Political Heat

The Editorial Board admits Trump probably performed impeachable actions, yet wants to wait until next year's elections, ignoring the outcome of last year's at the same time.   I am beyond livid over the Wisconsin State Journal's decision to publish an editorial against the impeachment of the president ( "Trust voters to end the sad Trump era" ). Not only because the board is wrong, but because their argument is full of contradictions. The overall thesis of the piece reads, "[L]eaving Trump’s presidency up to voters is best for democracy, given public skepticism over the House’s rushed impeachment process." Then, THE VERY NEXT LINE reads, "The facts suggest President Trump did commit impeachable offenses." One would think that'd be enough for the State Journal's Editorial Board to embrace impeachment, as dozens of newspapers across the country have already done . Alas, that's not the case with Wisconsin's capital-city...

Wisconsin's racial disparities exist in part due to ignorance. The incident involving a student wearing blackface at a local high school sporting event  over the weekend showcases the need for students to be taught black history in more depth, not just in the suburbs of Madison, but throughout the state of Wisconsin. The student, who did not wear blackface upon arriving at a Sun Prairie High School but applied it on during the girls basketball game on Saturday, was immediately chided by his fellow peers, and told to remove it by them. That's wonderful news that deserves to be recognized — that the kids spoke up against a racist action . What's disturbing, however, is that the action happened in the first place. According to the Sun Prairie School District, which sent a letter to parents on Monday about the incident over the weekend, had the administrators noticed the student engaging in direct racist activities, they would have halted it at once. "The stud...

Municipalities cannot just ignore gun laws from state and federal governments  Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called a special legislative session this fall to address the issue of gun laws in the state. Instead of taking the issue seriously, Republicans in the legislature opened, and then closed the session out within seconds. Their decision to do so was irresponsible. Gun laws have been loosened tremendously over the past decade, thanks to Evers's predecessor, former Gov. Scott Walker. Many Republican lawmakers who are in office today also helped to promote or write the changes to gun laws back then. What was meant to be a deterrence to violence, however, actually had the opposite effect: murder and crime rates went up , and Wisconsinites didn't become safer under the changes, as was promised by that governor and GOP legislators at the time. Opponents to new proposals from the Democratic governor worry that the ideas he and other Democrats are putting forward would hamp...

A proposal to introduce the ballot initiative in Wisconsin should come with some added safeguards.  Three Democrats in the state legislature are proposing an amendment to Wisconsin's Constitution that would allow voters the opportunity to write their own laws. The measure will likely die in the Republican-controlled Assembly and Senate. But it brings about a valid question: should the voter initiative be brought to Wisconsin? The proposal by Reps. David Crowley and Gary Hebl , as well as Sen. Dave Hansen , would create a multi-step process in order to produce a voter-led ballot initiative. First, for any proposed law, a citizens' group would have to get signatures equaling 5 percent of the total number of ballots cast in the previous Secretary of State election — which is no easy task, amounting to hundreds of thousands of signatures based off the last statewide race. Next, after signatures are verified for the question being considered, it would be put to the voter...

A majority of Wisconsinites show that they don't know some of the most important parts about the impeachment proceedings — demonstrating that lack of support for impeachment is based on a lack of data. The latest Marquette Law School poll shows that a plurality of Wisconsinites don't think there's enough evidence yet to begin impeachment hearings on the president. Understandably, based on those findings, a majority also doesn't believe President Donald Trump should be removed from office, too. BUT...and there's always a BUT... The White House/Flickr An even higher majority haven't read the memo detailing the conversation between him and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which the U.S. head-of-state seemingly requested Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and look into a long-debunked conspiracy theory that would benefit Trump politically. Only 40 percent said they did indeed read the memo (which is not an official transcript) released by the Tr...

