How Politicians Talk And Rifts In Wisconsin Political Parties (Hour 3)

Transcript

How Politicians Talk And Rifts In Wisconsin Political Parties (Hour 3)

Daybreak w/ Brian and Jamie · Thu May 28, 2026

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Parker

Across the state of Wisconsin, Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.

Jamie Martenson

It's 806 right now.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the Civic Media Network.

If you're an Appleton in Oshkosh listening on WISS or an Eau Claire on 93.5 the tap or even in Wisconsin Rapids right now, you're listening on WFHR.

Thank you for joining us.

My name is Jamie Martenson.

Brian Noonan

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I'm Brian Noonan.

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All right, Jamie, Jamie.

was hot last night.

She was hot about hypocrisy.

She doesn't like it, she won't put up with it, and she's ready to go.

Jamie Martenson

Well, here's the thing.

I mean, politics, if you were listening in our last hour, politics is rough enough on people as it is.

People don't actually agree with their own party.

The party's in fight.

We're gonna actually get into that discussion a little later on about the parties here in the state of Wisconsin.

That comes up at 8.30.

Politics is rough enough.

And Tom Tiffany, if you've been paying attention to the gubernatorial race, you know that he is the candidate for the Republican governor here in the state of Wisconsin.

He is very active on social media.

So over on his official Tom Tiffany, Congressman Tom Tiffany page on Friday, May 22nd,

He posted a graphic, and if you're on the stream, you can actually see what he posted.

Brian Noonan

And you can also see that Jamie took a posture when she started this.

You brought your arm back on the table.

Let's be honest.

And it was like, oh man, we're getting a lecture now.

But go ahead.

Jamie Martenson

This is the type of hypocrisy in politics that drives me absolutely bonkers.

So in this particular graphic, if you haven't seen it,

It is the campaign, the Tom Tiffany campaign is assuming that Francesca Hong and Mandela Barnes are the front runners, which according to the most recent polling, they are for

Station Announcer

the

Jamie Martenson

Democratic primary.

And in this graphic, he's got three columns, right?

The first column

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is

Jamie Martenson

Francesca Hong, big X's, abolish

Brian Noonan

the

Jamie Martenson

police, legalize constitution.

Empty prisons, extreme, is the tag under her photo.

Mandela

Brian Noonan

Barnes.

Are any of those real, by the way?

I don't believe so.

We talked to Francesca.

Yeah, I don't.

She never mentioned about legalizing prostitution or abolishing the police.

No.

Jamie Martenson

Mandela Barnes is the middle candidate.

And in that, more red X's, it says defund the police, end cash bail, empty prisons.

radical is the tag under him.

Then we get to the third column, and it's Tom Tiffany, Bright Green, wearing his Wisconsin home hat, and it says, support law enforcement, tough on crime, keep Wisconsin safe.

Normal is how they've tagged

Brian Noonan

Tom

Jamie Martenson

Tiffany.

Brian Noonan

Normal.

Jamie Martenson

Here's the problem with this.

Brian Noonan

What's your

Jamie Martenson

problem?

This was seen by thousands of people, this particular post, this particular graphic.

Tom Tiffany was at a press conference in Madison.

It was like a media kind of outreach thing earlier this week on Tuesday.

And he was asked specifically about the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund and whether January 6th defendants should be compensated from said fund.

This is what he had to say.

Tom Tiffany

Yeah, so I'm still studying the details.

In regards to that, I'm asking the administration to give us more as far as how exactly they expect to implement this.

Yeah, I mean, I would want to take a look at what was the harm that was done to those victims.

If it's significant enough, perhaps they should receive compensation.

What?

Brian Noonan

Pardon me?

Victims?

Victims.

Victims, he's calling the January 6th insurrectionist victim.

There's only one right answer for that question, a direct question.

Should people involved in the January 6th insurrection get any reparations?

No.

There's one correct answer.

No.

No.

Jamie Martenson

Here's my...

Brian Noonan

Wow, that's radical.

Jamie Martenson

Here's what bothers me about this.

Obviously, the graphic that he posted on Friday, May 22nd, he's going to lean hard into this law and order.

I'm the only one who can save this state kind of mantra, right?

If you just look at this graphic, he's also said things similar over the past few weeks on the trail.

Is this law in order?

Is what he said about the anti-weaponization fund?

Is that the type of law in order that we're talking about where you

Station Announcer

have

Jamie Martenson

to examine things further and calling the insurrectionist victims?

Is that what I'm understanding?

That's where the hypocrisy comes in for me, and that's where my mind just can't draw a line from point A to point B. It doesn't

Brian Noonan

work for

Jamie Martenson

me.

