Wisconsin Republicans Coexist with Peninsula Paradise

Yoda has advice for white Wisconsinites voting Republican

Water and racist politics get around in the Wisconsin Peninsula

Updated - Nobody visiting Wisconsin likes cow shite in their beer and rightfully so.

But in their water, that's okay with a bare majority of folks who live here.

Consider the people living in Wisconsin's peninsula jutting out into Lake Michigan, offering a political culture approximating the Badger State as a whole.

Two overwhelmingly white, sparsely populated counties—Door and Kewaunee—comprise the beautiful peninsula with a combined voting population of some 28,000 people in the 2016 presidential election, (Wisconsin Elections Commission, County by County Report - President of the United States Recount).

And no matter how clear the value of fresh, safe water may appear with the massive Lake Michigan staring these folks in the face every day, there is roughly 50 percent of the voting population of the peninsula that will vote anti-water Republican and Scott Walker-and-Jesus-loves-polluters, (Wisconsin Elections Commission) as the state abandons water protection under Republicans' anti-water agenda.

Political strategists looking for an effective counter to the white, rural and small-town Republican lock look at water politics with hope. But right now at this moment, despite huge organizing successes for clean and safe water citizen groups, electorally, polluting the water past safety and decency plays okay.

A reader today can visit the Kewaunee County webpage and read about the stunning natural resources, a new Revamped Tourism website, alongside of new Well Water Testing Presentations by Dr. Mark Borchardt, and Dr. Maureen Muldoon on the danger of cow feces in your drinking and bath water from Republican-supported factory farms, how to test for fecal contamination in your water, and how water wells work in different geological regions. Kind of sciencey so Republicans are not too thrilled with the presentations.

To be Republican in Wisconisn is as well to cast your lot consonant with the constant racist appeals to white Wisconsin that goes back decades. [In 1983 for example, Wisconsin supplied a full three of the 90 House votes against the establishment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: racists Reps Tom Petri, (R-Fond du Lac), Toby Roth, (R-Green Bay), and James Sensenbrenner (R-Whitefish Bay) (Gov Track), (Mal Contends)].

Racist politics are no problem as in no deal breaker. Northeastern and east-central Wisconsin remain white, racist and proud, for example.

Donald Trump could call for a final solution to the black and brown problem, and roughly 14,000 of the 28,000-voting gentle peninsula folk would go along.

This with, broadly speaking, heightened consciousness of the value of water and of Latino workers in the polluting factory dairy operations. Yep, Latino folks have a 'role to play' in Wisconsin, but this role has nothing to do with their humanity.

Two residents of the Wisconsin peninsula offer an analysis of Republican politics and the nascent destruction of safe water in northeastern Wisconsin: Don Freix, small business owner in Door County in the Door County Daily News, and Nancy Utesch, small farmer in Kewaunee County in the Capital Times. Both pieces are worth reading repeatedly.

Writes Utesch:

The Department of Natural Resources' recent low-key roll-out of help for Kewaunee County residents dealing with contamination so great that they cannot drink nor should they bathe in their water highlights the DNR’s continued failures, lack of integrity, and continued lack of urgency in responding to Kewaunee’s health and water crisis.

Lack of urgency, as in come to Wisconsin' peninsula but don't drink the water but at least there are plenty of white people and pretty leaves in the Fall.

Wisconsin Clean Water Activists Stall Dangerous Proposed Development

Update: Door County Wisconsin resident cannot get Republican state legislators to offer defense of Public Trust Doctrine, (Freix, Door County Daily News).
 ---
Citizen action in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin has halted a controversial waterfront development project in northeastern Wisconsin, (Welter, Green Bay Press Gazette, Door County Pulse).

The Friends of the Sturgeon Bay Public Waterfront group prevailed in Door County Circuit Court in February and March 2017 after a judge affirmed Wisconsin's Public Trust Doctrine protects specific public water and shoreland against private interests' for-profit use in Door County Wisconsin.

The rulings effectively stopped the Sawyer Hotel project, and now the developer of the proposal, Republican Party donor Robert Papke, is suing the city of Sturgeon Bay following the recent legal and political set-backs, (Welter, Green Bay Press Gazette, Door County Pulse).

