Battleground Wisconsin

We continue our look at the deeper systemic issues afflicting Wisconsin government and politics. We discuss the financial reporting problems with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Why did the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) not inform the elected school board of the reporting issues? The ACLU WI says Wisconsin prisons and Department of Corrections (DOC) are breaking the law and are asking a court to order them to set up a program for women in prison to keep physical custody of their children. Wisconsin Supreme Court suspends fake elector co-conspirator Jim Troupis from the Judicial Commission. We close with a look at the stark difference between Trump and Biden on “law and order” and weaponizing the Justice Department. Does it even matter with voters yet to decide who to vote for or whether to vote at all? Finally, what are the prospects for Biden’s latest Gaza gambit?

We welcome David Liners, executive director of WISDOM, to discuss the stunning news that the Waupun prison warden and eight other staff were charged this week with crimes over multiple inmate deaths. Our discussion focuses on how this isn’t just a story about a bad warden and staff, this is a bad system that needs to be overhauled. We look at the role of Governor Evers and the Department of Corrections in addressing both the current charges at Waupun and the systemic crisis of failing to address mass incarceration in the state, despite a commitment from Governor Evers to cut the prison population in half when he initially ran for office. We discuss immediate solutions the Governor could do today to help and state legislative solutions you need to discuss with candidates running for office. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul finally filed charges this week against 3 Republican leaders who masterminded the 2020 election fake electors scheme. We close with a discussion of how Ascension’s medical records crisis, the ending of the HSHS/Prevea Recovery Task Force in Eau Claire and a new Hospital workforce shortage are more strong reasons why our state legislative hospital regulation bills are desperately needed.

Robert joins us from New Mexico where he was at a People’s Action leadership retreat and a well deserved vacation to hike and bike in New Mexico. Yet another Walker-appointee refuses to leave office when their term expires, this time a Green Bay area bank CEO on the UW Board of Regents. What does this say about the GOP attitude towards democracy and power, and how progressives must respond? A blockbuster federal report reveals Medicare Advantage’s $64 billion in supplemental benefits slush fund for the big insurance industry, without democratic accountability. What are the broader implications of the increasingly monopolistic system in search of profits and market share at all costs? Turning to Wisconsin, Robert and Matt layout why news the for-profit OakLeaf is planning to staff a new Eau Claire area hospital is further evidence the system is not healthy and needs state regulation that protects the health of communities against the abuses of the healthcare industry money grab. The announcement of a new public transit Rideshare program to try to fill unplanned transportation gaps in people accessing healthcare in between Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire further reveals the complete failure of our system and the need for our new hospital accountability legislation we announced with State Senator Jeff Smith earlier this month. Next week is Bike Week! Citizen Action Northwest Coop Organizer, Jeremy Gragert, joins us to discuss the Week’s growth, importance and connection to sustainable and reliable public mass transit and fighting climate change.

We review the launch of a new statewide campaign for Hospital and Health system accountability. Big hospital chains have used their lobbying and political clout to excuse themselves from public oversight, with disastrous results for patients and communities. In their ceaseless quest for revenue, thy have made health care unaffordable, and created an unstable system which is leading to closures and the elimination of critical services across the state. We will discuss new legislation being drafted by State Senator Jeff Smith to reassert public oversight over the hospital industry.

We take a dive into the deepening crisis in the Wisconsin hospital system. Neither political party is talking about the fundamental cause, the insatiable appetite by the hospital industry for windfall profits? Will state leaders step up to the challenge? So far, the indications are not positive, as the Governor and the Legislature are in gridlock, and the Department of Health Services refuses to launch an investigation into the sudden and unplanned closure of 2 major hospitals and 90 clinics in Western Wisconsin. We make the direct connection between sky high hospital prices in Wisconsin and the deregulation of hospitals. A new Rand report makes our case, as it finds health plans pay an astounding 318% more than Medicare for the same services in Wisconsin. We discuss the poor leadership, and the terrible example set for students by top officials in the UW system on the student Gaza War protests, and their failure to nurture free speech and deeper dialogue that challenges us to think deeper about the crisis. Instead, leaders put students safety at risk by unleashing the police on Madison encampment. In case you forgot about Donald, this week Trump took timeout from his hush money trial to shake down oil barons for $1 billion to win his election and kill Biden’s climate breakthroughs. Will Big Oil ante up and bankroll Trump's election and his legal defense?