Brian Noonan

there is no line and this is the simplest most to to borrow a comedy term hack argument and campaign thing when you're you're still going back to I want law and order and my candidates want lawlessness nobody wants lawlessness

I don't care how progressive you are.

Nobody, even the most progressive, does not want crime in the streets.

They don't want serious criminals outrunning around.

They can argue about police.

The problem is police reform, which is 100% needed, always in every department, you have to constantly be looking at how things are done.

But that's been painted as not only abolish the police and defund the police because

people have used those terms and and they are they are bad terms and they're gonna turn off a lot of people but how about how about we campaign on things that we really need right Tiffany how about

lowering property taxes.

How about making Wisconsin more affordable?

How about taking care of our schools?

He

Jamie Martenson

literally can't.

And that's why I think we're leaning into the law and order of it all.

One, it appeases the man who basically endorsed him for the state of Wisconsin, Donald Trump.

Two, he can't run on those things because his record, his congressional record, shows that he has voted against every bill.

every bill that has come across in Congress that would have allowed people extended SNAP benefits, better health care, hospitalization.

He's voted against all of those things.

So it feels like they're hedging their bets.

Like if we don't talk about it, nobody will ask about the record,

Brian Noonan

right?

And just paint paint the Democrats.

And again, we don't know who the candidate is going to be.

At this point, you're right.

Francesca Hong and Mandela Barnes.

are polling, but there's so many variables between now and then.

So he's picking out candidates that may not even be his opponent and painting them with really wild accusations.

But that's political advertising.

It shouldn't surprise us.

This happens.

It's going to start happening very soon.

it is for the democratic primary and we're going to see all of these and the democrats will turn on each other as they as they are trying you know that's the

Jamie Martenson

primary so it's coming if you're

Brian Noonan

if you're ready

Jamie Martenson

yeah tiffany

Brian Noonan

i would say by june 1st it's going to start really hitting june in july

We're going to be hammered.

Jamie Martenson

I would say that Tiffany and River Falls and then then I'll address this.

She asked, why isn't the Democratic Party putting out ads against Tom?

It's so easy.

Just use his words, post, show his voting record.

Don't let him have all of the ad time.

Dems get your ish together.

Thank you for that, Tiffany.

If you want to chime in 1-855-752-4842-185575 Civic.

I have seen, not specifically from the Democratic Party, but I will say that certain PACs who have already started the ad campaigns against Tom Tiffany, especially since the GOP in Wisconsin has now had their state convention, and he was pretty much the presumed, you know, heir to that

Brian Noonan

particular spot.

Well, and also, if you're the Democratic Party, you're going to wait until you have an actual candidate and then start spending your

Jamie Martenson

money.

It's comparison then, it's comparison

Brian Noonan

advertising.

Let the candidates spend their money now to win the primary and then rally behind that candidate.

Again, everybody rally behind whoever it is.

Yes, no purity test this time around.

Jamie Martenson

Leadership from top to bottom in this state is what we're getting.

Now, here's where there's another B in my bonnet.

Okay.

All right.

I had a lot

Brian Noonan

of bees in my body.

It's got to be a big bunnet with a lot of bees.

Jamie Martenson

Social media bothers me, and this is why.

Okay?

And I'm going to, Democrats, I'm going to pick on you a little bit.

All right?

I'm going to pick

Brian Noonan

on you just a little bit.

We can do

Jamie Martenson

it.

We

Brian Noonan

have to,

Jamie Martenson

especially when we're talking about this.

So there was a post that the Democratic Party put out yesterday.

We're talking about the National Democratic Party.

Station Announcer

And

Jamie Martenson

on social media, it's the Democrats, right?

It was a photo of James Tellerico, and if you're watching the stream, you can see that post.

He's standing in front of the Texas flag, and the caption is, fired up, ready to go.

It's time to take back Texas.

Well, Stephen Miller, who we know is one of Trump's right-hand men, gets on social media, reposts it, and says, the Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender Senate candidate.

Gross, awful.

basically

Parker

untrue

Jamie Martenson

it right untrue it's

Parker

like

Jamie Martenson

come to me to say that because it is so untrue that I can't believe I actually have to point it out but yes thank you

Brian Noonan

but they're trying to use some of sexuality as a slur is another old trope

Jamie Martenson

it's it's awful so okay it's horrible we could have just let that one go but no the Democrats they upped their game and posted a

They replied, and it says, shut up you ugly F. That was

Brian Noonan

their

Jamie Martenson

response to Stephen Miller.

Okay, so I get this

Brian Noonan

is politics.

