Civic Media

By Chad Holmes

This past weekend, like many of you, I tried to relax and get away from the work grind by getting in front of a television and watching some football. The Green Bay Packers on Sunday to be specific. However, with less than a month away from the election, it’s impossible to get away completely. Certainly when it comes to Congressman Derrick Van Orden.

Derrick Van Orden is not my congressman. I live in the 7th Congressional District, as does everyone who lives in Marathon County. My congressman (and I use the my very loosely) is Tom Tiffany. Derrick Van Orden represents the 3rd Congressional District. The reason why I have to sit through many Derrick Van Orden political commercials, and his oppenent Rebecca Cooke, is because the 3rd District has Portage and Wood County as part of it. The Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids media markets are served by TV stations out of Wausau. To get to voters in Point and Rapids the campaigns need to buy spots from Channels 7, 9, 12 and the FOX channel….what number that is I have no idea. So those of us in Marathon County and other counties not in the 3rd get to learn a lot about Van Orden and Cooke.

It wasn’t a surprise I saw many, many political spots when sitting down to watch the Packers face the Rams Sunday. It was expected. I have seen Derrick Van Orden’s “racial dog whistle” spots many times. Maybe I just saw it one time too many yesterday. Recently Van Order had a spot titled “One of Them.” It featured pics of the “liberal elite” such as President Biden, former Speaker Pelosi, Senate majority leader Schumer and California Governor Newsom. None mentioned by name. Then the spot claimed Cooke was “handpicked” to win back the House and “trusted to elect liberal heroes like Mandela Barnes.” Large photo Barnes. Looks darkened. Then they add another black face in House Minority leader Jeffries on the other side of Cooke to finish the spot with the words “she’s one of them.” Disgusting.

The latest Van Orden ad drops the white faces and focuses on linking Cooke strictly to Mandela Barnes. That’s the spot I kept seeing yesterday. It’s more “Us vs. Them”. The kind of stuff we saw over and over again in the 2022 Senate race between Barnes and Senator Ron Johnson. The biggest difference is in 2022 Johnson had the “sense” to let his 3rd party allies put out the most racist and disgusting of the ads, including darkening of the then-Lt. Governor’s picture. The Van Orden spots end with the words “I’m Derrick Van Orden and I approve this message.” Standing next to a bunch of old white guys who look like law enforcement. Nice little kicker there Derrick. He is trying to remind everyone he is “us” standing next to the white guys while Cooke is “them” pictured next to Barnes and Jeffries.

Van Orden isn’t the only GOP candidate ramping up the use of racial language. It goes right to the top. It was reported today that Donald Trump told right wing radio host Hugh Hewitt that you can tell whether migrants are predisposed to committing murder by “their genes.” “We got a lot of bad genes in our country right now,” Trump added. This is 2024. That’s the kind of thing said in the years post-Civic War. Pure racism.

We need stop seeing the media using terms like “sharpening attacks” and other passive language to avoid saying the truth: these are racist attacks on millions of our people. This is not a time to “both sides” what we are seeing and hearing everyday. Over and over again. Even when trying to get away from it all with a football game. It’s dangerous. It needs to stop but if it doesn’t stop it needs to be called what it is.

By Chad Holmes

There are many things in politics that make sense and those that don’t. Earlier this week Donald Trump became the first Republican nominee for President to campaign in Dane County since Bob Dole in 1996. Among the state GOP dignitaries who were there to show their support of the former President were former Governor Scott Walker and 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee Tim Michels. Senator Ron Johnson is one of Trump’s biggest state supporters. None of those names are surprising. The one state GOP leader that still makes me shake my head for his support of Trump is former four-term Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson. Not only does Thompson support Trump but he was the lead speaker introducing Trump this week in Dane County. Tommy even laughed at the call (and insult) Trump gave when he called to tell Tommy to “get the hell off the stage.”

Why? I keep asking why and finding little in my search for answers. Just a couple of weeks ago Civic Media had plenty of coverage from the Cap Times Idea Fest in Madison. Leading political figures were among the many types of folks who spoke at the event. One of which was Tommy Thompson. After reading what he told the audience at Idea Fest I am more confused on why Thompson, at the age of 82, would make one of his last political battles a fight to get Donald Trump back into the White House. In fact, the reasons he put out at Idea Fest make absolutely no sense.

From a story at civicmedia.us that discussed Thompson’s appearance at Idea Fest: “he noted his support for Trump was in part a push to urge his own party to work across the aisle to tackle the serious problems facing Wisconsin and the United States as a whole.” What? If Thompson wants a leader who will urge the current MAGA Republican Party to work across the aisle that person wouldn’t be Donald Trump in any way, shape or form. It’s crazy to think that Trump will change who he is at this late point in his life.

Thompson also, as Civic Media noted in it’s story of the event appearance, “At various points in the evening, Thompson endorsed a range of ideas that might strike the uninitiated as out of character for a Republican.” Some of the ideas Thompson pushed would be laughed out of a MAGA Republican Party meeting. Thompson proposed converting a state prison into a university to give inmates a path to success after incarceration and hiring retired judges to re-try cases within the correctional system with the hope of reducing sentences and freeing people earlier. The GOP and it’s 3rd party allies are putting out disgusting commercials right here in central Wisconsin against 85th Assembly District Democratic nominee Yee Leng Xiong saying he wants to open up all the jailhouse doors to release dangerous criminals. If Yee Leng Xiong made the same proposal as Thompson (which is very much worth consideration) the Republican Party would be spending many thousands of dollars calling him “soft on crime.”

