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Daily Bread for 12.20.24: Wisconsin Senate Democrats Hope Hyenas Will Stop Eating Meat

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:22 and sunset is 4:23, for 9 hours, 1 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 71.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

There’s positivity, there’s toxic positivity, and then there’s utter delusion:

Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) and Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) both serve on one of the most powerful committees in the Wisconsin State Legislature, yet as members of the minority they’ve often been frustrated by the way Republicans on the committee have excluded them from conversations. The lawmakers say they hope some of this changes next year.

The 16-person Joint Finance Committee is responsible for writing the state’s two-year budget — deciding which policy priorities get funding and which don’t — and reviewing all state appropriations and revenues. Republican lawmakers will continue to hold 12 seats next session with Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) serving as co-chairs.

….

Johnson said she thinks that new legislative maps could help change the dynamic. Roys also said it could have an impact that the state Supreme Court found it unconstitutional for the committee to block state spending on land conservation projects after the money has been budgeted. 

“That dynamic is at play, and I wonder if it will chasten the Republicans. It doesn’t seem to have done so yet,” Roys said. 

Emphasis added.

See Baylor Spears, Senate Democrats on budget committee say they hope Republicans change their approach, Wisconsin Examiner, December 20, 2024.

Honest to goodness. The people who take 12 of 16 committee seats despite a closely divided legislature are not, and will not be, chastened. They might one day lose their legislative majorities, but even afterward they will insist they were always — always — justified.

People flee cafe as magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits Vanuatu:

The moment a violent earthquake shook a cafe in Vanuatu’s capital on Tuesday.

Daily Bread, Foxconn, Legislature, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 12.19.24: The Wisconsin Man Who Backed Foxconn Now Brings You Government Efficiency

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be snowy with a high of 29. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset is 4:23, for 9 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 79.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1776, Thomas Paine publishes the first of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled “The American Crisis.”

Of past performance, consider from 2017: Vos: Foxconn Deal Will Be Good For Taxpayers. And yet, and yet, these are ahistorical times, where past performance is ignored:

MADISON – A new Assembly committee will focus in the next session on government efficiency, inspired by a similar federal department to be run in part by Elon Musk.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a Wednesday interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the new committee will be known as GOAT: Governmental Oversight, Accountability and Transparency Committee.

See Laura Schulte and Hope Karnopp, Robin Vos to create government efficiency committee inspired by Elon Musk’s DOGE, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 18, 2024.

Binary star system found near monster black hole:

A pair of stars orbiting one another has been found near the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT).
Full Story: Astronomers discover 1st binary stars orbiting supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way

Daily Bread, Legislation, Legislature, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 12.18.24: That ‘Bipartisanship’ Didn’t Last Long — Because It Was Never There

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 31. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset is 4:22, for 9 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 87.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865, Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the United States.

Five days ago (less than a single week for those with calendars), one read that Wisconsin’s Senate Democrats had hope for a more bipartisan politics. This libertarian blogger had his doubts (see The Glistening Optimism of Wisconsin’s Senate Democrats).

Along comes Wisconsin Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) to confirm my skepticism:

New-elected Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said Tuesday that she hopes for more bipartisan conversations next year, but that her caucus plans to operate in the same way it has previously, since Republicans still hold the majority in the Wisconsin Legislature, even after losing a handful of seats this election year. 

The Legislature will return with closer margins next year following elections under new legislative maps. Republicans will have an 18-15 majority in the Senate, down from their previous 22-seat supermajority.  In the Assembly Republicans will hold  a 55-45 majority. Felzkowski made her comments during a WisPolitics panel Tuesday alongside Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) and two strategists — Keith Gilkes, a consultant and former chief political advisor for Republican former Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic strategist Tanya Bjork.

“Make no mistake, we still hold the majority,” Felzkowski said. “I hope we have better conversations. I hope we have better negotiations.” 

