Scott Walker Leaves Wisconsin — Petulant and Ungrateful as a Classical Liberal Society Looks to Future

Time flies, as Scott Walker leaves corruption, scandal and
lies as a legacy. Seems like only yesterday, Scott Walker
campaigned with felons, Tim Russell and Brian Pierick,
two aides who embezzled from military veterans. Walker
leaves Wisconsin, living on the same pensions and
healthcare that the great charlatan campaigned against.

Madison, Wisconsin — Defeated Gov Scott Walker (R) will leave Wisconsin diminished while the man-child hits the rightwing welfare circuit, three years after having been rejected by Republican Presidential Primary voters as not equipped for the White House.

It will take Wisconsin years to recover from (and discover) the full extent of systemic damage to every corner of government that Walker tried to engineer for his donors against the people during Wisconsin's lost decade of corruption and malice.

But make no mistake, Scott Walker failed in his mission to destroy democracy in Wisconsin, and the voters, flush off a major voting rights victory gave Walker the boot.

No surprise, Walker exits Wisconsin with a new and outrageous attack on voting rights, in defiance of the authority of the federal courts.

Incidentally, incoming Gov Tony Evers (D) is not the man for the job. Evers is already making vague threats against black and brown residents that the criminal code will be expanded, to be wielded by local agents of white supremacy — Republican-dominated municipal police.

Notwithstanding the moribund quality of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, (which can be every bit as obtuse, racist and provincial as the GOP), Wisconsin remains intact.

Wisconsin's world-class University System survived Scott Walker, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison remains the vibrant oasis of empirical investigation, liberal education, radical activism and pioneering discovery that each year draws 1,000s the world-over to help launch new lives.

As rural parts of the state grow even whiter and older, and young families look for new regions in which to set down roots, an energetic 45-plus percent of small-town Wisconsin remains, engaged in a rights-based, innovative politics for the future, of which clean and safe water necessary for life remains at the top of the agenda.

With Dane County again leading the state in private-sector, high-wage jobs that make Madison, for example, an illustration of everything Scott Walker is not — independent, educated, innovative, rights-based and progressive — Wisconsin will recover from Walker.

Blind allegiance to the Democratic Party is not the answer.

Demand from representative government what you believe as public policy; it's a classical liberal thing.

"True freedom and prosperity do not come from the clumsy hand of the government," says Scott Walker in a New Year's email.

Why then did Scott Walker give Wisconsin government to donors and corporate America, while preaching the value of private industry? Scott Walker is a liar with a psychology and character untroubled by hypocrisy and deceit.

Looking to 2020, Wisconsin remains a beacon, with a world-class University and millions of citizens who defeated a child who would destroy what took generations to create.

Scott Walker lost, and Wisconsin is flush with renewed hope, dreams and commitment for the future.

Campaign 2018: Year of Water Is Here

Clean water advocates from across Wisconsin gathered
at the state capitol in Madison to demand clean and
safe water. Image is from a video filmed in November 2015.
(Mal Contends)

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — The toil of citizens working for clean water appears likely to pay off in the midterm elections statewide.

Massive water condemnation from factory farms enabled by corrupt Republican officeholders and resultant political activity have led to a reckoning — November 6, 2018, Election Day.

Republicans often sound like clean water warriors, adopting the language of the citizens fighting for water in political messaging.

Reports Jack Healy of the New York Times in a dispatch from Armenia in central Wisconsin this morning: "The groundwater that once ran cool and clean from taps in this Midwestern farming town is now laced with contaminants and fear. People refuse to drink it. They won’t brush their teeth with it. They dread taking showers. ... [F]ears and frustration over water quality and contamination have become a potent election-year issue."

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

Potent is correct.

Wisconsin citizens around the state are working to protect Wisconsin's abundant fresh waters, (Saratoga Concerned, Kewaunee County, U.S. DHS, Mal Contends, In These Times, Water Watch Wisconsin, Kewaunee Cares, Tri-Lakes Management District, Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors, Citizens Concerned about Lake Superior CAFOs, Farms Not Factories).

Republicans are fighting for the polluters.

It's that simple.

Residents in central Wisconsin are fighting a proposed
massive factory farm owned by the infamous
Wysocki corporation, (Saratoga Concerned). State
Rep Scott Krug (R) runs political interference for
polluting industry, and appears poised to pay
the price at the ballot box in the gerrymandered
72nd state assembly district.

Writes the Times Healy

As [Gov Scott Walker (R)] runs for a third term, his Democratic challenger, Tony Evers, has turned polluted wetlands and unsafe water into campaign slogans. In Lodi, north of the state capital, Ann Groves Lloyd is campaigning for the State Assembly with a tongue-in-cheek ad in which she tries to water her cows with plastic bottles and irrigate her fields with a water cooler strapped to a John Deere tractor.

Some voters who say they cannot drink from the taps or water their livestock without worrying about nitrates or E. coli bacteria say the state’s deregulatory spree has gone too far.

'I blame the government,' Jose Rangel said one afternoon as he sat in the living room of his trailer home, reviewing a letter confirming that his 27-foot-deep well had tested at double the federal safety limits for nitrates. 'We can’t do nothing about it. I’ll vote. I want clean water.'

Election Day 2018 will remembered as the day Wisconsin citizens did something about it; they voted out the water polluters' lobby seated in the capitol.

Campaign 2018: Early Voting Is Key to Ending Republican Party Anti-Voter Laws

Madison, Wisconsin — The Republican Party's war on voting has taken a toll on 10,000s of Wisconsin voters.

But thanks to a federal voting rights case, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, metro voting districts have been freed to offer voters increased access to cast ballots and have those ballots counted, (In These Times).

