Good morning. 
Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 38. Sunrise is 7:22 AM and sunset 4:23 PM for 9h 01m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.3% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM, and the Whitewater Unified School Board meets in open session at 7 PM.
On this day in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans
The Wisconsin State Journal editorial board writes Ron Johnson spouts his worst idea yet:
Wisconsin’s conspiratorial U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has spouted plenty of garbage in recent months — that mouthwash has been proven to kill COVID-19, that unvaccinated people are being put “basically into internment camps,” that climate change is “bullsh-t.”
But the Oshkosh Republican’s worst idea among many doozies went like this: He wants his partisan pals at the statehouse in Madison to take over the administration of Wisconsin elections.
Republicans who control the Legislature have already gerrymandered voting districts in Wisconsin to give conservative candidates an unfair advantage in elections. Johnson isn’t satisfied with that because the rigged maps won’t help him. He has to run statewide for his U.S. Senate seat.
So Johnson wants his colleagues to go further. He called on Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and other GOP leaders to all but count the votes following elections so Republican candidates are more assured of victory.
Republicans in other states are similarly trying to seize control of election administration. They hope to decide close races in their favor by manipulating voting rules before and after Election Day. If a Democrat narrowly wins, for example, just throw out some of the Democrat’s votes on a subjective technicality.
Wisconsin should reject and prevent such devious attempts to undermine our democracy.
It’s hard to rank Johnson’s ideas, as so many are destructive in different ways. Unlike Johnson’s other errors, conspiracy theories, and lies, his proposal on elections has an obvious practical advantage: WISGOP control of elections would help him capture a third term.
Cui bono?
Ron Johnson.