See Baylor Spears, ‘Make no mistake, we still hold the majority’ says Wisconsin GOP Senate president, Wisconsin Examiner, December 18, 2024.

Again, as before: “For a decade, Wisconsin was the most gerrymandered state in the country, the WISGOP still controls both chambers of the Legislature, and the GOP will soon control all three branches of the federal government (the single most powerful human institution on Earth).”

Those aren’t the sort of people in a genuinely compromising mood.

California driver safe after car plunges into fitness center pool:

A driver in California escaped with minor injuries after they crashed through the glass wall of a fitness center and plunged into a swimming pool.

Daily Bread, Legislation, Legislature, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 12.13.24: The Glistening Optimism of Wisconsin’s Senate Democrats

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 22. Sunrise is 7:17, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 4 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1972, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or Moonwalk of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.

For a decade, Wisconsin was the most gerrymandered state in the country, the WISGOP still controls both chambers of the Legislature, and the GOP will soon control all three branches of the federal government (the single most powerful human institution on Earth). And yet, and yet, Wisconsin’s Senate Democrats are hopeful they can work ‘across the aisle’ with the WISGOP:

Wisconsin Senate Democrats knew going into this year’s elections that their opportunity to flip the Senate wouldn’t come until 2026, but they had a goal of flipping four seats and keeping every seat already held by a Democrat. They succeeded, and now the caucus is preparing for a legislative session with high hopes for bipartisan work.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) told the Wisconsin Examiner in a year-end interview that her 15-member caucus is bringing “a lot of energy, enthusiasm and honesty” to the Senate and is looking forward to working next session. She said the bolstered caucus is returning for the next two-year session with “a lot of good ideas.”

….

With a more evenly split Legislature, Hesselbein said there will be the potential to get more things done in a bipartisan way. She noted that last session several big pieces of legislation, including funding renovations at the stadium where the Milwaukee Brewers play, investing in the state’s local government funding and overhauling the state’s alcohol licensing, had bipartisan support.

See Baylor Spears, Senate Democrats aim to work across the aisle, Wisconsin Examiner, December 13, 2024.

What’s the counter-argument to Senate Minority Leader Hesselbein’s optimism for legislative bipartisanship?

The Wisconsin Assembly Speaker is… Robin Vos.

Perseverance Rover Panorama of Mars’ Jezero Crater:

Travel along a steep slope up to the rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater in this panoramic image captured by NASA’s Perseverance just days before the rover reached the top. The scene shows just how steep some of the slopes leading to the crater rim can be. The rover used its Mastcam-Z camera system to capture this view on Dec. 5, 2024, the 1,349th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. At the time, the rover was about 1,150 feet (350 meters) from, and 250 feet (75 meters) below, the top of the crater rim – a location the science team calls “Lookout Hill.” The rover reached Lookout Hill on Dec. 10 after a climb of 3½ months and 1,640 vertical feet (500 vertical meters).

Daily Bread, Democrats, Education, Elections, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 12.8.24: A Challenge (from the Left) in the State Superintendent Race

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 50. Sunrise is 7:13, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is in its first quarter with 50.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941, President Roosevelt declares December 7 to be “a date which will live in infamy,” after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.

Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, faces a challenge from the left in her race for re-election:

Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly, who is running for her second term in office with the backing of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, faces a challenge from Sauk Prairie School District Superintendent Jeff Wright, a Democrat who says he wants to improve DPI’s communication. 

Elections for the state superintendent are technically nonpartisan. Candidates run on the same ballot in the February primary, and the top two advance. The primary is Feb. 18, 2025 and the general election is April 1. No other candidates have entered the race so far.

….

Prior to winning her first term in 2021, Underly served as the superintendent of Pecatonica School District, a rural district in southwestern Wisconsin. She has also previously worked as a principal, a teacher and a state consultant to Title I schools in Milwaukee and across the state.