In a new development, citizen clean-water activists say they fear legislative Republicans may be contemplating an extraordinary, end-around maneuver that would ultimately clear the way for the proposed hotel operation, in a corruption of an official state administrative deliberation, and a legal negotiation now in progress.

Some say Republicans may attempt to use the legislature to financially aid the Republican donor, Papke, and in the process potentially degrade the Public Trust Doctrine in Wisconsin that exists precisely to protect public waters against threats to the heath and accessibility of water, (Green Bay Press Gazette).

"Papke is desperate and pissed," said a local clean water activist, who is a member of a generations-long family in Door County, and fears financial and political retaliation by private developers and Republicans.

A 2017 Republican appointee to the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, the politically connected Papke is suspected of pushing Republican legislators to slip into the 2017-2019 budget language that would facilitate the operation of this specific controversial waterfront development, while at the same time pursuing legal action against Sturgeon Bay.

Papke claims he is pulling the project, (Door County Pulse).

Two Wisconsin Schools Receive Letters Warning of Well Contamination

Wisconsin is heading towards a disaster as new warnings of water contamination have been sent to two schools in northeastern Wisconsin.

It would appear Wisconsin Republicans' project of polluting and plundering our fresh waters has undergone mission-creep. Republicans will not be happy until our children are poisoned as well.

Hyperbole? I wish.

Karen Ebert Yancey of USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reports from northeastern Wisconsin:

Two Kewaunee County schools received letters from the Kewaunee County Public Health Department warning that a neighboring property owner's well within a half-mile of their schools had tested positive for salmonella and rotavirus, Cynthia Kinnard, county public health nurse said Thursday.

Luxemburg-Casco Middle School and Holy Trinity School both in Casco received letters from the department suggesting that they test their wells for presence of the contaminants, which are typically associated with animal or human feces.

Wisconsin state assembly candidate, Lynn Utesch, passed the grim news onto the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in an email this morning.

Utesch who has been black-listed by the DNR has not heard back yet if the DNR's official position is in fact: Too bad, kids.

Wisconsin's Myron Buchholz, Primary Challenger for Congress, Hits TPP, Special Interests, Assualt on Local Control

Myron Buchholz and Family of Eau Claire, Wisconsin -
Retired Teacher Myron Buchholz Mounts
Primary Challenge Against U.S. Rep. Ron Kind,
Answers Bernie Sanders Call for a Political Revolution in
Wisconsin's Historically Independent Third Cong. District

'Congress has completely forgotten the lessons that caused passage of the EPA and our first clean air and water laws in the 70’s. We must revisit them before the corporations suck us dry'

Spoke with the Myron Buchholz (D-Eau Claire) campaign shortly after Buchholz announced his primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse).

Kind's district includes many rural areas from which residents draw their drinking water from aquifers, and Buchholz blasted politicians who deplete and attack protection of aquifers. 

Buchholz also hit Kind's championing of the American jobs-exporting Trans-Pacific Partnership, (TPP).

Buchholz' said special interests funding Kind inspired Buchholz to run as well.

Below is a follow-up interview with Myron Buchholz.

Question - In light of the Flint tragedy, the proliferation of industrialized agriculture against the small farmer, and the present danger to Wisconsin's fresh water bodies such as the Mississippi, Lake Superior and Lake Michigan (for starters), imperiled by state policy, what would you as a member of Congress work for to protect water, the lifeblood of humanity? What can we do federally?

Buchholz - First we must recognize the extent that the corporate model will go to extract whatever they can until the resource has been depleted. I believe the most obvious example of this is 'Mountain Top Removal.' Any government that allows a mining company to blow the top off of a mountain for one days’ worth of electricity will clearly allow any corporation to deplete any resource till it is gone. The Great Lakes Compact was a major step towards protecting our precious water resources, but as recent events make clear, just because there is an agreement does not mean that it will never be challenged. High capacity wells are another challenge to our water resources. It is one thing to connect a 150HP tractor to a well, and completely another to connect an 800HP tractor. There must be reasonable limits placed on any extraction regardless of the resource. For far too long industry has been able to use 'economic development' as a justification for doing whatever, and it is time to draw some lines. In congress, I will advocate for limits and public control of resources and enforce existing law. It appears Congress has completely forgotten the lessons that caused passage of the EPA and our first clean air and water laws in the 70’s. We must revisit them before the corporations suck us dry.     