You gotta be in your bonnet about this, you don't like a little profanity?

Jamie Martenson

I don't care about profanity, I use it myself.

Here's what I care about, is this what we want?

I get Democrats need to be meaner.

But is this why people are shunning politics?

Because this type of attitude is just stupid, and nobody has time for it.

Do we really care that much what Stephen Miller has to say, that this was the response that the National Democratic Conference Committee gave to Stephen Miller's post?

Why give it any more light at all?

Because

Brian Noonan

this has gone national.

I think that that post with that language is...

the most dismissive language you could use.

And I think it backs up.

It goes to your point.

We're not even going to give you anything.

Just shut up, you ugly.

That's how you dismiss someone.

You know, maybe they could have said by Felicia.

That would have been fine.

Jamie Martenson

Who does this play with?

Because we just talked about the fact that people don't really love either party.

We've talked a lot about the fact that people are abandoning both parties, becoming more independent.

Is this why?

Because they're just

Brian Noonan

tired of this?

No, but we also said one of the top reasons that people are upset with the Democrats, even Democrats, are that they don't fight hard enough.

This is the exact kind of language.

And listen, I wish we were a little more civil.

Sure.

X is not the place to be civil.

X is a cesspool.

It is that's the kind of language.

If you want to if you want to get through on X, that's what you have to do.

Now, is it is it the best?

Is it an ideal situation?

No.

But I have no problem telling a guy like Stephen Miller to shut the f up and, you know, and calling him ugly because

He needs to and he is and how dare you but instead of getting into all these long how dare you?

Why would you say that about our James Taylor Rico is a wonderful man?

It's just like shut up.

Jamie Martenson

I mean, let me be clear I'm not precious by any sort of needs like I feel like the Democrats need to fight harder I just wonder if we're starting to alienate too much on both sides and this is why people are disengaging

Brian Noonan

No, I think I think they're disengaging because we don't fight hard enough

All right, when we come back, is it time to scale back on screens in the classroom?

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I don't know.

It's Daybreak on The Civic

Parker

Media.

Jamie Martenson

It's 822 right now.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the Civic Media Network.

My name is Jamie Martenson.

Brian Noonan

And good morning.

I'm Brian Noonan.

So do you think it's time to cut back on screens in the classroom?

855-755-CIVIC.

855-755-248-42.

Now...

You remember right before the pandemic and especially during the pandemic every school district Oh every kid had to have an iPad or they had to have a laptop and we had to oh, it's all gonna be screens and it did Pardon me.

I'm all worked up.

It did make sense during the pandemic because it allowed schools to keep teaching it allowed it allowed kids to stay connected.

It was fine.

So

Districts around the country poured billions of dollars into laptops, tablets, learning apps.

Oh, there's a million different apps and they change all the time.

Now schools around the country are facing a digital reckoning.

Classrooms have become saturated with screens.

A growing number of parents, teachers and districts around the country are saying it is time to scale back.

They're using Los Angeles Unified School District, which is always a nightmare district.

But they're using this as an example because they recently became the first major school district to say it will stop giving devices to its youngest students.

It's part of a new screen time policy taking effect in the fall across the country's second largest school district.

The crackdown is adding momentum to calls for reform emerging around the country.

It makes a lot of sense for the younger kids

Parker

now when

Brian Noonan

you get up into high school You're gonna be writing more papers to kids even still write papers in high school probably you

Parker

have very rarely by hand

Brian Noonan

Well, I mean, but they have to that's what I'm saying you still have to You still have to do those assignments, right?

You still have to yeah stuff.

Yeah.

Jamie Martenson

Yeah,

Brian Noonan

when I say right I mean, okay, okay, even I typed

Jamie Martenson

papers in school Parker and I graduated in 1997 so typewriter

No, what?

Just double-checking.

How old do you think we are?

Brian Noonan

Listen, Jamie, don't go.

Unfortunately, you can't lump me in there, because I took typing class in high school on a giant old royal typewriter that you basically had to hammer each key

Jamie Martenson

down.

Brian Noonan

I figured one of you did.

Jamie Martenson

No, we had computers.

I even

Brian Noonan

took my

Jamie Martenson

typing classes on computers.

Thank you.

Brian Noonan

It was with a

Jamie Martenson

big floppy disk, but it was still computers.

Brian Noonan

Parker, I'm so old when I was in college, the guys who took computer classes would walk home with boxes of punch cards.

Boxes of what?

Punch cards.

That's how you used to program computers.

That's how they would have.

Jamie Martenson

Yes.

Brian Noonan

Look it up.

It's history.

Look at his face.

He has no idea.