Madison has led the way, with Milwaukee and other municipalities following suit, (Wisconsin State Journal).

In Dane County, defending voting rights from Republicans and only Republicans has become a community effort, to the chagrin of Republicans who complained about "too much access to the voters," (The Capital Times).

Groups such as the Dane County Voter ID Coalition reach out to disabled seniors, students, and ethnic minorities, frequent targets of voter obstruction.

"We go to where we think voting rights may be at risk—food pantries, college campuses, homeless shelters—to register voters and help them get an ID, including taking them to the DMV," says Marian Matthews of the League of Women Voters of Dane County. "I feel strongly about social justice and I think voting rights are critical to achieving it," (In These Times).

Julia Gilden of the All Voting Is Local campaign works with hundreds of people in Dane County in the fight for the vote, (Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal).

Reports the Wisconsin State Journal:

In Madison, Milwaukee and other Wisconsin cities, the campaign has enlisted volunteers to go door-to-door, mostly in low-income neighborhoods with a larger share of voters who could struggle to comply with the ID requirement. Voter turnout data also are used to target neighborhoods that saw significant turnout drops in the 2016 election.

The volunteers ask voters if they have the ID they need to vote, and if not, they steer them to someone who can help them get one. 

Bottomline: Voters are turning out in record numbers and Republicans are desperate.

Reports Chris Aadland in the Wisconsin State Journal this week:

The number of people voting early in Madison and Milwaukee has already set records for a midterm election, and officials in both cities expect the surge in early voting to continue.

With Election Day one week away, 22,387 in-person early ballots have been cast in Madison — well over double the number who voted early in the last midterm election in 2014 — as of Monday afternoon.

'We’ve already set a record,' Mayor Paul Soglin said Tuesday. 'Based on what’s happened to date, based in terms of early voting, we will undoubtedly set a new record' for overall turnout.

Near-presidential level turnout likely spells doom for Republicans across Wisconsin. Wisconsin voters whom the Republican Party have obstructed likely won't be casting ballots for Republicans this time around.

And not just in Wisconsin.

Voters casting ballots is a phenomenon Republicans have worked against for many years across America.

Early voting is a weapon against this anti-democratic effort.

Reports Audrey Carlsen in the New York Times this morning:

More Americans are taking advantage of absentee and early voting this year, with 28 million ballots already cast nationwide and four days of the campaign still to go. In 18 states and Washington, D.C., advance vote counts have already surpassed those of the last midterm election.

In Wisconsin, 420,015 ballots have been cast as of Nov 1, reports Carlsen.

A new legal, legislative and administrative offensive against voters by Republicans will be waged before 2020.

Gov Scott Walker's Secret Weapon Has Always Been Appeals to Racist, Anti-Semitic, Homophobic Human Garbage

Scott Walker in his essence is a simple bigot, never a
disqualification in Republican politics. From the
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, (Stein).

Madison, Wisconsin — Among major candidates for governor, from whom would you expect to find top staff circulating explicitly homophobic, racist, antisemitic emails?

Few in Wisconsin have to think — it's Scott Walker, (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, One Wisconsin Now, DemoCurmudgeon).

Scott Walker's staff doesn't kill Jews, gays and blacks.

What they do is make jokes about Jews, gays and blacks and circulate the jokes among themselves.

Remember who Scott Walker is.

Walker is a bigoted, ignorant liar, and to this point has never paid a price because white evangelicals and other assorted bigots here love hate.

MSNBC's Chris Hayes hit on the revelation of Walker's emails four years ago.

Hayes points out "the shear jaw dropping offensiveness" of a few of those emails.

Hayes: "What kind of work environment exactly would it be all okay to get this in your inbox and then forward it to an unspecified amount of coworkers and subordinates...but think about the kind of work environment in which a chief of staff sends this kind of email to his subordinates. An email that is explicitly homophobic, racist, antisemitic and offensive in every way possible? ... These are the thoughts people who are in charge of things like, oh I don't know, running the states welfare system." 

This is who Scott Walker and new Republican Party are.

If anyone is wondering if Republican officeholders criticized Scott Walker's former chief of staff and other Walker aides for this crap, forget it.

No GOP officeholder in Wisconsin ever publicly criticizes Scot Walker and his staff.

Wisconsin Clean Water Activist Endorses Dem Nominee, Tony Evers, for Governor

Madison, Wisconsin — Heavy field, analytical and organizing efforts in central Wisconsin continue as residents and communities work to protect surface and groundwater from pollution.

An important activist, Don Ystad of Rome, just endorsed Tony Evers (D) for governor.

This morning's endorsement sent by email is reproduced below.

By Don Ystad

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Our lakes are in trouble with ever increasing blue-green algae incidents, e coli readings above the safe swimming level, and Adams County tourism down 5% this past year while the rest of the state increased 3.2%. We need to level the playing field in Madison. While we've tried to remain non-political in the past, our water quality continues to degrade. Please consider the following before you vote in November.

Fellow Concerned Citizens,

I was visiting a friend at the Wauwatosa campaign office and Tony Evers stopped in to say hello to the staff. When he asked if anyone had questions, I asked what he would do to fix the water quality issues in the central sands area where I live. He began by talking about the many water issues all over Wisconsin, including Kewaunee and frac sand mining in the western part of the state. I was encouraged that he had a really good grasp of the water quality issues all around Wisconsin. He indicated that he would make the following changes to protect our water:

• First, he would appoint an independent head to the DNR to level the playing field
• next, he would bring back the DNR scientists to re-establish a fact based approach to resource management
• also, he would return the Natural Resources Board as an independent, non-political advisory group, with the power to affect our direction regarding our resources.
• And, Tony said he would work to establish a balance between agriculture and recreational needs, understanding that tourism and agriculture can co-exist

Polluted Wisconsin lake in central Wisconsin

I was impressed with his grasp of environmental issues, and the fact that he would look for a balance between our recreational lakes and our agricultural needs.