As the younger Walker eyes up a run for Congress, a few quick notes about why he's not a representative voice for young people... Matt Walker, the son of former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, may run for political office. Walker (the young one) could make a run for Congress, as Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI 5) announced he would not seek re-election in 2020. So what does Walker bring to the table? Well, he's the former governor's son, so that's a start, I guess. He's also got a tech business called Platform Digital , which specializes in digital marketing. And he's worked for the College Republicans and as the digital director for Pat McCrory , the former North Carolina governor (who lost the year Walker joined his campaign). Aside from that, not much is known about his political opinions or core beliefs. He does support marriage equality , unlike his father (and he's anti-jean shorts, which might lose him some votes, if we're being honest). But h...

Bipartisan efforts to assert the legislative branch's war powers is a welcomed start. The Democratic Party-led House of Representatives passed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would limit President Donald Trump's ability to levy an attack on the nation of Iran without first going to Congress for approval. The amazing part is not so much that Democrats are insisting that the president get their approval first — in this day and age, it's somewhat expected that Democratic lawmakers put a stronger check on the president's powers. After all, that's what they were elected to do, in part, in the 2018 midterm elections. But what's spectacular, and rare nowadays, is that dozens of Republicans in the House joined Democrats in voting for the NDAA amendment as well. "If my war-hungry colleagues — some of whom have already suggested that we invade Venezuela, North Korea, and probably a few other countries before lunch time...

State Republicans don't actually care about so-called 'Divisive' Flags — they just want something to rile their bases. The biggest political controversy of the week in Wisconsin government appears to be the most disingenuous one as well. In recognition of Pride Month, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers authored an executive order in which he pronounced the rainbow-colored Pride flag would soar on the rooftop on the state Capitol building. Quinn Dombrowski/Flickr The Pride flag would appear below the state and American flags, and would remain there for the rest of the month, on the wing of the building in which the governor's office presides. The flag was put up on Friday afternoon, per reporting from NBC 15 . Some conservative lawmakers took issue with the decision by Evers. State Rep. Scott Allen tweeted out his disapproval, trying to make some sort of religious argument against the secular flag. "Is this any more appropriate than erecting the Christian fl...

The suicide of a young woman in Colorado this week demonstrates that 48-hour waiting periods for gun purchases can save lives An 18-year-old woman from Florida, who had an unhealthy obsession with the Columbine High School shooting that occurred 20 years ago in Littleton, Colorado, made a pilgrimage from her home to the Rocky Mountain state this week. Image credit: Wikimedia Authorities worried that the woman, who had reportedly purchased a gun when she arrived in Colorado, posed a security threat, and many high schools closed their doors rather than risk a repeat of what happened in 1999. That woman ended up dying by suicide, according to reporting from Fox 31 in Denver . She was able to purchase her weapon in about 20 minutes, as Colorado doesn't have a waiting period to purchase guns. When I read about those details this week, I was reminded about a series of blog posts I had written in 2015 about Wisconsin's own 48-hour waiting period to buy guns. At that time,...

The candidate sees a need — and potential — for economic development projects in the suburban city If you live in the city of Monona, you may have noticed a postcard in your mailbox this week asking you to vote for a candidate named Kristie Schilling. But when you go to vote on Tuesday, April 2, you won't see her name on the ballot. That's because Schilling, who is running for mayor of Monona, is doing so as a write-in candidate. Schilling is currently the CEO of the Monona East Side Business Alliance, and believes that new vision is needed for the city in the years ahead. As a curious voter myself, I sent a series of questions to Schilling hoping that she'd respond so that I could place her answers here, for other Monona voters to read and consider her candidacy. Her responses to my questions are below: --- According to the Herald Independent, you entered the race as a write-in candidate with only 10 days to go before election day. What drove you to make the de...

The ruling is a "strict constructionist" look at the Constitution — a doctrine Republicans typically adhere to (except when it goes against what they want, apparently) Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess ruled on Thursday that the lame-duck power grab "extraordinary" session , used by Republicans at the tail-end of 2018, violated provisions of the state Constitution when it stripped away powers of the executive branch after Democrats, including current Gov. Tony Evers, had won in the midterm elections. The power grab was blatantly political, a maneuver that only took place because former Gov. Scott Walker had lost his re-election bid. Had he won instead, it's unlikely Republicans would have sought to remove these powers from executive leaders. The political motivations, however, did not compel Judge Niess to render lawmakers' actions unconstitutional. Rather, the way in which the legislature convened itself did. But before we get into that, let...

