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If you haven't heard, if you're just tuning in, this will be the final program of civic morning.
Wow, Tom.
Yeah, civic civic media mid morning.
I tried to make a joke and I failed doing that, but today's the last day of this program, this version of the program, but I'm not going anywhere.
I've seen some lovely comments in the text line.
And if we can get to them, we can question some questions can't be answered, but I will assure you this.
What I have done, what we have done with Jane or with Kristen, we still set out to do is having great conversations with great information and inviting you to be part of that.
Cause that is important.
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keep it locked here for more information.
And we are going to enjoy this final hour of civic media mid morning.
And we're going to do that by bringing on one of my favorite people in the entire world.
He is the political editor of civic media, the founder of the multi-award winning recombobulation area, the man responsible for so many views on our live stream right now, Mr. Dan Schaefer.
Good morning, Dan.
Long time no see.
How are you doing, my friend?
I'm doing well, Mr. Bach.
It's an exciting show to be joining today.
And I am so grateful that you wanted to have me on here for one more time to recombobulate on a Friday morning.
We've recombobulated on so many Friday mornings over the years.
We had to give it one last ride,
right?
Absolutely, absolutely.
And I think today is a great day to do this talk about this because you and I discussed this yesterday on the phone and you basically put it pretty
pretty bluntly, but importantly that 2026 is not going to just be an important year for elections in the country, but it is so very important here in Wisconsin because what is at stake and
what we're going to be looking at going into the next year.
So talk more about that, please.
Yeah, I think, you know, this, the midterm elections, as you mentioned, are going to be enormously consequential around the country, you know, for, for control of Congress, for control of the House and the Senate, for, you know, so many races that people are going to be keying into.
But I think here in Wisconsin, this stakes are enormous.
And I think if we look ahead to November, you know, we're, we're at
this kind of odd moment in state government where they're racing to kind of this imaginary finish line of trying to finish all of their work in February and maybe into early March.
And then they can go off to campaign for the rest of the year in this odd format that the Republican-controlled state legislature has has abided by for a number of years now.
But looking ahead, I think that the
governor's race.
We have the first open race for governor in the state in more than 15 years.
And for the first time in about that time as well, there is a chance for either party to win control of the state legislature.
And you know, the state legislature in particular, you know, I pay close attention to
what's going
on there.
I have my crazy preview where I preview every last race on the ballot for the Wisconsin state legislature starting to even
work on that a little bit now, figuring out who is running for reelection, who might be challenging in some of these key seats and onward with that.
But I think the Senate is in play for the first time in a generation.
The Assembly is very much going to be up for grabs as well.
And so I think this is something I know you talk about so much on this show and has been baked into the DNA of this show since its inception is that
you know, if people can, people can make a difference
and
that participation is power and that people can, you know, you might be so frustrated and have high anxiety and all of the different things about what's happening nationally, but you can get involved at the local level.
You can get involved in the races happening in your community and in the state legislature and gubernatorial race this fall.
Everybody can
play a part and get involved and make a change.
I think there's no greater example, I mean there are so many examples you can point to, but I think there is no greater example in modern times of how your vote and your voice counts than when Wisconsin last year in a spring election stood up and told the world's richest man, no thank you, and really sent him to his cave to like
enjoying what seemed like months of shadow presidency, going into almost silence, and now he's becoming this Howard Hughes-esque type of person.
That's beside the point, but my point is that an example of that is just basically us saying to Elon Musk, no, your money is no good here.
And that to me always proves the point that your voice and your vote counts.
And that's why, you know, whether we're talking about this election at the state level,
or congressman brian style and the mega act or the save act like when they try to take away your voice and your vote that is where the problem begins and that's where we need to stand up even taller and say no and say no to this but i think something you just said too that's very very important and i i'm glad you used the term itself the first time in a generation
It's not the first time recently.
