We discuss the Organizing Revival, launched by Citizen Action with our national partners earlier this year, which is investing in improving permanent organizing capacity in every corner of the country. Leaders from 9 Midwestern states converged in Milwaukee last week to strategize on this critical power building initiative. Next, Robert encourages your attendance at next Wednesday’s statewide virtual Healthcare Action Meeting, where the group is engaged in a deep strategic analysis of the health care industry.

We laud the effort of state and national advocates who urged Congress this week to raise the corporate tax rate and ensure those who make over $400,000 annually “pay their fair share” to fund critical investments such as child care, and care for the elderly and those with disabilities. On the other end we call out the International President of the Teamsters who used the crutch of internal polling to sit out this historic presidential election. The Teamsters’ Black Caucus and Teamsters Wisconsin Council took a more proactive stance, supporting pro-labor candidate Kamala Harris.

In other news, RFK Jr is trying to get off Wisconsin ballots days before they begin to be mailed. Why is he spending so much money on this? Robert also highlights two Issues (immigration and abortion) where the politics have dramatically shifted over the past two decades. Which will have the biggest impact in the 2024 Election?

Organizing Revival is Here

We discuss the significance of another modest hurricane intensifying in the Gulf of Mexico into a monster storm imperiling 5 southern states. What is the role of climate change? We take a deep dive into the polling paradox of presidential elections. Polls consume the media and voters attention, along with junk ads that pollute discourse, yet they reveal little and fail repeatedly to capture reality.

The Wausau mayor removes ballot drop box and charges are filed against him as two northern Wisconsin towns are sued by the DOJ for voting rights violations. What are the consequences of the GOP big lie on voter fraud? Healthcare and BadgerCare become a big issue in Legislative races and we remind our listeners it is now 6 months since devastating hospital and clinic closures and NO help has been offered for the Eau Claire/Chippewa area, leaving the region reeling and public health badly damaged.

We are joined by Milwaukee County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez to discuss a new plan for Milwaukee’s iconic Mitchell Park Domes and how their critical connection to the improved health and safety of a community and neighborhood.

Learning from Hurricanes, hospital closures, and the Milwaukee Domes

Hurricane Helene was worse than anyone thought. We discuss the damage in North Carolina and encourage support for their relief organizing in rural North Carolina devastated by the climate change fueled storm.

We talk about this week’s Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) hearings on We Energies’ outrageous rate hikes. We review their failure to make the green renewable energy transition and and their latest fossil fuel scheme to bilk ratepayers and the public at large. We urge freezing rates until the PSC imposed a 2% of income rate cap in the state for all utilities. Learn more about the 2% rate cap and sign our petition in support.

We discuss the latest MU Law Poll showing the presidential horserace unchanged. However, Tammy Baldwin’s U.S. Senate lead is growing, continuing her history of out performing the top of the ticket.

We review new research showing Wisconsin would gain $1.7 billion in federal funds if the Legislature accepted available federal funds that could be used to provide health insurance coverage to tens of thousands of families through Medicaid—and to improve reimbursement rates for hospitals, clinics, doctors, and other providers.

We welcome Tim Hennigan, a staff attorney at ABC For Health, to discuss an upcoming Medical Debt Symposium, the morning of Thursday, October 17th in Milwaukee. We discuss how medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy and how Wisconsin’s hospitals are destroying the financial lives of their own patients for profit.

Climate and Healthcare Hurricane

We discuss another climate charged hurricane hitting Florida. We question whether this epic month of hurricanes will lead to a climate reckoning in America, as climate change conspiracy theories and their politicians seem to be successfully altering the debate by shifting attention from systemic causes to convenient scapegoats that play well on social media and play into established conspiracy theories and MAGA ideology. We reflect on how this directly impacts everyone in Wisconsin.

Robert tells more about the details and significance of Kamala Harris’ new Medicare plan to provide long-term care in the home, plus vision and dental coverage. What else should she do to capitalize on the public’s desire for accessible and affordable care – whether that is health care, home care , or child care.

We debrief last week’s We Energies PSC public hearings where Citizen Action members testified against outrageous rate increases and supported ZERO rate increases until there is a 2% of income rate cap for utilities. Wausau mayor Diny goes national for his removal of voter drop boxes, as the public descended upon this week’s city council meeting protesting the drop box removal.

Billionaire Elon Musk drops millions into trashy ads for Trump in Wisconsin. Fight back, talk to voters with Citizen Action every Tuesday and Thursday at 5pm and knock doors with us. Contact matt.brusky@citizenactionwi.org

Hurricane of lies: No truth in America, just winning

With less than 3 weekends left before this historic election,
 the presidential and U.S. senate race in Wisconsin is tied. What does it all mean? Early voting starts next Tuesday and we continue to encourage our listeners to get out and talk to voters on the doors and by phone to close the deal and overcome the toxic ads demonizing our immigrant and trans neighbors and friends. We also give our unsolicited advice on what Kamala Harris and Tammy Baldwin need to do to win in Wisconsin.

We follow up on a recent Public Service Commission (PSC) public hearing where the PSC tried to ban the media from covering the hearing and the lousy representation of PSC members even attending the public hearing reveals utility capture and their utter failure to represent the public interest.