Wright, who launched his campaign about a month after Underly, has served as the superintendent of Sauk Prairie School District since 2019 and was named Administrator of the Year in 2024 by the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance. He also previously served as a principal in Chicago. He hasn’t held public office before, but has run unsuccessful campaigns in 2016 and in 2018 for the state Assembly. 

Wright said in an October interview with the Examiner that he probably aligns closely with the current superintendent on many issues, but he thinks there is currently a “disconnect” between DPI and schools.

“They’re not bringing the people together from the teachers’ union, the administrators’ associations and other groups to have an active conversation about what concrete steps are we taking right now to get this work done,” Wright said. “Schools want to know what’s happening at the DPI. We don’t want to be surprised by changes. We want to be in conversation so that it’s very clear that we’re working on the same team.”

See Baylor Spears, State superintendent race kicks off: Underly faces challenge from Sauk Prairie superintendent, Wisconsin Examiner, December 5, 2024.

Underly has the backing of the state’s Democratic Party, and Wright has the backing of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) Political Action Committee and Kirk Bangstad’s Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC.

I’m not a Democrat (rather a Never Trump libertarian who supported Harris-Walz), but it’s hard for me to see how these political action committees can overcome the organizational strength of a major political party. There’s as yet no announced Republican candidate in the race, but there is sure to be at least one (for an office that is, nominally, non-partisan).

Admittedly, any campaign, against almost any incumbent, is likely to make headway with the contention that the public has a lack of information (or in the case of the DPI, technical information that’s been made readily comprehensible to most residents). No one ever went broke, so to speak, by arguing that government statistics were opaque. Still: an outsider’s climb against an organizationally-backed candidate is uphill.

Watch this bird-inspired robotic drone leap into the air:

Daily Bread, Legislature, State Government, Tony Evers, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 10.15.24: Another WISGOP Holdover Appointee

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 51. Sunrise is 7:09, and sunset is 6:11, for 11 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 94.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 6 PM and the Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1815,  Napoleon begins his exile on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The cold, rigid hand of the WISGOP yet grips Wisconsin. Erik Gunn reports Scott Walker holdover’s labor review board term expired in 2023, but she’s still on panel (‘Evers’ commission nominees haven’t gotten state Senate hearings, confirmation votes’):

Six years after Gov. Scott Walker left office, an official he appointed continues to interpret state laws covering jobless pay, workplace injuries and civil rights.

Georgia Maxwell’s term as one of three members of the Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission (LIRC) expired March 1, 2023, more than 18 months ago. Nevertheless she remains in the seat even though Gov. Tony Evers has appointed her replacement.

Maxwell is following the example of another Walker appointee, Fred Prehn, a Wausau dentist who refused to step down from the Natural Resources Board at the end of his term in May 2021.

As the Wisconsin Examiner reported, Republican leaders in the Legislature held off formally confirming Evers’ appointed successor to Prehn and encouraged the Walker appointee to hang on to his seat. A legal battle led to a landmark state Supreme Court ruling in June 2022 declaring Prehn could remain in the post until the Wisconsin Senate approved his successor.

In response to an interview request Monday, Maxwell said she would not answer questions about her decision and instead referred to the letter she sent Evers the day before her term expired.

In that Feb. 28, 2023 letter, Maxwell cited the Supreme Court ruling in the Prehn case and asserted her belief “in the continuity of work that we do” at the commission.

Consider, from 2018, the will of Wisconsin’s voters:

Via Politico

How ’bout 2022? Here are those results:

Via Politico

And yet, and yet, Walker appointees are still holding over.

No one should be shocked. In 1968, George Romero made a full-length documentary1 about creatures that just won’t go away:

NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Launches From Kennedy Space Center (Highlights):

  1. From that film, one of the finest exchanges in cinema history:
    Field Reporter: Are they slow-moving, chief?
    Sheriff McClelland: Yeah, they’re dead. They’re all messed up. ↩︎

Conflicts of Interest, Daily Bread, Ethics, Press, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 9.24.24: Conflicts, What Conflicts?

