http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/christmas-ski-s5.jpgFrom our family to yours, we send our warmest wishes and wish you a safe and happy holiday.

MADISON - I’m urging you to give a gift this holiday season to defend our democracy.

You know it’s under attack by a militant, white nationalist, and cultish anti-democracy movement.

Here at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, we’re doing all we can to call out this threat at the national level and especially right here in our state.

We’ve helped lead the way in the battle against gerrymandering. 

We blew the whistle on the anti-voting bills that were introduced.

We’ve been denouncing the Gableman fishing expedition at the top of our lungs.

And we even produced radio ads that ran all across the state to puncture the Big Lie. (One of the ads featured Milwaukee Bucks stars Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez!)

But we can’t keep doing this work without your support.

So, while you’re finishing up your holiday shopping, please send us a donation today so we can redouble our efforts to defend our democracy.

Giving us simple: Just click here.

Or you can send us a gift the old-fashioned way. Write your check and mail it to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign at 203 S. Paterson St., Suite 100, Madison WI 53703.

I look forward to hearing from you, and thanks for your support!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

***

P.S. Your donation is tax-deductible when you itemize.

MILWAUKEE - We debrief and look forward following Sunday’s bombshell announcement by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin that he would not support the president’s signature Build Back Better. Where do we go from here? With a new even more transmissible COVID variant spreading fast, the panel reviews the state of the seemingly endless global pandemic. Wisconsin Assembly Democrats are under new leadership following the election of Greta Neubauer as Minority Leader this week, but Rep. Jimmy Anderson reminds us of how far we have to go when it comes to providing people with disabilities equal opportunities, even in the Democratic Caucus. Wisconsin is in the news, yet again, leading the GOP effort to extinguish democracy. Robert reminds us of the great lengths Republicans in Wisconsin went in November 2020 to try to steal the election for Donald Trump, and what’s ahead in 2022.

Listen Now - Episode #523

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MILWAUKEE - We lead this week with the passing of the latest COVID milestone of over 800,000 deaths. Is this an omen of human toll that awaits us in the coming Omicron surge? There is no doubt that Republican politics are making the pandemic much worse. This week, shamelessly playing to the know-nothing Trump base, Assembly Majority Leader Robin Vos blamed Wisconsin hospitals for the bed shortage because they are requiring their workers to be vaccinated. Next, our panel updates the Build Back Better debate in the U.S. Senate. Is the most sweeping social and economic reform in half a century dead or merely stalled? Also, as the Senate Parliamentarian prepares to strip the immigrant rights provisions of Build back Better, Voces de la Frontera and allies stage a series of protests. In a rare showing of Republican courage and regard for the truth, State Sen. Kathy Bernier makes national news by taking a stand against Robin Vos and his “big lie” henchman, disgraced former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. In Democratic Party news, State Representative Gordon Hintz announces he will step down as Assembly Minority Leader. Who will replace him and what are the implications for 2022 and beyond? Finally, we shout out the UW-LaCrosse students and community leaders who held a successful event Monday urging serious university action on the climate crisis.

Listen Now - Episode #522
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MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers Thursday delivered the Democratic Radio Address highlighting his nearly $60 million investment into 12 regional projects aimed at developing long-term solutions to Wisconsin's workforce challenges announced earlier this week. These projects will receive up to $59.5 million in grants through the first round of the Workforce Innovation Grant Program.

Audio file of Radio Address

Hey folks, Governor Tony Evers here.

We have great news in Wisconsin as our unemployment rate remains among the lowest in the country and we continue to have high participation in our state's workforce.

While that's something we should celebrate, we also know that Wisconsin faces workforce challenges that existed years before this pandemic hit. And it's time we confront the workforce challenges facing our state head-on.

So, this week, I announced we're investing up to nearly $60 million into 12 regional projects across the state to help find innovative, long-term, and community-based solutions for these challenges.

At the end of the day, we need to find new, creative solutions to keep our talented workers here in Wisconsin, bring new workers to our state, and connect our workers with jobs that are available in our communities.

