Opinion

And that's a mark of how endangered voting rights are right now.

Washington overflows with people seeking power, status and wealth. They want to impress. However, Marc Raskin was impressive because he came to D.C. to make the world a better place.

The country has an authoritarian leader who demeans others racially and sexually, attacks our institutions and undermines the Constitution.

Trump keeps moving the goal posts. Compromise and negotiation are essential to governing, but anathema to Trump.

Parallels between Trump and Nixon on nuclear war and cover-ups.

Serious incidents of hate and bias at UW-Madison are diluted by frivolous and petty tattling - like bad manners at the gym, rude roommates, and a complaint about a homeless man hiding behind 'white privilege.'

How crazy will 2018 be? Let us count the ways.

Outspoken Madison liberal Tim Burns stands in the judge’s way.

Michael Screnock blows off candidate forums, bets on special interest money.

Ron Johnson places Trump and party over principles and patriotism.

A 15-year love affair has turned really sour.

Efficiency office created in 2010 reports to board members. But is it needed?

His call to fire elections commission leader defies the law and common sense.

Why didn't he oppose axing Elections, Ethics heads? Perhaps because he wanted revenge.

It shows global and U.S. changes benefit 1%; who are the losers?

Last week’s elections show GOP could be vulnerable to right kind of campaign.

Past economic data suggests it won’t. And voters think it will fail.

Russia extensively meddled to influence our political and social views, shown through thousands of social media/internet posts, many paid for in Rubles. This tactic is illegal, a modern attack on our nation, and the political hacks who aided and abetted this effort are also guilty of a crime.

Common sense and reason must prevail in the marijuana debate. And opening the door to allow the federal government to prosecute more citizens in states where marijuana has been legalized by overwhelming majorities of the people makes no sense.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina crossed far over the line between the proper role of a judge as an impartial arbiter of justice and into the improper role of an unabashed, inflammatory advocate for retribution and 15 minutes of fame.

If even a sliver of those wealthy, high-income Republicans uncomfortable with Trump decide to stay home in November, it could remake Wisconsin politics. State conservatives need to change the subject quickly to avoid being linked to Donald Trump.

Some states allow the major parties to prevent candidates from appearing on the ballot under their name.

The speaker has promised entitlement reform since he first won his House seat. If he retires soon as reports suggest, he has just a year to deliver.

When judges substitute their own discretion in place of strict interpretation of the law, courts invite more politics. If Burns and Dallet want to stand up to what they perceive to be Republican excesses, they have every right to do so. In fact, there's still plenty of time for both of them to file paperwork and run for governor.

Clearly, Soglin thinks he's the right man for the right time. But given his record, it is unclear whether that time is 2018 or 1918.

The GAB and its staffers had to go — but constantly reconstituting the agencies dedicated to enforcing clean elections isn't a good look for either party. Find a model and stick to it — micromanaging elections investigators is bound to bring accusations of skullduggery and hijinks.

In the computer era, large swaths of Social Security numbers can be stolen, transmitted, used to steal an individual's identity. This was never supposed to be the case; according to the Social Security Administration, the cards were "never intended to serve as a personal identification document."

The Democratic Party would be wise to distance themselves from the Status Quo caucus. They are intellectually dishonest in their policy arguments and bash popular programs used by more than 74,000 students – a number which will continue to grow.

Now that 2017 is in the rearview mirror, it is time to look back on what was a wild ride when it came to transportation funding in the state of Wisconsin. Google Maps could not possibly have mapped this route.

With nine candidates with some ability to win, the race is interesting if for nothing less than a litmus test on what appeals to Democrats, and maybe as a proxy test for the 2020 national presidential primaries.

So, for now, this horse race seems to have Evers, Flynn and Mitchell fighting for the lead, but they’re only rounding the first turn. There’s plenty of time for the others, even those who have stumbled out of the gate or who got a late start, to catch up.

