difficulty appointing special counsels in the first place — as I understand it they would have to be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. So the Department of Justice would have no other mechanism to try to structure an investigation so that it is removed from political pressure. That, after all, was the purpose of the Special Counsel statute in the first place. Here's Wikipedia's explanation: "In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exists for the usual prosecuting authority."

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?

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.