Progressive Thinking

County fairs bring people from all walks of life together as participants, volunteers and those who enjoy the festivities. At a time when much seems to divide us, the fair brings us back together in celebration and fun.

GALESVILLE, WI - “The Demolition Derby is ON!” a fair organizer told folks in the commercial building. “We have a three or four hour window in the weather and we are going to run the show.” Cars and trucks lined up for two miles waiting to get to the show. The rain held off all evening.

That afternoon however the rain poured. While most fairgoers dodged the raindrops, ducks and small children were exuberant.

“My kids had so much fun playing in the puddles,” one wet mom told me. “Who would have thought?”

Mid-summer is fair time in Wisconsin. County fairs bring out the kid in all of us.

Stickers, suckers and sunscreen for the young ones; carnival rides, including a train on real tracks, for kids young and old. Calves scrubbed white were shown by white clad teens. Horses with colorful ribbons in their tails munched hay as their youthful handlers swapped tales while waiting out the rain.

One teen showed me the many breeds of chickens she brought to the fair. Her work scrubbing each one was apparent to me – yes, even the chickens have a bath before the fair.

This year, in Galesville, moms and dads were as wet as the chickens after their bath because youngsters dragged them out in the rain to see the fair. No one seemed to mind the mud because there was too much fun to see. And mud was better than intense heat.

“The pig show was delayed because of heat,” one woman told me. “They waited until after dark when things cooled off. Did you know pigs don’t sweat?”

The county fair brings people together from all over our communities. Factory workers, teachers, and farmers work side by side to help raise money for FFA.

“Come to the bulk tank, I’ll buy you some ice cream,” one woman said. “You do know what a bulk tank looks like?” For city dweller, the bulk tank is the large stainless steel tank that holds milk. In this case, the large bulk tank-like structure was part of the FFA ice cream stand. The women remembered, “You milked cows for 25 years didn’t you? Of course, she knows what a bulk tank looks like.”

The fair happens because hundreds of people work together. Adults helping young people with the myriad of 4-H projects; adults making potato salad, grilling brats and clearing tables to raise money for the Lions; old-timers showing off antique tractors; farmers helping teens with cattle, goats, llamas as well as woodworking, leather crafts or amazing engineering displays.

One youth created an entire Civil War battlefield.

Fair superintendents, judges, fair board members, county board members and UW-Extension staff work tirelessly to make sure everything runs smoothly. Keeping things running this year was no small feat. For example, high temperatures caused power outages on the grounds.

People came together to get things working again because that is just how it’s done.

Listening to people tell stories about community work and about successful fairs and festivals, I was reminded how interconnected we all are and how we all play so many roles in each other’s lives.

The volunteer spirit in Trempealeau County is alive and well. The 4-H and FFA leaders, the athletic team coaches, the volunteer sportscaster, the vacation bible schoolteacher, the feral cat rescuer and the family that adopts that abandon kitty – we all play so many roles that are connected.

The interconnected networks of our local communities function in ways we sometimes can’t even imagine.

Does the 4-H leader know the girl who loved bugs will grow up to become a scientist? Does the fellow working the booth realize the little New Testament he passed out will be carried in the young man’s backpack to be read for years? Or does the lady know the recipe she shared will become a Thanksgiving tradition passed down to the next generation?

Despite the hot and rainy weather, hundreds of people worked hard to make the Trempealeau County fair a success. If you are looking for a community success story, take time to attend your local county fair and celebrate the time, talent and dedication that make it happen.

To find county fairs in your area, check the Wisconsin Association of Fairs’ website at http://www.wifairs.com/events/fairs

Citizen Action sounded the alarm two years ago on how Walker’s scandal plagued WEDC doles out public money. Walker promised to require corporations taking our job creation dollars to give 30 days notice of any planned outsourcing or downsizing. Now we find they're not even doing that!

MILWAUKEE - When Citizen Action sounded the alarm two years ago that Walker’s scandal plagued Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) doles out public money to corporations engaged in outsourcing jobs, they came up with a non-solution.

Walker’s WEDC promised to require corporations taking our job creation dollars to give 30 days notice of any planned outsourcing or downsizing.

Now, Citizen Action has discovered that Walker is not even doing that! When we filed an open records request WEDC lawyers found ZERO outsourcing notifications--this despite a series of corporations caught red-handed in recent months outsourcing jobs when taking money from WEDC.

Outsourcing can be the issue that turns the 2016 election in our favor, and even forces Scott Walker not to seek re-election, but only if we have the resources to tell voters about it.

If you agree, please make an emergency contribution to Citizen Action’s outsourcing election fund.