Question - The Trans-Pacific Partnership, (TPP), for most folks is D.C. inside baseball. However, without a doubt the consequences of TPP are exporting jobs and industry, and eviscerating the rights of U.S. citizens by selling out our environmental, labor and consumer rights to transnational corporations with no allegiance to America.  Your opponent, Rep. Ron Kind, is all for the fast-tracked TPP which likely will not get a vote before the 2016 election. You are against the TPP, a special interest, massive investor rights agreement that shuts out people.  Does this description seem fair and accurate?

Buchholz - The TPP is NAFTA on steroids. Stopping it is the main reason I decided to take on Mr. Kind. We already have examples of how these agreements remove local control and are undemocratic in nature. The corporate model is based on greed, and we have learned that their greed knows no bounds. Therefore, giving corporations more control than they already have absolutely scares the hell out of me. Examples abound, but the removal of Country of Origin Labeling on meat should be enough to shock the electorate into stopping the power grab. It seems patently ridiculous that I can know where my shirt is made, but not where my hamburger comes from.      

Question - What has gone wrong with American politicians of both parties? Did selling out the people to special interests suddenly displace working for the people whom elected representatives are supposed to protect? What's your narrative on this on what has happened to America?

Buchholz - Why is it that a candidate for almost any office is judged by how much money can be raised to campaign? I have come to the conclusion that a candidate should be judged by how cheaply and efficiently one can run a campaign, not on how much money one can throw at the election industry that has grown large during my lifetime. I get solicitations on almost a daily basis from companies who want to sell services. How can we expect Congress to efficiently manage money when campaigns, especially incumbents, exist on an almost unlimited budget? The average work year for Congress in recent years is 115 days. That leaves way too much time to fundraise. We need have public financing of elections if there is going to be any hope of getting back to a citizen legislature.  I propose that no congressional candidate should be able to spend twice the congressional income on any election. For the US Congress, that is still $348,000!  The only occupation in America where one spends millions getting a job that pays $174,000 is the US Congress. Those millions come mainly from those with deep pockets who expect something in return. Of course, overturning 'Citizens United' would help a little, but we had a terrible problem before that misguided Supreme Court ruling. I also realize that our present congress will never vote to limit fundraising, so any change will have to come through the amendment process.           

Lynn Utesch, Clean Water Activist, to Launch Run for State Assembly

Nancy and Lynn Utesch tell supporters of Lynn's run for the
nomination of the Democratic Party for Wisconsin's
first assembly district. Photo was shot in the town of
Algoma by a supporter in the district on the shore of Lake
Michigan; out-side was near-white out conditions on March 1.

Environmentalist, veteran and small farmer, Lynn Utesch enters Wisconsin state assembly race as favorite in Wisconsin's 'Peninsula' district

Updated - Wisconsin clean water activists from around the state have looked to this day with anticipation: Kewaunee County farmer and environmentalist Lynn Utesch announcing his run for the first assembly district.

Utesch told about 30 supporters he will seek the First assembly district seat now held by first-term incumbent Republican Rep. Joel Kitchens, (a Scott Walker Republican who follows the Party line) early this afternoon.

The district is located in Wisconsin's northeastern peninsula and composes all of Door and most of Kewaunee county.

Wisconsin's first assembly
district is the 'thumb' in
northeastern Wisconsin

Lynn Utesch is a small farmer, (150 acres), and clean water activist, and recently was reported to be listed on Scott Walker's Dept. of Natural Resource's "blacklist" of Wisconsin citizens to which the Walker adminstration is hostile, (Stein and Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), (Door County Daily News).

Utesch lives in the town of Pierce in northern Kewaunee County which he has called a "cautionary tale" for Wisconsin waters.

"If I had to describe Lynn, I would say he is tough, I mean tough and highly principled," said a Door County resident supportive of Utesch's run, this morning. "If you had to create a candidate from parts to represent the First, you wouldn't have to, it would be Lynn."