This is a group of kids who've grown up under this kind of world in Wisconsin, and there's a chance to bring some different voices, more compromise, more open understanding of what Wisconsinites need.
I talked about it earlier before about the transgender youth bill, the minors bills on affirming care.
Let me rephrase that.
Gender affirming care for trans youth, pushing through five bills when
I know you've talked to people and I've talked to politicians who speak to folks.
Trans youth and whether or not they can play in sports is not nearly on the top 30 list of things our people were about here in Wisconsin.
And we have a chance with politicians now to possibly say, let's focus on the important things.
And I think that's very, very... I mean, we're very, very important.
So like...
what are the most consequential things you see coming this year as far as like, whether it's Evers or Robin Voss, what is that we need to keep our eye on?
Yeah.
So there's been a number of discussions, you know, in recent weeks here that have emerged in some reporting over the past few days about some of the things that are a potential deal being struck
in
the state legislature.
And this has really bounced around.
And I think to
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and WIS Politics have reported this through some open records requests that they put out there.
The Wisconsin Examiner has been on this as they are covering the legislature closely as well.
But there was kind of the framework of a potential, I guess, deal between Governor Evers and Robin Voss that was reported earlier this week.
As you and your listeners surely know, the Republicans are not huge fans of what they refer to as the 400 year.
veto with Tony Evers using a clever use of his partial veto powers to extend options for education funding on into the future for quite some time.
But Republicans are not fans of this, of course, and have been making it a main campaign message.
And Assembly Speaker Robin Voss and Tony Evers have been talking about this and kind of the reported framework of the deal between the two of them was that this would include 200
million dollars in special education funding, 450 million for general school aids in 2027, 550 million towards property tax relief, and 97 million that would go towards the no tax on tips bill that has been advancing through the legislature as well.
So the governor proposed some property tax relief, talked about some special education funding.
And so it seemed like, you know, they were coming close to a deal.
But then
what was also reported this week following some public events that some of the leadership in the legislature held.
Senate Majority Leader Devin Lemahue, a Republican, said that he had been left out of talks between Assembly Speaker Voss and Governor Tony Evers on potential legislation.
And Lemahue told one of the TV reporters here in the Milwaukee market that, quote, I have no idea what's going on.
So the Senate proposed another option for returning some of the budget surplus to taxpayers in the form of essentially surplus checks, $500 to individuals, $1,000 to married filers.
And that is working its way through the Senate, but quite a level of disarray from the Republicans in the legislature here in the two chambers that don't seem to be on the same page.
that comes at a rather consequential moment, I think, when you're looking, when we're talking about, you know, looking ahead to the midterms here in 2026.
It
seems like an odd comparison, but it almost reminds me of back in 2024 when the immigration bill was almost handled and Donald Trump said, no, don't do this.
Because if you're on social media, specifically Twitter at all, they, I mean, you cannot, you cannot scroll five accounts without saying something about the 400 year veto and how it's going to ruin everything and make your children terrible.
And your house, your.
property taxes.
Like they're using this as such a piece that if it goes away, they have nothing else to run on.
And Tom Tiffany specifically has been running really hard on this one.
And it also doesn't surprise me either.
I mean, this is like Robin Voss runs at his own pace.
I remember when he said in an interview, this was years ago before Devin Lemminghu, when he said, I am willing to look at the possibility of medical marijuana here in the state of Wisconsin.
And I, and I'm telling you right now, Scott Fitzgerald, when he was.
The majority leader in the assembly said the following words, quote, but when asked about this, he said these words, he said, what?
That's how informed Robin Voss makes of his colleagues.
But that's also something we can talk about on the other side, which is, are the speculations of Robin Voss because the past few years haven't really been as, I don't want to say successful, but he was always seen as a king vapor.
a man among among the governor, it's Robin's world.
We're living in it.
But it feels like in the past few years, that has sort of drifted off into a thing of like, is he going to even run next time?
And I want to talk to you more about that.
