Battleground Wisconsin

We open the show with Sen. Ron Johnson’s very disturbing comment that he is pushing his fellow Senators to legalize insurance industry discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. We also discuss the surprising support by the Republican leading on the Opioid epidemic, Rep. John Nygren, for Gov. Walker’s shameless plan to force drug test BadgerCare recipients. We welcome new Citizen Action organizer Katie Dunn to tell us about the “Healthcare For All” Organizing Cooperative she is launching with healthcare professionals, consumers and advocates. The new cooperative will have a launch party next Thursday, June 15th at 6:30 in Milwaukee (Details below.) Turning to threats in Congress, Liz Ryan Murray, the policy director at People’s Action, joins us to talk about the CHOICE Act which deregulates Wall Street and payday lenders. Finally, Jorna Taylor joins us to discuss Paul Ryan’s new vulnerability in the 2018 election, including 3 candidates already running against the author of the wildly unpopul

We dig into the dismal economic report showing Wisconsin's job growth last year was the worst since 2010 and that we are continuing to hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs. What does the new data say about Scott Walker's economic performance? Jorna educates us on a new GOP bill to restrict free speech at the UW System. We look at the NRA’s dangerous effort to allow people to carry open guns without permits, concealed weapons without training, and guns onto school grounds. We discuss the Joint Finance Committee’s vote to allow state park fees to increase 62%. Robert updates us on the latest U.S. Senate health care repeal and replace news and a new legislative effort by state Democrats to protect critical health care protections in the ACA. We close the show with a discussion of Trump’s dangerous decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreements and its impact on the U.S. economy and the future of the species.

We review the new Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) findings that the House healthcare bill will result in 23 million losing their health coverage and potentially destabilize the Wisconsin health insurance market. We also look at the prospects for the House plan in the Senate. We welcome Ken Taylor, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, to analyze President Trump’s budget and its repercussions for Wisconsin families. We look closer at Medicaid cuts in Trump’s budget and discuss how Trump’s budget is even upsetting Republican members of Congress. We close with a discussion of GOP plans to start a conservative “think tank” at the University of Wisconsin and Democratic efforts in the Joint Finance Committee to support state funding for two years of free college education.

This week the panel digs into the latest scathing audit of WEDC, Governor Walker's failed jobs agency. The audit finds that WEDC cannot even track the number of jobs it allegedly created, has over $11 million in delinquent loans, and to top it all off spent over $41,000 on chauffeurs. The panel also discussed the new GOP anti-riot bill, the apparent appointment of extreme right-wing Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke to the Department of Homeland Security, and the shocking bad week for Trump. Finally, the panel discusses the state of the health care debate, including Walker's waiver which would impose forced drug testing for BadgerCare, and the U.S. Senate health care repeal process where Sen. Ron Johnson has joined the working group.

We welcome the Center for Media and Democracy’s Deputy Director, Mary Bottari to discuss their extensive investigation into the Bradley Foundation’s “weaponized philanthropy.” New recently released information reveals in tremendous detail how the Bradley Foundation has spent hundreds of millions in tax deductible money to build a huge partisan apparatus across the country molded on what they have already done to Wisconsin. We also review Walker’s insulting exchange with Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson over Walker's statement that he would consider seeking a waiver to re-legalize preexisting condition discrimination. In the second half of the podcast, we present an in-depth interview with Robert Hickey, co-director of Campaign for America's Future and one of the top strategists on the left, about the political moment and how to turn the resistance movement into political power.

We discuss the House Republicans narrow vote on Thursday to pass their disastrous health care plan which will result in 24 million people losing their insurance and allow discrimination against people with preexisting conditions. The panel looks at what’s next for GOP health care plan in the Senate. We also have an interview with Daniel Biss, a progressive candidate for Governor of Illinois. Mr. Biss is running on a bold progressive platform that hopefully will inspire you and a Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate with a similar agenda.

