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U.S. Senator Ron Johnson will seek third term

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Stating that he “believes America is in peril,” Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is officially running for re-election to the U.S. Senate. The Oshkosh Republican announced his campaign with a Sunday op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, citing “Democrats’ complete takeover of government” as one reason for running again.

The news has been expected despite Johnson’s earlier pledge to serve only two terms. He’s been criticized for promoting misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 vaccines, and for downplaying the severity of last year’s violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.

Several Democrats are competing to challenge Johnson, including Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson.

 

Bernier won’t seek another state Senate term

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State Senator Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls) announced on Friday that she won’t be running for another term. Bernier served 12 years in the State Senate and 13 years before that as a county clerk in Chippewa County. She says she will be stepping back from politics to focus on her family and grandchildren.

Bernier, who chairs the Senate Elections commas most recently been an outspoken critic of the ongoing partisan probe into the 2020 presidential election overseen by former state Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman. That’s a stance that has put her at odds with other members of her caucus. Bernier said that didn’t factor into her decision not to run.

“The choice to retire was a difficult one to make, but I have been contemplating this decision for some time now and I decided ‘now is the time,” Bernier said in a statement. “I want to make it perfectly clear that no one has forced me out and politics has not played a role in my decision.”

“Senator Bernier has been a tremendous asset to our caucus, and I thank Kathy for her 25 years of public service. Her expertise, knowledge, and good humor will be missed in the Senate,” said Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu.

Duffy praises Ron Johnson as Senator continues to push unsubstantiated claims about COVID vaccines

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Former Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy says he’s not running for office, but he hopes fellow Republican, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, does seek a third term. Duffy praised Johnson during a Thursday interview on conservative talk station WISN in Milwaukee.

“You need people who know where the bodies are buried,” Duffy told host Jay Weber. “They know how to use gavel, they know how to fight for people. And Ron Johnson has been a warrior for truth in regard to all the COVID falsehoods. Just bringing stories out. Letting people who have had mishaps and injury from the vaccine. Talking about early treatment.”

Johnson has consistently referenced the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, when talking about adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines.  Anyone can use VAERS, which which is jointly run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, to submit a report of a symptom that occurred following vaccination.

Duffy’s comments Thursday came hours after Johnson once again questioned vaccine policy, during comments to FOX Business.

“I think vaccinations are absolutely appropriate for the vulnerable. I have questions about mass vaccinations into the pandemic, as other medical experts have warned of,” Johnson said. “Where are these variants coming from? These are variants that are avoiding the vaccine. Could the vast vaccination into the vaccine, could that be driving these variants? I don’t know.”

Johnson has yet to announce if he’s running again, after once saying he’d limit himself to two terms. Several Democrats are running to oppose him, including Lieutenant Governor Mandela, Barnes, state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson.

Duffy also said Thursday that he had no plans to run for governor, but will focus on his family. “We have to raise strong, good, conservative Christian kids, if we’re going to save them from the pressures of this conservative culture,” he said.

The former 7th District Republican is now a lobbyist living in New Jersey. Duffy’s wife Rachel works for FOX News, and he has appeared frequently on the conservative cable channel.

 

Senator Baldwin calls for end to attacks on elections, pushes for new voting rights bill

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Senator Tammy Baldwin says enough is enough, and that attacks on elections by Republicans need to stop.

She says that an audit from Wisconsin Republicans is just part of a nationwide effort to make it harder to vote in America. “Gableman’s audit, which was is being paid for by the taxpayers of Wisconsin is nothing more than an effort to draw into question the election, to perpetuate Trump’s big lie, and to harass and intimidate our state election officials.”

Baldwin says that in Wisconsin, the presidential election has already survived recounts and audits. 

“Every stage of this was with high transparency and accountability and all reiterated that Biden had one in Wisconsin by a little over 20,000 votes.”

Baldwin and her Democrat colleagues are hoping to pass voting rights and election protection bills, but those efforts are being blocked by Republicans in the Senate.

Republicans propose bills to support Wisconsin law enforcement

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At the Capitol, Republican legislators propose a package of bills they say will help attract and retain law enforcement officers in Wisconsin. West Allis Police Chief Pat Mitchell said it’s a complicated issue, but it’s been a tough couple of years, following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“People who consume the news got it loud and clear,” Mitchell said. “If you’re a responsible parent, you’ve got a 22-year-old child, and you see that law enforcement is no longer honorable because of the actions of one – do you encourage your 22-year-old child to be a police officer? Probably not.”

Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said the $25 million package of incentives and grants would be paid for from federal pandemic relief

“We’re confident that this is not only a proper use but a smart use of these funds,” Born said, noting that some of the challenges facing law enforcement are related to the COVID-19. Democratic Governor Tony Evers determines how those federal funds are allocated. A spokesperson in Evers’ office said he did not yet have a reaction to the bills.

Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) said Republicans had an opportunity to support an additional an additional $50.2 million in funding for law enforcement which Evers has proposed since taking office.

“Now, Legislative Republicans are proposing using one-time COVID funds to fund local law enforcement at roughly half the amount Governor Evers proposed since he was elected in 2018, and that Republicans voted against,” Hintz said in a statement.

 

‘It’s horrible’ – Evers calls for end to Gableman elections probe

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Michael Gableman

Saying it’s only fueling distrust in Wisconsin elections, Governor Tony Evers wants Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and former state Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman to wrap up their review of the 2020 presidential results in the state.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Evers said during a year-end interview with WRN. “They keep saying ‘well we have to make sure that people have confidence in the election.’ Well we’re not going to have confidence in the election if this circus continues on.”

President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by some 20,000 votes in 2020, a result that has been confirmed by numerous court cases, audits, recounts and reviews. The Gableman review was ordered by state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, and $675,000 was initially allocated for it.

But Gableman is vowing to continue the taxpayer funded effort into the new year. And he’s calling for the resignation of state Senator Kathy Bernier, the Lake Hallie Republican who’s been a vocal critic of the partisan probe.

“They are accomplishing nothing except fulfilling their prophecy that people don’t trust the election,” Evers said. What a legacy for those two. It’s horrible, they should end it.”

 

Racine Democrat Greta Neubauer elected new Assembly Minority Leader

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State Assembly Democrats have picked a new leader. Racine Representative Greta Neubauer will now lead the caucus.

Neubauer says Democrats will need to continue to hold to their ideals heading into the next elections.

“We are here because we believe the government should grow with the people, that our democracy should fight for all of us who live here. We believe that Wisconsin should be a state where everyone can thrive.”

“In the face of Republican efforts to divide and conquer, the next year will be critical to building a stronger more Equitable Wisconsin.”

Neubauer will replace outgoing Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, who’s stepping down at the start of next year. 

Evers, Vos spar over last minute map submission to State Supreme Court

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Governor Tony Evers and Legislative Republicans are sparring over a new set of redistricting maps.

After the State Supreme Court ruled that they want to see maps with the ‘least amount of change’ in the upcoming fight over redistricting, Governor Tony Evers office released a new set of maps that would still reduce Republican control over the legislature while conforming to the request from the Supreme Court.

Evers says that it’s a compromise and that he’s still in favor of his older maps that wildly deviated from Republican plans.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos chided the Governor for drawing up maps in secret, something that Democrats have campaigned against Republicans.

Kaul calls for end of Gableman elections probe

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AG Josh Kaul

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul says it’s time to shut down an investigation into the 2020 presidential election. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says that’s not going to happen.

The Democratic AG commented Tuesday, the day after Republican state Senator Kathy Bernier called on former state Supreme Court justice Mike Gableman to conclude the taxpayer funded election review “sooner rather than later.”

“I agree with Senator Bernier, I think that this investigation should be shut down as quickly as possible.” Kaul said.

Kaul said the Gableman probe is premised on the “big lie” that the election was somehow stolen. “We’ve got to push back on these allegations and tell the truth about what happened. I hope we hear that from other Republicans as well.”

Michael Gableman

During a weekend campaign event with Republican candidate for governor Rebecca Kleefisch in Beloit, Gableman asked for support to keep his partisan effort going.

And, in an interview with the Associated Press, Vos said the partisan probe will go longer and cost more. “My goal always was to conclude the investigation by the end of the year,” Vos told the AP. “I never in my wildest dreams predicted the level that Democrats would go to try to block and throw up roadblocks to everything that we’re doing.”

Bernier calls for end to Gableman election probe

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The chair of the State Senate Elections Committee is calling for attacks on local elections officials to stop, both from the public and from lawmakers.

Senator Kathy Bernier (R-Lake Hallie) said Monday that her fellow Republicans need to stop attacking the integrity of Wisconsin’s elections. Bernier said nothing her committee has seen over the past year has changed the outcome of the presidential election in Wisconsin.

“No election is perfect but there is not evidence of intentional malfeasance. No evidence that the election in 2020 wasn’t accurate,” Bernier said. “So we cannot keep undermining our Republic. It is not easy to fraudulently vote in the state of Wisconsin.”

Bernier said that a taxpayer funded investigation led by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman contains “made-up things” meant to play to the Republican base.

“Mr. Gableman is coming to my county and I will attend that meeting along with my concealed carry permit, to be perfectly honest, because (Gableman’s investigation) keeps jazzing up the people who think they know what they’re talking about, and they don’t,” Bernier said. “My advice would be to have Mr. Gableman wrap up sooner rather than later.”

Bernier warned that the damage to the electoral process could be permanent. “When did Benjamin Franklin came out of the convention and our constitution was created he was asked what kind of government do we have and he said, ‘A republic if we can keep it!’ We’re in jeopardy of losing it!”