We need to come together peacefully to help the community of Kenosha heal, say Democrats.

MADISON, Wis. -- Today, the jury delivered a verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler released the following statement:

“Today’s verdict—searing, shocking, but painfully unsurprising—has sent a wave of heartbreak and grief through our state and country. If a Black person had done what Kyle Rittenhouse did, it almost goes without saying, they would be far more likely to have been killed by police that night than to be walking free today. This verdict, and the trial and other events that preceded it, are a gut-wrenching illustration of a society with two systems of justice, two ways lives are valued, two sets of rules. A year ago, the movement for Black lives sustained the biggest demonstrations on any topic in the history of our country. Today, far-right and white supremacist militias are cheering and lifting up a teenager—who killed two human beings and almost killed another—as a hero.

“This moment demands that we remake our systems to create a state and a world where none of these events could ever have happened. Where our justice system treats all equally, with both fairness and accountability; where everyone, no matter where they live or the color of their skin, has the safety and security that every human being deserves. Where Anthony Huber and Jason Rosenbaum would still be alive, and Gaige Grosskreutz and Jacob Blake would be uninjured.

“We echo the call for peace and support for Kenosha, a community that has been through unthinkable tragedy. To Republican politicians who are trying to distract and divide Wisconsinites by politicizing a tragedy—the people of Kenosha deserve better.

“In this moment of tremendous tension and pain, we can reimagine what a safe future will look like. We can show up for each other, come together peacefully to help the community of Kenosha heal, and we can honor the victims and their families by calling for accountability, safety, and justice for all; by dismantling systems and cultures of white supremacy and violence; and by building a state where everyone, no exceptions, can thrive.”

It is heartbreaking that Rittenhouse gets to live out the rest of his life with his family and friends, while Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber’s friends and families have to figure out how to go on without them, say progressive activists.

MILWAUKEE - On behalf of our grassroots member activists and staff across the state, Citizen Action of Wisconsin stands in solidarity with the families of victims Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and survivors Gaige Grosskreutz, Jacob Blake, and the residents of Kenosha seeking justice and peace.

In Wisconsin, we care and show up for each other, no matter who we are or what we look like. We share food, cry, pray, and hold each other up when tragedy strikes. We talk through what we have in common and join together across our differences to come up with solutions to make the world a better place for all of us in Wisconsin and America.  In response to Kyle Rittenhouse being found not guilty on all charges today, Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s Movement Politics Director JoAnna Bautch had the following to say:

“Kyle Rittenhouse crossed state lines to come to Wisconsin with the intent to infiltrate a peaceful protest organized by leaders and residents in Kenosha calling for racial justice. He did not come to help the community.  He waved a gun in the face of people exercising their first amendment rights. He is a white supremacist who came with support from white nationalist groups to incite violence and intimidate Wisconsinites -Black, white, and Brown- to keep us from speaking out. In his attempts to stop people from exercising their rights, he shot and killed two innocent men, and harmed another.”

“Black and Brown people across this country should not be targeted and subjected to excessive brutality and violence and murdered by the very police who our tax dollars fund to protect us and keep our communities safe.  We come together in our communities to spotlight the long-standing economic, racial, and structural oppression perpetuated by certain politicians and public institutions.  They defund our schools, cut public transportation, and block our own tax dollars from coming into our communities to create good family-supporting jobs and access to quality healthcare. They profit from incarcerating our fathers, brothers, and sons. They then try to divide us across race and class by blaming poor people and People of Color for all of us being denied the things we know will make our communities safe and healthy.

“When we come together, as we did in Kenosha and across the state and country last year, we are calling for good family-supporting jobs, access to quality healthcare, fully funded schools, safe streets for our kids to play in, and a healthy future full of opportunity for all of us in Wisconsin. Rittenhouse came to Kenosha last year because he believes that those things are only for certain people. The Judge and Jury of this trial have given permission to anyone who is filled with hate to show up with a gun and murder people just because they are willing to stand up and call for justice and a better way of life.”

“The fact is that Rittenhouse is free after murdering two innocent men and harming a third because of racist ideology. It is heartbreaking that he gets to live out the rest of his life with his family and friends, while Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber’s friends and families have to figure out how to go on without them. The idea that our criminal justice system is so broken as to allow for this to happen is just plain scary. But in the spirit of the civil rights movement, we won’t stop gathering peacefully in our communities, calling for what is right and just, for all of us in Wisconsin.”

OSHKOSH -- In response to Governor Evers’ veto of legislative Republicans’ gerrymandered maps, Rep. Hintz issued the following statement:

“I applaud Governor Evers for vetoing legislative Republicans’ Gerrymander 2.0. For the last decade, our state has suffered the damaging effects of Republicans’ gerrymandered 2011 maps. The maps passed by legislative Republicans last week would make Wisconsin’s gerrymander even worse.

“By vetoing Republicans’ rigged maps, Gov. Evers is putting the people of Wisconsin ahead of partisan politics. Wisconsinites deserve a functioning democracy, and that starts with ensuring the people can choose their elected officials and hold them accountable.”

