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Brooks resigns Assembly leadership position

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Rep. Robert Brooks (R-Saukville)

A Republican legislator has resigned his leadership position, but not his seat in the Wisconsin Assembly. Speaker Pro Tem Tyler August said Wednesday that Representative Rob Brooks (R-Saukville) has apologized for racist and sexist remarks he made to three women legislators at an event in July.

“The three women legislators that were involved had a conversation with the Assembly Chief Clerk regarding the incident,” August told WFAW on Wednesday. “It was dealt with at that time.” August said the three were “comfortable with the outcome.”

Brooks, who said in a statement that he was drunk and does not recall his comments, resigned Wednesday as assistant minority leader. “I regret that I made some stupid comments while under the influence of alcohol after our caucus in the Dells. I take full responsibility for my behavior and have apologized for my actions. I am ready to move on from this incident and fully support and will adhere to the Assembly policies to maintain a safe workplace for legislators and staff.”

Representatives Jessie Rodriguez, Cindi Duchow and Amy Loudenbeck said in a statement that while Brooks’ comments to them were “out of line,” they did not expect him to resign from that leadership role. “We have put the incident behind us; we would ask kindly ask others to do the same.”

Governor Scott Walker was not as forgiving: in a tweet Wednesday, he called Brooks’ comments “offensive and disrespectful,” and said he should resign from office.

The incident involving Brooks was first reported on Wednesday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Brooks is seeking a third term in November, representing the 60th Assembly District. He’s opposed by Democrat Chris Rahlf, a construction management consultant from Cedarburg.

Evers, Baldwin lead in new Reuters/Ipsos poll

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Ipsos/Reuters image

There was more confirmation on Wednesday, of a Democrat lead in the Wisconsin Governor’s race. A new Reuters/Ipsos/UVA Center for Politics Poll is showing Democrat Tony Evers with a seven point lead over Governor Scott Walker.

That’s backed by a wave of support for Democrats across the Midwest, where they’re showing leads over Republicans in five states that went for President Trump in the 2016 elections.

Walker trailed Democrat Evers, 50% to 43%. In the race for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin, Democrat Tammy Baldwin lead Republican Leah Vukmir, 52% to 39%.

Walker proposes new child tax credit

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Governor Scott Walker was in Appleton on Thursday to unveil a proposal to provide a new child care tax credit. At Mount Olive Lutheran Church on Appleton’s north side Thursday, he said his plan would mirror the federal tax credit and be in addition to it

The Republican governor said families would be eligible for up to $3,000 per child or $6,000 for multiple kids. He said the amount would be based on income. The governor used a family with two parents and two children paying $8,000 a year in taxes as an example.

He said that family would be making about $50,000 a year. He says they’d be eligible for up to $1,200 a year. He says the average would be about $500 back per family.

Walker said for some families the cost of child care is a barrier for a parent to return to work. Walker is seeking a third term in November’s elections. He faces Democrat, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers.

WHBY 

Evers: state’s priorities “out of whack”

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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers delivered his annual State of Education address at the Capitol over the noon hour on Thursday. “Governing is about priorities . . . and right now, Wisconsin priorities are out of whack,” Evers said, adding that education funding has failed to keep pace with the needs of students and families in Wisconsin.

“We are spending less on our public schools than we did eight years ago, putting us below the national average. And these choices have consequences.” The Democrat is running against Governor Scott Walker, who’s seeking a third term in November.

Evers has proposed a 10 percent increase to school funding. Republicans warn that will lead to big tax increases. “Are we going to go back to the dark (Jim) Doyle days? Is that where we’re going to go? Because you can see what’s being set up, by Tony Evers’ proposals,” warned state Senator Tom Tiffany during a press conference prior to Evers’ address.

Tony Evers just can’t stop prioritizing spending for his union pals,” said state Representative Mark Born, standing next to a poster that said Evers is “union approved.”

During his own press conference, Evers talked about his priorities, and said they’re different from those of Governor Walker. “My priorities are for the working people in Wisconsin.” Evers said that could mean cutting taxes for the middle class, and raising them for higher income earners. But Evers said he’s not proposing a dollar a gallon gas tax hike, something Walker has claimed. “It’s ridiculous,” Evers said. “Who the hell would, frankly?”

Kleefisch drops claim that Barnes took a knee

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Lt. Governor Kleefisch WRN image

Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor has dropped a claim that her opponent knelt during the national anthem. Rebecca Kleefisch dropped it Tuesday, a day after claiming she was at an event with Mandala Barnes when he knelt.

On a Milwaukee radio show, Kleefisch — a former TV anchor and reporter — said she was told that Barnes briefly took a knee during a ceremony to open the Wisconsin State Fair last month — and then repeated that.

“I have to apologize for repeating something I was told,” she said.

Barnes said Kleefisch was merely sorry she got caught, and he wants to move on to “talk about the real issues that she tried to create a diversion from.”