The Constitution bars religious restrictions for office-holders to seek office — but restrictions for voters' considerations do not exist The Brian Hagedorn saga continues, this time with a questionable line of defense coming from an organization he's been paid to speak for in the past. Lawyer Timothy Chandler works for the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that takes up causes on behalf of Christians who often have extremist and bigoted viewpoints. Chandler recently wrote an op-ed for the Capital Times in Madison, where he argued on behalf of Hagedorn and defended his past comments as nothing more than a mere promotion of his Christian beliefs. Those who took issue with Hagedorn's comments were "guilty of applying a religious test that’s discriminatory and at odds with Article VI of the U.S. Constitution," Chandler wrote . "These words might first have been penned with quill and ink, but the message is timeless: No public office-holder should...

Hagedorn doesn't want you to "attack" his faith, but he did the same thing to Mormons in his past writings Judge Brian Hagedorn, a conservative candidate for this spring election's state Supreme Court race, has taken a lot of heat for the many writings he's made over the past decade that display a bigoted attitude toward entire groups of people. Notably, Hagedorn's attacks have centered on the LGBTQ* community. In one example of his hateful writings , the candidate said that a ruling by the Supreme Court in 2005, which deemed laws restricting people from engaging in "homosexual acts" as unconstitutional, would lead to other laws banning bestiality being deemed acceptable as well. (It should go without saying that comparisons to bestiality and homosexuality are not just nonsensical, but offensive as well.) Other comments like these abound, and put doubts in voters' minds that Hagedorn can be an impartial member of the state's highest c...

The students ended their school week on Friday afternoon by coming to the sidewalks, holding up signs in support of Black Lives Matter on a chilly winter day. Students at Nuestro Mundo Community School, a MMSD dual language (Spanish and English) charter school, came to the sidewalks on a chilly Friday afternoon to shout out their support for peace. The school, which is Madison-based but located in the heart of Monona, aims to "develop literacy in both languages, preparing students for success in an increasingly global economy, and to promote acceptance and understanding of cultural differences and strengths," according to Nuestro Mundo's website . Click the images to expand: Holding signs up that read, "Don't Judge People's Color," "We Don't See Hate, We See Love," and more, the students explained to me that they were out on Friday afternoon, around 3 p.m. and at the end of their school day, in support of the Black Live...

If you view both candidates as "biased," surely one of their biases is worse than the other's. There is a stark difference between supposed conflicts of interest held by the two candidates for state Supreme Court in this year's spring elections. Liberal-leaning Lisa Neubauer reportedly attended a climate march , a political action to be sure, done in support of the scientific consensus that human-caused global warming is negatively impacting the world. Conservative-leaning Brian Hagedorn's bigoted beliefs and actions in support of them have turned heads, and resulted in right-wing business groups denouncing him. He has financially supported a private school that discriminates against LGBT faculty and students (including inflicting punishments on them if their family members are gay). He has also accepted money from and spoke to a known hate group in recent years. Both beliefs by the Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates are political, and represent actions t...

At what point will the GOP walk away from Trump? The Republican Party is hedging all of its bets on a president whose past is catching up with him. At some point, they'll have to make a decision: will they remain tied to Donald Trump, or will they see the writing on the wall and make moves toward discrediting him? Following the testimony of Michael Cohen to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday — during which Republican members of the committee frequently attacked Cohen's credibility rather than ask any pertinent questions about the president's behavior — I was reminded of a small lesson that was taught to me when I was in college many years ago. "The First Rule Of Wing-Walking," which referenced wing-walkers of the 1920s and 30s who would walk on the wings of small aircraft to entertain hundreds of onlookers below, was that you don't take a step in a new direction unless you are certain it's a safe move to make, one that will leave you in...