Rep. Evan Goyke, a Democrat from Milwaukee, wrote the blueprint for closing the troubled youth prison Lincoln Hills. Does he have the roadmap back to power for Wisconsin Democrats?

No one should have to endure daily uncertainty, fear, or physical danger at their workplace.

What's scary about all this blustering about nuclear war between North Korea and the United States is that it is accepted so cavalierly — like, ho-hum, lobbing nukes at each other across the Pacific is just another day at the office.

There's a real live example of unregulated corporate greed that's causing problems for millions of Americans right now. It involves that shameless industry we have come to know as Big Pharma.

Todd Berry, the retiring president of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, hopefully opened a few eyes with a farewell column he sent the state media last week.

Aside from the tax cuts, the biggest danger facing the country because of Trump's supposed "accomplishments" is his assault on good-government regulation that protects not only our environment, but our financial system and American consumers.

In this penny-wise and pound-foolish political environment of the past several decades, we managed to put things off to future generations.

It's bad enough that Wisconsin Republicans have gone out of their way to make it harder for many Wisconsin citizens to exercise their civic duty to vote with an onerous voter ID law — now state government is making it even harder to get those IDs in the first place.

Norway has become a country where everyone has health insurance, kids go to college tuition-free and a decent standard of living is enjoyed by all.

Fitzgerald effectively fired the administrators of the state’s Ethics Commission and Elections Commission because they once worked for the defunct Government Accountability Board, which a few years ago did what it was supposed to do and joined in an investigation to determine if Scott Walker and his collaborators had violated the state’s campaign finance laws.

All the faux outrage on the part of Wisconsin GOP kingpins these past several years has been a clever way to mask the obvious: Their operatives, especially Scott Walker during the 2012 recall election, brazenly skirted the state's campaign finance laws and had the John Doe been allowed to dig deeper several may have wound up being indicted.

It's really sad when a state leader has to run against a city — and a particularly successful one at that — in his own state.

In the aftermath of a hip operation that for good measure resulted in a broken leg, I've been confined to my basement rec room where I read and write — and I've got cable news running incessantly in the background.

The loss of the 10th Senate district may have more to do with local politics than any statewide disenchantment with the Republicans in Madison or, for that matter, Trump fatigue.

What was your New Year’s resolution? More civility toward those with opposing views? Reaching across the aisle to find common ground? Not if you are the hyper-partisan Capital Times.

The stunner in the 10th SD disproves the Democrats’ whining that the legislative maps drawn after the last Census ensures a Republican majority.

Trump was right about Jerusalem despite the nervous nellies.

What’s needed is a new trade agreement that ends NAFTA’s corporate outsourcing incentives and that adds strong labor and environmental standards with swift and certain enforcement.

As a longtime conservative strategist and consultant, I had a front row seat to what the Wisconsin Supreme Court called, “a perfect storm of wrongs,” visited upon people who are “wholly innocent of any wrongdoing.”

Apparently the way to get Trump to behave more presidential is to accuse him of being unhinged.

So it seems recently that Wisconsin’s notoriously right-wing governor, facing an election for a third term in November, is suddenly not just tacking to the middle but embracing long-held Democratic progressive positions, attempting to signal to voters to forget the harm he has done in eight years and welcome the newly bending middle-aged wunderkind.

The work requirement waivers provide no new federal funding for job training, job search, transportation, child care or the other support services that were the government’s part of a new two-way bargain with beneficiaries. And without that two way street, what they will mainly accomplish is to reduce the Medicaid rolls by erecting barriers to coverage.

There’s a lot of work to be done. The plan to close Lincoln Hills and open smaller, regional facilities should go forward regardless of who wins the governor’s race later this year. Changes shouldn’t have to wait for the next budget to pass, either.

Democrats have eked out important victories in districts that had traditionally been red, including the most recent in Wisconsin. Patty Schachtner, a medical examiner from St. Croix County, defeated state Rep. Adam Jarchow (R-Balsam Lake) last week for state Senate, surprising just about anyone paying attention.