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 69. Sunrise is 6:45, and sunset is 6:47, for 12 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 52.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1957, President Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

Locally, statewide, and nationally there has been a decline in conflict of interest standards. Conflicts, what conflicts? We’re all pals here, aren’t we? Consider an egregious case involving the WISGOP and the top-flight-and-always-above-board New York Post. Dan Bice reports New York Post campaign reporter was a paid consultant for the Wisconsin GOP:

Starting in June, the New York Post began publishing stories on the presidential, Senate and congressional races in Wisconsin as part of an initiative on battleground states.

But the Post — a right-leaning newspaper owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch — picked a reporter for the project with strong ties to Republicans and conservatives in Wisconsin.

In fact, Amy Sikma was paid twice last year by the state Republican Party for consulting work. She was also a campaign consultant for former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly’s 2023 campaign, previously ran a primary contest for a GOP candidate and worked for an organization that opposes same-sex marriage.

Neither her profile on the Post website nor her stories disclose any of these ties to readers.

The result: Sikma has published a series of stories criticizing presidential candidate Kamala Harris, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, former U.S. Rep. Peter Barca and congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke — all Democrats.

In fact, it appears that one of her stories critical of Baldwin was investigated and dropped by another Post reporter earlier in the year — only to be revived and published by Sikma. The story has been widely touted by Baldwin’s opponent, Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde.

Only the best people…

Another dog killer heard from; updating his résumé for a run as the next governor of South Dakota?

Post by @oneunderscore__
View on Threads

Bad Ideas, Daily Bread, Speaker Vos, UW System, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 6.4.24: Regent Bob Atwell Yields and Resigns (So Much for Vos’s Advice)

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with nighttime thunderstorms and a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:29 for 15h 12m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 4.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1861,  Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott, a Milwaukee surgeon, performs the first recorded removal of a diseased kidney. 

On this day in 1989, the Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing, leading to a massacre by the People’s Liberation Army, with between 241 and 10,000 dead (an unofficial estimate).

FREE WHITEWATER has been following the controversy Regent Bob Atwell created by taking Robin Vos’s advice to remain on the Board of Regents past Atwell’s term. See Another WISGOP Holdover (After an Encouraging Reminder from Lifetime Schemer Robin Vos) and Update on Another WISGOP Holdover.

Atwell has now yielded and resigned from the Regents, confirming once again that listening to Robin Vos is a sucker’s play. Kelly Meyerhofer reports Conservative UW Regent Bob Atwell resigns, clearing way for new appointee to serve:

A conservative University of Wisconsin regent who planned to remain on the board despite his term ending has resigned, clearing the way for his successor to join the board.

Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Bob Atwell to the UW Board of Regents for a term that ended May 1. Atwell emailed UW System leaders late last month about his plan to continue serving until he resigned or his successor was confirmed by the GOP-controlled state Senate. He noted his replacement hadn’t even been named and he hoped his extension would improve communication between the Legislature and the board.

The state Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that political appointees can remain in their posts until the Senate confirms their successor because the expiration of a term doesn’t in itself create a vacancy.

Evers on May 31 announced Timothy Nixon would take Atwell’s spot for a term ending in 2031. Nixon, who earned a bachelor’s degree from UW-Green Bay and a law degree from UW-Madison, is a bankruptcy lawyer for Godfrey & Kahn.

Atwell resigned Monday, according to an email he sent to UW leaders and shared with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Atwell is claiming his actions were ‘misinterpreted,’ but it is Atwell who followed Vos’s lousy advice and declined to change course until he, Atwell, faced public criticism. The best way to avoid being ‘misinterpreted’ is to avoid counsel from men whose advice leads to ‘misinterpretation.’