Jamie Martenson

He has no idea.

Brian Noonan

They would come up with these giant boxes of cards, and I was like, those computer things are never going to last.

I'm not wasting my time.

That's crazy.

But I don't know how well the punch cards are serving those people now.

Probably not.

Jamie Martenson

But I think this is fascinating because, I mean, there is such a dependency on technology.

So the fact now that people are like, whoa, we need to scale this way back, right?

I do find that fascinating.

And you talked about LA being kind of the test case for this.

At least 14 states have proposed laws to limit screen time in schools.

And the federal government actually had to issue an advisory just last week, warning that any sort of access

of screen use among youth is becoming a growing public health concern.

That's what we're worried about.

Okay.

Brian Noonan

We've been hearing that since kids were watching too many Saturday night cartoons.

Right.

Your kids sitting in front of the TV.

Jamie Martenson

Cartoons are going to rot their brains, kind of thing.

But I did look into it and Wisconsin has a new state law.

It's called 2025 Act 42.

And under that law, public school districts must restrict students from watching personal electronic devices during instructional time.

So that includes the cell phones, the smartwatches, the gaming devices, unless a teacher specifically allows them for educational purposes or a student has some sort of medical emergency need.

However, it doesn't say anything about what they need to actually do their assignments, which

Brian Noonan

is what we're talking about.

What you're talking about is completely different.

And yes, you shouldn't have your own phone.

Jamie Martenson

Right now, there's

Brian Noonan

no

Jamie Martenson

rules on that.

And for some schools, it does vary.

It's actually varies in Wisconsin district to district.

Some schools now have bell to bell policies where the only things that they can use are what the district provides them, especially for

younger kids, but as far as the tools needed to educate Wisconsin, we have no rules

Brian Noonan

on that.

The rules you're referencing are the ones we've talked about before, these cell phones in school, and that's a whole different pause.

I think what the district is focusing on and having been in classrooms where the kids from kindergarten

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now have

Brian Noonan

iPads, and it's most of the day

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is

Brian Noonan

spent.

A little bit of instruction.

and explaining the lesson and doing this.

And then, okay, now your assignment, even when the teacher, even when the teachers write out the assignments, which they do, it's up on class kicks, so you can go there

Station Announcer

and the

Brian Noonan

kids are working at their own pace.

But then you always have, you have a disconnect, but during that, that's the only time teachers can actually bring small groups of students up and give kids either more help or give the accelerated kids some extra work.

So it's become, it's become

the norm rather than the exception.

And I keep thinking back, well, how did we all go to school before we had those devices?

We all did.

We all did the

Jamie Martenson

same work at the same time.

And if you

Brian Noonan

got done

Jamie Martenson

before everybody else, you sat there quietly reading your book or working on some extra credit or doing something different, you didn't get to just move ahead because you were done.

That's not

Brian Noonan

how it worked.

Or your teacher would have you up front to do something else and then you'd go over your work together.

It was, you know, much different.

And some teachers now have

tried to do a hybrid where, okay, the kids will work on their app, but then the whole class goes over the work together and explains the problem and does it that way.

But I can see it's because then with all these screens, especially in the younger kids, it's hard for them to hold their focus once they're not on their screen anymore.

Because the apps, as you can imagine, these educational apps are set up like video games.

to keep the kids engaged and teach the lessons.

So when all of a sudden they have to just sit in a circle and listen to the teacher or look at the whiteboard, it's very difficult.

So it would, you can't do this cold turkey, but weaning them off, I think, is a good idea.

Jamie Martenson

And right now, Wisconsin, we don't have any rules.

We just, you know, personal devices, no.

Everything else, yes.

There's

Brian Noonan

a lot of riffs everywhere, especially in the legislature.

Brittany Carloni joins us from Wisconsin Watch to talk about the most recent.

It's Daybreak

Parker

from the Civic Media Network.

Local voices and statewide impact.

It's Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

Jamie Martenson

It's 835 right now.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We do appreciate it.

Hopefully you are having a great Thursday.

My name is Jamie Martinson.

Brian Noonan

And good morning, I'm Brian Noonan.

Well, you know the story.

Last week, Governor Evers and Republican legislative leaders unveiled a $1.8 billion spending plan.

It was met with immediate backlash on several fronts.

The bill failed in the Senate and now that failed bill has caused rifts in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

even amongst their own, not just back and forth.

But no, Democrats are mad at Democrats, Republicans are mad at Republicans.

What is going on?

I don't know.

You don't know.

But Brittany Carloni knows.

She's been covering the story as the state government and politics reporter for Wisconsin Watch.

And Brittany's back with us.