Siphoning nearly $7 million into recruitment ad campaign wrong move for Wisconsin.

Christmas and Hanukkah have come and gone, and a new year is here. As we enter 2018, many people are preparing new goals to meet and new priorities to focus on. We, as state legislators, would be well served to follow suit.

Medical cannabis pioneer helped build movement in Wisconsin and beyond.

This weekend on Capital City Sunday Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson was allowed to make it appear that everyone hates the Affordable Care Act. The fact is that the law is now more popular than ever.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Tuesday that an informant has told Congress that a “secret society” was set up within the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice shortly after Donald Trump was elected president.

As compelling as it may seem to link Soglin giving the key to the city to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1975 to improving communications and fostering better international relations in Cuba, let it not be forgotten that allowing a dictator to have the type of positive inroads with such propaganda was not warranted considering the despicable way he ruled.

Unless the way we elect people is based on a more equitable and level-playing field all the grand ideas we may hold about building a stronger society will be short-changed due to an overly partisan and uncompromising legislature.

The president's transgressions have done more to unify our country than any policy the administration has championed.

Ron Johnson went Alex Jones on Fox News last night.

It was, first and foremost, a long, state-financed campaign ad with 'highlights' strategically dribbled out before the address, followed by statewide media market saturation, then day two analysis, etc.

It's 26 acres. It's 50% larger than a wetlands fill for a sand mine to the northwest that was described in 2017 as the biggest such Wisconsin wetland loss in ten years.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald is purging public watchdog agency employees and civil servants, for partisan reasons, without a hearing, openly and in broad daylight.

Glitzy, WI-paid Foxconn-related transit ads on Illinois transit, hundreds of millions of WI transportation dollars for Foxconn-related roads, but in Milwaukee County, buses to industrial parks and other routes have been slashed for lack of funds that wouldn't even show up in the $4 billion ticketed for Foxconn.

After bashing Obamacare at every turn, and repeatedly turning aside hundreds of millions of federal dollars to expand health coverage in Wisconsin, Walker now wants the feds and state taxpayers to fund a strengthening of Obamacare in Wisconsin with a fresh infusion of $200 million public dollars

Gov. Pothole has allowed Wisconsin's roads to decay to 2nd-worst in the country, costing motorists repair penalties reaching an estimated $700 annually in the Milwaukee area, data show.

Not one word or update about environment in State of the State speech. Why?

Walker says he's taking Wisconsin in the right direction, but if that leads to state waters, don't smell, drink or fish it, his own data show.

Wisconsin Republicans like sneering at the name of the Democratic Party by re-engineering it to 'Democrat,' but now they're deconstructing basic democracy in favor of rank arrogance and self-preserving autocracy.

This week on RightWisconsin Conversations, Brian Fraley of Edge Messaging explains what happened in Wisconsin’s special election on Tuesday. The Republican strategist and former Managing Editor of RightWisconsin explains why Republicans failed to hold a state Senate seat they’ve held since Sheila Harsdorf won it in the 2000 election. Fraley also explains what are the implications, if any, for future elections. Are we headed towards a big blue wave?

John Mielke, the president of Associated Builders and Contractors in Wisconsin, joins RightWisconsin Editor James Wigderson to discuss a bill waiting on action by the state Senate that would allow companies to have a one-to-one ratio of apprentices to journeymen in the skilled trades, a bill that will help (but not fix) the skills gap.

Given the decision-makers who will do the hiring and the conditions under which the next police chief will have to work, crime in Milwaukee could get much worse.

Rural schools, students and families were left behind in the GOP’s rush to adopt the largest giveaway to a foreign corporation in history.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.,R-Rochester, have "teamed up" to remove the current Wisconsin Elections Administrator Mike Haas and Wisconsin Ethics Administrator Brian Bell. A vote has been scheduled for Jan. 23.