We continue to sound the alarm bells about the need for hospital and health system regulation, as  Ascension continues its downward spiral. The latest news is that Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers in Milwaukee has switched maternity hospitals from Ascension’s premier Milwaukee hospital to an Aurora hospital. 
Robert closes with hope that the Biden Administration will follow 
through the President’s threat this week to cut off Israeli military aid
 in 30 days if Gaza aid flow does not radically improve. Is Biden 
finally going to have some backbone?

19 days to make a difference

Early voting is now underway, as Trump/Vance and Harris/Walz crisscross Wisconsin and the other battleground states. The first day of Wisconsin early voting saw record turnout of over 100,000 voters this Tuesday. What does it mean for the same day vote? We encourage our listeners to volunteer in Citizen Action’s final voter contact activities on phones and doors talking directly to targeted voters we need to win. Are you with us?

In spite of two “thousand year event” hurricanes less than two weeks apart, and the warmest September on record, the climate change issue is the worst casualty of the 2024 election season. Are voters not interested, or are politicians refusing to talk about it?

The second most ignored issue in the 2024 election is the current hospital and health system crisis ripping a hole in our health care safety net. We discuss how the hospital closure crisis in Eau Claire is also shocking the Madison hospital system, and the latest mega hospital chain merger of Marshfield Clinic Health System & Sanford Health.

We close by welcoming Milwaukee Area Technical College educator Luz Sosa to discuss the discrimination Latinos are experiencing at MATC and how it connects to Act 10 and the gerrymandered Legislature’s chronic under funding of public education.

2024 Election ignores climate & healthcare crisis

We discuss the final stretch of the voting phase of the 2024 election. It all comes down to people like our listeners talking to other voters and helping them make meaning of this election. Sign up to volunteer from home on phones or join us on the doors.

We discuss yet another healthcare merger as minnows, Black River Memorial Hospital and the Krohn Clinic, merge in an effort to survive all the bigger fish in the pond.

Marge Rogenbuck from Lincoln County, Wisconsin joins us to discuss conservative Board Members efforts to privatize the public county nursing home. Marge is a lifelong Lincoln County resident and had both her parents stay at Pine Crest. She tells us why she joined “People For Pine Crest” and is fighting back to protect a vital and excellent public institution in her community.

We close with a very special guest, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. He is jointed by Milwaukee County Sustainability Director Grant Helle, and Citizen Action Climate Coordinator Kat Klawes, to discuss the incredible new federal investments making it possible for cities, counties, and school districts to address the climate change emergency. As you will see, climate change is on the ballot on November 5th!

What’s at stake

With heavy hearts, we remember Milwaukee leader Jonathan Brostoff, who tragically passed away this week.

We debrief the 2024 Election, looking at the results from the presidential, U.S. Senate and State Legislative elections. What does it all mean and where do we go from here?

We discuss the reality that rural Wisconsin and most of rural America is continuing its realignment with the Republican Party. We are joined by People’s Action Rural Strategist, Kellon Patey, who lives in southeast Ohio, to discuss the pressing need for progressive organizations and donors to seriously invest in long term, permanent organizing and community building in rural places.

Rural Red

Senator Chris Larson joins us to commemorate the life of a major figure in Democratic politics who passed this week, former State Representative and Judge Fred Kessler.  Fred was one of the great political organizers of his generation, and left behind a legacy of young progressive leaders he mentored and helped elect to office.  We next turn to a deep dive into rural organizing with leaders of Grassroots Organizing Western Wisconsin (GROWW). Joining us are Executive Director Jenelle Ludwig Krauss and Organizing Director Bill Hogseth. We discuss a deeper organizing approach to reaching rural voters, and the crisis in affordable housing in rural Wisconsin.  What are the implications for the path forward from the 2024 election?

Old School Organizing

Following a discussion of Trump’s selections for agency appointments and the recent spate of new union organizing in Wisconsin, we dive into a discussion with two guests on immediate climate organizing opportunities progressives should be engaged in now.

Former Citizen Action organizer, Kevin Kane, now with Green Homeowners United, joins us to highlight where we are in Wisconsin with the Inflation Reduction Act and ARPA implementation and what opportunities exist for organizing in Wisconsin. Kevin also strongly encourages homeowners to immediately take advantage of available federal resources.

We close the show welcoming Citizen Action member and former Wausau alderman, Tom Killian, to discuss two Open Records workshops this Saturday, November 23rd in Wausau that are open to the public. One workshop, led by Bill Lueters, will provide residents and grassroots groups with insights into obtaining records from the government. The second session features Stephan Lester, who will provide information from public records about dioxin and pentachlorophenol contamination in the Thomas Street neighborhood on Wausau’s southwest side that were acquired through years of citizen research.

Climate organizing opportunities

Battleground Wisconsin is Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s weekly podcast that features the latest political news from the front lines in the embattled state of Wisconsin. 

The show features:
·         Robert Kraig, Executive Director, Citizen Action of Wisconsin
·         Matt Brusky, Deputy Director, Citizen Action of Wisconsin
.         Claire Zautke, Health Care for All Director

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