Author Archives: William Garcia

Return Sharon Hampson to the County Board by Ron Malzer

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The La Crosse County Democratic Party is excited to endorse Sharon Hampson for the La Crosse County Board. If you live in the 7th District, and you want to see progressive actions taken by the County Board, Sharon is the clear choice.

Here are some of the reasons why progressives and independents should vote for her:

  • She has worked to constantly improve county services, while keeping taxes low.
  • She is the former Chair of the La Crosse County Health and Human Services Board.
  • She has worked and will continue to work for protecting private wells from pollution.
  • She advocates for alternatives to the criminal justice system, including Drug Court, the Crisis Center, and Ophelia’s House for non-violent female inmates.
  • She supports increased mental health services in the La Crosse County jail.

Her opponent in this election supported keeping the Big Indian statue in Riverside Park, and has publicly criticized the successful drive led by Central High School students to retire their old team name that was offensive to Native Americans.

If you live in the 7th District– eastern/southeastern La Crosse–please join your friends and neighbors  in voting for Sharon Hampson for the La Crosse County Board.

Let’s all commit to

  1. Voting by mail (note that new rules prevent anyone from mailing another’s ballot);

or b. Voting in-person between March 22 and April 1 at La Crosse’s City Clerk’s Office ;

or, c. (your last option), Voting at the polls on Election Day Tuesday April 5.

We can bring vitally important victories for democracy and inclusion if we all vote.

La Crosse GOP makes unprecedented moves ahead of the April local elections by William Garcia

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La Crosse GOP makes unprecedented moves ahead of the April local elections. 

Buoyed by frustrations with mask mandates, continued lies about the presence of Critical Race Theory in schools, and false conspiracies about the outcome of the 2020 election, the La Crosse County Republican Party is making an all out propaganda blitz hoping to influence the County Board, municipal and school board elections in La Crosse. 

By donating huge amounts of money to their hand-picked candidates, funding smear campaigns against their rivals and paying for local media advertisements, the local GOP is making a huge financial investment in what they see as their best shot in years at overtaking local bodies of government. 

Between November 11, 2021 and December 08, 2021 the GOP issued the following disbursements to local candidates, adding up to $6300. It is important to note that this is ONLY funds issued in 2021. We will not know how much they spent in 2022 until the next filing deadline. This information comes from the Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System (https://cfis.wi.gov/)

County Board:

District 5: Megan Pauley: $300

District 7: Ellie McLoone: $500 (Lost her primary on February 15)

District 10: Richard Korish: $500

District 18: Mike Baroni: $500 (No other candidate on ballot)

District 19: Hubert Hoffman:  $500

District 20: Jordan Briskey: $500

District 21: Rob Abraham: $500

District 25: Dennis Jacobsen: $500

District 28: Guy Valiquette: $500

La Crosse School Board:

Kim Krejchik: $500

Mary LaMouthe: $500

Kent Stein: $500

In addition to large amounts of money issued directly to candidates months before the primary election, The La Crosse GOP has been sending mailings and fliers out, both in support of their candidates and in attempts to smear progressive candidates with lies and mischaracterizations of their voting records. In one such flier, the GOP revives a controversy from two years ago whereby local conservatives and the La Crosse Police Union harassed a member of the La Crosse County Criminal Justice Management Council so much that she was doxed and had to resign the council for her safety. 

In a more recent incident, local conservatives tried to falsely link a horrendously racist fake ad about some Holmen School Board candidates to the local and state wide Democrats, despite no evidence the flier even existed outside of a photoshopped image on reddit, much less was the responsibility of La Crosse moderates and progressives. 

The local GOP has also been paying for ad time on local media, especially WIZM News, in order to get conservatives out to vote in the local elections. 

Adding to the money, fliers and advertisement is the local GOP’s continued propaganda about the big lie that former President Trump won the 2020 election, both in Wisconsin and nationally. The local and statewide GOP continue to use this false narrative to drum up conservative rage and motivate them to the polls. Even as La Crosse GOP chair Bill Feehan moves closer and closer to an indictment for his involvement in the fake Wisconsin elector scheme, which helped fuel the January 6 insurrection, the GOP refuses to come clean about the 2020 election because telling the truth does not get out their vote. 

