http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/george-floyd-death-s5.jpgBlack lives matter. Every American shares the responsibility to build a country where George Floyd’s name is not forgotten, and the possibility of becoming the next George Floyd isn’t an ever-present threat.

Wearing a face mask isn’t a political statement, it's simple and necessary, and it can help keep our neighbors safe.

MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers delivered the Democratic Radio Address on Thursday encouraging Wisconsinites to wear masks to protect our friends, family, and neighbors.

Audio file of radio address.

Hi, folks. Governor Tony Evers here.

Here in Wisconsin, we look out for our neighbors.

One of the most important things you can do to help others right now is to wear a mask or other face covering in public.

Wearing a face mask isn’t a political statement. It shouldn’t be controversial, and it isn’t hard to do.

Wearing a mask in public is simple and necessary, and it can help keep our neighbors safe.

Every day, healthcare workers like my daughter, grocery store workers, first responders, childcare workers, and so many others, don’t have the luxury of taking a mask off throughout their workday or choosing when or how to wear one at all.

Some even have to wear masks and PPE for 12-hour shifts.

We need these folks to stay healthy so that they can continue to do their good work safely and they need us to help them stay safe by limiting the spread of this virus.

So, let’s all do our part to help those on the frontlines by staying safer at home and wearing masks whenever we go out.

We’re all in this together and we are going to get through this together by maintaining those values to help keep our friends, neighbors, loved ones, and communities healthy and safe.

Thank you.

Too many lives lost because Donald Trump didn’t take this crisis seriously.

WISCONSIN - Wednesday, the United States recorded its 100,000 Coronavirus-related death.

We have hit an inconsolable bench mark in the COVID-19 pandemic -- 100,000 of our family members, friends, and neighbors have perished from this deadly disease. What makes this all the more painful is that it didn’t have to be this way. But here we are because Donald Trump didn’t take this crisis seriously from the outset.

Even when he did start facing the reality of this crisis, he botched every necessary step to contain the virus. From sending PPE to China as our frontline workers were being forced to re-use their gear, to encouraging people to drink disinfectant cleaner, to refusing to implement a national testing and tracing program, President Trump has failed Wisconsin and our country. People died because of Trump’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic, and as he cheers for states to re-open and casts aside his own CDC’s safety guidelines, it is inevitable that more Americans will die because of his actions.

Republicans put into place more than a dozen new hurdles in just eight years that Wisconsinites have to jump over in order to receive the benefits they have earned. Time for political games with people's lives is over.

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/covid-19-protest-madison-s5.jpgSen. Smith writes about the role and responsibility of government. While facing this current public health, we must remind ourselves of all the good our government can do serving its people.

Wisconsin farmers provide the world with food, and many family farmers were already struggling before the outbreak of the coronavirus.

EVANSVILLE, WI - State Senator Janis Ringhand (D-Evansville) thanked Governor Evers for his initiative to provide direct payments to Wisconsin farmers who are struggling to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. The Wisconsin Farm Support Program is a $50 million investment to provide direct aid payments to struggling family farmers.

“I support Governor Evers’ effort to help struggling farmers during this crisis,” Senator Ringhand said. “We need to get these payment to those farmers and help rural communities throughout the state.”

Governor Evers also announced a $15 million Food Security Initiative which will help food banks, pantries, and other nonprofit organizations connect with farmers to bring Wisconsin agricultural products to those in need. The Food Security Initiative is designed to directly help Wisconsin farmers, food pantries and families.

“Wisconsin farmers provide the world with nutritious and delicious food,” Senator Ringhand added. “The Food Security Initiative will help local farmers get their products to families in need right here in Wisconsin.”

The Wisconsin Farm Support Program and Food Security Initiative are the latest programs advanced by Governor Evers as part of federal CARES Act. In addition to these initiatives, Governor Evers has announced a $1 billion effort for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and bolstering our health system’s effort to contain further outbreaks of the virus, $75 million in grants for small businesses and $25 million for the Wisconsin Rent Assistance Program (WRAP) to help low-income people who have lost their jobs pay the rent.

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/wi-national-guard-troops2-s5.jpgTrump plans to end the deployments of more than 40,000 National Guard members a day before thousands would become eligible for federal benefits. We owe them more.

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/congress-unproductive-s5.jpgAlthough the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision to lift the Safer at Home Order was disappointing, we have an opportunity to make Wisconsin stronger while we continue to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.

Brown County Public Health decision further highlights the need for the State Legislature to act and to put into place a common sense solution for dealing with this pandemic.

MADISON – Representative Staush Gruszynski (D-Green Bay) released the following statement after Brown County lifted its Safer at Home order, which was originally scheduled to be lifted May 20th:

“This decision from Brown County Public Health further highlights the need for the State Legislature to act and to put into place a common sense solution for dealing with this pandemic while safety reopening our economy. Wisconsin has yet to meet all the gating criteria set forth by the Governor and White House, we must work to come up with a plan to safely open Wisconsin. Local health departments can't be left to fight this pandemic themselves, and citizens deserve more than a piecemeal approach across Wisconsin. Combating COVID-19 requires a united approach from the State Legislature and Governor's office.”

MADISON - After the outrageous decision by the right wing majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to lift “Safer at Home,” we noted that there still is another case before the Court on this same issue. And guess what? The lead plaintiff is a major GOP donor, and he maxxed out to Justice Rebecca Bradley, as we explain here:

Conservative Justice Got $20K Contribution from Individual in Second Stay-at-Home Suit

We were also so disgusted by Chief Justice Roggensack’s “regular people” comment about the meatpackers in Green Bay that we checked out her statement of economic interest to see “regular” she was. Here’s what we found:

Roggensack Has at Least $295K+ in Investments

By the way, if you want to see financial relationships and how wealthy some of our other state elected officials are, just click here:

Statements of Economic Interests

Our Data Analyst, David Julseth, just posted statements of economic interests filed with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission as of May 2020. These statements cover calendar year 2019. This is the only place that the public can view them without first submitting a request form to do so!

I hope you find these postings useful.

And I’d love to hear from you, so please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you’d like.

Best,

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

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P.S. If you like the work we’re doing, please make a tax-deductible gift today to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. We’d really appreciate it. Just click here. Thanks!