We discuss President Biden’s visit to Wisconsin for the 4th time this year on Wednesday and his highlighting the difference of his successful economic policies which passed Congress including Infrastructure, CHIPS and Inflation Reduction Acts. Wisconsin is clearly ground zero for the presidential election and important U.S. Senate seat held by Tammy Baldwin. Wisconsin Democrats announced this week that they will commit $7 million to TV ads in 5 key state Senate races. We talk about why. Wisconsin still remains the only state where no criminal charges have been filed of the five states where fake electors signed papers fraudulently asserting they were the duly qualified electors. Why? We unpack the racist House Republican scheme this week to determine immigrants are not people in scam to not count them in the next census. We laud Law Forward for calling on the US Attorney to investigate GOP operatives for racist voter suppression texts to Souls to the Polls. We continue to call for Wisconsin lawmakers to get serious about the developing healthcare system crisis, as another for-profit company announces new cancer clinics Western Wisconsin to take advantage of some of the profitable parts of the collapsed Hospital Sister Health System in the region.

In Mt. Horeb this week guns, death, and middle school kids in lockdown. We reflect. We recap Tuesday’s 40th Anniversary event in Eau Claire. Thanks to everyone who attended one of the 5 celebrations of our proud history. As always, we are inspired by our members around Wisconsin and their commitment to building a just multiracial democracy. Please consider joining Citizen Action Today! You are needed. We update state legislative candidate announcements and remind you to reach out to people you think should run. We dissect the systemic implications of Marshfield Medical Center in Rice Lake, which paused its labor and delivery services this week. In other hospital monopoly news, Bellin and Gundersen Healthcare merge into the soulless profit seeking Emplify Health, further disconnecting it from its primary mission of meeting community healthcare needs. A Dane County court overturns the PSC decision that allowed people to lease their solar energy system. Will the big fossil fuel utilities be permitted to block the renewable energy revolution? We praise the organizing by voting rights advocates who continue their push for removing fraudulent fake elector Bob Spindell from Wisconsin’s elections commission. We take a deeper dive into the Gaza Protests that hit the UW system and campuses across the country. What do they reveal about the power of organizing and the reality of who runs the modern UW System and other major American universities?

We preview the final 40th Anniversary event next Tuesday, April 30th, 6pm, in Eau Claire. Robert reminds connects our 40th birthday to the abuses of the large hospital monopolies who recently ripped a huge hole in the health care safety net in their craven pursuit of profit. We talk about the new report showing among the fastest rising in the nation rents in Wisconsin and Milwaukee. We look at the racist plan to “wreak havoc” on voting rights group Souls to the Polls by the new executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party. Wisconsin’s sleepy environmental regulators abandon rules on nitrates pollution and a Republican state legislator on the powerful Joint Finance Committee anonymously blocks opioid treatment money. What does this say about the anti-democracy state Legislature’s failure to lead on these and other critical issues. We continue to encourage progressive candidates to see the generational opportunity the fairer maps provide the progressive movement. Trump is headed back to Wisconsin next week between trial dates as the Arizona AG indicts Trump’s fake electors and Trump campaign co-conspirators. That is now 4 states who have taken action, why is Wisconsin letting the election subverters get off scott free?. Robert and Matt have a bull session on the Chicago Bears’ unveiling of a $4.2 billion public shakedown on top of White Sox demand for $2 billion. What Wisconsin can teach Illinois about subsidizing billionaires?

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.

We reflect on the 13 year history of the Battleground Wisconsin Podcast and how it is an important piece of Citizen Action’s history that is at the heart of our 40th Anniversary events that start next week. We are celebrating on Monday, March 11th, 6pm in Milwaukee and Wednesday, March 13th, 5:30pm in LaCrosse. We thank State Representative Kristina Shelton for her years of public service in the state legislature. She is a unique progressive voice and we need more like her. We remind our listeners that the next 2 months will determine who is running for the many new seats in the Legislature, a generational opportunity for progressives to reshape governance in the state. It is up to all of us if we will seize it! Following Super Tuesday and with Thursday night’s State of the State, the general election has commenced this week. Biden vs. Trump II is upon us.

On a special edition of Battleground Wisconsin, Matt is away on a field trip to North Carolina, and our producer, Brian, has a speaking role for the first time in our 13 year history. Robert and Brian dig into the latest Trump-McConnell packed U.S. Supreme Court political intervention on the presidential immunity case. Will it replace America's founding axiom that nobody is above the law with a 21st Century version of the Divine Right of Kings? We also look deeply at the results of the Michigan Presidential Primary across the freshwater pond. Does it mean that Biden is losing the election on the thorns of the Gaza dilemma? Turning to state news, Governor Evers unveils a rapid response plan for the rash of hospital and clinic closures in the Chippewa Valley. Does it get to the heart of the problem with commodified and profit-centric healthcare, or is it putting bandages on an infected wound?