GREEN BAY - Wisconsin has a long, proud history of making things right here in the Badger State. And while manufacturing and blue-collar jobs have certainly taken a hit in our state, Senator Ron Johnson has been pouring gasoline on the fire by incentivizing corporations that outsource our jobs to other countries. Not only did Senator Johnson vote for former President Donald Trump’s tax scam that included rewards for outsourcing, but he also rewrote the law to benefit his wealthy corporate donors.

In places like Green Bay, we get up, go to work, and come home. We do this day in and day out because we take pride in hard work. When I hear about politicians like Senator Johnson making it easier for big corporations to bankrupt Badger State towns and communities, I can’t stay silent.

We deserve a U.S. Senator that will fight for Wisconsin’s working families instead of the wealthy and well-connected. Senator Johnson has spent his entire career looking out for his deep-pocketed donors. It’s time he starts working for us.

Jarrett Brown
Green Bay, WI

MADISON - What an ugly week for democracy in Wisconsin!

The Republican-dominated legislature rammed through their re-rigged maps, despite the overwhelming support among Wisconsinites for nonpartisan redistricting, as I noted here:

Wisconsin GOP Re-Rigs Maps

Also this week, Michael Gableman gave one of the most arrogant performances I’ve ever seen. He was providing testimony at a public informational hearing (which was by invitation only from far-right committee chair, Rep. Janel Brandtjen), and the only other person invited was Sgt. Michael Luell of the Racine County Sheriff's Office. Gableman refused to even give the names and qualifications of the people on his staff, whose salaries you and I are paying for!

There also was a hearing on the Legislative Audit Bureau’s report on elections administration, which I testified at, as you’ll see here:

A Few Points About the Audit Bureau Report on Elections

At the hearing Rep. Macco was incredibly rude to Meagan Wolfe, the staff director at the Wisconsin Elections Commission. It was disgusting to watch!

Then there was Ron Johnson speaking with Republican legislators after urging them last week to bypass the Wisconsin Elections Commission and just run the elections themselves!

Republicans in Wisconsin are going to keep whipping the dead horse about last November elections all the way through 2022 and maybe even up to 2024. That, too, is disgusting to watch.

OK, enough of the bad news.

Here’s some good news: My latest book, “12 Ways to Save Democracy in Wisconsin,” just came back from the printer, and goes on sale on Dec. 7.

You can pre-order today at the University of Wisconsin Press directly or you can order from Amazon.

Most of the proceeds go to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

I hope you like the book, and I hope you have a nice weekend.

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director

Gerrymandering disintegrates democracy and serves only the majority power of elected officials, says lawmaker.

MADISON — Rep. Francesca Hong (D-76) issued the following statement:

“I am shaken, enraged and broken after witnessing WI Republicans undermine democracy today with the passage of a gerrymandered map, again. My GOP colleagues have doubled down on maintaining power through a rigged and unconstitutional manner that defies the will of the people.”

“Gerrymandering disintegrates democracy and serves only the majority power of elected officials and not the people of the state. Instead of living in a Wisconsin that provides opportunity for all, we are living in a Wisconsin that serves the privileged few.”

“The will and power of the people is deeply connected to their abilities to hold their elected officials accountable. Republicans continue to ignore the facts, the numbers, the truth that Wisconsin is a purple state. With the gerrymandered map 2.0 they are hell-bent and keeping us in the deep red. This undemocratic and irresponsible act will continue to keep Wisconsin back when it should be the people moving us forward. While I am deeply disappointed in today’s outcome, the people’s voice will always be first in the office of the 76th.

GOP arrogance, and that kind of manipulation, cannot be allowed to stand.

MADISON - The Wisconsin Legislature will be voting on the newly rigged maps as early as Monday next week, so please contact your representatives and urge them to vote no!

In his testimony last week, Robin Vos confessed that he tilted the maps in his partisan favor, boasting that there was nothing in our Wisconsin Constitution to prohibit it.

That kind of arrogance, and that kind of manipulation, cannot be allowed to stand.

So please contact your legislators and tell them to vote against Senate Bill 621 and Assembly Bill 624.

Here’s how you contact your state legislators:

• Toll-free legislative hotline at 1-800-362-9472 (266-9960 in Madison).
• E-mail directory for Senators, click here.
• E-mail directory for Assembly members, click here.
• If you do not know your legislator's name or district, use the "Find My Legislators" form on the front page of the Legislature's website.

Thanks for your activism, and for supporting fair maps!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
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MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers delivered the Democratic Radio Address on Thursday highlighting the release of new electoral maps prepared by the People's Maps Commission. The People's Maps Commission was created by the governor in 2020 and is the state's nonpartisan redistricting commission tasked with preparing maps for consideration by the governor and the Wisconsin State Legislature. The maps were finalized following a year-long process that included multiple rounds of opportunities for public input that resulted in nearly 2,000 submissions, including from Wisconsinites representing 68 of Wisconsin's 72 counties and 321 municipalities. More information about the final maps and the People's Maps Commission is available here: Wisconsin.gov/peoplesmaps.

Audio file of Radio Address.