Cause if, if Wisconsin quote loses Robin boss, that makes the landscape way different when it comes to how things are done, even if a Republican gets that job again.
Yeah.
I think, you know, the
We are at a pretty interesting moment here and is this, you know, there are always rumors that Voss might
retire at the end of his term that have come around in the last few cycles.
I don't want to be, you know, Charlie Brown with the football here, having him pulled away again.
So I am still kind of operating under the expectation that Voss is going to continue.
But, you know, and we can talk about this after the break, too.
It's, you know, this era of Tony Evers and Robin Voss for the past eight years, dominating politics, you know, this is Tony Evers final year in office.
he'll be giving his final state of the state address next Tuesday.
What is this final year going to look like?
Is this mad dash to pass a bunch of legislation here in February as the legislature ends?
It kind of brings its traditional session to a close.
What is that going to mean for the state going forward?
Does this reflect an end of an era?
in a certain sense, with Evers heading for the exits for potential for both the Assembly and Senate to be under democratic control a year from now.
We're reaching an end game of sorts with this dynamic in state politics, and I think that is a very interesting thing to consider too.
We'll talk more about that with Dan on the other side.
Go grab some snacks or grab some water.
You're listening to civic media mid mornings here on civic media.
And, uh, yeah, we'll come back.
We're talking to Dan Schaefer.
He is the political editor of civic media, as well as the founder of the recombobulation area, talking about 2026 elections here in Wisconsin.
And yes, when we come back talking about what.
Tony Evers saying goodbye means for the states and what we can look for in 2027.
All that coming up.
Don't go anywhere.
Stay tuned, stay informed, and stay close.
Welcome back to civic media mid mornings here on the civic media radio network.
My name is Greg Bach,
your
host, your buddy, your pal, your believer in all things you and trying that new hobby.
Go ahead, do it.
I believe in you.
We're here on the big show.
We got, we got some time left, but if you don't already know today is going to be the last program of civic media mid mornings.
I'm not going anywhere.
There'll be more coming soon.
People on the text line and live stream been asking, you'll find out information as we know fit, but keep it locked here for all of that.
But I'll be around and having great conversations, including the one I'm having right now with Mr. Dan Schaefer, who is the founder of the Reconpopulation Area, political editor for Civic Media.
He is here today talking all things politics, especially Wisconsin politics.
And before we went to the break, we were talking about the legacy of Robin Voss, but really, I think you said it correctly, Dan, when you talk about Robin Voss,
You can't not talk about Tony Evers and that that's unlikely pairing.
But with Tony Evers leaving, what does that mean for Wisconsin?
And I think it's also, you know, we've been so much of our politics has been dominated by this this dynamic between the governor and and the Republican controlled legislature.
So Evers is, you know, takes comes into office in 2019.
A lot has changed since 2019 in the country, in Wisconsin.
But what has been constant throughout that is just the way that divided government works.
For the eight years prior, under kind of the unified Republican control, it was more or less just whatever Republicans proposed, they would be able to pass because they...
You know, Scott Walker was governor.
They had these huge gerrymandered majorities in the legislature and they
had control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The right had control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
So they had pretty much eight years, but you could do whatever they wanted.
And then once Tony Evers was elected by Slim Margin in 2018, that ushered in this new era of divided government.
You know, you still had the large majorities for Republicans in the state legislature.
You know, Evers is reelected in 2022.
So that dynamic continued.
And now that, you know, Evers signed new
maps into law and that.
has begun to really reshape the legislature in a lot of ways.
It shrunk those Republican majorities significantly.
In last year's budget, they needed Democrats' democratic support in order to pass the budget, at least through the state Senate.
And so they have this odd calendar in the state of Wisconsin, even though it is a full-time legislature, that the legislature essentially takes a nine-month break
every
election year.
the Senate and Assembly's work, primary work for the year will be done by mid-March, and then they will be off to campaign, and if we know Robin Voss, there's gonna be some international travel involved, and whatnot, but I think we are in that moment right now.