Utesch announced his intention to run at the Goodner residential home in the town of Algoma, located on Lake Michigan.

Utesch told about 30 supporters he is running to work for clean water and sustainable farms in the Dairy State.

"We have seen a degradation in the conservation ethic that has taken place here in the state of Wisconsin. It is time that we start working to restore what was given to us by John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson," said Utesch, (Yancey, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin).

Over one-third of private wells in Kewaunee County were found to be unsafe to drink because they had been polluted by toxins in cow manure from runoff in what a judge termed a "massive regulatory failure" in a 2014 finding, (Seely, WisconsinWatch), circumvented by the the Dept. of Resources.

Utesch is a favorite to win

Lynn and Nancy Utesch pictured in the Socially Responsible
Agricultural Project (SRAP) (Facebook)

Utesch enter the race as a favorite in the race as Door County votes Democratic in presidential elections, and the driven Utesch is well-known in the sparsely populated Kewaunee County which votes marginally Republican in presidential elections.

The campaign between Utesch and Kitchens follows numerous reports of hospitalizations of people drinking water from polluted water wells, a condition that persists and Utesch has vowed to fight, (Mal Contends, Green Bay Press Gazette, Door County Pulse, Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network).

Scott Walker Deplete-and-Pollute-Sell Plot

The announcement of Utesch's candidacy comes as Scott Walker signs a bill, AB 603, that would decimate protection of 1,000s of bodies of shoreline water in Wisconsin, including the Lake Superior Water Trail (LSWT).

The peninsula is currently fighting developers supported by the incumbent that would destroy large tracts of the peninsula shoreline with unwanted (by residents) development.

A forum about the impact of CAFOs (Concentrated (Confined)
Animal Feeding Operations) on quality of life and health
in rural communities and water was held in Ashland, Wisconsin
Feb. 28, 2015. Later, participants stood on Lake Superior.
- From Left to Right, Dr. Keeve Nachman,
Gordon Stevenson, Dr. John Ikerd and Lynn and Nancy Utesch
Photo: Scott Dye

Utesch is known statewide for his work on sustainable, environmentally friendly agriculture, and his opposition to industrialized agriculture polluting surface waters and aquifers around the state.

Kewaunee County is home to some of the most dangerous and damaging pollution of Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Operations (CAFO and near-CAFO designation) that dump millions of tons of cow and pig manure into the environment, (Yancey, Green Bay Press Gazette).

Scott Walker is expected to sign 2015 Senate Bill 390, (link broken, new link) which gives any county with a county highway commissioner the power to issue liquid manure transfer piping through and along any county highway, a relatively unknown and little-discussed legislation that could devastate the region, a tourism and recreational mecca known as Wisconsin's Martha's Vineyard.

Lobbyists Fret Clinton Loss

Lobbyists and consultants paid good money for Hillary Clinton, and she was slaughtered last night; they are not happy.

Lee Fang at The Intercept has the story.

Sanders and Clinton, Save Our Water

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debate in Milwaukee on Feb. 11.

The candidates should be asked: Will you as president commit to massive, new funding for the EPA, aggressive federal enforcement of the Clean Water Act and declare a war: A war to protect our water?

Scott Walker and Idiots Have Another Great Idea for Wisconsin's Water

The predictable consequences of Scott Walker and the Republican scheme to sell off municipal water systems to an out-of-state, for-profit corporation is a health and environmental catastrophe.

Combine this imbecilic idea with the complete abdication of the state protecting our life-blood, fresh and safe water, and it should be clear Scott Walker is selling off the future of Wisconsin.

Charles P. Pierce has the details at Esquire.

Does anyone contend describing Scott Walker and his band of idiots as sociopaths, plotting to toxify Wisconsin citizens, is a reach?

When Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders debate in Milwaukee on Feb. 11, the candidates should be asked: As the "out of state money and the rising plutocracy chose Wisconsin as their lab rat for the new gilded age (Pierce)," will you as president commit to massive new funding for the EPA, aggressive enforcement of the Clean Water Act and declare a war: A war to protect our water?