Battleground Wisconsin Brian Wooldridge

In a potential preview of November, MAGAite Steven Campbell refuses to step down following losing his Green Bay City Council election, even after losing the recount he paid for. Trump has been encouraging his acolytes to seek fraud claims everywhere, laying the groundwork for his future claims of a stolen election in the fall.

We talk about the decision of Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley to step down, setting up another epic Supreme Court election next April that will determine the balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the future of abortion rights and democracy in the Badger State. Also as nomination papers drop, we urge movement progressives to run in state legislative races.

Meanwhile, the bitter fruits of right-rule continued in Wisconsin. We discuss the staggering implications of a new report revealing that nearly 40% of Wisconsin teachers left the profession after 6 years, a direct result of Act 10 and the GOP assault on public education. Meanwhile on the energy front, renewable energy laggard We Energies proposes another outrageous 15% rate hike as Southeast Wisconsin residents protest the increase.

Finally a new MU Law Poll has U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin over 50% and leading Eric Hovde.

We discuss the WIsconsin Voters approval of 60% of Spring 2024 Election school referendums and the analysis done by the Wisconsin Policy Forum of referendum performance over the last couple of decades. Robert reviews the latest MAGA efforts to recall Robin Vos and its implications for the Republican Party and the institutions that support it. We talk about the Arizona Supreme Court’s stunning abortion decision. What are the implications for healthcare and Trump’s and Hovde’s abortion election season tap dance? Inflation is higher than expected, what does it mean for the economy and election?

We welcome Laura Dresser, Associate Director, of the High Road Strategy Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Peter Rickman, president, Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union to discuss the findings and key policy and organizing implications of a new High Road Center report, “From Community Benefits, to Collective Bargaining, and Back.”

We debrief this week’s Spring General Election. We look at the implications of the high ‘Uninstructed Vote” in the Democratic Presidential primary. Will it put additional pressure on President Biden to change course on the unfolding humanitarian travesty in Gaza? We also dig into the central role that strong voter support for public education played in local elections throughout the state, local election success stories and disappointments. With the Spring Elections now behind us, we turn to the critical task of recruiting progressive candidates for state legislative elections.

We remind our listeners that our 40th Anniversary event in Wausau is next Thursday, April 11th, 5:30pm and encourage listeners to join Robert and Matt in celebrating 40 years of powerful organizing.

We welcome Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski to discuss the continued attacks on her office and the structures that support our democracy. Secretary of State Godlewski also talks about the importance of public education and why she barnstormed the state supporting many of the 90 public school referendums on the ballot this Spring.

Citizen Action Climate Coordinator Kat Klawes joins us to discuss an opportunity for our listeners to take action in support of a FREE weatherization program being considered by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to implement important climate components of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats in Congress in 2022.

Sign petition in support of FREE weatherization of Wisconsin homes.
https://www.greenhomeownersunited.com/ira2024en

On this special edition of the podcast, Robert Kraig interviews
Anne Nelson, the author of the critically-acclaimed Shadow Network and one of the top experts on the right-wing movement to end democracy. During the conversation, Nelson explains the origins of the powerful right-wing infrastructure backing Donald Trump. She also provides listernes with a review of Project 2025, the 900 page blueprint for the next GOP president which would guarantee runaway climate change, and end American democracy as we know it.

We preview our 40th Anniversary celebration in Green Bay this Thursday evening at the Greater Green Bay Labor Council. If you live in the Northeast, our Battleground Wisconsin panel will be there. We would love to see you.

We next dig into the seemingly sleepy Spring elections, which feature many great candidates who can be the future progressive leaders of Wisconsin if all of us get them over the finish line. We encourage you to volunteer with us in these critical local races where a few extra phone calls or door knocks can make the difference.

We discuss the human made disaster in the Eau Claire healthcare crisis and how our leaders are not offering any real solutions that get to the root of the problem. Is the sudden closure of two major hospitals and 90 clinics a proverbial canary in the coal mine for the rest of Wisconsin? We talk about how five Brewers executives gave maximum donations to Robin Vos just two weeks after passing half a billion in public funding for the team’s wealthy west coast owner. We dive into how our obsession with “means testing” of safety net programs amounts to a social service version of voter suppression, denying needy people basic services and supports.

We help shed light on a new survey of 2022 candidates that shows how economic populism helped candidates win in rural and small town America. Robert also comments on a new In These Times Magazine article by friend of the podcast Alex Han on how our institutions have failed to protect democracy. Can unions and movement organizations can take up the fight?

We review Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s 40th anniversary events in Milwaukee and La Crosse this week and preview the third event in Green Bay next Thursday evening. President Biden’s new budget was released and includes increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations to fund our nation’s vital priorities and a historic investment in reducing child poverty. We encourage Governor Tony Evers and Legislative Democrats to follow the President’s lead and introduce their own visionary progressive tax plan to properly fund public education, health care and child care. We call out the latest China bashing with an effort to go after TikTok for sin being committed by American tech corporations and right-wing billionaires.

In Wisconsin, the state Senate ends its session by firing Evers appointees, approving terrible constitutional amendments, and failing to fix the counting of absentee ballots, creating fertile grounds for conspiracy theories to flourish. We encourage our listeners to help us talk to the 2 remaining Democrats in the State Legislature to co-sponsor the BadgerCare Public Option bill. We mention the Republican state senator who joined Democrats in voting against a toxic transgender sports bill after listening and hearing the deep harm the bill would do to the kids. We hope this kind of listening and being open to change or persuasion will return to state government. We also reveal big businesses’ lobbying effort to block the DNR’s ability to permit factory farms in Wisconsin.