As I was explaining this to co-members of our Concerned Citizens core team, PACRS (Petenwell and Castle Rock Stewards) founder Rick Georgeson mentioned he worked in the school system with Tony Evers in Tomah and knows him very well. 

Rick says, “Tony is a real common-sense person, he works very well with other people, has solid principles, and is a great listener and team builder. He was well respected by the community.”  And, he added, “Tony will make a fine Governor.” This means a lot coming from the leader and founder of the PACRS organization.

I plan to vote for Tony and hope you will as well. Our lakes are showing the “business first” challenges of the current administration and we need to level the playing field. For those who might be offended by this recommendation of a change in our state government, I would ask you to think about the condition of our lakes and streams in our area, and consider the efforts of your neighbors, TriLakes and our Rome Town Board, who are trying to clean up our 14-Mile Creek Watershed. We can't do it without the support of our state government. It's time for a change.
#

Healthcare Is Winning Issue for Democratic Candidates

Wisconisn Democrats are giving pass to Tea Party whacks
who oppose healthcare, but have made an
election-year transformation.

Madison, Wisconsin — Ten days out from Election Day and Republicans have discovered families like healthcare.

In six years, Wisconsin Republicans have moved from vowing to arrest any federal official who helps implement Obamacare health protections such as preexisting condition coverage to less-than-credible declarations that the Republican Party is now the guardian of healthcare for all.

Ali Valshi has a compelling piece on the election-year transformation on Republicans and healthcare.

WATCH: @AliVelshi breaks down how President Trump misleads about the GOP and healthcare. https://t.co/MvP1OFnSU2

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 25, 2018

Of-course, the white supremacist Trump knows healthcare is a losing proposition so better to point the finger at pressing issues, the real enemy — brown people walking up through Mexico who are coming to kill us.

If Democrats and progressives can make the midterm elections about healthcare, the blue wave builds and overwhelms.

Every pol knows this, but judging from messaging, the knowledge seems not operative, and Democrats, especially Wisconsin Democrats, are playing not to lose.

Gov. Scott Walker Will Lose by Four Points, Says Harry Enten

Scott Walker equals underdog, desperate, sinking ship ...

Madison, Wisconsin — Gov. Scott Walker (R) will lose his reelection bid by four percentage points to Tony Evers, Democratic Party nominee, says polling expert Harry Enten, (CNN).

Enten's model tracks with conventional wisdom that paints a hostile terrain for Walker, (Bauer, AP), (Nichols, The Nation).

Moreover, Enten's model does not account for increased turnout from populous Wisconsin municipalities that tend to vote Democratic-progressive.

Wisconsin cities have contacted Madison election officials (second largest city) asking about facilitating voter turnout.

Bureaucratic training of metro election officials has accelerated following a 2016 federal court decision that freed municipal election officials to pursue voter-friendly policies.

Green Bay, third largest city, is expected to have near-presidential turnout, a local election official says.

Scott Walker and Republicans are desperate, and a new round of negative, dark-money ads are flooding the state.

But Walker and Republicans have maxed-out the low-information, racist, stupid vote, and a visit by Donald Trump likely cannot save Scott Walker.

All Walker and Republicans can do is scream black and brown people are going to kill you, as early-vote numbers come in signaling the end of Wisconsin's worst era in its statehood.

2,008 Madisonians voted at one of our in-person absentee voting locations today making it our busiest day yet this election! To date, 11,616 voters have voted in-person absente, and 16,148 total absentee ballots have been cast in the City of Madison. pic.twitter.com/7fSZhrxhkm

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) October 24, 2018

So you've heard Donald Trump is appearing in Wisconsin with
Scott Walker. You know they're racist. You know they're
sexist. And you know they have a terrible record on
just about every issue imaginable.

You also know the visit is going to be splashed across
newspapers and television screens across the
state ad nauseam, and there's probably not much you can
do about that.

But there is something you can do right now to help stop
Donald Trump and Scott Walker's racist, sexist agenda:
VOTE. EARLY.

Stop what you're doing. Go to the polls. And vote. Right now.

Need help? Start here. Via One Wisconsin Now

Wisconsin Midterms — Dems' Get out the Vote v. GOP's Stop the Vote

Madison, Wisconsin — A middle-aged black woman tried to early-vote at the Meadowood Library, and left the polling place dejected in August.

She wasn't registered and had no proof of residence, so she could not register or vote.

But she had no apparent intention of going home and returning with proof of residency.

"It's alright," she said. "Forget it."

The voter explained to an attentive poll worker she didn't like Wisconsin's photo voter ID law, a distaste that shaped her feelings towards the entire voting process, including a simple voter-registration step.

This woman is a Republican success story — a nonvoting resident who is dismayed and frustrated, too discouraged to vote.

In Wisconsin, as in the nation, a key Republican objective is blocking and frustrating as many voters as possible.

Democrats and progressive are voting rights advocates, passionately.

In the last 10 years in their voter-obstruction effort, Wisconsin Republicans falsely claimed:

• Legal mandate for exact-match of state databases as a condition of voting, (2008)
• Imperative for all municipalities running only one early-voting site
• Requirement that ''dorm lists' used as proof of residence include citizenship information
• 28-day residency requirement leads to fraud
• Prohibition on distributing absentee ballots by fax or email
• Bar on using expired but otherwise qualifying student IDs
• Need for narrow range of photo voter ID as condition of voting
•  Determination to illegally block state elections

Many voter-obstruction laws were swept away in federal court in 2016, (Mal Contends).