Whatever his real motivations are for proposing to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake in his fiscal year 2019 budget, Gov. Scott Walker has finally come around to the obvious conclusion that Wisconsin’s notoriously dangerous youth prisons — which lawsuits and federal investigations have repeatedly identified as abusive and obsolete — need to close.

We have seen cases all over the state where a person who should have a very high bail is instead held for a low limit and released back into the community.

The next Democratic nominee for governor of Wisconsin should be the candidate who best expresses what the author Michael Harrington used to describe as “the left wing of the possible” — a progressive who can win. It is entirely true that the candidate who best strikes this balance could be over 70 or under 40. But it is also true that the Democratic Party needs an infusion of young blood among the ranks of its candidates.

Buried deep in "Fire and Fury," author Michael Wolff’s blockbuster book on the Trump White House, is a rather lengthy examination of the Trump-Ryan relationship that is damning for both the speaker and the president.

The former Kennedy aide, whose radical democratic faith defined progressive activism and ideas across six decades, has died at 83.

Pocan, Moore, Sensenbrenner, Duffy voted NO on FISA bill.

Gov. Scott Walker is deliberately denying Wisconsinites representation in the Legislature by refusing to call special elections to fill open seats in the state Assembly and the state Senate.

If voters are supposed to be troubled that Soglin engaged in a diplomatic nicety long ago, won’t they be just as troubled that Walker has appeared on Chinese television sporting the contemporary symbol of a country Human Rights Watch describes as “a one-party authoritarian state that systemically curbs fundamental rights”?

In a district that backed Trump 55-38, Patty Schachtner sweeps to victory with a result that has shocked the state—and Governor Scott Walker.

Schachtner‘s successful run drew a template for Democrats who want to get rid of Walker and his legislative toadies.

Dennis Degenhardt could win GOP-leaning Assembly seat as a pro-business moderate.

Other state subsidies will have far greater jobs created per tax dollar spent.

We need immigrant workers. Will the two parties find a middle ground?

Gov. Walker is pre-empting the Democratic 2018 issues. They have been critical of his previous budgets that short-changed education, so he upped K-12 spending in his recent budget, continued the tuition freeze at the University of Wisconsin System and then followed with per-child crowd pleaser.

Wisconsin’s economy is recovering in some factors, but in general the measures are split and the divide between the economies of booming counties and struggling counties continues to grow.

Our goal as we seek to address the crisis of veteran suicide should be meeting the needs of those veterans in crisis in a nimble and effective way.

Last week, Gov. Scott Walker unveiled a comprehensive plan which makes substantial investments that closely align the state of Wisconsin with current best practices in juvenile corrections.

The Legislature has refused to release records about personnel and sexual harassment investigations, advanced a bill to restrict access to body cam footage, and is considering legislation to seal off documents about wrongful convictions. Has the Assembly kept its 2015 commitment to ensure the public records law is “preserved without modification or degradation?” You be the judge.

After a Federal Bankruptcy Judge in Milwaukee ruled last week that the UW System could not be dropped as a defendant in the lawsuit filed against it by the UW-Oshkosh Foundation, the Foundation's attorney--Paul Swanson--was quoted as saying "The Legislature should just man up and settle this thing."

Getting assistance to those who need it and getting rid of fraud are goals we all share. But let’s be smart about the rules. Unnecessary or politically motivated rules result in wasted dollars and fewer folks signing up who truly need help.

As the new year begins, I look back on my time in the Legislature and think of decisions that have an effect on our families and our neighborhoods.

Day in and day out, the industries, businesses, farmers, and workers that make Wisconsin what it is -- including "America's Dairyland" -- rely on NAFTA to get the job done. It would be a profound mistake to abandon it.

The SOFA Act is designed to save lives by cutting off access to fentanyl’s nasty ingredients and by helping prosecutors lock up the people at the highest levels of fentanyl production and distribution rings.