There were multiple assembly floor sessions this week, one that went into the wee hours late last night, and so we have this kind of mad dash.
that the Republicans do at this time of year, every election year, to get whatever they want accomplished over the finish line.
And as we discussed in the previous segment, do they really want?
this accomplished to address some of the property tax priorities that the governor has talked about for his legislative agenda for the year.
And so we're, this to me, it kind of feels like we're in the last dance for this Tony Evers, Robin Voss, you know, dynamic.
And we're
Seeing that come to a certain finish line here and I think it warrants some reflection on kind of what this is meant for Wisconsin
Yeah, and I think that you know when it comes to the discussion of the maps You know the energy that was held by candidates running after those maps were signed into law People saying I'm gonna do it and then getting elected because there was this ability to actually win
areas instead of these, I mean, the, the gerrymandering maps were, were almost offensively humorous how they were drawn up back way back in the early 2010s.
But, uh, you know, the, the things I'm seeing in conversations we've had with candidates who are running now, you know, I, I won't, I'm not guarantee anything.
I don't know anything really who's going to win and who's going to lose, but I do feel like
whatever version of this is happening here in Wisconsin, that comes to an end like a good TV show or not a good TV show.
I don't know how you view it, but, you know, closing the doors.
But what I'm hoping for personally is that there is at least more compromise available.
There's more working together.
And it doesn't feel like one group has to just capitulate because they have no power, but it'll be interesting to see what happens.
And specifically when your election guide comes out,
all the information that will be out there for people to see.
I don't know if anyone's ever seen Dan two weeks before it comes out and two weeks after it comes out, but it's two distinctly different people.
He does so much work on that.
So you all know who's running in your area.
And just as a last thing for me, I guess, it's like, when you talk about the short work year they have, trying to push all of these pieces of legislation through, whether we're talking about a law that does not allow
insurance companies to cover organ transplants that are harvested illegally, which that's an amazing bill that actually exists, that existed.
To this thing for gender-affirming care for youth, it says in this article in the WPR, it's about a culture war.
And I want to see our leaders start working towards the issues that
affect the people versus trying to win points on the culture war because we don't win when that happens.
Nobody wins.
It's just about saying what you did and your kids are still not getting good educations.
They're still not able to afford a home.
For me, I'm hoping that 2026 is a big turning point for this state specifically.
Yeah, and getting back to, you know, I hosted this governor's forum a few weeks back in Milwaukee, and the topic of that was to talk about a lot of kitchen table issues, issues that matter to small business owners, things like healthcare, childcare, you know, so many paid leave, you know, where to invest some of our state resources, and I think that is a better focus.
for all of us and for the Democratic Party in particular this year to focus on, you know, those issues that really matter direct to all people across Wisconsin and not just pluck at these culture war issues.
When we come back more with political editor of Civic Media, Mr. Dan Schaefer, founder of the Recombobulation Area, we're going to be talking about the governor's race because that's happening as well, as well as just some memories on our last mid-morning show here because Dan's been with us for a while now.
He's been here longer than I've been here.
So we're going to talk more about that on the other side.
Don't go anywhere.
Stay tuned.
Stay close.
Welcome.
Welcome back to Civic Media mid mornings here on the Civic Media Network.
My name is Greg Bach.
I'm your host, your buddy, your pal.
the guy who'll be here when you need someone, but you are here with us and we appreciate you.
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And again, thank you for making time for us as always.
We are talking to Dan Schaefer who is
the political editor for Civic Media.
He is the founder of the Reconpopulation Area, which is multi-award winning.
He is also my co-worker and my friend.
And we are talking about all things Wisconsin politics.
We were talking earlier about the consequentiality.