Outsourcing is the sleeping giant in the 2016 election because it is the smoking gun of the rigged economy.

The outright support for large corporations outsourcing Wisconsin jobs is political dynamite. The reason Walker’s jobs agency turns a blind eye to outsourcing is that they support it!

Citizen Action played a leading role in forcing votes on bills to cut off public loans, grants, and tax credits to corporations engaged in outsourcing. Shockingly, every Republican legislator voted wrong on the issue!

Wisconsin voters should be outraged about their senators and representatives supporting the outsourcing of their jobs, but only if we have the resources to communicate with them about it during the election.

If you agree, please send an emergency contribution to Citizen Action’s outsourcing election fund.

Sincerely,

Robert Kraig

Why do politicians keep behaving the way they do when it’s clear it only makes many dislike them? They stick with what they know, the handbook provided by consultants, handlers and party bosses.

ALTOONA, WI - Most people hate politics and don’t hide how little they think of your average politician. Makes you wonder why politicians keep behaving the way they do when it’s clear it only makes people dislike them more. Maybe it’s because they don’t know any other way to behave. They’ve been operating out of a well-worn playbook for so long that they know all the plays by heart. So they stick with what they know.

Most of the plays in the playbook have at least three things in common. They are decades old or older. They are expensive. And they work like a charm, if the goals are to alienate the general public and cripple democracy.

The first page in both parties’ playbook is nonstop fundraising. It’s the favorite play because it makes so many other plays possible. It’s why politicians see you and me as nothing more than ATMs.

The playbook then says spend heavily on paid media. Television, radio, direct mail advertising, online ads. This is political gospel. The conventional wisdom is looking less and less wise, however, when you consider that public trust in advertising has been falling. This trend is sure to continue in the future because young Millennials are especially distrustful of advertising.

TV ads in particular are losing effectiveness, partly because viewers are increasingly wary of them and partly because it is getting easier by the day to avoid them, using digital recording and online video streaming to watch programs but skip the accompanying ads. Yet the vast majority of election campaign spending still is devoted to TV and other traditional forms of advertising. Makes the political professionals and media corporations billions. Turns voters’ stomachs. Starves democracy.

So what actually works? Word of mouth. The information we trust most comes from people we know, especially friends and family. Which makes it all the more curious that neighbor-to-neighbor outreach programs like street teams and other kinds of direct voter contact are so hard to find in the playbook.

With face-to-face campaigning downplayed and a premium placed on paid media, the playbook says attack your opponent at every turn. It is an article of faith among political professionals that negative advertising “works.” It certainly does, if the goal is to shrink and polarize the electorate. If the goal is to persuade or motivate voters, or make our society governable, then a growing body of evidence challenges the devotion to scorched earth campaigning.

Right next to attack advertising in the playbook is a related go-to play, namely spin. The play is based on the Costanza rule. It’s not a lie if you believe it. Meaning honesty is optional and truth depends on your perspective. If you spin people dizzy, they’ll no longer be able to see where the truth lies.

The playbook calls for continuous polling. This is one of the few places where the Democratic and Republican playbooks differ. Both parties swear by public opinion polling. But as a general rule, Democrats rely on polling to craft their message and guide their actions, while Republicans use polling to drive home their core message and demonstrate support for their actions. Voters are left wondering why politicians can’t seem to move a muscle without first consulting a pollster.

The playbook also says run to the center. It is another article of faith that most voters are in the middle, so that’s where the smart politicians should be. Most of today’s Republicans have torn this page out of their playbook. Many Democrats have remained partial to it. Bill Clinton “triangulated” his way to two terms in the White House, locating a middle point between right and left, although not without a cost. During Clinton’s tenure in office, Democrats surrendered principle and lost control of the national narrative before losing control of Congress and most statehouses as well. They have never recovered.

Another dog-eared page in the old playbook says pick your spots. Focus on a few key battlegrounds that have a history of swinging either way, concentrate resources on those contests, and write off all other territory. Both parties do it, leaving large numbers of voters in many parts of the country with no choice of which party will represent them in Congress or the state legislature. It’s been a disastrous practice for the Democrats, being in the minority in most places. Without candidates running locally in large swaths of the country, voters in those areas only hear what ruling Republicans tell them, which ends up handicapping Democrats trying to run statewide or nationally. More importantly, the play shortchanges voters.

Everyone but the consultants, handlers and party bosses would be better off — as would American democracy — if the X’s and O’s of conventional politics were to give way to some new plays.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout says farewell to staff member Benjamin Larson. Legislative staff play an important role in serving the public good and many people living in the 31st Senate District know Ben because they contacted the office.