What can we do about all of this?  Several things:

  1. Vote!  This is the only real way we can stop this GOP encroachment. 
  2. Get Out The Vote! Talk to your family, friends and neighbors about this important election, make sure they are registered, and encourage them to get to the polls. 
  3. Support the La Crosse County Democrats in their work to support local progressive candidates. More information at laxdems.com

We The People by Ed Burgess

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We The People by Ed Burgess

I watched Tony Evers’ State of the State speech that he gave last week. I confess that I haven’t watched many of these in the past. The news was great and our governor’s delivery was excellent. What initially struck me was that none of the Republicans were wearing masks. I suppose that they were staying true to form. They have downplayed the pandemic and obstructed Tony Evers’ attempts to mitigate the crisis. It is no accident that the vast majority of currently hospitalized Covid cases are unvaccinated followers of these people. 

The other thing was their lack of response to our Governor’s plans to use the 3.8 Billion dollar surplus to support small businesses and to return money to the taxpayers. He had many other proposals to help ordinary people. It looked like they were attending a funeral. They squirmed in their chairs as they perceived all he said as bad news for the Republican Party. This will, no doubt, gavel in and gavel out the special session that the Governor called, to determine the best use of two billion dollars of the surplus. They are hoping that Evers will lose in November and then it will be their money. They probably will want to pump money into charter schools.

We have always had our differences of opinion, that is human nature. In the founding of this country it was decided that in rejecting the control of England we would use their model of government but give control of the country to the will of the majority, excluding women and slaves. Over time the franchise was made more equitable so that all citizens had the right to vote but still the central feature was majority rule. Our laws reflect this and our elected representatives understood that after votes were cast in chamber, the winners were able to get their preferred legislation enacted. 

The Republican Party of today is rejecting this basic tenet of the constitution. They are a minority party using whatever tactics allow them to remain in control where they have it. In order to do this they are relying on gerrymandering and voter repression to weed out Democratic voters. They have become flat earthers as they seek to overturn the last election and sow distrust in our electoral process all without a shred of evidence that anything improper took place. Their use of anger and hate to manipulate their base is appalling. In the end I believe that the Republican Party will need to reinvent themselves. They will need to broaden their appeal by really delivering for the middle class. They will need politicians of principle who value the needs of the country ahead of their partisan interests.  

This next election will test the strength of our democratic form of government. Republicans are busy passing laws that will allow legislative bodies that they control to overturn the election results that they don’t like. We can’t count on the judicial branch of government to hold them in check. The only check on their ambitions is for voters of good will to turn out and deliver a message that will cause Republicans to reflect on their values.

 

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Rachel Maddow Show Features Dems Wisconsin Chair

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Ben Wikler, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair, was a guest recently on MSNBC’s  Rachel Maddow Show. He talked about what’s at stake as primary elections begin in sections of Wisconsin.

Here’s what he told Rachel‘s viewers: 
Wisconsin is ground zero in the GOP effort to pass restrictive anti-voter legislation pursuant to Trump’s Big Lie and steal the 2024 Elections. Republicans know Wisconsin – as it so often is – will be a nail-biter this year, and they will do everything they can to undermine future elections if they win in November. 

To stop a Republican takeover in 2024 and fight for the future of American democracy, we need to organize for these local races now.

Election conspiracists who believe Trump’s Big Lie are on the ballot in Wisconsin, but so are staunch defenders of American democracy. In a state like ours, where elections break by single percentage points, we can make a difference right now by investing in local races in the spring, and making sure we have strong advocates for our democracy in office.
 
The La Crosse County Democratic Party now has an office on State Road. 
It’s right across from Java Vino! Contributing to that office will deliver vitally-needed seed money to launch 2022 victory campaigns for Governor, US Senator, and US House Representative from western Wisconsin.
Please contribute today:

1. 100% of your donation will be used in La Crosse County if you send a check to: La Crosse County Democratic Party, P. O. Box 1861, La Crosse, WI 54602-1861

2. You can also donate right now online by using the Donation Form at this hot link: ActBlue