Good to have you back, Brittany.

So this is...

this whole thing went from zero to 60 in a couple of days.

Brittany Carloni

It

Brian Noonan

came and then it went.

So what are the biggest takeaways that you're hearing that were caused by the failure of the bill to pass?

Brittany Carloni

So I mean, and I think I want to highlight the big news this week was that the Marquette University Law School poll that came out on Tuesday showed that 80% of...

Adults who are surveyed by the polls said that they wanted that bill to pass and I think the way the questions were worded I've seen a little bit of criticism of the of the poll but I think the way the questions are worded when somebody asks you if you want right

all this money for schools.

If you want to get a $300 or $600 rebate check, if you're a married couple, like that, I think people would say, yeah.

Jamie Martenson

And one of the things we pointed out with that is that that poll was done May 20th through the 21st.

The story broke on the 21st then that it would have actually put the state deficit billions into the red, right?

And so you have to wonder if people would have had that information.

That was one thing we discussed here on the

Brittany Carloni

show.

Jamie Martenson

Would their answers have been different in that particular Marquette poll?

Brittany Carloni

Yeah, and I think that's part of the struggle.

The fact that this whole situation went from Bill and the deal being introduced that Monday, and then by Wednesday night, it was dead.

And

Station Announcer

I remember

Brittany Carloni

even my mom that week in the Milwaukee area the next day had messaged me and said, what do you mean it's dead?

I thought this just got introduced.

It's the

Brian Noonan

fastest government movement we've

Brittany Carloni

seen.

But no, I think some of the big takeaways.

So the bill, the deal, I should say, was introduced on May 11th.

And so not even quite two weeks ago at this point.

This was a unique thing because Governor Evers negotiated this with the Republican legislative leaders that he's basically been fighting with for the last eight years.

So when you think of Governor Evers making a deal with Robin Voss and Devon Lemahue, when the last

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eight

Brittany Carloni

years have not really been exactly the most friendly of relationships

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with that group of

Brittany Carloni

people, that already was kind of an oddball piece to this and take away to the story that, hey, these

People are coming together to compromise on something.

But then you saw immediately how the Democratic candidates for governor, specifically Francesca Hong and Calderois, came out swinging saying that this is a really bad idea, concerns about if the state could match growth to actually pay for this projected surplus.

And then you saw folks like Tom Tiffany agreeing with the Democrats who really objected to this bill saying,

that he also didn't like the bill, but from Tom Tiffany's perspective, he wants to return the entire surplus back to taxpayers across the state.

And then you saw in the Senate how all of the Senate Democrats voted against that bill, but then you had a couple Republicans, especially like...

fiscally conservative Republicans

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like

Brittany Carloni

Steve Nass and Chris Capunga who sided with Democrats on voting for that bill, or voting to object to that bill.

And so it was just kind of like a topsy-turvy world at the Capitol two weeks ago, and we're still seeing fallout from that, especially because

Station Announcer

the

Brittany Carloni

Marquette poll, one of the questions that stood out to me was how...

a majority of adults said that they're going to think about this when it comes to how they vote for governor and state legislative candidates.

Jamie Martenson

Well, and I think that's going to be one of the big things going forward.

I mean, from your perspective, what you're hearing from leaders in the Capitol, are they worried about the fallout in the governor's race based off of this one surplus bill that, I mean,

taxpayers just see it as getting checks in their mailbox, right?

They

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see it as

Jamie Martenson

maybe some relief in their school districts.

When there's always referendums on the ballot, do you think that this plays in?

Are Democrats worried about that, knowing how messy this primary is for them?

Brittany Carloni

Yeah, I mean, I think folks are looking at that poll on Tuesday and kind of going, oh, what do we do going forward?

And I think a lot...

A lot of folks that I've talked to and just general in politics, say voters' attention spans are very short.

So maybe there are people who are thinking, hey, maybe once we hit late July into August for the partisan primary or once we hit November, maybe there will be a different conversation that we're talking about

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at this

Brittany Carloni

point.

But I think especially as the state.

Wisconsin Democrats have their stay convention in a couple of weeks.

I'd be curious if there's more pushback from folks like Missy Hughes, who was the only Democratic candidate who really came out to say, this is a good idea, bipartisanship should be a good idea, compromise should be a good idea.

So especially as in the next couple of weeks as the Democratic candidates are trying to differentiate themselves with the convention on the short horizon here, I think we might see more of this continue to be a conversation.

Brian Noonan

Brittany Carloni is our guest.

She is the state government and politics reporter for Wisconsin Watch.

WisconsinWatch.org is the website where you can read all of Brittany's stuff.

