FREE WHITEWATER

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, October 29th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Godzilla Minus One

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Tuesday, October 29th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Godzilla Minus One @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Epic/Monster/Horror

Rated PG-13

2 hours, 4 minutes (2023)

In Japan, Godzilla is a revered pop culture icon and national hero. On November 3, 2024, after 40 films and over 70 years, Japan will be celebrating Godzilla Day. Don’t laugh. This film was the 2024 Oscar Winner for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, and is one of the highest/best rated films ever, by critics/audience. (Certified Fresh Tomatoes). Personally, as a longtime Godzilla fan, I can tell you this is The. Best. Godzilla. Film. EVER.

Language: Japanese; English subtitles.

One can find more information about Godzilla Minus One  at the Internet Movie Database.



Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.24.24: Nearly 100,00 Ballots Cast on First Day of In-Person Early Voting

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 64. Sunrise is 7:19, and sunset is 5:57, for 10 hours, 38 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent, with 48.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

By U.S. Army – White Sands Missile Range/Applied Physics Laboratory [1]https://chaoglobal.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/nasa-15/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12004314

On this day in 1946, a camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.

Henry Redman reports Nearly 100k voters cast ballots on first day of early voting:

The first day of in-person early voting in Wisconsin saw 97,436 people cast ballots for the Nov. 5 election. So many people voted on Tuesday that it caused a slowdown of the state election software system, leading to long lines in some places. 

The number of ballots cast on the opening day of early voting far surpassed other recent elections. In the 2022 midterm election, which had gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races on the ballot, 33,644 people cast ballots on the first day of early voting. In the 2020 presidential election 79,774 people showed up on the first day of early voting. 

Despite Tuesday’s high turnout, the popularity of absentee voting in general still lags behind the 2020 presidential election when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many voters to vote remotely. 

After more than four years of Republicans and Donald Trump attacking the voting system and making accusations that any voting methods other than  going to the polls on Election Day are vulnerable to fraud, the GOP nonetheless encouraged Republicans this year to vote early. 

Early voting in Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, Illinois and Georgia show lines outside polls:

Daily Bread, Elections, Politics, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.23.24: Wisconsin Senate Outlook

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 59. Sunrise is 7:18, and sunset is 5:59, for 10 hours, 40 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 57.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 4 PM.

On this day in 1868, having taken the shogunate’s seat of power at Edo and declared it his new capital as Tokyo, Mutsuhito proclaims the start of the new Meiji era.

Anya Van Wagtendonk, Joe Schulz, and Evan Casey report Fight for control of state government runs through 3 Wisconsin Senate districts (‘Races for the 14th, 30th and 8th state Senate districts have been hotly contested’). They highlight three Senate districts: 14th District (Democrat Democrat Sarah Keyeski and Republican incumbent Joan Ballweg), 30th District (Democrat Jamie Wall and Republican Jim Rafter), and the 8th District (Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin and Republican incumbent Duey Stroebel). These races will not alone be enough to determine Wisconsin Senate control this year, but outcomes will suggest longer-term trends.

The story offers snapshots of each district:

[The 14th] district now encompasses all of Richland and Sauk counties and portions of several others, including Dane County, a Democratic stronghold. It includes the communities of Richland Center, Reedsburg, Baraboo, Spring Green, Sauk City, Lodi, Portage, Columbus and the Wisconsin Dells. Part of the district also dips into the city of Madison.

According to data compiled by Marquette University, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would have won the district by about 10 points in 2022, and President Joe Biden would have carried it by about 4 points in 2020.

….

Before redistricting, the 30th Senate District stretched north to Marinette, and favored Republicans. It’s been held by Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Green Bay, since 2021, but this year, he’s running in the adjacent 2nd Senate District, a seat with a strong Republican lean.

In recent elections, the 30th District has leaned Democratic. In 2022, Evers would have carried it by about 7 points. Four years ago Biden would have won it by about 3.

….

Wisconsin’s 8th Senate District includes parts of Milwaukee County and also Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee Counties, also known as the WOW Counties. The area has historically been a Republican stronghold, but it’s been trending Democratic in recent years.

The test this fall is whether redrawn districts like these will lead to partisan changes.