This week we have a special edition of the Battleground Wisconsin Podcast featuring exclusive interviews with 3 rising progressive leaders who have unique perspectives on how to build the political power to achieve the full promise of American life. The interviews were recorded this week in Washington, D.C. at the People’s Action Founding Convention. The interviews include: (1) Van Jones, a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. He served as a special advisor to the Obama White House and is currently a political contributor on CNN. (2) Pramila Jayapal, a newly elected Congresswoman from the state of Washington who had already made a huge splash on the national scene. She is an Indian immigrant who came to America when she was 16. Pramila attributes her election to her bold, progressive agenda and not being afraid to stand up to corporate and special interests. 3) Ai-jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Co-director of the Caring A

We welcome guest panelist Anna Dvorak to review another busy political week in Wisconsin. We cover Trump’s visit to Kenosha, Sen. Ron Johnson’s debate with high school students, Gov. Walker’s Medicaid waiver that allows drug testing and raises costs, and the push by conservatives in the legislature to end abortion coverage for state employees. We also focus on the crazy anti-government outburst from Rep. Sean Duffy at his public town hall that revealed a dangerously constricted view of government that if fulfilled would eliminate Medicare and BadgerCare and would abolish public schools. Anna details the growing movement in Wisconsin for fair elections and nonpartisan redistricting reform. We conclude by exposing the sophomoric research by a UW-Madison researcher with strong ties to Gov. Walker that claims (with no causality) that the Manufacturing and Agricultural tax break is responsible for creating 42,000 jobs - A laughable 25% of all job growth under Gov. Walker.

In a media call this morning Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, and substance use disorder experts Dr Richard Brown and Jesse Heffernan raised concerns about Gov. Scott Walker proposed Medicaid waiver seeking permission from the Trump Administration to make a series of changes in the state’s BadgerCare program.

President Trump threatened to sabotage the Affordable Care Act this week, showing his willingness to play politics with the lives of the American people. We discuss what this act of political terror portends for the GOP’s ability to pass a disastrous healthcare bill. We talk about the continued ducking of public town halls by Sen. Ron Johnson and Rep. Paul Ryan, while other members of Congress, like Glenn Grothman, hold packed public hearings to try and defend themselves on GOP health care plans. Paul Ryan’s star maybe fading with Americans but he is still popular with big money special interests who helped him raise tens of millions. The 2018 elections have a new progressive Attorney General candidate named Josh Kaul, a former federal prosecutor who also recently took on incumbent Brad Schimel over Republican voter suppression laws. We preview the "March for Science" in Madison on April 22nd and review the strong rebuke by Wisconsin sportsman of key GOP anti-environmental legislation at this week’s Conservat

We welcome sunny weather with a debrief of this week’s spring general election in Wisconsin, which included a big victory for State School Superintendent Tony Evers and a number of progressive women candidates. It appears President Trump, Paul Ryan, and House Republicans have failed to resuscitate their disastrous healthcare bill before the April recess while Gov. Walker is pushing a punitive plan to drug test BadgerCare recipients. We highlight the state budget public hearings that started this week, a Republican bill to greatly restrict election recounts, and more troubles for Walker's failing jobs agency. We close with a discussion of the immediate and long term implications of the Senate Republicans use of the “nuclear option” to ram through the conformation of Trump SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch.

We conduct an autopsy of RyanCare while looking ahead to emerging threats and opportunities in the battle for the future of health care in America. The panel speculates on the future of Paul Ryan in the aftermath of his healthcare debacle. We discuss Trump’s dangerous executive order reneging on our international obligations to fight climate change. We welcome the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Andrea Kaminski, to unpack the conservative campaign to call a Constitutional Convention. We encourage listeners to participate in the upcoming public hearings on the state budget that start on Monday (see list of JFC public hearings below). This is GOTV (Get Out The Vote) weekend for Spring elections on Tuesday, April 4th. Citizen Action reminds you to vote for Tony Evers on Tuesday and get out and volunteer this weekend. We close the podcast celebrating the arrival of an election opponent for controversial Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke in 2018.

We discuss the failed push by Donald Trump and Paul Ryan to force through a dangerous “healthcare” plan that will take health coverage away from 24 million Americans. We dig into the shocking last minute changes Ryan made after pulling the vote on Thursday in a disparate attempt to appease right-wing conservatives. We also speculate as to the next steps in the fight now that Trump and Ryan have suffered a humiliating defeat. We also take a step back to put the historic vote in the broader perspective of the right-wing crusade to dangerously constrain the role of our democracy as an instrument for social and economic justice, and the implications of a stunning defeat for the future of conservatism and progressive reform.

