Democratic events in
Pierce County and beyond
Pierce County and beyond
Pierce Democrats
January Meeting
Tuesday, January 21
6:00 PM Social Hour
7:00 Meeting Starts
Junior's Restaurant & Tap House
January Meeting
Tuesday, January 21
6:00 PM Social Hour
7:00 Meeting Starts
Junior's Restaurant & Tap House
Agenda:
Welcome
Treasurer’s report
Judge Susan Crawford, Supreme Court Candidate (via Zoom)
Election recap
Spring elections
Membership update
January 8, 2025
MEET BRAD SCHIMEL: Reintroducing Brad Schimel and His Extreme Far-Right Record
MADISON, Wis. — With far-right politician Brad Schimel officially advancing to the April Wisconsin Supreme Court election, we’re here to help reintroduce Brad Schimel and his extreme partisan record to the Badger State.
Brad Schimel has spent his career catering to right-wing special interest groups at the expense of Wisconsin. As the state’s worst attorney general and a circuit court judge, Schimel tried to rip away Wisconsinites’ health care and reproductive freedom, sided with the far-right to suppress voters’ access to the ballot box, and opposed basic marriage equality—and that’s just skimming the surface of Schimel’s extreme partisan past.
Here’s what you need to know about far-right politician Brad Schimel:
Brad Schimel is an anti-abortion extremist who supports Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest. He continues to call the law “valid” and would vote to keep abortion restrictions in place on the Court. As attorney general, Schimel even committed to defending the 1849 ban and wasted more than $1 million taxpayer dollars trying to restrict abortion care in Wisconsin.
Brad Schimel led a lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act and rip away health care from over 260,000 Wisconsinites, calling the ACA a “train wreck.”
As both attorney general and a circuit court judge, Brad Schimel has gleefully employed voter suppression tactics, siding with right-wing legal groups to declare ballot spoiling illegal and reopening an investigation into unproven voter fraud claims.
Brad Schimel opposed granting basic marriage equality to LGBTQ+ and interracial couples—including voting against marriage equality himself.
“From backing near-total criminal abortion bans to suppressing Wisconsinites’ right to vote, Brad Schimel has spent over a decade doing the bidding of extreme right-wing special interest groups,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Deputy Communications Director Haley McCoy. “Not once in his career has Schimel cared about being fair or impartial, and there’s no question that with a record like his, Brad Schimel is unfit to serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.”
Over the next few days, we’ll be reintroducing Brad Schimel and his disastrous record to Wisconsin. Learn more about Wisconsin’s Worst Attorney General at bradschimel.org.
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Source: https://wisdems.org/news/
January 8, 2025
By Senator Jeff Smith
This week, Senator Smith talks about the start of the new legislative session and the Governor's proposal to let voters decide key policy questions through ballot measures.
Transcript:
Hi folks, this is your State Senator, Jeff Smith.
On Monday this week we started a new session. New senators were sworn in. Lawmakers are filtering back to the capitol after a long campaign season. There are a lot of new faces here in Madison. There’s a lot of hope for what can be accomplished. And there’s just as much excitement about getting going on new opportunities to help Wisconsin.
This is my fifth legislative session representing the Chippewa Valley. This week was important for a lot of reasons, but for me, this is day one of putting our thoughts into action. We’ve seen a lot of politicians just spending time and money convincing you to send them to Madison. Now it’s time to deliver real results for the people of Wisconsin.
With a new session, comes a new biennial state budget. I was encouraged to see Governor Evers take a shine to legislation I offered last session. It will allow citizens to introduce new laws or to reject acts of the legislature by referendum. The Governor promised to include it as a provision in his 2025-2027 Biennial State Budget. This is exciting news for our state and for the sake of democracy.
It shouldn’t have to come to this, a legislature should be responsive to the people. But there are so many popular policies that Republicans have ignored for years.
Over 60 percent of Wisconsinites think abortion should be legal in all or most cases;
More than 70 percent of Wisconsinites think the state should accept federal funds to expand Medicaid;
86 percent of Wisconsinites—and nearly 80 percent of Republicans—believe medical marijuana should be made legal;
Over 60 percent of Wisconsinites agree that the use of marijuana should be legal;
Over 60 percent of Wisconsinites believe a nonpartisan commission should be responsible for drawing legislative districts, rather than the Legislature;
73 percent of Wisconsinites—including 62 percent of Republicans—support paid family leave;
Over 80 percent of Wisconsinites support “red flag” laws that allow a judge to order an individual to refrain from possessing a firearm if they find the individual to be a threat to themselves or others; and
Nearly 80 percent of Wisconsinites support universal mandatory background checks on people making gun purchases, including at gun shows or through private sales.
These are common-sense policies that people want and are willing to work for.
During this new legislative session, I remain hopeful and optimistic. We have much to do. But if we cannot get the job done, voters should get a chance to decide.
There are a lot of new people with new ideas starting their service as legislators. Here’s to a New Year and a renewed opportunity to make Wisconsin a thriving democracy for all.
Until next time, this is Senator Jeff Smith signing off.
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Senator Smith currently represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District currently includes portions of Dunn, Eau Claire, and Trempealeau counties. But you may remember voting for him in 2022 when he represented most of Pierce County.
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For more from Senator Smith, go to his website at:
https://legis.wisconsin.gov/senate/31/smith/.