Wisconsin progressives and citizens' groups pushing the Democratic Party may sweep away Republicans in the Wisconsin midterms, as early voting accelerates this week.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) seems likely to be reelected.

Wisconsin voters may be able to breech the gerrymandered state legislative districts.

An unknown question is the governor's race between Scott Walker (R) and Tony Evers (D).

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Barack Obama are coming to Milwaukee in the next week to get out the black and young vote in segregated southeastern Wisconsin.

Tony Evers is a weak candidate. Attempts to paint over this milquetoast, equivocating bureaucrat with no history of work for social justice are not compelling.

In Bloomberg this morning, veteran political operative and Democratic Party analyst, Bill Dixon of Madison, spins a comical riff trying to prop up Evers: "Tony is the smooth, calming presence, talking about education, that gives us a much better chance than previous elections against Walker."

Right. All over Wisconsin are working families and communities looking for politicians to calm them.

What Wisconsin families want from elected officials is simply people who are working for them, not for donors to Scott Walker.

Not for Foxconn.

Not for special interests.

The national political winds and voting rights work may lift a less-than-gifted Tony Evers over the most corrupt and destructive politician Wisconsin has ever experienced.

Almost 2 out of 3 Americans did not vote in 2014. As a result, extreme-right wing Republicans swept the midterms.

This year is going to be different. If young people vote in 2018, you will transform America.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 22, 2018

Foxconn in Wisconsin Is Unpopular, Destructive and Supported by Gov Scott Walker and Dem Nominee for Gov, Tony Evers

Scott Walker's pro-Foxconn campaign ads are everywhere
in Wisconsin, and face little opposition.

Update: Tony Evers sticks to his make sure [Foxconn is] the best corporate citizen as possible, ... we're going to hold their feet to fire nonsequitur, (Madison.com).
 ---
Madison, Wisconsin — Gov. Scott Walker (R) knows how to put on a show.

That Scott Walker's show is a con is no deterrent for Wisconsin's most accomplished liar since Joe McCarthy.

A political charlatan, Walker apparently thinks he can use the Foxconn boondoggle as a major stepping stone for reelection to turn Wisconsin into a political sewer.

Walker may be correct in this assessment.

The Democratic Party nominee, Tony Evers, decided not to run against Foxconn as Evers offers blather to the Wisconsin people of whom is demanded $Billions to be directed to the Taiwanese bad guy of corporate bad guys.

Even as hard-hitting anti-Foxconn ads blast State Sen. Howard Markleim (R-Spring Green, Wisconsin), in a critical legislative race in southwestern Wisconsin, Tony Evers' Foxconn-related comments range from mush to silence.

For national political observers asking about Wisconsin, the state has not turned red the last eight years.

It's just that the Democratic Party that has turned incompetent, enamored of groupthink as a consultant-based Party, out-of-touch with the people.

The Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and Scott Walker-hailed Foxconn is merely exhibit one for the conclusion Democrats are often kind-of-stupid here.

The prevailing political winds and innovative rights-based, municipal policy that help Democratic-leaning voters aside, Tony Evers may be responsible for blowing a political lay-up in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin gubernatorial race is a toss-up; it should not be.

“This is exactly what government shouldn’t be doing. We shouldn’t be picking winners and losers. This is anti-capitalistic, it’s anti-free market and it’s a boondoggle of spectacular proportions. Our money is going to a foreign corporation.”https://t.co/gbs9Ljt2i3

— FoxConnCon (@foxconncon) October 18, 2018

Below is an ad from the Greater Wisconsin Committee against the odious State Sen. Howard Markleim (R-Spring Green, Wisconsin).

Such ads should be running statewide, against Scott Walker and every Republican on the ballot.

Democratic Party and progressive pols and writers who think Tony Evers should be offering pabulum on Foxconn are simply, 100-percent, absolutely and incontrovertibly wrong.

Bernie Sanders Is Coming to Wisconsin to Save Win Against Scott Walker

Bernie Sanders is coming to Milwaukee on Oct 22 to
rally for voting rights in a community targeted by
Republicans with imprisonment, killing and poverty.

Madison, Wisconsin — After eight years of voter obstruction imposed by Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Republicans, voter turnout in downtown Milwaukee remains a X-factor, likely determining Wisconsin's next governor.

Contributing factors to recent declining Milwaukee turnout include a malfunctioning voting rights community.

The big question is, as early voting picks up, whether progressives can lift and carry the milquetoast Tony Evers (D) to victory.

Bernie Sanders is in town soon to help.

Put an event in your calendar! 🗓️ October 22@BernieSanders is coming to WI for a #EarlyVoting rally with @tammybaldwin @Tony4WI @TheOtherMandela @Gwen4Congress & @IronStache!

RSVP: https://t.co/LYzXNoanK8

— Democratic Party WI (@WisDems) October 10, 2018

Even Tony Evers' campaign concedes voter turnout is critical:

It all comes down to turnout.

With less than one month until Election Day, now is the time to take action! The best way to counter Scott Walker’s attacks, mobilize voters, and take our state back this November is to get involved ➡️ https://t.co/P3HKPJcaEg https://t.co/7poGGObBLS

— Tony Evers (@Tony4WI) October 10, 2018

Clean Water Group Endorses David Gorski in Central Wisconsin Assembly Race

Wisconsin State Rep. Scott Krug (R) is a factory farm champ
who runs political interference for the Wysocki corp. proposing
a massive factory farm in central Wisconsin. The clean
water citizen group, Saratoga Concerned, dumped on Krug
and endorsed David Gorski (D), a water warrior.