Evers and Baldwin lead GOP in latest Marquette Poll

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Democrats are pulling ahead of Republicans in the latest political polls from Marquette University.

Political scientist Charles Franklin says Governor Walker now trails challenger Tony Evers by 5 points, 44 percent to 49 percent.

Franklin says Evers has been leading or matching Walker in the polls for a while. “If you want to go +2 to 0 to +5, that’s a trend. If you think that’s just bouncing around, the ball’s bounced in Evers’ favor this time.”

The 5 percent lead is also outside the margin of error in this month’s poll.

More telling is Evers’ lead among independent voters, 52 to 32 percent. Franklin says those votes could go either way by November, but that it’s a telling trend.

Walker’s approval rating has also dropped. Only 44 percent of voters approve of his job performance, 50 percent disapprove.

Senator Tammy Baldwin is now holding a commanding lead over her Republican rival in the latest Marquette University poll.

Franklin says Baldwin has moved from being neck and neck with Leah Vukmir last month to having a sizable lead, 53 percent to 42 percent. “Baldwin out to an 11 point advantage with likely voters. That’s quite a bit of movement.”

Baldwin’s favorability rating is also up, with 48 percent approving of her job as Senator, and 40 percent disapproving.

GOP super PAC aims ads at Bryce

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A Republican super PAC aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan has released two ads targeting the Democrat running for Ryan’s seat — including one that features the candidate’s brother. Randy Bryce is running against Republican Bryan Steil to replace Ryan in the 1st Congressional District. The Congressional Leadership Fund has reserved $1.5 million for the campaign.

One ad, released on Monday, focuses on Bryce’s arrest record. The union iron worker’s arrests include drunken driving in 1998, three times for driving on a suspended license, and 2011 and again this year, for protesting Republican policies. He’s apologized for the drunk driving arrest.

Bryce’s campaign called the ad a “desperate attack by Paul Ryan and his billionaire buddies.”

The ad released on Tuesday has police officer James Bryce talking about attending the funerals of officers slain in the line of duty. “I don’t think people want to be represented by someone who’s shown contempt for those in law enforcement. That’s one of the many reasons why I’m voting for Bryan Steil for Congress.”

A spokeswoman said Randy Bryce “has a deep respect for law enforcement officers, including his brother, even when they have political disagreements.”

Walker and Evers stake out positions on ACA lawsuit

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His opponent in November, state Superintendent Tony Evers, is calling on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to withdraw the state from a lawsuit which seeks to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Walker says that’s not happening.

Tony Evers

Evers issued the challenge to the Republican governor in a video his campaign released on Monday. “For 8 years, Scott Walker has worked to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, and undermine its protections for the 2.4 million people in Wisconsin, with a pre-existing condition,” Ever says in the video. Evers is a cancer survivor.

“The reason why we’re in the lawsuit has nothing to do with pre-existing conditions,” Walker said in Wausau on Monday. “That’s going to continue coverage there, that’s going to continue no matter what one way or the other. “The reason why we’re in the lawsuit has nothing to do with pre-existing conditions. That’s going to continue coverage there, that’s going to continue no matter what one way or the other.”

Gov. Scott Walker

Walker supports legislation, already passed by the state Assembly, which he claims would protect those with pre-existing conditions in Wisconsin.

But a health care advocate says Walker’s pledge to protect pre-existing condition coverage is deceptive, given his long time opposition to the ACA, and the state’s participation in the lawsuit.

“Governor Walker has not shown concern with this issue for most of his term as governor, and has repeatedly called for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act,” said Robert Kraig with Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Kraig said that the legislation supported by Walker would still allow health insurance companies to charge exorbitant rates to anyone who has a gap in coverage. “It re-legalizes pre-existing condition discrimination in a lot of cases here in Wisconsin.”

DeForest police chief resigns

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The police chief in DeForest has resigned over a controversial, 11-year-old video. On that video, Dan Furseth made racist comments aimed at a group of black men. Village officials became aware of the video three months ago.

Furseth received an over $100,000 severance package in return for his resignation. Village officials say firing Furseth could’ve ended up costing them more in legal fees.

Schimel announces sexual assault kit backlog is closed

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Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel announces testing on all of Wisconsin’s backlogged sexual assault kits is complete. Schimel said the testing of more than 4,000 unsubmitted kits is complete — clearing a backlog dating back to 1984.

“I’ve been a prosecutor for 29 years. Some of those kits dated back to before I was an assistant D.A.,” Schimel said. “Unquestionably, mistakes were made. Apologies have been made to survivors.” Three cases are currently being prosecuted.

Schimel responded to criticism, that clearing up the backlog took too long. He said his goal was always to get it done as soon as possible. “If iy had been possible to have this done a year ago, we would have done it,” he said.

Schimel is running for re-election and his Democratic challenger, Josh Kaul, said clearing the backlog did take too long. “Brad Schimel has mismanaged the state crime labs. As Attorney General, I’ll fight to get the Department of Justice the resources needed to reduce testing delays,” Kaul said in a statement.