Wisconsin's Year of Water—2018

Increasing opposition to proposed massive CAFO in central
Wisconsin signals statewide, clean water sentiment.
- Photo by Mary Captain-Braund (creative commons)

In 2016, Election Day saw electoral defeats for two prominent clean-water candidates running for state assembly in central and northeastern Wisconsin.

The set-backs are temporary and the Wisconsin Blue Wave is acknowledged across the political spectrum as the terrain on which the 2018 campaigns are held.

Clean water champ and 2016 candidate, Dave Gorski, is back, running in the 72nd assembly district in central Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin's northeastern peninsula, a special election for state senate in a district held by Republicans is considered so vulnerable, Gov. Scott Walker went to unprecedented lengths to block the election before state courts ordered Walker to follow the law, forcing the gov to let people decide their representatives in free elections.

Anti-Trump and Walker animus, pro-women sentiment, public school defenders, local democracy, criminal justice reform and anti-Foxconn voters are poised to become electoral factors in 2018.

Clean water grassroots groups present the equivalent of a massive ground operation energizing the Wisconsin Blue Wave.

Candidates in 2018 have taken notice, bringing back a traditional Wisconsin commitment—clean and fresh water.

In the town of Saratoga, Wisconsin, (population some 5,100), in southern Wood County an entire municipal government is mobilized for survival, as one proposed factory farm, CAFO, in Saratoga would "likely contaminate residents drinking wells and pump out more groundwater than some cities," (Anderson, USA Today Network-Wisconsin).

Republican legislators, State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) and State Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point) in central Wisconsin work against the interests of their constituents whom they sell out to Big Ag interests which pollute and deplete surface and ground waters in support of the Republican coalition.

Some leading clean water advocates include gubernatorial candidate Matt Flynn, and Ann Groves Lloyd running for a special election in central Wisconsin, assembly dist 42.

Writes Flynn in a message repeated across the state:

Wisconsin used to be known for clean air, clean water, and clean government. Now we have dirty air, dirty water, and corrupt government. This is unacceptable. Here's how I'll protect our clean water resources as #wigov https://t.co/QB1xZ2KZyO #bluewave2018 https://t.co/FfLh1BsqJ5

— Matt Flynn (@ForwardWFlynn) May 1, 2018

Groves Lloyd of Lodi, Wisconsin is running in the special assembly election to be held on June 12, one of two special elections that will draw national attention.

The Wisconsin people have become so disgusted with Scott Walker and the Republicans rigging law and water-safety regulations to help polluters against families that Walker in a historic first actually blocked special elections to stop Wisconsin voters from electing candidate who would protect their families.

Below is a TV spot running widely featuring Groves Lloyd's campaign commitment to protecting water.