Whether it's making childcare or transit more accessible so folks can get to work, investing in other workforce attraction and retention strategies, increasing worker skills and training, or developing programs that could help bring more workers into our workforce—we're working to develop cutting-edge ideas to meet the unique workforce needs of regions and communities across our state.

From Kenosha to Eau Claire, and Stevens Point to Door County, these investments will help folks get back to work and ensure our families, communities, and economy continue to recover together.

Thank you.

MADISON - I’m increasingly worried about the state of our democracy in Wisconsin.

All the propaganda about the 2020 elections is serving a sinister purpose, as I explain here:

The Scheme to Sabotage Our Vote in Wisconsin

Please write a letter to the editor of your local paper on this. And I’d be happy to edit it if you’d like. Just email me directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

I’d also like to urge you to include the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign on your holiday gift list.

You know how doggedly we’ve been defending democracy here in Wisconsin: on the gerrymandering front, on these anti-voter schemes, on the threat from big and dark money in our politics, and on many other issues, including racism and economic inequality.

So I hope you’ll help us out with a donation (tax-deductible when you itemize) so we can push even harder on these issues in the year ahead.

Thanks for your support, and thanks for defending our democracy!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers delivered the Democratic Radio Address Thursday highlighting $14 million in grants awarded to movie theaters, summer camps, and minor league sports teams announced earlier this week, as well as $15 million in grants awarded to Destination Marketing Organizations across the state announced last month. These grants are part of the governor's more than $140 million investment to support the recovery of Wisconsin's tourism and entertainment industries from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Audio file of Radio Address.

Hey, folks! Governor Evers here.

It's no secret that our state's tourism industry was one of the first and hardest hit industries of this pandemic.

That's why we prioritized investing more than $200 million of our federal COVID-19 relief dollars into making sure Wisconsin's tourism and entertainment industries had the support and resources they needed to bounce back.

Recently, we awarded $15 million in grants to help 120 local tourism, convention, and event organizations across our state, which are so important to our local communities and our state's economic recovery.

From our largest convention and visitor bureaus in Milwaukee and Wisconsin Dells, to the smallest chambers of commerce in Pepin and Cassville, these funds are a much-needed shot in the arm for our local tourism industries and Wisconsin communities.

I'm also proud this week to have announced more than $14 million in grants awarded to movie theaters, summer camps, and minor league sports teams throughout the state.

These grants, provided to 49 theater companies, 17 minor league teams, and 37 summer camps, will help aid in their continued recovery and to offset losses due to the ongoing health crisis.

This is great news for tourism in Wisconsin, which is an essential part of our state's success.

While we still have a long way to go to put this pandemic behind us, we'll keep working to make sure our tourism industries, small businesses, and our state's economy bounce back even better than we were before this pandemic hit.

Thank you.

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/evers-budget-sign-s5.jpgGovernor highlights budget investment of more than $100 million in new, additional funding to help support schools as they recover from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Legislator confident Oshkosh Area School District’s leaders will invest the additional $1.26 million allocation wisely as they focus on the unique needs of our local schools and our kid's education.

OSHKOSH -- Today, Gov. Tony Evers announced $110 million in funding for Wisconsin public schools. In response, Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) released the following statement:

“Earlier this year, at a time when Wisconsin had record revenues available and faced unprecedented needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, legislative Republicans chose to put political games before the future of our kids by doing the bare minimum on education funding in the biennial budget. Fortunately, Gov. Evers put millions of dollars back into the state’s general fund through his strategic partial vetoes. Today, Gov. Evers has announced a $110 million investment in new education funding to support Wisconsin’s kids and schools as they continue to recover from the pandemic.

“I am grateful that Governor Evers continues to find ways to provide funding to schools and prioritize our kids. We know this $110 million investment will help our school districts to avoid having to choose between laying off teachers and cutting programs or going to referendum as they come out of the pandemic. There is no more important investment than the future of our kids. Here in the 54th Assembly District, I am confident Oshkosh Area School District’s local leaders will invest the additional $1.26 million allocation very wisely as they focus on meeting the unique needs of our local schools and our kids’ education.”

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/tony-evers-kathy2-s450.pngTo all those gathering today and into this weekend, we wish you a joyful and safe holiday.