All right.

Now I, the answer may have shifted a little since the poll came out, but as you were talking to people on at the Capitol, did this really come down to fundamental disagreements with the policy itself or was this more

politics like no we don't want to give up the chance for us to spend it if we were if we for the democrats if we take the trifecta in november or for the republicans if we take the governorship back we want the money we don't want to we don't want to use it now is it all just politics as usual or

Brittany Carloni

did people actually

Brian Noonan

have real feelings about this

Brittany Carloni

so i think

from what I was able to see and the conversations that I was having that week specifically, nobody's going to directly say, hey, nobody's going to come out and directly say, hey, we want to keep this money so that way we can spend it.

But there was.

In pretty much all of the conversations and statements and comments that people were making that week, I think about on the Senate floor Diane Hesselbein, who's the Democratic minority leader, she directly addressed, hey, if Democrats were in the...

in the majority in the Senate next year, we would focus on making sure that everybody has a voice at the table.

We would talk about how we want to actually spend this money.

And I think that from what I was able to see, that was the underlying conversation at this point because people were...

Especially Democrats were

Station Announcer

really

Brittany Carloni

kind of throwing Governor Evers and Robin Boss and Devin Lemahue in this category of these three lame duck.

a lot of elected officials.

And that came up a lot.

Jamie Martenson

Yeah, it did.

And I mean, when you're over at the Capitol, obviously hearing more of these conversations, it is unusual to see the Democrats in

Tom Tiffany

this state

Jamie Martenson

not side with Governor Evers.

So was that surprising to you just watching it play out?

Brittany Carloni

Yeah, I mean, and again, I've only been back in Wisconsin since September, but based on

like my experience so far and like the history that I've read up on that I miss when I

Station Announcer

in the

Brittany Carloni

years that I was gone and the folks that I talked to that week.

That was a really big standout.

Hey, this is pretty odd considering just the in the last couple legislative sessions, Democrats had to be ready to defend any evers vetoes from being overturned by Republicans.

So for them to come out.

Swinging that weak and saying this is a bad idea.

It was pretty

Jamie Martenson

odd even for the gubernatorial candidates to basically just say no I'm separating

Brittany Carloni

myself

Jamie Martenson

completely from whatever this deal was I was out of town when this happened It was a little shocking.

Yeah be watching it play out from afar that the Democrats were that against whatever this

backroom deal will

Brittany Carloni

put an

Jamie Martenson

air quotes might have been.

Yeah,

Brittany Carloni

it'll be interesting to see, especially in these next six plus months, the last months of the Evers term, how much more of a separation those candidates and even Democratic legislators, lawmakers, there's not a lot happening right now, but it'll just be interesting to see if there's an even further separation from Governor Evers at this point.

Brian Noonan

Yeah.

Was it more of a surprise?

Do you think that they split from Evers or how fast and how vocal they were about their split?

Because again, we keep going back to this timetable.

Brittany Carloni

The

Brian Noonan

proposal was unveiled on the 18th and by the 20th it was dead.

Brittany Carloni

Yeah, I think, I honestly, from my perspective, I think it's a combination of both.

I mean, that deal was introduced at 11am that Monday and like almost immediately Kelderoy's had come out with her statement really hitting that very hard.

So there was the surprise that that

that kind of statement was out there.

And then I think that was just a signal of like how fast things were going to be moving.

That it was like, okay, this is announced, people are already upset.

This is gonna get moving through the legislature.

But I do think even just going back to the way that Democrats have been pretty locked up with Evers over the last eight years, given the fact that they hadn't, prior to 2018, they hadn't had a Democratic governor to...

Do we know

Jamie Martenson

how long they had been negotiating this deal before anybody knew that it had actually, before it made the light of day?

Brittany Carloni

Yeah, so back in January was when the Legislative Fiscal Bureau announced that.

Hey, we're seeing that this projected surplus will be much better than we even expected when they were negotiating the budget last year.

And then in February, as the assembly was trying to wrap up their work for the year to get folks out on the campaign trail, there was a very similar, very fast pace week where Robin Voss was really trying to put the pressure on Evers to get some sort of deal negotiated so lawmakers wouldn't have to come back to the Capitol.

And Evers was like, hey, I don't really like what you're proposing.

um, Voss and I think once Voss and Devin Lemma, Devin Lemma, he got on the same page, there were still conversations happening.

So pretty much since February, since like mid February that these conversations have been happening.

Brian Noonan

If that, if the, if the conversations were happening that long, have you heard any Scuttlebutt about why the information that came out Tuesday?

or the report that came out on the 21st saying, you know, it would actually cost the state so much more and put us at a deficit.