How To Win A Nobel Prize: A three minute guide:

Harris-Walz, Kamala Harris, Politics, Presidential Race 2024

Daily Bread for 10.22.24: A Reminder on Jill Stein

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 7:17, and sunset is 6:00, for 10 hours, 43 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 68 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval quarantine of the Communist nation.

It’s understandable that voters would be curious about different candidates. Some ordinary voters might want, reasonably, to take a look at Jill Stein, for example. Prospective voters, however, are not Stein; well-meaning and curious people should not be confused or conflated with this aged perennial candidate. She may seem as through she’s a viable choice, but looking closely she’s a shill for Putin and an effective vote for Trump.

Lawrence O’Donnell describes Stein’s Trojan Horse candidacy aptly:

And look, and look… there’s a distinction to draw. Voters are sometimes mistaken and misguided, and should be critiqued cautiously. Candidates and their operatives, especially someone like Stein, do not deserve gentle care and feeding.

(In a comment and my reply about Stein here at FREE WHITEWATER from two months ago, this libertarian blogger yielded no ground to a Stein operative, and ended further comment from him at a moment of my choosing. Stein and her campaign team, in Wisconsin and elsewhere, are experienced politicos who deserve no particular caution or deference.)

This libertarian blogger is not a Democrat, but instead is a Never Trump man who knows that Trumpism can only be overcome by joining the largest possible coalition. That coalition is composed mostly, but not exclusively, of Democrats. That coalition has Kamala Harris as its standard bearer. Harris does not have my partial or sometime support: she has my full and complete support in defense of our constitutional order. I am not hesitant about supporting her; I am wholly supportive of her and her defense of our centuries-long liberal democratic tradition against autocracy.

It’s important both to take a principled position and hold that position against opposition. Cannot imagine another other way, truly.

Bear Seizes Control of Gatlinburg, TN (Demands daily supply of honey):

Daily Bread, Immigration, Presidential Race 2024, Trump

Daily Bread for 10.21.24: Fact Checking Trump on Immigration

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 79. Sunrise is 7:16, and sunset is 6:02, for 10 hours, 46 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 77.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1897, the Yerkes Observatory is dedicated:

Founded by astronomer George Hale and located in Williams Bay, the Yerkes Observatory houses the world’s largest refracting optical telescope, with a lens of diameter 102 cm/40 inches. It was built through the largess of the tycoon Charles Tyson Yerkes, who rebuilt important parts of the Chicago transportation system after the fire. Situated in a 77-acre park on the shore of Lake Geneva, this observatory was the center for world astronomy in the early 20th century and invited a number of astronomers from around the world, including Japan, for scientific exchange.

Trump has said much about immigration. The Marshall Project has published Fact-checking Over 12,000 of Donald Trump’s Statements About Immigration. The fact check is detailed, and I’d encourage readers to review the full article. Below are summaries of the main points of the fact check:

TRUMP: “Under Border Czar Harris, our communities are being ravaged by migrant crime.”

FACT CHECK: According to a consistent, overwhelming amount of criminology research, immigrants to the United States, both legal and undocumented, have committed less crime than native-born Americans going all the way back to the 1870s.

TRUMP: “[South American countries are] emptying out their prisons and their mental institutions into the United States of America.”

FACT CHECK: Experts and journalists find no evidence that South American countries are intentionally freeing mentally ill and incarcerated people to infiltrate the U.S.

TRUMP: “Cases like Kate Steinle, murdered in San Francisco by a five-time deported illegal immigrant, or cases like Sarah Root… or my friend Jamiel Shaw who lost his incredible son…”

FACT CHECK: Trump relies on emotionally powerful anecdotes to portray an alleged crime wave by undocumented immigrants, but research shows that immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans.

TRUMP: “They want [unauthorized immigrants] voting, because they believe they’ll be voting for Democrats every single time.”

FACT CHECK: There is no evidence that Democratic immigration policies have led to any meaningful increase in noncitizen voting, or in any form of demographic advantage for the party.

TRUMP: [Democrats] want sanctuary cities, which means crime and drugs and death.”

FACT CHECK: Research consistently shows no link between sanctuary policies and increased crime rates. Instead, migrants in sanctuary cities are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens, with cities tending to experience decreases in property crime and homicide rates.