Yeah, I used the word of the 2026 elections here in Wisconsin, specifically on who can control the legislature, the governor's mansion, as well as what it means for
the rest of the country and the end of an era whether it's Tony Evers who will be leaving or Robin Voss who may be leaving we don't know but we do have a governor's race Dan and that has been you know a big talking point for quite a while now they you know people have made their intentions clear since pretty much I mean I think Sarah Rodriguez dropped her video the day after Tony Evers made his announcement and you hosted the first forum of the candidates the Democratic candidates last month
Or was it, no, it was last month.
Time's an illusion.
It was last month.
You can still find that on Civic Media's YouTube page, but talk about what you've been hearing from the people and what you've been hearing from the candidates and is anyone sort of making their way to the front at this point or is it too early?
Yeah, I think it you know there I there might be maybe there's like a top tier or something like that But I think you know we have we had seven candidates Join us on stage at the Cooperage last month in our event along with Main Street action And I think you know all seven of those candidates
raised enough money to have their campaigns be viable in you know at least until the next campaign finance deadline or whatever it might be but I do you know expect for this race to be a competitive one for for quite some time you know I saw there was a
forum this week that Robin Voss was talking at and he was making a prediction that he thought the you know the race would coalesce and the big wigs would pick their candidate just the way that you know and he compared it to 2022 when Mandela Barnes became the nominee of the Democratic Party and I guess
um, you know, maybe a little bit of projection there since that just happened on the Republican side with Donald Trump endorsing, uh, Tom Tiffany and Josh showman, uh, bowing out of, of the primary.
Uh, but I, you know, I would expect this primary on the Democratic side.
You know, these are, this is a really strong bench of candidates, uh, seven very qualified individuals running for this race who have, you know, some very, uh,
you know, there's going to be some nuance and differences in this primary.
And we're starting to see that emerge in certain ways.
But I would expect this to be competitive all the way until August.
You know, it is a little bit we do have this weird timing for the primary August
is
probably a bit later than most people would like for the partisan primary to occur, you know, to give those candidates the time to run a general election in, you know, kind of mid August through November there.
But I expect this
to be competitive all the way through until August and I think
There, you know, one of the points that I've made over and over again is that I think there's always a Wisconsin race
that
previews something that's happening nationally.
We are so often the canary in the coal mine,
uh,
for, for our nation's politics.
And, and, you know, just as I think, you know, Tony Evers emerging from the primary in the 2018 race to be kind of the elder statesman of the state, uh, you know, experienced voice.
I think that in many ways preview Joe Biden's victory in 20.
20 perhaps there's something here to figure out where the Democratic Party goes from here because I think you have seven people in this race who represent who could represent many different paths that the party could take and we're starting to see some differences on on health care on immigration on a number of these issues and I think there's so much for the Democratic Party to sort out about where it needs to be going going forward and I think a primary like this is going to give all
of us and those candidates an opportunity to connect with voters and have the voters pick that path forward and not the party bigwigs, hopefully.
Before I get to my next question to you, I want to take a call on the line.
Jack from Merrimack is on the line.
Good morning, Jack.
How are you today?
Oh,
just PGG.
Thank you.
One thing that we absolutely have to have in a governor is one
who
is assertive.
We have had now 16 years, I think, of basically Republicans, my way or the highway, politics.
Evers has four budgets, and every single one of them, every part of the budget's been thrown out by the so-called Republicans.
No compromises whatsoever.
We've got to have somebody that says,
For instance, and something like this, we've got to have somebody that says, if you want your budget to come through, then you're going to have to make some compromises with me.
Because otherwise, I'm going to start by vetoing, let's say, the real hot button issue for Republicans, which would be so-called school choice funding.
and, you know, and go from
there.
We've got to have somebody that's got the assertive nature to do something about this, because this has got to stop.
Thank you very much, Jack, for calling in.
And I don't disagree with that.
And I feel like Governor Evers has done a good job of being
an assertive man for who he is as a person.
People can disagree or agree with that, but I feel like there's been assertiveness from him.
