Battleground Wisconsin

We discuss this week’s all digital DNC Convention – what worked and what didn’t? We break news about a legal effort by Legislative Republicans to remove Attorney General Josh Kaul from an important voting rights lawsuit involving Citizen Action. Again the Republican Legislature thinks it is the only true governing body in Wisconsin! Next we discuss the importance of the 100th year anniversary of t...

We lead with the historic selection of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s Vice Presidential candidate, the first African American women to ever appear on a major party ticket. Will it help Biden win in November? Is there any progressive unrest about the choice? We review Wisconsin’s partisan primary election this Tuesday, where progressives and many candidates of color swept a series of closely conteste...

We discuss the potential for a new COVID-19 relief package in Congress and the GOP conspiracy to get Kanye West on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin. Could it influence the outcome in November? We welcome Citizen Action endorsed State Representative candidates Supreme Moore-Omokunde and JoAnna Bautch to discuss their campaigns and next week’s important primary election on Tuesday, August 11th....

We discuss President Trump’s disturbing pronouncement that the 2020 election should be delayed because mail-in ballots will make it inaccurate and fraudulent. Trump’s statement comes on the heels of a cratering economy and complete absence of Republican leadership on extending desperately needed COVID relief. We celebrate the extension of the moratorium on utility shutoffs last week and thank the...

The panel digs into the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, now one of the worst 19 states in the country in containing the virus. How bad is it? What is the State Legislature, the Evers Administration, and local governments doing about it? As the federal cut-off of pandemic unemployment benefits looms, the panel discusses dissension in the ranks of the GOP, and the likely inadequate pro...

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge, and Wisconsin state government is at a standstill, Wisconsin municipalities are stepping up with new mask ordinances. Citizen Action holds news events around the state to call attention to the damage inaction in Washington is doing to the economic well being of working families. Without urgent action by the middle of next week, the unemployed will be cu...

We discuss the latest Wisconsin Supreme court ruling upholding most of the Lame Duck power grab. The panel than moves to the deadly Wisconsin COVID-19 surge, and the movement towards mask mandates at the local level. Will Governor Evers pursue a state mask order? We tee-off on the troubling decision of the Wisconsin Department Health to withhold the names of businesses with multiple COVID-19 cases...

The panel digs into the racist federal appeals court ruling restricting Wisconsin early voting, and risking a dangerous replay of the infamous pandemic primary. Citizen Action is a lead plaintiff in the case. We discuss a new report co-released by Citizen Action of Wisconsin on how 8 Wisconsin billionaires have made an economic killing from the pandemic. The pandemic continues to accelerate, confo...

We discuss the BLM movement that continues full steam ahead. We process the political response to the events in Madison this week, the latest outrageous statements by Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, and right-wing politicians and media outlets. We question whether any elected leaders are proposing the necessary structural reforms to move the ball on racial equity, as Wisconsin is...

As America celebrates emancipation on Juneteenth Day 2020, our panel discusses the state and local responses to the Black Lives Matter movement, including the Milwaukee Common Council’s proposal to cut the police budget by 10% and Milwaukee Public School board’s move to remove police from the schools. We are also joined by State Representative Jonathan Brostoff to discuss shocking racism from elec...

We welcome Mark Thomsen, the attorney for Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown, to discuss critical lessons from Sterling Brown’s legal case against the Milwaukee Police and what they teach us about police reform. In addition, we discuss the Wisconsin Election Commission’s unanimous decision to send absentee ballot application to 2.7 million Wisconsin registered voters.

Citizen Action’s JoAnna Bautch and Rafael Smith join the show to discuss the national uprising sparked by George Floyd’s murder. We talk about the inspiring outpouring of social action in communities across Wisconsin, led by young people, calling for police accountability, fundamental criminal justice reform, and racial justice, We also talk about initial stepping stone policies to structural refo...

In this special extra edition of Battleground Wisconsin, Citizen Action's Robert Kraig interviews Peter Rickman on a new worker organizing campaign with a special pandemic focus. The approach, focused on Milwaukee city government, uses the powerful methodology of sectoral bargaining to open union rights to essential workers. This will help control the spread of COVID-19, improve public safety, and...