Which men would those be? Men like this:

“Incredibly Safe!” By Lehnmat – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89016154

Baby Bats via Bat Conservation International:

Crapweasels, Daily Bread, Speaker Vos, UW System, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 6.3.24: Update on Another WISGOP Holdover

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:28 for 15h 11m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 10.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM, and the Police & Fire Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1965,  NASA launches Gemini 4, a NASA crew’s first multi-day space mission. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk.

Here’s an update on yesterday’s post about Another WISGOP Holdover (After an Encouraging Reminder from Lifetime Schemer Robin Vos). Robert Atwell, who has signaled he’ll overstay his term in the Board of Regents, cannot say no other nominees are pending. Henry Redman reports Evers makes three appointments to UW Board of Regents despite Walker appointee’s refusal to leave:

Gov. Tony Evers on Friday announced three appointments to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, including one to replace an appointee of Gov. Scott Walker who has said he won’t leave his position despite the expiration of his term. 

In a news release announcing his appointments to the board, which contains 14 citizen members, Evers did not address Robert Atwell’s statement earlier this week that he would be remaining on the board, but said that the body is at a “critical juncture.” 

“Our UW System is at a critical juncture after a decade-long war waged on higher education by Republican lawmakers in our state, the devastating results of which we are seeing firsthand as campuses close their doors, layoff staff, and cut programs,” Evers said. “The work of the UW Board of Regents is as important as ever, and I have full confidence that the three individuals I am appointing today are ready and prepared to face these challenges head-on, to do what is in the best interest for our students, faculty, and staff, and to ensure we have the fully funded, fully functioning UW System that Wisconsinites deserve and that meets the needs of our students, our workforce, and our local communities.”

On Monday, Atwell said in an email to UW System leaders that he wouldn’t be leaving. He’s able to remain on the board because of a legal precedent set by the state Supreme Court after a Walker appointee to the state Natural Resources Board refused to leave for over a year past the expiration of his term. The precedent states that so long as the state Senate, currently controlled by Republicans, does not confirm an appointee’s replacement, that person can remain in their post indefinitely. Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe has also used the ruling to remain in her post despite opposition from Republicans to her continued service in the role. 

Evers appointed Tim Nixon, Jack Salzwedel, and Desmond Adongo to seven year terms. 

Nixon, a commercial lawyer, was appointed to replace Atwell. He has received three degrees from UW schools. 

Can stay and should stay aren’t the same concepts; a well-ordered system is one in which should trumps can.

Conditions allow firefighters to make progress in containing Corral Fire:

Crapweasels, Daily Bread, Speaker Vos, UW System, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 6.2.24: Another WISGOP Holdover (After an Encouraging Reminder from Lifetime Schemer Robin Vos)

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 77. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:28 for 15h 10m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 19.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1966,  Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.

Readers will recall Fred Prehn, the dentist-cranberry farmer who refused to leave his seat on the state’s Natural Resouces Board at the expiration of his term. Although the Wisconsin Supreme Court, then with a conservative majority, found his actions lawful, Prehn later left that board, in the way that even the most stubborn ticks dislodge themselves after they’ve gourged long enough. See Tiny Fred Prehn, Fred Prehn, the Most Self-Aware Man in All History, and Frederick Prehn finally resigns from Natural Resources Board.

Now comes another, as Todd Richmond reports Republican-appointed University of Wisconsin regent refuses to step down when term ends:

Then-Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, appointed Robert Atwell to the Board of Regents in May 2017. His seven-year term ends this month. 

Atwell sent an email to Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman, regents President Karen Walsh and regents Executive Director Megan Wasley on Monday saying he won’t step down until he chooses to resign or the state Senate confirms a successor. 

The state Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that political appointees don’t have to leave their posts until the Senate confirms their successor. Atwell said in his email that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos reminded him that he could remain in his position on the regents.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has yet to announce Atwell’s successor. 

“I knew Bob Atwell as a person of high personal integrity,” Evers told The Associated Press on Saturday. “Something has changed.”

Quite a menagerie the WISGOP has: Atwell comports himself as a parasitic arachnid and Vos as a weasel. Admirers, it seems, in their own disordered but surprising fashion, of the animal kingdom.