The panel reviews the huge snow-covered protest of Paul Ryan's murderous health care plan that took place this week outside Paul Ryan's Racine office. Ryan has now become the central character in an plot to take take health care away from 24 million Americans. We also welcome economics professor Dr. Michael Rosen, president of AFT Local 212, to discuss Trump’s plan to cut aid to college students. Robert interviews Tony Evers, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, about his important upcoming April 4th general election against ethically challenged conservative Lowell Holtz. Matt talks with Wisconsin Working Families executive director Marina Dimitrijevic about the effort elect pro-public education school board members in Milwaukee on April 4th.

The panel digs into the latest Republican health care "bait and switch" delivered by Paul Ryan this week, and preposterous Scott Walker defenses of disastrous new Wisconsin jobs numbers. We also have a special interview with People's Action Co-Director George Goehl, who is one of the national progressive leaders plotting a strategy to get from Trump resistance to a political revolution.

We announce the big news that Battleground Wisconsin will start airing on 1510 AM talk radio in Southeastern Wisconsin this Sunday at 3pm. We launch our new radio show with special guest Sen. Tammy Baldwin to talk about the current healthcare battle in Congress and why it such a deeply personal fight for her. On our Paul Ryan Watch segment we pick up on last week’s discussion of Ryan’s horse-riding media circus along the U.S./Mexico border with One Wisconsin Now’s Scot Ross. We also discuss the increasing importance voters are placing on fair elections and ending our corrupt system that allows politicians to choose their own voters through rigged legislative districts. Finally we remind listeners to get out this weekend and volunteer to help re-elect Tony Evers in the Spring Election.

We review the spring primary victory for Tony Evers, including the split among the right-wing primary candidates, and look forward to the April 4th general election. The panel exposes another eruption of Gov. Walker’s war on science, his effort to close down the 100 year old DNR Magazine which features articles by professional scientists on conservation issues. We also discuss how Republicans who won in 2010 after Tea party disruptions of town halls are now avoiding them, including Wisconsin's Ron Johnson. Jorna exposes Paul Ryan’s shameless grandstanding along the Mexico/U.S. border as he attempted to ride a horse for the media and only demonstrated that he doesn't know his way around horses. Finally, Citizen Action organizer Rebecca Derenne tells us about the new Northeastern Wisconsin Organizing Cooperative.

The presumed GOP front runner for U.S. Senate, reality TV star turned Congressman Sean Duff, says no to challenging Tammy Baldwin in 2018. We discuss the wild State Superintendent race where progressive incumbent Tony Evers is being challenged by two conservatives in Tuesday's primary. This week the story broke that the conservative opponents tried to negotiate a deal that would guarantee one of them a three year $150,000/year job, a driver, and sweeping control of over several urban school districts in return for dropped out of the race. We review state GOP efforts to pay lawyers $175,000 more for redistricting lawsuit, a new bill to greatly restrict who can request an election recount, and Gov. Walker backtracks on a nearly $10 million loophole in the Manufacturing and Agricultural Tax Credit. Robert gives us an update on the latest GOP House plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act while Sen. Ron Johnson ducks public town halls during the upcoming congressional recess.

We welcome Citizen Action Organizing Cooperative leader and education advocate Beth Ludeman to dissect Gov. Walker’s recently unveiled state budget where he celebrates restoring some of his own savage education cuts. Sachin Chheda joins us for an update on the redistricting lawsuit victory ordering the Legislature to redraw district lines. Sen. Dave Hansen discusses his new legislation (SB 13/AB 44) that would reform our redistricting process by empowering a nonpartisan commission to draw the maps, similar to the successful Iowa model that produces more competitive elections. Jorna tells us about Paul Ryan’s advice to Republican congressional members to bring extra security to their town halls, while Robert exposes the conservative bait and switch on healthcare.

We discuss the inspiring resistance to Trump during his first two weeks in office and the critical need to develop the positive progressive vision needed to inspire a political revolution. We highlight the imperiled nomination of Amway billionaire Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education and the monumental fight ahead on the Supreme Court nomination of ultra conservative Neil Gorsuch. We also welcome State Representative Gordon Hintz to discuss his leadership against Scott Walker's Manufacturing and Agriculture tax loophole that will cost the state $1.4 billion by 2019 and where more than 78% of the tax break goes to individual tax filers who earn more than $1 million. Robert also updates us on the successful media tour of Wausau and Eau Claire for the alternative progressive state budget, “A Wisconsin Budget for All.” Finally, we have an update on the successful launch of a new independent-progressive radio station on Southeast Wisconsin, News Talk 1510 Milwaukee-Waukesha.