TRUMP: “Do you want to hear ‘The Snake?’…This was an old song that I revised… Think of it as the people that we’re letting in.

FACT CHECK: The daughters of Oscar Brown Jr., the original writer of the snake song, said Trump’s interpretation is dishonest and immigrants are not dangerous like the snake.

TRUMP: “We have no idea who they are. They want to come into our country. They may be ISIS. It may be the great Trojan Horse of all time. Who knows?”

FACT CHECK: Arab and Muslim refugees from the Middle East are unlikely to enter the U.S. due to rigorous vetting. In the rare cases they were accepted, they have been connected to planning or carrying out acts of terrorism in only a handful of instances since 1980.

TRUMP: “Illegal aliens coming into our country under Biden are treated better than our vets.”

FACT CHECK: While it’s true many undocumented people make use of public benefits, their monetary contribution to the country likely exceeds the cost of the benefits they consume, and they do not receive more benefits than citizens who are veterans.

TRUMP: “Democrats are the party of open borders, socialism, and crime, whether you like it or not.”

FACT CHECK: The claim that Democrats want open borders is false, since their recent policies focus on enforcing border laws and reducing illegal crossings.

TRUMP: “Dwight Eisenhower – nice guy – he moved a million and a half people out of the United States.”

FACT CHECK: Trump claims a 1950s-era deportation operation was “humane” and resulted in over a million deportations, but that number is contested, and the initiative took a steep humanitarian toll.

TRUMP: “They’ve taken the jobs of African Americans and Hispanics, and that was obvious to me. Next is gonna to be unions, you watch.”

FACT CHECK: Trump greatly overstates the tenuous connection between people who cross the border illegally to the “taking” of Black or union jobs.

TRUMP: “Believe me, it’s gonna work. Walls work.”

FACT CHECK: The reality of building a border wall is complex, and the barrier has proven to be ineffective, costly to taxpayers, and a driver for more dangerous modes of entry into the country. Historically, many undocumented immigrants overstay their legal visas, something a wall wouldn’t prevent.

TRUMP: “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats… They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

FACT CHECK: There is no evidence to support claims that Haitian migrants are abducting, killing or eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio.

State officials discuss election security concerns:

Animals, Daily Bread, Holiday

Daily Bread for 10.20.24: Bats 1 and 2

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 72. Sunrise is 7:15, and sunset is 6:03, for 10 hours, 49 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 86.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1944, American general Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he comes ashore during the Battle of Leyte.

It’s soon to be Halloween, and while some bats are around all year, others appear only during the season.

Bat 1:

Bat 2:

Coast Guard rescues 17-year-old kayaker:

The Coast Guard rescued a 17-year-old kayaker who had become separated from his high school team, capsized, and had clung to his kayak for hours.

Agriculture, Daily Bread, Eric Hovde, Sen. Baldwin, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.19.24: California Carpetbagger with a Utah Bank Doesn’t Bother to Read Farm Bill on Which Wisconsin Agriculture Relies

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 72. Sunrise is 7:13, and sunset is 6:05, for 10 hours, 51 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 93.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 202 BC, during the Second Punic War, Roman legions under Scipio Africanus defeat Hannibal Barca, leader of the army defending Carthage, at the Battle of Zama.

Eric Hovde, a fast-talking, strangely nasal carpetbagger from California wants to be a United States senator from Wisconsin but he’s been too busy to read up on the farm bill on which Wisconsin agriculture depends:

Post by @dscc
View on Threads

He can’t opine? It’s a Wisconsin debate, with a predictable question, important to the state from which he is seeking federal office.

Bonus error: This California livin’ man, who wants to tout his local ties when he was in school here decades ago, isn’t aware that his Wisconsin-based and Wisconsin-focused opponent is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School:

Post by @american_bridge
View on Threads

It’s been many years, and thousands of miles, so Hovde may not even recall the location of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Filled as this bleeding-heart libertarian blogger is with love for all my fellow creatures, I’ll offer Mr. Hovde a map with directions from his California home to the University of Wisconsin Law School:

It’s 29 hours by car, but, ya know, a man whose “ocean view mansion is located in one of Laguna Beach’s most affluent and luxurious gated communities with California’s only private beach, a private fire department, and private yacht parking dock” can probably spring for a plane ticket, or even his own plane, truly.