Mass parachute jump over Normandy kicks off commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day:

Parachutists jumped from World War II-era planes into now peaceful Normandy to kick off a week of ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Soldiers from across the United States, Britain, Canada and other Allied nations waded ashore through hails of fire on five beaches on June 6, 1944. French officials, grateful Normandy survivors and other admirers are saying “merci” but also goodbye to the fast-dwindling number of D-Day veterans still alive. (AP video by Nicolas Garriga/Production by Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Daily Bread, Flop Sweat, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 5.10.24: It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 67. Sunrise is 5:35 and sunset 8:06 for 14h 30m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 7.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1775, the Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia.

Rich Kremer reports Recent polling shows Baldwin leading Hovde in Senate race (‘A Quinnipiac poll shows Baldwin leading Hovde by 12 points among registered voters’):

With Election Day less than six months away, multiple new polls show Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin leading Republican challenger Eric Hovde in the race for Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat.
That incl

That includes one survey that showed a double-digit lead for Baldwin, who has led among registered voters in every poll conducted since Hovde entered the race.

A Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday shows Baldwin ahead of Hovde among registered voters by 12 percentage points, with 54 percent saying they’d vote for Baldwin and 42 percent saying they’d vote for Hovde.

There’s still time, but Hovde is proving to be a weak WISGOP choice facing a savvy incumbent.

On Hovde previously: Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, SHOCKING: WISGOP SCIENTISTS INVENT TIME MACHINE, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, and Another Vanity Candidate.

Big Lie, Conservative Populism, Conspiracy Theories, Crackpots, Daily Bread, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 5.5.24: WISGOP Hires Agitator as Executive Director (Of Course They Have)

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 67. Sunrise is 5:41 and sunset 8:01 for 14h 19m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 9.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862, troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.

The conservative populists, the overwhelming part of the WISGOP and the only faction of that party that counts electorally, decry every protest, disturbance, or conflict except their own. And so, and so, it is unsurprising that the Former Trump staffer who said to ‘fan the flame’ after 2020 loss [has been] hired to lead Wisconsin GOP:

The director of Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign in Wisconsin, who pushed allegations of widespread fraud that were ultimately debunked, has been hired to run the Republican Party of Wisconsin heading into the November election.

Andrew Iverson will serve as executive director of the Wisconsin GOP as it prepares to host the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, the state party announced Friday. He takes over for Mark Jefferson, who left in February to serve as executive director of the Tavern League of Wisconsin.

Iverson, a graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran College, most recently worked as regional political director for the Republican National Committee. He previously worked on campaigns in Wisconsin for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil. In 2020, Iverson was the state director for Trump Victory, a joint operation of the Trump campaign and the RNC.

….

Biden defeated Trump by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2020, a result that has withstood independent and partisan audits and reviews, as well as lawsuits and the recounts Trump requested.

“Here’s the drill: Comms is going to continue to fan the flame and get the word out about Democrats trying to steal this election. We’ll do whatever they need (inaudible) help with. Just be on standby in case there’s any stunts we need to pull,” Iverson said in the recording of a meeting two days after the November election that was obtained by The Associated Press.

Iverson’s past work for Trump, Johnson, and Steil is a résumé built on a trifecta of misfits, conspiracy theorists, and the character disordered. See The Local Press Conference that Was Neither Local Nor a Press Conference.

Cat misunderstands its job:

Congress, Conservative Populism, Daily Bread, Trump, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 4.12.24: So Much for Conservative Populism Before MAGA

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 58. Sunrise is 6:15 and sunset 7:34 for 13h 19m 24s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 18.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt’s death.