Maybe not as much as some would like, maybe not as much as some as he'd like, but that kind of leads me into my next question here with regard to, you know, the governor's race.
You've got seven candidates on the Democratic side.
They're trying to make themselves viable to the people amongst their colleagues and the people they generally agree with, but then ultimately they're going to have to face off.
Let's just say for argument's sake, Tom Tiffany, who was going to bring a very mega style of.
debate and argument and social media.
What is the candidate going to, what is the candidate going to have to do to make themselves stick out against the noise that Tom Tiffany will bring, which is just the mega playbook and be assertive and make people who might be in the middle say, Oh yeah, this is like Tom Tiffany, not my guy.
This person's my person because they have the guts to stand up.
What is like, what do they have to bring to the table?
Well, I think
you know, some of the there are some folks who say that having this crowded primary is a detriment for the Democrats
and I
disagree.
Yeah, because I think this and, you know, also with having Tiffany as the kind of anointed candidate in all of this, you know, some people would say this gives him a longer runway to fundraise and consolidate support and whatever it might be.
It also gives all seven of these candidates a candidate, you know, kind of a foil on the other side to criticize, you know, whatever Republican
whatever's happening at the national scale with Trump, whatever's, you know, and how Tiffany is connected to that by being a member of Congress.
And so I think this will give all of these candidates the next seven months here to draw a clear contrast with their opponent and whoever emerges from this primary, you know, we're going to have the next few months of, you know, kind of attack ads going directly at Tiffany, you know, the party apparatus don't.
they don't have to split any criticism between you know Tiffany and showman and whoever else might be in a primary it's just one guy who's going to essentially be fielding all of this because you know and and so uh i think that is you know the way the media works in this modern environment i think is is actually going to to help democrats if they can seize it as an opportunity as well
I think Tom Tiffany has got a very thin ice to walk upon too, because, you know, a hundred percent voting with Donald Trump as we see things happening more and more and more.
He has got to choose his words wisely that both projects.
This is a prediction that I kind of think I, you know, I have here in my head and tell me if this has any viability or it's just craziness.
Okay.
So recently Derek Van Norton, Wisconsin congressman posted a video of him walking with a pardoned J6 participant.
Oh, Derek Van Norton was also at J six as well.
He didn't storm, but he was there.
Pictures are available.
But I feel like what's going to happen is you're going to see a split in mega where you're going to have people who are going to try to say, we are the mega who believe like it's like the Republican split.
Like we believe in the old school mega.
We believe in America first and all that stuff.
The stuff you're seeing with the Epstein's that that's all different.
That's not us.
And they're going to split.
And Tom Tiffany is going to have to walk this really tight rope of how mega is he?
How Republican is he?
How, how, uh,
connectable he is to the people.
While, as you said, all these other candidates can just say, that guy's been anointed.
That guy votes 100%.
Look at our economy.
Look at our world.
He's for that.
And he's got the king who's telling him, vote for this guy.
Tom Tiffany has got a tough road ahead.
He can make a lot of money.
That's no problem.
I foresee the checks coming through and clearing easily.
But keeping himself in a place where he is both MAGA, Republican, and also palatable, that will be tough for him.
And we also have to recognize two things here one is the midterm electorate is not the same as a presidential year So the presidential electorate there was a strong turnout for Donald Trump in many kind of what us political science nerds refer to as low propensity voters people who might not vote in the midterms or their local elections or whatever it is But we'll show up in a presidential and did for Donald Trump in 2024
If you look at the election you referred to earlier in our segment here, the state supreme court race last year with Elon Musk getting very involved and Susan Crawford ultimately winning by a sizable margin.
the turnout in that race was closer to a midterm election turnout.
And so I think you have to recognize that some of those low propensity Trump voters are not going to be voting in the midterms.