Now that it’s 2018, an election year, I would like to welcome Senator Tammy Baldwin back to Wisconsin.

As President Trump encourages investing in our workforce to repair our roads, airports and bridges, he should also look to Wisconsin’s conservative reforms.

Now, Trump can add one new feather to his “successful business” résumé: Being the catalyst for the federal government to shutdown, which only took a year for him to accomplish.

What did they do wrong? “I have no idea,” Fitzgerald admits, but demands firings.

Fitzgerald is waging a vendetta against Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas and Ethics Commission Administrator Brian Bell. Not since the days of Tailgunner Joe McCarthy has an elected official tried so callously to destroy the careers of such decent public servants.

Gov. Scott Walker spent part of New Year’s Eve whining again about the remote possibility that he might be outspent in his re-election campaign. At 11:03 a.m., rather than having a mimosa or pickled herring, he tweeted: “In 2017, the Democrat candidate for governor in VA and his allies outspent the Republican candidate and his allies by about $30 million. We cannot let that happen in Wisconsin.” Of course, Walker is used to having a $30 million advantage himself.

A state licensing rule that requires a dramatically higher score on the national chiropractor board exam than almost every other state.

Priorities should include tax reform, corrections, professional licensure and tolling.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on whether Wisconsin should join the trend and legalize marijuana.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck asks: What happens if President Donald Trump is indicted?

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on Gov. Scott Walker's criticism of Madison Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Paul Soglin and the city of Madison.

It would be easy to lament what could have been had a traditional conservative won the Republican primary, but debating alternative futures is the realm of fiction authors. Trump’s record of conservative reforms is impressive as it stands. Let us hope that he can maintain pace and direction of reform in 2018.

There is a dignity in work that cannot be replaced by an entitlement. Moreover, at this moment in time, Wisconsin is flush with jobs of all skill levels and needs everyone possible to find a job and work hard.

The proposed legislation would allow the wanton, unregulated killing of wolves in Wisconsin for as long as the species was on the federal Endangered or Threatened Species List.

So far as I can see, Trump’s virulent base is most powerfully animated by a small-minded desire to give the rest of us a big, long middle-finger salute. Let’s not reciprocate, but let’s not pretend it’s much more complicated than that.

This all feels predictable, but it is noteworthy that, in these toxic times, nearly half of the Gallup/Knight poll respondents — 48 percent — were in the “optimist” category, in which respondents believe there are traditional, aggressive sources of journalism they can depend on.

Nationally respected pollster Paul Maslin says Democrats could do well in 2018 if they credibly offer an alternative to the status quo.

Historian Sergio Gonzalez says of Latinos in Wisconsin that “as we continue to organize, our resilience comes from the fact that we’ve been here before.”

After almost a decade of stunted growth, depressed wages, and general pessimism, America’s economic confidence is growing. And soon worker’s paychecks will be, too.

Basic science may not make a great meme, but curiosity-driven research helps us understand how nature works at the most fundamental level. This allows us to invent things that no one else has thought of, leading to ideas that over time will create jobs, save lives and drive the economy. If the United States were to lose our advantage in basic discoveries, we would risk undermining the strength of our economy and our global leadership.

On the basis of our continuing engagement with citizens across Wisconsin, and with the benefit of The Pew Charitable Trust's expertise, today we are releasing a new set of recommendations to Governor Walker, the Legislature, and the people of our state to address the opioid crisis.

During his confirmation hearing, senators may bang on about Judge Michael Brennan'S politics or, as they did with another recent nominee, his religion. They may (falsely and unfairly) excoriate the Federalist Society as the Opus Dei of the legal profession – or at least what they imagine (falsely and unfairly) Opus Dei to be. None of it matters. Judge Brennan will not change the legal strike zone regardless of who is on the mound.

Politics aside, Walker’s sudden interest in addressing the health insurance affordability crisis will not undo the damage his years of sabotage have done, let alone make coverage affordable for most Wisconsinites.