Thompson also finished with a very reasonable statement that would have no favor in Trump’s Republican Party: “There are good ideas from Democrats and good ideas from Republicans,” he said. “In this state and this country … I want you to work as hard as you possibly can for your candidate, Kamala. I’m going to work for my candidate, Donald Trump. But at the end I want to come together because this country has serious, serious problems and we cannot afford to continue to be so partisan and so political that we don’t talk to each other.”

I am still as confused as ever on why Donald Trump is Tommy Thompson’s candidate. Thompson has to know of Trump’s dictatorial tendencies, his racist history, his felony convictions and more. Is it a desperate attempt at relevance? I don’t know. However, I do know that Tommy Thompson has to be held to account for his work, his hard work, to put a dangerous demagogue back in office. Saying he worked with Democrats in the past doesn’t cut it. Thompson is putting party, and maybe himself, above country and it’s a disgrace that should stick to him now and forever.

By Chad Holmes

Throughout Tuesday, like any storm, the winds started to blow harder and harder. At first the thought was “did Mayor Diny really dress up as a DPW employee to move a ballot drop box on a Sunday?” Yep, it really happened and there were pictures and video to prove it. On the surface it appears the mayor has overstepped his bounds in moving the drop box to his office. There are a lot of upset constituents, city hall workers and public officials. There will be plenty of investigation and decisions to be made on what happened on Sunday and much more to be said. However, at this point, I want to talk about a trend I have seen for a while in candidates and officials: hubris.

Self-confidence can be a good thing. It can also lead to problems. Reading some of the mayor’s comments concerning his decision to unilaterally remove the ballot drop box it comes across as a person who has no doubt he thinks he’s right. The mayor also said the people who he talked to don’t like drop boxes. It reminded me of an interview I had a couple of months ago on my program with a Republican candidate for the state assembly where he said everyone he had talked to agreed with his positions. My first thought was “everyone”? There are more than a few things I believe I am correct about. However, I am not delusional enough to think “everyone” agrees with me. It seems as though, in recent years, many on the right are certain of their beliefs and that “everyone” or at least every “real American” agrees with them. Whether Trump, Cory Tomczyk, and even radio personalities it can lead to some dangerous situations thinking you are right about everything.

According to public reports, Mayor Diny did have conversations with the clerk about the drop boxes. Apparently, in the end, the mayor’s suggestions were not heeded and the drop box was not removed. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some right? Not in this case. The mayor decided not to take no for an answer. He “knows” he is right. Hubris. That’s not the way our government works. One point that council president Lisa Rasmussen made really caught my eye. Rasmussen said to the Wausau Pilot and Review: “One concern I have heard from people so far is worry that there could be no accountability for this action, that if any other citizen had done the same thing, they would have been immediately answering to the police, and or facing some consequences.” There has been many examples in recent years where it appears that the rules are different for different people. Whether because of social status, economic status, race or other factors people aren’t treated equally under the law or under the rules of our society. That is a problem.

We will learn more about what happened and whether or not the mayor broke any rules or laws by his actions on Sunday. However, a little less “hubris” and a little more “humbleness” by everyone might go a long way.

By Chad Holmes

Last week, for the second time, a court dismissed a defamation case filed by State Senator Cory Tomczyk against the Wausau Pilot and Review. Last year a Marathon County Circuit Court judge dismissed Tomczyk’s suit and now it’s an appeals panel that told the Mosinee businessman turned state Senator his claims have no merit. Whether this is the end of this sad tale is to be determined as Tomczyk says he will be determining his options after the latest ruling.

If the goal is justice, then this case should be over. If the goal is to bankrupt one of the few journalistic options the people of central Wisconsin has to get information about their governmental representatives and policies then Tomcyzk may keep tilting at this windmill. In the ruling written by appeals judge Lisa Stark it was stated that Tomczyk failed to provide evidence to buttress his claims of “actual malice” and “reckless disregard” in the Pilot’s reporting of Tomczyk using an anti-gay slur during a 2021 meeting where the “Community for All” issue was being discussed.

After becoming a major voice in the “CFA” debate, Tomczyk ran for the state Senate and won the Republican primary over Mosinee mayor Brent Jacobson by positioning himself as a Donald Trump-like MAGA candidate who truly represents the people of the 29th District and then defeated Democrat Bob Look in the very-GOP leaning district. During a joint appearance at UWSP at Wausau in October of 2022 Tomczyk ran as an election denier, comparing our elections to “Putin’s Russia”. He talked about the lack of integrity of the justice system, wanting 2020 protesters jailed while January 6th defendants were just “supporting their candidates”. Talked about the radical policies of Governor Evers and Mayor Rosenberg and the horrible “Democrat” policies and how “average citizens” and “average Americans” hate those policies. “Average Americans” = conservatives. Then called Democrat policies “treasonous” and that Democrats “don’t want law and order and safety. Democrats want chaos. Democrats want confusion. Democrats want instability. They want this so they can they try to convince the ‘sheeple’ that they have the only solution. They can fix the problem. It’s b—s–t.” Can see why he has been continuing this suit for the last couple of years. Don’t cross him.

So on one side there’s a journalist who has covered the news for years in our area. The other is MAGA state Senator who throws verbal bombs at people who are left of him on the political spectrum. The courts have now, multiple times, said his suit has no merit. One would think that a media source, one that claims they believe in “law and order” would see the merit of standing with the Pilot and the courts. Nope, the operations manager/morning show co-host of the right-wing radio station down the street puts out a commentary titled “A Eulogy for American Journalism.” He stands with Tomczyk and against the Pilot. Wow. The people that want to kill American journalism aren’t the ones who won in the courts last year and last week. The costs of this crusade of Tomczyk’s have nearly bankrupted the Pilot, and would have, except for the support of their readers.

I look forward to discussing this case and whole story with Wausau Pilot and Review editor/founder Shereen Siewert later in the week.