We welcome Tobita Chow, director of Justice Is Global, a special project of People’s Action, to discuss the dangerous effort shift public attention away from the disastrous pandemic response by scapegoat China, risking a dangerous military competition between the two most powerful nations on earth. This cynical divide-and-conquer politics is sparking a wave of racial hatred aimed at Asian American...

We discuss the latest pandemic developments, including: a major study finds that 36,000 lives could have been saved if the US implemented mandatory social distancing earlier; Governor Evers’ moves over $1 billion in federal money to ramp up testing and tracing; and the state is now a patchwork of COVID-19 policies with some counties and municipalities lifting Safer at Home restrictions early. Robe...

We review this week’s lawless and partisan Supreme Court decision overturning Governor Tony Evers’ Safer at Home order and throwing Wisconsin into chaos. We discuss how local governments and their health departments are responding to protect people in their communities and why pressure must now be placed on Republican state legislators to fix their public health disaster. We talk about the new Mar...

We discuss the damage the coronavirus is reaping, largely unmitigated by the federal government’s response, and the mounting reactionary/corporate pressure on state and local government to court disaster by prematurely scuttling social distancing. We review the shameful Wisconsin Supreme Court public hearing this week in the Vos-Fitzgerald lawsuit against Gov. Evers’ Stay at Home order. The tone a...

We review the latest Wisconsin coronavirus news, including the GOP lawsuit seeking to overturn the Governor’s Stay at Home order. Do the Republicans really have a case? The panel welcomes Up North News reporter Jonathon Sadowski to dig into the significant outbreak of COVID-19 in Brown County meat plants, the lax response from the corporate owners and county health officials, and Trump’s order to...

The GOP war on public health continues in Wisconsin with Republican legislative leaders appealing to the right-wing Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn the Governor’s stay at home order and inciting dangerous protests at the state capitol scheduled for Friday. We welcome attorney Mark Thomsen, who specializes in medical malpractice and nursing home neglect, to discuss Speaker Vos’s repugnant amend...

We welcome State Representatives Marisabel Cabrera and Jonathan Brostoff to discuss their courageous votes against the very weak COVID-19 relief that clear the Legislature this week. Republicans in the Legislature blocked efforts to include free testing and treatment, a vital step we must take to contain the pandemic, address racial inequality, and open up the economy. The inadequate legislation w...

In this week's episode we dig into the scandalous pandemic primary forced on Wisconsin voters by a conservative establishment that will stop at nothing to win. The panel also talks about the double gut punch Wisconsin progressives felt with the exodus of Bernie Sanders from the presidential contest. We close with a discussion of the next big big battle in Madison, the fight for a meaningful state...

Remaining safer at home, the panel discuss COVID-19 and Citizen Action’s call for free treatment and other critical health care emergency actions needed to contain the pandemic. We dig into dysfunctional political situation in Wisconsin that is careening into a dangerous and anti-democratic election on April 7th. We urge listeners to get their absentee ballots in immediately and encourage everyone...

We discuss the latest COVID-19 pandemic news, including this week’s Congressional action. Is the $2 trillion relief package the biggest corporate giveaway in American history, or vital help for working Americans and small businesses in a time of dire need? We welcome Susannah Dyen from Caring Across Generations to talk about the Texas Lt. Governor’s comments that grandparents would be willing to d...

Practicing social distancing, our panel joins us this week from separate locations. We discuss the rapidly evolving Covid-19 virus pandemic and the political response. We call out Sen. Ron Johnson and 4 Wisconsin Republicans Congressmen for voting against the bipartison coronavirus recovery bill over their opposition to paid sick days for workers. We also dig into the impact the pandemic is having...

Our panel discuses of the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in the declaration of a state of emergency by Governor Evers, cancelled in person classes at many universities, and resulted in the suspension of the NBA season. We focus on the dysfunctional response from the Trump Administration to the outbreak, including the lack of testing, its cost to patients, and the president's error riddle...