When Rep. Mike Gallagher decided to resign from Congress, two longstanding conservative populists announced they were running for the open 8th Congressional District seat. See Wisconsin’s Mike Gallagher Heads for the Exits and Rep. Mike Gallagher Knows that MAGA Will Be Someone Else’s Headache Soon. The two tenured WISGOP populists running in that district have now learned that tenure as conservatives doesn’t matter. It’s sycophancy to Mr. Trump that matters:

With the support of former President Donald Trump, former gas station owner Tony Wied of De Pere entered the race this week for Wisconsin’s open 8th Congressional District — making him the third Republican candidate to announce. 

Wied, who owned six Dino Stop gas stations and convenience stores in Wisconsin until he sold them in 2022, is positioning himself as an outsider, who would look to deliver the “America First change this country needs” in Congress. He officially launched his campaign at an event in Green Bay on Monday evening. 

“Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District is hungry for an America First outsider,” Wied said in a statement announcing his campaign on Tuesday morning. “For too long, career politicians have failed to deliver the results we desperately need.” 

“I look forward to earning the trust of Wisconsin voters and taking the lessons I’ve learned from three decades of operating businesses in Northeast Wisconsin to Washington, DC,” Wied added.

Two Republicans — former state Sen. Roger Roth of Appleton and current state Sen. André Jacque of De Pere — had already entered the race for the seat, which is open following the surprise departure of U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, who is set to resign next month. 

Conservative populism is roughly synonymous with MAGA, but only up to the moment the MAGA leader decides otherwise. Afterward, as Jacque and Roth have now learned, past tenure as an ideological stalwart melts before the MAGA leader’s personal preferences.

Japan to give DC more cherry trees:

Bad Ideas, Daily Bread, Elections, Ethics, Excuses and Rationalizations, Fur-Wetting Dogs, Law, Mendacity, Presidential race 2020, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 2.19.24: Former WISGOP Chairman Says He Was Tricked (But He’s a Lawyer Who Signed False Documents)

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 Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 45. Sunrise is 6:45 and sunset 5:31 for 10h 46m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board will hold a legislative breakfast at 8 AM, and Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1954, the Soviet Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.

Anderson Cooper, Aliza Chasan, Sarah Koch, and Madeleine Carlisle report Former Wisconsin Republican Party chair says he was tricked by fake elector plan:

Former Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt was nominated to be an elector if former President Donald Trump won the state in 2020, but after Trump lost, Hitt and nine other Republican electors met at the state capitol and signed documents falsely claiming Trump won.

Hitt said lawyers told him the documents they were signing were meaningless unless Trump’s legal team won its lawsuit seeking to dismiss over 200,000 votes in two Democratic counties.

Hitt said he was advised that if a court ruled in Trump’s favor and he and the other Republicans did not meet and sign the documents on Dec. 14, 2020 — when the Democratic electors were required to meet to cast their votes for President Biden — he would be responsible for Trump forfeiting Wisconsin.

“It was not a safe time,” he said. “If my lawyer is right, and the whole reason Trump loses Wisconsin is because of me, I would be scared to death.”

….

But Hitt said he didn’t believe there had been widespread fraud in the state.

Hitt said he was advised by the state GOP’s outside legal counsel on Dec. 4, 2020, to gather the other Republican electors at the Capitol on Dec. 14 and, as a contingency, sign a document claiming they were “the duly elected and qualified Electors for President” for Wisconsin. 

“In case a court would overrule the election here in Wisconsin,” Hitt said he was told.

On the morning of Dec. 14, in a narrow 4-3 ruling, the state Supreme Court rejected the Trump campaign’s attempt to throw out votes cast in the two Democratic counties. Hitt said he and the other fake Wisconsin electors met anyway to sign documents falsely claiming Trump won, because he had been told the Trump campaign was still planning to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hitt is, himself, a lawyer. He signed false documents, and now relies on other lawyers’ opinions in place of his own. He signed false documents and now contends that he was afraid not to sign. (Instead: he was not courageous enough to decline.) 

Hitt is unfit for the law and should be disbarred. No person of good judgment, whether lawyer or non-lawyer, should have sympathy for him. 

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