And so how is Tiffany going to reach some of those voters, especially some of the voters in the Wow counties and Tiffany being a candidate from Northern Wisconsin who does not have the connection to, you know, kind of the Waukesha, Washington, Ozaki, Republican political machine that has done.
politics for so long in this state, you know, how is he going to connect with some of those voters who might be turned off by some of the culture war stuff that he is very much digging in on right now?
I think also the fact that Tom Tiffany spent a great deal of time being a backbencher and that's not a pejorative that's just a thing he was very quiet in the Congress and then all of a sudden came out very vocal and these are the first these are the first dealings with people that he's having with Tom Tiffany so that'll be something else on top of the fact and I was gonna bring this up earlier is the fact that you know from your point of view you're seeing all these special elections from deep red states going very blue in in districts that voted for Donald Trump I think that's going to make a difference too here in the midterms both for the governor's
race as well as these state Senate and assembly races, too.
You're going to see people just kind of fed up with what's going on.
And I think it's going to be kind of, I think it's going to be an interesting night to see what actually happens when people cast their
ballots.
You're absolutely right.
And I think the way that our politics have realigned in this Trump era, it used to be that if you got higher turnout elections that benefited the Democratic candidates, well, now the Democratic base
is the people who are turning out in every single election.
You mentioned these special elections that are happening around the country.
You know, there are some folks who might be not as tuned into this, but for the very motivated liberal base who is very put off by Donald Trump, those folks are turning out in everything.
And that's a lot.
and all of a sudden renewed interest in total and complete rehauling of election processes.
What's needed that the poll all
of
a sudden things are need to be protected again, even though Brian shimmings said mail in voting is great.
We should do it.
And all of a sudden it's the devil again.
So we'll be talking way more about that throughout the rest of the year.
Dan Schaefer is the political editor of civic media as well as the founder of the recombobulation area.
And my final guest here on our final show on civic media mid morning.
Thank you so much, Dan, for being here today.
Thank you, Greg.
Be well.
All right, when we come back, one handy tip, Cindy on the, on the call, I see you.
I'm going to take you on the other side.
So don't go anywhere.
We'll talk real quick, but don't go anywhere.
You're listening to Civic Media Mid-Morning here on the Civic Media Network.
My name is Greg Box.
Stay tuned, stay informed, stay
tuned.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Welcome, welcome back to civic media mid mornings here on the civic media radio network.
My name is Greg Bach, your host, your buddy, your pal for one last ride here on the big show.
As you may not know or know, I don't know.
Today is going to be the final episode of civic media mid mornings.
Do not worry.
I'm not going anywhere.
More information to come on that, more information to be announced on what will be happening in the future, but I will take them.
I'll take a moment and a little bit to
Uh, read my thoughts, give you my handy tip out really quick.
Cindy and Appleton has been very, very patient.
She wanted to talk about what we were discussing regarding elections.
Cindy, good morning.
What say you?
Hello, Cindy.
Couldn't have planned that better.
Oh my God.
Perfect.
Perfect.
Sorry about that, Cindy.
Sorry about that.
But thank you very much for calling in.
I always appreciate hearing from you and everybody.
And I've been getting a lot of great, um,
A lot of great comments and compliments on the text line.
You know, Andrew from Maine, Cindy from Appleton, Julie from Warsaw, and you know, let's see, Jim from, Jim from Appleton, Carmella from Milwaukee, and you know, I'll address it in a little bit, but again, I want to just reiterate one thing.
I'm not going anywhere.
This show is coming to a close.
More information will be announced next week.
Please keep it locked here for all of that.
Please keep listening.
Please keep engaging.
Download the Civic Media app and listen to it so you can take us with you because I think that's also very, very important.
And really when it comes down to it, like it's just about us coming together, having a good chat and trying to make this state, this community, this world, this country a better place.
So again,
wonderful, wonderful compliments and comments on what you've been hearing from us either recently or in the past few years.
But that really means a lot to me to know that you've been a part of this journey for us.
And then next week, just in case anyone's wondering, there will be best of airing throughout next week, some of our favorite moments of Civic Media mid mornings playing for you.