Previously at FREE WHITEWATER: Hovde & Baldwin, Hovde Spreads Lies About Hurricane Response (Of Course He Does), These Aren’t Subtle Men, Eric Hovde’s Banking Deal with a Cartel-Linked Mexican Bank, Hovde’s Evident, Ignorant Racism, Eric Hovde Treats Wisconsin as a Side Hustle,  It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, and Another Vanity Candidate.  

You’ve Never Seen Graffiti Like This Before:

French artist Guillaume Legros AKA SAYPE living in Switzerland makes real-life graffiti. From Switzerland to France, Canada, Italy and even Burkina Faso, he is on a mission to document the stories of migrants through art leaving his mark one spray paint at a time, painting interlinked hands across different countries to bring humanity together.

Daily Bread, Economy, Employment, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.18.24: Wisconsin’s Strong Employment Numbers

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 68. Sunrise is 7:12, and sunset is 6:06, for 10 hours, 54 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 98.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1867,  the United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

September was another good month for Wisconsin’s economy. Erik Gunn reports Wisconsin employment, jobs numbers stayed strong in September, state reports:

Unemployment in Wisconsin remained at a record-low rate in September while the number of jobs was still close to a record high, the state labor department reported Thursday.

The projected number of Wisconsinites employed in September topped 3,059,700 — a state record, according to the state Department of Workforce Development (DWD). The department reported that September was the fifth month in a row that the state employment number reached a new record high.

The unemployment rate for the month remained at 2.9%, according to DWD. Employment numbers are projections drawn from a federal survey of households.

We’ve reason to feel optimistic that this favorable, months-long trend will continue.

Rescued sea otters make their debut at the New York Aquarium:

Two rescued southern sea otters made their formal debut at the New York Aquarium on October 17. The two female otters were rescued off the coast of California at young ages and were deemed non-releasable as pups. They were cared for at other Association of Zoos and Aquariums before arriving in New York, where they will now reside.

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, October 22nd, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Vast of Night

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Tuesday, October 22nd at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of The Vast of Night @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Drama/Science Fiction/Thriller

Rated PG-13

1 hour, 31 minutes (2019)

Reminiscent of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits”! One night in New Mexico in the late 1950s, a young switchboard operator and a radio DJ discover a mysterious audio frequency that could be extraterrestrial in origin… this independent film was a critical success at many film festivals.

One can find more information about The Vast of Night at the Internet Movie Database



America, City, Daily Bread, Economy, Immigration, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.17.24: Mass Deportation Would Be Economically ($1,000,000,000,000) Devastating

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 64. Sunrise is 7:11, and sunset is 6:08, for 10 hours, 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is full, with 100 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1781, British General Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the Battle (Siege) of Yorktown:

The British Prime Minister, Lord North, is reported to have exclaimed “Oh God, it’s all over” when told of the defeat.[87] Three months after the battle, a motion to end “further prosecution of offensive warfare on the continent of North America” – effectively a no confidence motion – passed in the British House of Commons. Lord North and his government resigned.

Anti-immigrant rhetoric often proposes with mass deportation, although in neither Wisconsin nor Whitewater is there majority support for that extreme approach. See The Curious Case of the ‘Invasion’ that Didn’t Bark in the Night and Wisconsin Polling on Immigration.

Mass deportation would be a moral failure, as wholesale detention and dispossession would be an ethic cleansing abhorrent to the reasonable & civilized. It would, secondarily, be an economic catastrophe for America.

In a review of mass deportation, Eric Boehm @ Reason writes Trump’s Deportation Plan Would Cost Nearly $1 Trillion (‘And it would wreck the economy’):

The governmental infrastructure required to arrest, process, and remove 13 million undocumented immigrants would cost nearly $1 trillion over 10 years and would deal a “devastating” hit to economic growth, according to a report published last week by the American Immigration Council (AIC). The think tank estimates that a mass deportation plan would shrink America’s gross domestic product by at least 4.2 percent, due to the loss of workers in industries already struggling to find enough labor.

Trump has promised to create a “deportation force” to round up undocumented immigrants and eject them from the country. This would entail targeting two groups: the roughly 11 million people who lacked permanent legal status as of 2022 (that’s the most recent number from the American Community Survey) and the estimated 2.3 million people who have entered the country without legal status since January 2023 (that figure come from the Department of Homeland Security).