Saratoga Concerned Endorses David Gorski (D) over Rep. Scott Krug (R)

Candidate Synopsis
Saratoga Concerned
Tue 10/9/2018, 7:55 AM
                   
Saratoga Concerned

72nd Assembly District Race
Candidate Synopsis

Friends and neighbors,

The Saratoga Concerned group does not associate itself directly with any political party.  Our leadership team consists of individuals on various sides of the political spectrum and together we work every day to create a balance within our beliefs and messaging to our supporters.  We believe it is everyone's responsibility to VOTE and now more than ever we also believe it is extremely important to know where your candidate actually stands on the ISSUES and not depend on what you believe their political party once represented.

Over the past 2 months, our Saratoga Concerned team has connected with candidates for the 72nd Assembly District with one sole purpose, to dig deep with questions and make them prove their commitment to protecting and preserving Wisconsin waters.  We understand our supporters have multiple issues that are important to them personally and you need to weigh all the factors before voting. For Saratoga Concerned our one and only focus is the issue of Water.

Our Saratoga Concerned team has poured hours into the candidate questionnaire project, checked and rechecked candidate responses fact-checking information provided and made every attempt to provide a non-biased resource to our supporters regarding where each candidate stands in protecting Wisconsin Waters. Below, you will find our synopsis of each candidate, sharing both positive and negative aspects of their responses.

SCOTT KRUG
Scott Krug has been the 72nd Assembly District representative since 2010.   In his early years of holding this position, Representative Krug successfully acquired funds to study and address phosphorus levels within Petenwell Flowage to address the blue-green algae issue.  As Wisconsin citizens watched numerous bad water bills come through our state legislature Representative Krug on occasion made attempts to bring forth amendments to make these bills more palatable to his constituents.   In 2013 Representative Krug formed the Citizens’ Water Advisory group which consisted of local citizens, farming interests, and environmentalist to work together to design an acceptable legislative bill addressing high capacity well pumping in the Central Sands.  Although the intent of this group was positive and proactive the overall progress was not. According to participants, meetings were often disorganized lacking a specific agenda, minutes of the meetings were not published, and in the end citizens did not have input on, nor did they see, a copy of the bill prior to it being brought forth by Representative Krug, resulting in lack of support for the bill by actual members of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee and their associated groups.  In 2017 Representative Krug successfully proposed an amendment and acquired necessary funds, for a hydrological analysis of the Central Sands to study the overpumping currently being allowed.  Although the amendment was accepted into the bill, the actual area currently being studied by the WDNR is much smaller than originally promoted to local constituents.  The High Capacity Well bill itself is horrendous and was highly contested by conservation, environmental, and citizens groups as a whole.  The amendment proposed and passed by Representative Krug, although limited in scope, was a small positive step for the Central Sands and is currently underway.

Representative Krug has made documented efforts to support water initiatives over his time as our local Representative, however, he has also voted AGAINST water protections and in favor of loosening protections.  Just this last legislative session alone found Representative Krug voting to support the following bad water bills that are destructive to our Wisconsin waterways:

    AB105 High Capacity Well Bill - limits the ability of the DNR to address groundwater overpumping and grants ‘forever’ permits for high capacity wells

    Special Session (SS) SSAB1 Exempting Foxconn from State Clean Water Protections - Creating a special district/zone, the bill eliminates state environmental protections for isolated wetlands, navigable streams, and lake beds within this zone. 

    AB547 Removing State Protections for Identified Wetlands - Removal of protections of over one million acres of wetlands in Wisconsin, allowing them to be filled in for development, leading to potential increased flooding in our communities and decreased water quality

    AB499 Industrial Acid Mining Bill -  Eliminates Wisconsin’s “Prove It First” mining law that protects public health and natural resources by requiring mining companies to show a demonstrated track record on protecting water quality before being permitted.

Closer to home, Representative Krug has repeatedly shared that he supports a compromise between the township of Saratoga and the Wysocki organization regarding the proposed CAFO to our community, “With the project in Saratoga, I made my position clear in 2014 and have worked to make sure neither side loses or wins 100% of what they want”.  Representative Krug does not support a limited moratorium on CAFO’s and believes new technologies will solve the pollution problems associated with them.

In conclusion, of the 13 questions posed to Representative Krug he directly answered 7 and received a “non-answer” status on 5 questions for talking around the given subject matter. 

DAVID GORSKI
Candidate Dave Gorski is running as a challenger to Representative Krug for the second time.  As a legislative challenger, Candidate Gorski does not have a voting record as an elected official for us to share among our supporters. Therefore our synopsis consists solely on responses received from Candidate Gorski and on documented actions we could verify through public records and accounts.

Candidate Gorski solidly advocated for the protection of our water and the environment which is voiced clearly and openly in his response to numerous questions posed. He is a strong outspoken advocate of the Public Trust Doctrine believing in the State Constitution that the waters belong to all of us. Candidate Gorski states he would like to work with fellow legislators on the problem of high capacity well overpumping of groundwater and believes there is a need for legislation that balances the needs of the citizens and agricultural interest for water usage.  Most importantly Candidate Gorski believes that environmental polluters should pay for the damage done to our environment and compensate the citizens impacted. He is also an advocate of the Great Lakes compact and voices that Wisconsin should honor the Great Lakes Compact using the water withdrawal for residential use and not for business interests as the compact was designed.

Candidate Gorski states many of these issues can be addressed/accomplished by returning local control back to communities and creating the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as an elected position by the Natural Resource Board and removing it as an appointed position by the sitting Governor.