So you can still hear interviews, conversations, things like that.
So that's all gonna be next week.
Best of episodes of Civic Media, mid-morning.
And before we got out of here and I gave you my handy tip, I just wanted to say something really quick with regard to the music of the show.
I picked the theme out intentionally.
It's a song by Jason Isabel and the 400 unit called Hope the High Road.
And if you read the lyrics, it's about...
a guy overcoming his discomfort in the world, understanding that there are other people around him, understanding that we have to work together, understanding that we are all feeling great things in our hearts, and it's because of that that we need to band together to make it better.
The last lines of the song is, I know you're tired and you're not sleeping well, uninspired and likely mad as hell, but wherever you are, I hope the high road leads you home again to the world you want to live in.
And I think we do that by doing it together.
And that's why I chose this song as the opening and closing themes for this program, because I think it's an intentional nod to the work we need to do.
There's lots going on.
There's lots to do.
Do not be discouraged.
Reach out to other people.
I'll get more to that in the handy tips.
But again, thank you to everyone for sending me very, very lovely messages.
You know what?
I said it before and I'll say it again as well.
If you ever want to reach out to me,
I've said, greg.bock at civicmedia.us.
Go ahead and email me.
Let me know your thoughts.
Let me know your problems.
Give us ideas on things we can talk about in the future.
But I want to hear from you, greg.bock at civicmedia.us.
And one last time before we get out of here, myvote.wi.gov.
You're going to find out whether or not your registration is good, whether or not you need to register again.
You're going to find out who represents you, call text.
You can email them.
You can write them a letter.
Be respectful.
But let them know that they work for you.
And if they are in an election year this year, let them know that they're working to get rehired.
But that's my vote.wi.gov to find out all that information for you.
So before we get out of here then, I want to leave you with one last installment of a handy tip from Greg.
That's nice.
So when I sign out the show, I generally say, stay tuned, stay informed, and stay close.
And there's a meaning behind that.
Stay tuned.
Keep listening to what we're doing here at Civic Media.
There have been changes.
I will not deny that.
And it's been over the years.
But change is good.
It helps us grow.
And our mission has not changed.
We can't achieve that mission without you.
Stay informed.
Read as much as you can.
Listen as much as you can.
And then make sure that you're having great conversations even with people you disagree with because it can strengthen your values or maybe even change your mind if you find out new information.
So always stay informed.
And then finally, stay close.
Talk to folks.
Engage with them.
Reach out to them.
Tell them you love them.
Tell them you want to hang out.
We're all that we've got and we are a community together.
Find out who needs help and give them that help they need.
We have all
We're all we have, and even if they don't act like it, believe it, or act like you, or believe like you, it's better to reach out than it is to turn your back on someone in need.
So please, stay tuned, stay close, and stay informed here.
I wanna thank everybody involved in this show, again, from Kristen Brie, inviting me to be a Wednesday co-host.
to Jane McNair for giving me the ultimate gift of this job and this career and this education and how to do the work on air.
Thank you to everyone at Civic Media who has been a part of me being on the radio again, not going anywhere.
Just done with the show for today.
Without all of you, I don't know where I'd be with my life and...
That is invaluable, and I will never stop being grateful forever.
I want to thank Tucker, our senior producer for coming on to a very tumultuous time and helping us to create something very fun over the past few months.
I want to thank Dom for being up in Madison, taking care of all the ones and the twos.
I want to thank Engineering for always making sure that the lights go on, the microphones work.
Traffic for making sure that we are on the air.
I want to thank everybody who has ever called, texted.
sent a voice message, whatever it is, even if you didn't like us, you gave us your time and I will never stop being grateful for that.
Without you, there is no us.
Stay tuned, stay informed, stay close.
There's still more coming up throughout the day here.
We'll talk soon.
And if not goodbye, it's goodbye for now.
See you later.
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