The notion that the native born would fill jobs and gaps is false, as Boehm writes:

The costs of mass deportation would rebound into the economy in several ways. The economy would shrink and federal tax revenues would decline. The construction industry, where an estimated 14 percent of workers are undocumented migrants, would be particularly hard hit, but the effects would be felt throughout the economy.

“Removing that labor would disrupt all forms of construction across the nation, from homes to businesses to basic infrastructure,” the AIC notes. “As industries suffer, hundreds of thousands of U.S.-born workers could lose their jobs.”

That’s an important point. Immigration restrictionists often assume that deporting millions of undocumented workers would allow more Americans to fill those jobs, but the economy is not a zero-sum game. A shrinking economy would be bad news for many workers who aren’t directly impacted by Trump’s deportation plan.

The AIC’s estimates are generally in line with the estimates made earlier this year by analysts at the Penn Wharton Budget Center (PWBM), a fiscal policy think tank housed at the University of Pennsylvania. “The costs of the former president’s plan to deport the more than 14 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. today could easily reach more than $1 trillion over 10 years, before taking into account the labor costs necessary for such a project or the unforeseen consequences of reducing the labor supply by such drastic amounts over a short period,” reported Marketwatch, which requested the PWBM estimate.

Of the AIC report, see Mass Deportation Devastating Costs to America, Its Budget and Economy.

Mass deportation would be morally reprehensible and economically devastating.

Commuter distracted by phone survives close call with train:

A commuter distracted by their phone survived a close call with an oncoming train in Buenos Aires.

Daily Bread, Immigration, Poll, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.16.24: Wisconsin Polling on Immigration

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 57. Sunrise is 7:09, and sunset is 6:10, for 11 hours, 0 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 98.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis begins as U.S. President John F. Kennedy is informed of photos taken on October 14 by a U-2 showing nuclear missiles (the crisis will last for 13 days starting from this point).

Anti-immigrant messaging from a vocal faction does not represent the sentiments of most Wisconsin voters. Jack Kelly, reporting at Wisconsin Watch, writes that Donald Trump wants mass deportations, but poll finds even majority of Republicans don’t support that:

Anti-immigrant messaging featured prominently at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer.

Convention goers waved “MASS DEPORTATION NOW!” signs. The party’s 2024 platform declared that with a second term former President Donald Trump would “CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY.”

But even as immigration remains a top issue for the Trump campaign and voters — it was tied for the second most important issue for voters in a recent Marquette Law School Poll — new survey results suggest a majority of Wisconsin Republicans might not be sold on one of Trump’s top campaign pledges.

The poll, conducted by the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation, which has been conducting in-depth surveys on key issues in six battleground states, found that 63% of Wisconsin residents would prefer finding a pathway to citizenship for “undocumented immigrants who have been living in the US for some years and have not committed a serious crime. They would pay a penalty and any taxes they owe. After several years, they would be allowed to apply for citizenship.”

Only 25% in Wisconsin support mass deportation, described as an effort “with the goal of finding, detaining and deporting most or all of the 11 million people who have been living in the US without legal status. States would be asked to use their local law enforcement or National Guard, and the Federal government may use the military.”

More than three in four Democrats and 51% of Republicans in Wisconsin prefer a path to citizenship over a mass deportation program. Thirty-six percent of Republicans in this crucial battleground state preferred mass deportation. Nationally, 58% prefer a path to citizenship while just 26% favor mass deportation.

Kelly quotes Steven Kull, the Program for Public Consultation’s director, with an explanation for the dissipation of heated rhetoric at rallies and campaign ads when voters as asked to consider proposals:

[I]n a rally or group setting, a message of “this is going to be dealt with” resonates with voters, he said. But, when voters “actually reason through” the pluses and minuses of each option, they are able to shift their views on something they initially like when hearing surface-level details, Kull said.

Rhetoric that tends toward demands for mass deportation is a minority view in Wisconsin, and it’s a minority view in Whitewater. See FREE WHITEWATER The Curious Case of the ‘Invasion’ that Didn’t Bark in the Night.

Pair of giant pandas arrive at National Zoo:

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. ↩︎