Saratoga Concerned was able to verify that Candidate Gorski works with numerous local and statewide environmental groups.  In 2016 he helped organize The New Peoples Environmental Summit in our local area, additionally, in 2016 he attended the Factory Farm Summit to learn about the impact of CAFO to communities across the country.  In 2017 Candidate Gorski attended the Citizens’ Water Lobby Day at the state capitol as well as attending numerous other water protection events such as Conservation Lobby Day and actively testified and spoke with legislators in Madison regarding water issues and proposed legislation. 

Closer to home Candidate Gorski has spoken out openly against the Wysocki Golden Sands CAFO proposal and supports a statewide CAFO Moratorium on new and expanding CAFOs until appropriate water and environmental protections are in place for Wisconsin citizens.  He actively attends and participates in our local meetings and has a clear understanding of what his potential constituents are vocalizing regarding water and environmental concerns.

In conclusion, of the 13 questions posed to Candidate Gorski he directly answered 11 and received a “non-answer” status on 2 questions for not answering the specific question completely.

FINAL THOUGHTS
It is imperative that we all exercise our right to vote.  It is also important that we step out of our former mindset of being either a Republican or Democrat voter and instead vote the issues.  Our area lakes and streams are in a state of decline and our control over our own environment is being taken away. That makes it all the more important to know what your candidate stands for on individual issues and vote based upon the issue.  Please remember you can access all our previous newsletters at the link provided www.saratogaconcerned.com/newsletter-subscribe.

After thoughtful conversation and reviewing answers provided by both candidates, Saratoga Concerned believes Candidate David Gorski will be the stronger water protector and support his candidacy for the 72nd Assembly District.

Foxconn Takings Take Toll on Wisconsin Families

Foxconn razes Wisconsin as pols and communities
go dark amid race for gov of corporate Wisconsin.

Foxconn and Scott Walker Raze the American Dream, as Tony Evers Remains Silent

Madison, Wisconsin — "You are taking people's homes from them. You are snatching their heart out," a homeowner said, objecting to Foxconn stealing their home, land, and family refuge for the benefit of the Taiwanese super-predator (Lemoine, Fox6-Now-Milwaukee).

In Gov. Scott Walker's (R) Wisconsin, your home and safe water no longer come first because you are not a Republican-approved special interest. It's the way it is now.

Not that Democratic Party nominee for governor, Tony Evers, is any better.

Tony Evers' silence—as families' homes and sense of security are ravaged—is deafening. This is why I call the man, Tony Mush.

Watching Wisconsin Die

My first major series in journalism covered the 1989-1990 project by the Houston-based Enron Co. that would have ravaged homeowners and small farm-owners by running a large natural-gas pipeline through their land, without consultation or approval.

The reaction against Enron by the local and state political world here was swift, almost brutal.

The story was a crash course on Dane County.

I quickly learned what manner of stuff is to be found in people named Wild, Sayles, Solie, Chvala, Wineke, Bauer, Garvey, Klassy, Feingold, Kohl, Anderson, Tesch, and far too many 100s to list. The significance of community in tiny Belleville and Paoli, Wisconsin, became apparent.

All manner of political persuasions, wildly divergent in world views, and loads of legal and political talent, delivered a full-spectrum message to Enron: Don't f$%&^ with our homes and our land.

The people won. The massive pipeline route was scrapped and moved along a safe(r) rail corridor.

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That was then.

Today, homes and dreams are not safe and secure. A united front against rampaging corporate power is for days gone by.

What counts is corporate power, and both major political parties are not worth a damn when it comes to protecting homes and small businesses.

What is worth a damn is the reporting of Ricardo Torres and the staff at the Racine Journal-Times, as the daily beefs up coverage of those assaulted by Foxconn.

Torres covers the pumpkin farmers, the homeowners and those with dreams—little people in Racine County—standing alone against corporate power and supine politicians.

Who stands with these people today? Communities, politicians?

I have no idea and neither do they.

Wisconsin Gov Candidate, Tony Evers, Hit in The American Prospect on Foxconn

Scott Walker pro-Foxconn campaign ads are everywhere
in Wisconsin.

Update: More mush from Tony Evers on Foxconn: "It’s a lousy deal, and we’re going to have to hold Foxconn’s feet to the fire going forward."

Evers did not say he would undo or change the agreement with Foxconn if elected governor.

"We can, and we should, compel them to be good corporate citizens," Evers said, (Torres, Racine Journal-Times)

Madison, Wisconsin — Tony Evers, the Democratic Party nominee for governor, favors the most massive state give-away to a foreign corporation in United States history — Foxconn.

As policy, the Foxconn give-away of $billions in public monies is lunacy, jammed through the gerrymandered Republican legislature in August-Sept 2017 supported by lies.

Yet, in the Wisconsin political culture, the Democratic Party's Tony Evers' complicity in the Foxconn debacle is a truth that dare not be spoken outside independent progressive citizen-action movements.

A piece just out the The American Prospect by Lawrence Tabak offers a run-down on Foxconn in Wisconsin, including the fact the Tony Evers campaign refuses to support litigation against the Foxconn-Wisconsin contract.

Evers' deceitful campaign posture reads: "When I’m governor, we’ll hold Foxconn’s feet to the fire and make sure that Wisconsin is getting the best return on investment possible."

This is what passes for policy commitment on Foxconn from Tony Evers.

The American Prospect piece is implicitly critical of this mush. Writes Tabak:

The soft-spoken Evers may believe he can convince Wisconsin voters that Walker has misspent billions of taxpayer dollars to bring Foxconn to the state. But as of yet, he has not articulated exactly how he would go about modifying the signed contracts and the promised subsidies, nor is it clear that an onslaught of Walker ads touting the thousands of wonderful Foxconn jobs and concomitant statewide economic bounty will fail to sway. After all, which is easier to parse: 13,000 'family-supporting jobs' or 'just thinking' about what a few billion dollars could do if spent on education. (emphasis added)

Foxconn remains widely unpopular, especially in the northern two-thirds of the state where Tony Evers must outperform losing Democratic Party showings in 2010, 2014, and 2016.