New polling from a very trusted source finds the top public economic concern is the high cost of health care and crippling medical bills. What does this mean for the 2024 elections? We also urge the Governor to call a special session on accepting federal Medicaid money and expanding access to healthcare for small businesses and more workers through the BadgerCare Public Option bill already supported by most Democrats. We review the controversy and the implications of the new state legislative maps signed by Governor Evers earlier this week. What should progressives be focusing on? In other legislative developments, the much discussed regressive tax cut package to disproportionately benefit higher income people is on the Governor’s desk. Will he veto? We renew our call for progressive tax package from the Governor and Democrats that forces greedy corporations and the rich to pay their fair share. California banker and billionaire Eric Hovde is set to challenge U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and a Wisconsin fake elector and GOP leader tells ‘60 Minutes’ he was afraid of Trump supporters. We discuss the implications of each.

We do a deep dive on the redistricting drama, where Robin Vos has adopted Governor Evers’ position and Democrats are divided. Is Governor Evers falling into a trap that could provide a pretext for intervention by Trump appointed Federal Judges, as Mark Pocan warns? Why do many believe Evers will sign maps most Democrats in the Legislature oppose? Why are some good government groups urging Evers to side with Vos? Robert and Matt break some inside news on what may be really going on in this consequential Capital intrigue. We pan the latest regressive Legislative Republican tax cut. Is a tax cut skewed to wealthier Wisconsinites worth further defunding public education, healthcare, child care, and other vital public priorities. In better news, we celebrate news that President Biden’s policy to help the IRS collect revenue has resulted in $851 billion in back taxes from the ultra-wealthy. Back home, we discuss next Tuesday’s Spring Primary Election and encourage our listeners to get educated and vote. We highlight especially pivotal elections for Green Bay City Council. Speaking of Titletown, Green Bay area Congressman Mike Gallagher is not running for re-election. What does this say about him and more importantly what does it tell us about the Party of Trump? Finally, we offer hardy congratulations to the workers at Planned Parenthood Wisconsin who successfully organized with the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals with an overwhelming victory.

We debrief the new MU Law Poll which has Biden and Trump locked in a statistical dead heat in the battle for Wisconsin's all important Presidential Electors. What does the poll's finding that there are very few undecided voters 10 months ahead of the election mean for the outcome? What are the implications of the historically strong public interest in 3rd Party candidates? Also, in the more immediate term, early voting in 2024 Spring Primary has started and Citizen Action just announced are pre-primary endorsements. Meanwhile the never ending drama continues on the national scene. As Trump implodes, the GOP opposes its own draconian board security bill, the House tries but fails to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, while Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher takes heat for voting against the bogus articles of impeachment. We discuss the Supreme Court oral arguments on 14th Amendment bar on Trump’s candidacy which has removed him from the ballot in CO and ME. Will the Trump Supreme Court renig on claimed commitment to strict construction of the Constitution to save Trump? Dr. Michael Rosen joins us to talk about the predatory for-profit Arizona College of Nursing's effort to locate in Milwaukee and an organized effort to stop it. Listeners are encouraged to attend a public hearing in Milwaukee next Monday at 1pm.

The national media is touting a Child Care Tax Credit that passed the House of Representatives Wednesday, but long time child poverty advocate Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan voted no. Why were the champions of President Biden’s Child Tax Credit against this bill? What does the bill have to do with more big tax breaks for self-dealing corporations? Next we dissect the details of the latest state Legislative GOP tax cut for the wealthy, where taxpayers with incomes under $100,000 (59.6% of all fillers) would receive only 26.4% of the cut and taxpayers with incomes of $100,000 or more (40.4% of filers) would receive 73.6% of the cut! Gov. Evers rightly vetoes the latest GOP Legislative maps, as Republicans press Janet Protasiewicz to recuse herself from the challenge to the state’s Congressional maps. Robert tells us more about a Calumet Co. Judge ruling that factory farms may not avoid DNR permits and the GOP pushing constitutional amendment to ban preferences for historically marginalized groups. We look at Wisconsin Republican efforts to support TX Governor Greg Abbott’s nullification of federal immigration law. Finally we discuss some real solutions to the sudden and dangerous closure of major hospitals and clinics in Chippewa Valley.