U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore is among the Democrats not attending Donald Trump’s inauguration, saying, “It’s been very hard to respect Donald Trump.”
“It was a process, my deciding not to go,” Moore said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “When I came to the realization that Inauguration Day was going to fall on MLK Day, something that hasn’t happened since Bill Clinton was inaugurated, my constituents really, it was a drumbeat of folks begging me to come and go to the events I go to every single year since there’s never any conflict.
“I think the final straw for me was his whining about Jimmy Carter’s, about the flag being flown at half-staff to honor the 39th president,” Moore added. “I just, you know, I think that it’s been very hard to respect Donald Trump.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, is also not attending, but U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s office said the Madison Dem will.
“People have different reasons for doing it,” Moore said. “You got somebody like Amy Klobuchar, for example, who’s definitely going to show up because she’s in charge of the inaugural ceremonies. I have no problem with my good friend and colleague, our United States Sen. Tammy Baldwin for showing up. People have their own insights and instincts about what to do.”
Meanwhile, as Dems look to rebuild, Moore, has endorsed Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler in his bid to be chair of the Democratic National Committee. She attended the candidate forum last week in Detroit.
“It’s a very fierce battle,” Moore said of the contest between Wikler and Ken Martin, the head of Minnesota Democrats. “It’s not unfriendly, I don’t think. They know each other. So it is not real nasty. But there’s a really big difference between the two of them. From my perspective, Ben Wikler has raised more money than any other party chair, even though Ken Martin has been the ‘chair of the party chairs.’ Ben Wikler has exceeded him in raising money. Ben Wikler has a model in Wisconsin that people are following.”
Meanwhile, state GOP Chairman Brian Schimming told “UpFront” Wisconsin Republicans are well represented in Washington for the inaugural events.
“We’ve had some private events here over the weekend, and then we’ll have our own events on the Wisconsin side as many other states do,” Schimming said. “And then, of course, the inaugural on Monday at the Capitol and the inaugural balls that night.
“So there’s a pretty good Wisconsin contingent out here, and we’re looking forward to being part of this. Republicans have only won Wisconsin twice for a Republican presidential candidate in the last 40 years, so we’re excited to be in Washington for the right reasons.”
Schimming dismissed those Democrats who aren’t attending including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Personally, if members of the delegation make their own decision not to show up, I think that looks worse for them than it does for us,” Schimming said. “And, I will say this: I don’t know how many Republicans at this event will be missing Nancy Pelosi.”
Also on the show, Green Bay Police Capt. Ben Allen discussed efforts to prepare for a massive security operation ahead of the NFL Draft in coordinating with state and federal authorities.
“For us, it’s the biggest one out there,” Allen said. “We’re going to see big numbers, and we’re going to see a lot of people, but from a public safety perspective, we’re ready for it.”
Local officials are coordinating with the Wisconsin National Guard, Wisconsin State Patrol and federal agencies, including the FBI, TSA and Homeland Security.
“It’s all going to be fenced in,” Allen said. “The entire footprint will be fenced in, so people will go through metal detector screening, police screening as they enter. We’re going to have a lot of resources viewing the entire footprint from the ground level, from up high, with other assistance that they’re requesting from our law enforcement partners.”
State lawmakers set aside $2 million to help the city host the event, which runs April 24-26.
Finally, Port Washington Mayor Ted Neitzke told “UpFront” a proposed new data center is at “step one of a thousand” in a project that could consume up to 2,000 acres in the town of Port Washington.
“We’re starting to learn the conditions and needs that they’ll have as we work toward potential annexation into the town,” Neitzke said.
Texas-based Cloverleaf Infrastructure has proposed building the data center for an unnamed operator on farmland just west of I-43.
“At this point, there’s just been a range of different data center companies that have a need,” Neitzke said. “But as far as who they are and when or where, that has yet to be determined for us.”
Neitzke said the potential economic impact to the region is ” almost beyond unimaginable.”
“Port Washington is a community that had a rich history of manufacturing through the 90s or early 90s. And then it was lost,” Neitzke said. “As a result, our city and through our strategic planning process, we have really identified a need to bring in blended development. Right now 80% of all our taxes are on the residents, 18% on commercial, 2% manufacturing.
“Our city’s total valuation is like $1.2 billion,” he added. “So if a two, three, four billion dollar evaluated organization were to come to Port Washington, it fundamentally changes the cost of living in our city, our ability to grow our infrastructure and kind of build out what we want.”
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