Our report does not argue that federal spending is the primary cause of overdose deaths, nor do we deny that it benefits millions of Americans. But our report does provide solid evidence that federal spending is also funding the opioid epidemic that is killing thousands. That is a reality we should not deny.

The state of our state is historically strong, and we are getting positive things done for the people of Wisconsin. Our Ambitious Agenda for 2018 introduces common-sense conservative reforms to address real issues.

The unemployment rate in Wisconsin is now the lowest it has been in the history of the state.

In this episode of the Plaidcast, Congressman Sean Duffy is joined by Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill, to discuss border security, strengthening our military, and gossip at the world famous White House Salon.

An open letter to Fitzgerald, Vos and Wisconsin state senators.

Trump administration has waged a ceaseless war on our outdoors, eviscerating our system of environmental protection, severely weakening safeguards for our air, land and water and undercutting efforts to address the climate crisis.

Schachtner win gives hope. But everything would have to go right.

Nearly everyone agrees system needs reform, but can’t agree how to do it.

As Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators gear up to seek re-election in November, it’s time to consider 15 benchmarks of state government during six years of GOP control. The benchmarks measure the change from state government’s 2011 fiscal (July through June) year – the last budget of then-Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle – and the fiscal 2017 budget signed into law by Walker.

Walker says he wants to remove barriers to work. Here’s how to do it.

As I retire after almost 25 years as President of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, I can’t help but reflect on how Wisconsin government and politics have changed over the decades. Perhaps the most significant change that has occurred is the increasingly partisan and polarized nature of dialogue and decision-making in the public arena.

Is Arizona now the progressive state Wisconsin once was?

Paul is a radical of the real — fix the roads, school the kids, a living wage, a sustainable environment, local control and local business. That is good. But the reason to run is to stand on the stage and say: "Our future can be better."

Thanks to the Hendricks' investments and more from those resources, Beloit has turned a corner on recovering from the loss of factories that once built paper-making machines and diesel engines. Where empty post-industrial buildings stood, a mix of hotels, restaurants, upscale apartments, a performing arts center and mixed retail, commercial and manufacturing space has taken its place.

The bipartisan deal that ended the federal government shutdown and left open the door for a congressional solution on immigration is an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. Wisconsin’s workforce crisis demands it.

Unplugging – whether literally, figuratively, or both – is one way to demonstrate to others that we care about them and that we are listening. Building on that, if our family, friends, and colleagues benefit from uninterrupted time, does our inner self not deserve a little uninterrupted time as well?

The state of Florida has 20.6 million residents. Wisconsin has 5.8 million. Both states are about the same number of square miles. Florida has 67 school districts. Wisconsin has 425.

Gov. Scott Walker recently announced a plan to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake and move offenders from the Northern Wisconsin youth prisons to new regional facilities.

Do you believe it is appropriate for state Supreme Court candidates to openly discuss their personal political views?

Dem Patty Schachtner scored an upset special election win in the Republican-leaning 10th SD January 16 as Dems immediately portrayed the victory over GOP Rep. Adam Jarchow as a sign a wave is headed toward Wisconsin this fall.

Will he stay or will he go? The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala & Jensen, debate Speaker Paul Ryan's future. Sponsored by Michael Best Strategies and the Wisconsin Counties Association.

The WisOpinion Insiders, Jensen and Chvala, debate the new federal tax law and how it will affect Sen. Tammy Baldwin and other pols running in 2018. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.

Show 39B Insiders Two-Minute Take (1-12-2018) from WisOpinion on Vimeo. The WisOpinion Insiders, Jensen & Chvala, analyze whether the latest Dem governor candidate, Paul Soglin,...

The WisOpinion Insiders, Jensen and Chvala, handicap Dem U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin's re-election chances against either Leah Vukmir or Kevin Nicholson. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.