How that either was ignored or how they didn't realize it.

Is there any answer to that to go, hey, wait, you presented it as one thing.

And then the day after you kill it, we find out boy, it was completely the opposite.

Brittany Carloni

This is

This has been an interesting thing to see because the Legislative Fiscal Bureau had information about that that they presented to lawmakers, but it's this like separation fight on what the state's growth might look like.

And I think Republicans and Democrats that were in favor of the bill said, hey, like Wisconsin's revenue growth has not been stagnant over the next.

over the last like several years and it's still expected to grow in the coming years where Democrats and folks who were concerned about the bill looked at what the Legislative Fiscal Bureau put out and said, hey, if we don't have, if we have bad economic conditions, if we don't have certain growth over the next several years, this could put us.

in that major deficit.

And so I think for folks especially who are looking at who controls the capital next year, that was a big question of what things should be moving forward.

Jamie Martenson

Yeah.

This is going to be interesting because as you alluded to, I think, Brian, there's going to be a lot of ramifications

Brittany Carloni

over what's going to

Jamie Martenson

happen over the next few months.

And obviously, leadership from the top down in the state is very much in play.

Brittany Carloni, she is the Wisconsin Watch State Government and Politics reporter.

Thank you so much.

WisconsinWatch.org.

Brian Noonan

Always good to have you, Brittany.

Jamie Martenson

Yes.

It is 848 right now.

My name is Jamie Martinson.

Brian Noonan

And I'm Brian Noonan.

Hey, it's National Hamburger Day.

We'll talk about that after this.

Yeah, we're switching it up.

It is Daybreak on the Civic Media

Station Announcer

Network.

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.

Parker

Now back to more of Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

Jamie Martenson

It's 8.52 right now.

Green onions by Booker T and the MGs.

Thank you very much for that, Parker.

That's a great one this morning.

You are listening to the Civic Media Network.

My name is Jamie Martinson.

Brian Noonan

And good morning.

I'm Brian Noonan.

All right.

You may not know this.

I am very excited to announce that today is National Hamburger Day.

eight

Station Announcer

five five

Brian Noonan

seven five civic describe your ultimate burger there's burgers everywhere

Station Announcer

uh

Brian Noonan

actually hamburgers are among america's favorite foods they often come as you know paired with another favorite french fries french fries have the top spot in you gov's the most popular american dishes poll hamburgers come in fourth grilled cheese and cheese burgers are number two and three so

Americans love hamburgers.

Look, anytime you drive around

Station Announcer

from

Brian Noonan

Culver's to every fast food chain, it's Hamburg.

We love hamburgers.

Consumers actually spent $115 billion at U.S.

Burger Chains last year.

That's according to the senior director of industry research at Technomic.

Burger Chains account for 20% of all consumer spending at chain restaurants.

Not bad.

No.

So today, of course, there are burger deals all over.

if you are looking for a burger deal.

But I know you've talked about your smash burgers.

Is that your ultimate burger, Jamie, the smash burger?

I do the

Jamie Martenson

Juicy Lucy's.

Brian Noonan

Oh, the Juicy Lucy's.

That was it.

Yes, yes.

I

Jamie Martenson

don't know if it's my ultimate.

It's my family's ultimate.

I can live without the Juicy Lucy.

They're delicious.

Don't get me wrong.

But at the same time, I'm kind of okay with not burning my chin because the cheese gush is out of the middle kind of thing.

So there's that.

For me personally, I think burgers are different because I have

I have definitely my favorite fast food burgers, but then I know

Station Announcer

if I'm gonna

Jamie Martenson

sit down somewhere and I'm gonna have like a burger, what I want.

My favorite place of all time to get a burger, it is located at Elk River, Minnesota.

The name of the restaurant was Daddy O's, and it was like this old diner that was set up.

It was originally like a Tex-Mex type of place, and then new owners came in, and so they still have like the Tex-Mex stuff on the menu, but then they parlayed into the burgers, the fries, and the shakes, right?

So

Station Announcer

when

Jamie Martenson

you get a burger at Daddy O's,

It is, they say it's a third pound burger.

I would venture to say it's closer to half pound.

It's very, very large.

It fills the entire bun.

It's thick, it's juicy.

They cook it to perfection every single time.

They have several different reiterations of the burger that you can get depending on what you want.

You can make your own.

I am a good, I am a fan of what they call the California burger, which

Station Announcer

is your

Jamie Martenson

lettuce, your tomato, a little mayo, not too much, because I don't want things oozing out of my burger.

Usually don't love cheese on it.