Hi, folks. Governor Tony Evers here.

This week our state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission, the People’s Maps Commission, presented their final, fair maps to the Legislature and me for consideration.

In 2020, when I signed an executive order creating the People’s Maps Commission, I said it was time to look to the people of our state—not high-paid consultants, or lawyers, or elected officials—to draw our electoral maps for the next decade.

The People’s Maps Commission, who were selected to serve by a panel of three retired judges, spent the last year hosting listening sessions in each of Wisconsin's eight congressional districts and soliciting feedback and input from Wisconsinites before, during, and after preparing draft sets of maps.

The Commission received nearly 2,000 submissions from Wisconsinites in 68 of our 72 counties and 321 municipalities, as well as 18 leading redistricting experts. I know Wisconsinites were eager to participate because for years, the people of this state have asked their elected officials for nonpartisan redistricting. For years, the people of this state have demanded better and fairer maps. And for years, the people of this state have gone ignored.

The maps prepared by Republicans a decade ago have been called some of the most gerrymandered maps in the country. And a few weeks ago, they introduced a new set of gerrymandered maps modeled after the same gerrymandered maps we’ve had for 10 years so that they can preserve their undemocratic majorities in the Legislature while increasing their chances of disproportionately winning six of Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts.

Here’s the bottom line: if Republican maps come to me as they are currently drafted, I’ll veto them. It’s just as simple as that.

Wisconsinites want fair maps, and they want nonpartisan redistricting.

Please contact your legislators—tell them that you support nonpartisan redistricting and ask them to take up the maps prepared by the People’s Maps Commission.

Thank you.

With Aaron Rodgers out for a game because of COVID-19, progressive activist Laura Kiefert speaks out on the community responsibility to get vaccinated.

GREEN BAY, WI - I’m sick and tired of the vaccination debate and just as tired of keeping my frustration on the subject to myself. So here goes. I think that as a society, we have an obligation to safeguard one another. Yes, you get vaccinated to protect yourself – but you also get vaccinated to protect those around you. And we do this in order to control or eradicate diseases that ravage our population.

I believe everybody who is eligible should be required to get vaccinated if they want to engage with others in public spaces. In the interest of public health, vaccines or a recent negative test should be required to enter virtually all public spaces. If you want to go to a restaurant, bar, train station or concert, for example, you need to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test.

If a person chooses not to get vaccinated, they should stay home because no one has the right to infect others with a potentially deadly illness. I believe it is the ultimate act of selfishness to decide that your individual decision must take precedence over the literal life and death of the people around you.

We are talking here about someone choosing an unhealthy diet – something you could argue only affects an individual. We're talking about a very contagious disease that is so easily transmissible it's killed more than 750,000 Americans and millions of people around the world have died. And, it isn’t over yet.

Vaccination is not only a matter of individual choice because there are immunosuppressed Americans who do not have full immunity from the vaccine and there are many people, including our young children, who aren’t vaccinated, yet. How is it right that someone can opt to not be vaccinated and then spread the illness to vulnerable groups who did not make the choice to be so vulnerable?

So vaccination cannot be perceived as an individual choice. Instead, we need to equate it much more so to drunk driving. You can drink in private – that's your choice – but you can't just decide to get behind the wheel because you feel like it and don't think you'll get hurt. We have laws against drunk driving, since individual choice to undertake a dangerous public activity cannot override the need to protect the public from deadly harm.

We all want want our kids to go to school without being sent home constantly due to positive cases and the need to quarantine. We want workplaces to come back without the need for masks and distancing. We want our economy to thrive and travel to return to pre-pandemic normal. If we want those things to happen, then it's necessary for all people who are eligible in those environments to be vaccinated.

Baseless attacks on the Wisconsin Election Commission would be laughable, if they weren't so destructive to Democracy, says Senate Minority Leader.

MADISON – Yesterday, Republicans from Racine to Madison and beyond made baseless claims that the Wisconsin Elections Commission broke election law in nursing homes, called for resignations and threatened legal action.  In response Senate Minority Leader Janet Bewley released the following statement:

“First and foremost, members and staff of the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) acted appropriately under difficult circumstances during a pandemic; they did nothing illegal.  Second, WEC, in promulgating the guidance on Special Voting Deputies, was following the laws that the Republicans created - WI Statute 5.05 - "the elections commission shall have the responsibility for the administration of ... laws relating to elections and election campaign."  Third, this issue has been widely discussed and reported on for over a year.  Fourth, just six months ago, the Republicans re-appointed one of the very members they are now claiming must resign.

“The disingenuous display of outrage we saw yesterday borders on farce, except for the very real damage that baseless allegations of fraud and illegal activity are having on the public’s confidence in our elections.  The people of this state are not well served when their elected leaders start behaving like Chicken Little.  Their treatment of Megan Wolfe, who was confirmed unanimously by the State Senate in 2019, is especially troubling.  She is a non-partisan administrator who followed the guidance approved by all of three of the Republican appointed members of the Election Commission.  What message does throwing her under the bus send to the thousands of other non-partisan officials across the state?  The people of Wisconsin deserve better.”