Another truth about Tony Evers is that he is mediocre school bureaucrat from east-central (white) Wisconsin with a pedestrian understanding of public policy, ill-equipped to meaningfully oppose the Republican Party's wrecking ball Wisconsin has suffered the last seven years.

The same political groupthink and Democratic Party consultants who bequeathed Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Donald Trump onto Wisconsin is capable of thwarting what should be an easy win for an opponent of Walker in 2018 Wisconsin.

As has been written in these pages, those concerned about democracy in Wisconsin can take solace in the heavy political winds against Walker and Republicans this campaign cycle.

Rural women are especially appalled by Republicans, inform anecdotes from two central and northern Wisconsin political field operations from Democratic Party nominees for the legislature.

Can citizen action lift a milquetoast Tony Evers over Scott Walker?

Yes, it can; but a call to Tony Evers' campaign and a kick in his ass are called for as Foxconn's unpopularity mounts.

See Rick Romell's latest piece in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Thought Republicans were against the government forcefully taking someone’s property. Not when @ScottWalker wants to look good for the next election.https://t.co/5dEe9RDGhN

— Indivisible WI-06 (@indivisiblewi06) September 22, 2018

Water Warrior in Central Wisconsin Hails Women Voters in Assembly Campaign

Wisconsin water warriors seek office.
Pictured from left are Sarah Godlewski,
candidate for state Treasury,
Dave Gorski, candidate for the 72nd assem dist,
and Erin Stacy, candidate for the 42nd assem dist.
shown after participating in the Water Walk.

David Gorski, Democratic Party nominee for the 72nd state assembly dist, makes protecting water a central theme of his campaign.

Gorski faces State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa, Wisconsin) in a repeat of the 2016 general election.

The 72nd Wisconsin assembly district is gerrymandered to protect the Republican incumbent.

Krug is a champion of factory farms and polluters who made local infamy when Krug told a longtime Wood County resident to "quit your bitching" after she protested the region being ambushed by the proposed Wysocki corporation's factory farm in central Wisconsin in July 2012.

Krug and Republicans have been conning the region for some time now. The gig appears to be up.

"I can't tell you the number of woman voters who say they will never vote Republican again," said Gorski, reached by phone this weekend.
 
From Dave Gorski, attending the Water Walk this weekend:

Absentee Voting Starts in a Week in Gov Campaign Clunking Forward

Scott Walker campaign ads are everywhere in Wisconsin.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Absentee voting begins in less than a week, but a lack of urgency marks the gubernatorial election here between Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Tony Evers.

Still, perusing the Sunday papers, the political websites, and candidate TV spots, there is a one clear, issue-focused campaign for Wisconsin governor — Gov. Scott Walker (R). It's the truth.

Pro-Foxconn ads (Google ad at right) by Walker seem ubiquitous, while Tony Evers refuses a position on Foxconn.

A response TV spot featuring Walker's running mate, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R), delivers a powerful and compelling message against healthcare corporations' not covering pre-existing conditions.

That Walker and Republicans are disingenuous and hostile to healthcare is not a message that appears to penetrate the casual Wisconsin voter.

Scott Walker is campaigning on issues Democrats used to
own. Above is a Google ad featuring Scott Walker
reaching out to college students. Walker is also
airing a similar TV spot.

No anti-Scott Walker voter who views the Rebecca Kleefisch ad does so without becoming worried, especially after looking up the clunky Tony Evers healthcare messages.

Healthcare is another issue that Democrats should own.

But Tony Evers is a disabled campaigner on issues and like Walker cannot offer political journalists informed, extemporaneous comment on healthcare.

"Election year promises won’t cover up Walker’s career of working to sabotage Wisconsinites’ health care and take us back to the days when insurance companies could deny you coverage if you got sick. He simply has no credibility on this issue, and Wisconsinites have no reason to believe he’d change with another term," said Tony Evers in a campaign statement, (Bauer, AP).

Evers cannot handle an issue like healthcare without his campaign formulating statements.

Scott Walker proclaims himself the champion of education, college students and working families.

Judges in purely marketing and communications messaging, Scott Walker is waxing Tony Evers.

Those concerned about democracy and the future of Wisconsin can take some solace in the heavy political winds against Walker and Republicans this campaign cycle.

Rural women are especially appalled by Republicans, inform anecdotes from two central and northern Wisconsin political field operations from Democratic Party nominees for the legislature.

Can citizen action lift a milquetoast Tony Evers over Scott Walker?

Yes, it can; but a call to Tony Evers' campaign and a kick in his ass are called for.

UW-Madison Teaching Assistants Blast Foxconn Proposal, Organizing for Opposition

'Foxconn has no place in public institution committed to excellence, fairness, and democracy'

Madison, Wisconsin — The University of Wisconsin-Madison teaching assistants' union (TAA) hit the controversial Foxconn research proposal that would outsource decision-making on research to a for-profit corporation.

The TAA statement on Foxconn's proposal comes as the Democratic party nominee for governor, Tony Evers, maintains his silence on whether he would oppose Foxconn and the massive public subsidy, if he were elected.

The TAA statement is communicated in a recent email and is reproduced below.
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TAA Statement on the Foxconn Institute

The Teaching Assistants Association of Madison is gravely concerned by UW-Madison’s recently-announced partnership with the Foxconn Technology Group to establish a new research institute. While we await transparency and further information from UW, we believe that, on its face, this partnership runs counter to UW-Madison’s legacy as a public land-grant university dedicated to excellence in research and public service. As workers, students, educators, researchers, and taxpaying citizens of Wisconsin, we demand transparency and accountability from UW-Madison and the State of Wisconsin concerning its partnerships with the Foxconn Technology Group.