MADISON - “I make the promises and my staff keeps them,” said former state Senator Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). I don’t know if Senator Schultz was the first to say this but his statement certainly describes the important role of Capitol staff.

Our 31st Senate District long-time staffer Benjamin Larson will be leaving soon for Minneapolis. Ben is following his wife who will take up advanced studies in the Twin Cities.

Legislative staffers touch many lives and Ben has certainly influenced the course of life for many people. He is often the first person people encounter when they contact our Capitol office.

Calling your state Senator might not be the first action taken when you have a problem with state government. The state bureaucracy is vast and varied. Usually people begin with the agency that handles the problem they face, like contacting the Department of Natural Resources if they need a permit or the Department of Public Safety and Professional Services for an issue with a license.

By the time folks get to our senate office, they are often frustrated and discouraged. The story of their problem is complex. Their situation did not fit some neat rules of state government and they feel like the proverbial square peg someone tried to pound into a round hole.

Therefore, the call or email comes to our senate office.

Often Ben answered the phone. He listened with an empathic ear and took notes as he thought about the plan of action to help the person.

Sometimes the action was clear. He could provide referral to an office or knew the proper person to call. In other cases, the action was not clear due to the complexity of the person’s dilemma.

I remember a case several years ago, that resulted because laws were in direct conflict with each other.

Ben worked hard to help an Eau Claire family adopt a boy from Ethiopia. Federal law required the family to prove the boy had access to health care before he could be adopted. State law would not allow the provision of coverage until the boy was a Wisconsin resident.

Ben worked for several months to obtain the proper clearances and documentation to facilitate the adoption. The ecstatic family, so thankful their adopted son finally came home, stated in a letter, “Without the work of our state Senator Kathleen Vinehout and her amazing staff member Ben Larson this would not have been possible.”

An excellent staffer is gentle and comforting with people who go through the agony of conflicting laws, but firm and insistent when advocating for those people.

Even when we are not in session, the work does not end. The interim period, as it is called, is a time to prepare for the upcoming legislative session. My staff aids in this preparation by researching laws in other states, reviewing the history of Wisconsin laws or drafting bills that originated as constituent ideas. Together we craft a plan for the next legislative session.

During the summer, I also spend a great deal of time out at various events – fairs, festivals and gatherings – listening to people’s opinions, ideas and problems. I scribble these details on bits of paper and carry them to Madison.

Then Ben and his fellow staff listen to me describe the situation, read my notes and help me think of the next step. Staffers follow up with constituents to get important details. They call expert staff in agencies or work with attorneys who help research topics and draft legislation. While I’m on the road in western Wisconsin listening to constituents, my staff is doing the hard work to come up with solutions.

For a legislator who comes from varied backgrounds of farming and teaching at a university, seeing staff craft creative solutions through a myriad of obstacles is a thrill.

Constituents may never know the long hours spent or the multiple roads traveled to arrive at a solution to their particular problem. Nevertheless, I see their work. They do help me keep my promises.

Ben had well over 50,000 contacts with constituents. In each case, he served with good humor during trying times, patience with people’s frustrations, persistence in the face of obstacles, perseverance and genuine kindness.

Thanks Ben! We wish you the best!

MADISON - When we follow the money, sometimes something odd turns up.

That was the case with two of our stories this week.

The first seemed to be simply a gratuity for services rendered when the Republican Party of Wisconsin paid off $25,000 of Justice David Prosser’s campaign debt. But when we examined this “in-kind” contribution, it turned out to be even scuzzier, since the Party paid off a specific debt that Prosser owed to a particular vendor, who just happens to be one of Scott Walker’s chief fundraisers. Here are the gories:

State GOP pays $25K of Prosser’s campaign debt

The second story is about the DNR’s continued effort to give a sweetheart land deal to a couple that gave more than $6 million to try to get Scott Walker elected President. What’s doubly amazing is that the announcement of this renewed effort was obscured by an almost indecipherable bureaucratic notice. Somehow, I don’t think that was an accident, but see for yourself:

Walker’s DNR resurrects land deal with major contributor

And speaking of obscuring important information, this week there was a push in Congress to make it more difficult for consumers to find out if there are GMOs in our food—unless you’re in the habit of scanning barcodes into your phone while you hurry down the supermarket aisle. This is a bill not for consumers, but for industry, including in Wisconsin, as you’ll see here:

State food processors praise bill to restrict state food labeling

But here’s a happy note:

Three Koch Brothers’ groups were fined this week for illegal electioneering

We’ll keep following the money for you, and any more oddities that we can find.

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