Foxconn’s history of human rights abuses is well-documented. The $100 million that Foxconn plans to donate to UW-Madison was made on the backs of underpaid, exploited workers. As multiple news reports have shown, Foxconn workers are exposed to unsafe working conditions, wage exploitation, and poor living conditions. Since 2010, waves of worker suicides have exposed the despair that characterizes its factories. In addition to employing child workers and overworked student employees, Foxconn has also stifled collective bargaining and intimidated journalists attempting to document working conditions in its factories. Foxconn has no place in a public institution committed to excellence, fairness, and democracy.

Although Chancellor Blank thanked Foxconn for its “generosity to the university,” Foxconn’s “investment” in the State of Wisconsin is extractive of the University and to the State as a whole. The numbers speak for themselves. The Walker administration has already promised over $3 billion in subsidies to Foxconn, diverting much-needed resources from an already faltering UW budget. Since he took office, Scott Walker has cut hundreds of millions of dollars from UW’s budget. Moreover, in order for UW to match Foxconn’s “donation”, which is required by the partnership, existing or new funding will need to be diverted. We need public funding for our public university rather than donations from corporations, whose donations would make UW-Madison beholden to private interests.

Moreover, according to Chancellor Blank, Foxconn and UW-Madison will share the intellectual property rights produced by the research institute, potentially endangering academic freedom as the massive tech firm determines the direction and ends of research conducted at this university. This arrangement also directly threatens our university’s commitment to the Wisconsin Idea. The fruits of research at UW belong to the people of Wisconsin, not to a private corporation.

We demand transparency and accountability from UW and from the State of Wisconsin as a whole. In addition to releasing the legal documents which detail the full terms of agreement for the Foxconn Institute, both UW and the State must commit to holding public town halls so that taxpayers and citizens have a say in how our vital public resources are being used.
#

Foxconn in Wisconsin — Tony Evers Changes Position from 'No Comment' to Blather

Foxconn in Wisconsin is now a
bi-partisan boondoggle. Tony
Evers has joined Scott Walker
in the endgame: Foxconn stays,
Wisconsin loses.

Madison, Wisconsin — Tony Evers, the Democratic Party nominee for governor, favors the most massive state give-away to a foreign corporation in United States history — Foxconn.

Evers is quiet on the campaign trail on Foxconn, as many Democratic supporters who oppose Foxconn caution silence on Evers' support, lest anti-Foxconn supporters vote Green or Libertarian out of disgust with Evers.

Major elements of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin have abandoned open opposition to Foxconn, in effect siding with Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Republicans on this radical policy change, that even has towns in Illinois fearful of environmental damage.

The Foxconn public-funding initiative is spectacular, and would codify changes in how Wisconsin and numerous municipalities would operate for years.

Tony Evers continues his posture on Foxconn as Wisconsin has made a significant transformation on becoming a colonial agent of the Taiwanese corporation and other industrial special interests from 2011 - 2018. Evers rejects litigation in federal court against Foxconn as his campaign position remains: Wish Foxconn away, which is fantasyland, hence Foxconn stays.

Three days after the Primary election, Aug. 14,  a campaign piece appeared in BizTimes out of Milwaukee.

Arthur Thomas notes: "Evers’ campaign declined to comment on the election results in the context of Foxconn."

This is unusual for a major party candidate on a big campaign issue.

Evers has offered rhetoric on the obvious down side of funneling $billions to Foxconn, and exempting the corporation from Wisconsin environmental law, and changing (apparently illegally) how challenges can proceed in state court against Foxconn and only Foxconn.

But Evers has offered only vague drivel not befitting the gravity of Foxconn as public policy as Foxconn upped its PR offensive in August.

Days after Evers' inexplicable no comment in BizTimes, Thomas updated his piece:

After this story was published, Evers’ campaign provided a statement from the candidate, criticizing the size of the Foxconn support and incentives – $4.5 billion counting state and local packages and other infrastructure investments – and the estimated 25-year wait for the state to see a return on its investment.

'That’s a lousy investment,' Evers said. 'Foxconn has already backtracked on several of its promises and is not being held accountable by Walker. When I’m governor, we’ll hold Foxconn’s feet to the fire and make sure that Wisconsin is getting the best return on investment possible.'

So, Tony Evers will now hold Foxconn’s feet to the fire. What does this mean? Evers will make sure. What does this mean?

Evers didn't say and Thomas didn't report.

What it means is Foxconn stays, and Evers takes occasional shots at it, hoping noone notices what he is doing. It's call lip service.

The BizTimes statement exemplifies Evers' deceitful campaign posture: Emit negative messages on the unpopular Foxconn, and avoid any substantial comment on the enabling Foxconn legislation and the contract between Wisconsin and Foxconn.

Wisconsin has two scenarios in General Election voting beginning in three weeks.

1. Tony Evers changes his pro-Foxconn position and vows to oppose Foxconn in federal court.* Concomitant with this policy change, Evers makes specific pitches for votes from the Libertarian and Green parties, and grassroots clean water activists.
[*State court is out, unless part of a multiple-jurisdictional, multi-party litigation strategy in both federal and state court. Repeal of enabling legislation is out, unless improbably the gerrymandered firewall in the State Assembly is breached.]

Evers wins in a landslide.

2. Tony Evers maintains his current and deceitful pro-Foxconn posture and risks giving the election to Scott Walker as Wisconsinites abandon another weaselly corporatist Democrat, ala Hillary Clinton.