And then, yeah, that's kind of my pickles.

Put a few pickles for the crunch in the middle, and

Station Announcer

I'm

Jamie Martenson

usually good.

And then Daddy O's also has a really amazing fry.

I am very specific about my french fries.

I love a good crinkle cut.

Gotta be really crispy on the outside, very soft on the inside.

I'm specific like

Station Announcer

that.

Jamie Martenson

Don't give me the shoestring things, like those little tiny things.

No, no, I don't want those.

I'm specific about my fries.

Station Announcer

That's my

Jamie Martenson

ultimate.

If I'm doing a fast food burger, Culver's is usually a good one, because Culver's usually can get it done.

So I'll stick to the Wisconsin roots of it all.

Brian Noonan

All right, I'll go fast food.

Yeah, there's a difference, 100%.

Fast food, the Whopper is the top burger.

No question.

Followed very closely and I can't get it because it's small places Frank would know this there's Mickey's is like a Greek diner kind of place

and they're peppered all over and they have everything.

You can get rib tips, you can get a Euro, you can get, but they're cheeseburgers, they're big Mickey is a double cheese and they're those really thin patties, not a smash burger, just a real thin patty, a ton of melted cheese and they put these grilled onions on

Jamie Martenson

it.

The

Brian Noonan

whole thing oozes, it's delicious.

So those would be my two if I'm going out, but if I have the, if I'm grilling burgers,

There's no thin burger coming off my grill.

No, it's got to be.

I use the half pound patties.

Keep it nice and thick.

Station Announcer

Yep.

Brian Noonan

It's got to have Swiss cheese, bacon, mayo, ketchup, bread and butter pickles.

Grilled onions is

Station Announcer

the choice.

Brian Noonan

Raw onion is OK.

A little bit of shredded lettuce on there.

And I want it.

I want it just a little pink, a little juicy.

That's all.

Now see, Chris is texting in.

His favorite place used to be Fudruckers.

I love Fudruckers.

Fudruckers was

Jamie Martenson

great, yes.

Brian Noonan

Because they were thick.

You'd get that big patty, and then you could dress it with all the other stuff.

Jamie Martenson

And then you built your own, essentially, is what

Brian Noonan

you got to do, which was fantastic.

And they had good buns.

Toasted bun, you have to have

Jamie Martenson

a toasted bun.

I am kind of a snob when it comes to my bun as well.

If I'm having a really big burger, the bun has to support the whole thing, because nobody

Brian Noonan

wants

Jamie Martenson

a lap full

Brian Noonan

of

Jamie Martenson

burger, right?

No,

Brian Noonan

it's gotta be a bakery style bun, not a bagged

Jamie Martenson

bun.

Yes, exactly.

And then it also, again, like you mentioned, has to be toasted.

Little butter, not too much, because you also don't want them to get soggy on the center, so it's gotta have that nice crisp.

around the edge, right?

Brian Noonan

I was waiting.

I was like, wait, Frank is in here on food talk.

That's, he must have left.

I'll pop in for this.

Yes, I

Jamie Martenson

will.

Favorite best burger.

What's your, how do you build

Brian Noonan

it?

Your ultimate burger.

You're building your burger, Frank.

Frank

This is it.

Double smash burger, cheese, Martin's potato roll, pickles, onions, burger sauce.

Nice.

What's a burger sauce?

What's the burger sauce?

It like, internet spread.

Like, ketchup.

Okay.

Mayo, maybe a touch of mustard, some relish in there.

Brian Noonan

Well, yeah, I like to mix my

Frank

ketchup and

Jamie Martenson

mayo up.

I love a good onion.

But not too thick, because some restaurants will get all happy with the knife, and they'll put these big things.

Frank

I like some good onions.

I like onion, but I

Jamie Martenson

want them thinly sliced, a little thin.

I don't want them paper thin, but I don't need a big chunk of onion in there.

Tomatoes

Frank

are good if they're in season.

Jamie Martenson

Yeah, because you don't want bitter.

You don't

Frank

want bitter tomatoes.

They're just mush.

Jamie Martenson

Roger

Frank

from Stevens

Jamie Martenson

Point says that once a year for a family picnic, he makes chili burgers.

Okay, now I'm intrigued.

What's a chili burger?

Brian Noonan

It's a burger with chili on top of

Jamie Martenson

it.

Alicia Chiving in over at our YouTube chat says she's at Culver's right now, which is great.

And Mims in Menasha is the best.

Brian Noonan

I've

Jamie Martenson

actually heard of Mims.

I have not had a chance to stop there, but I've been told that when I get in that vicinity, I have to go.

So interesting.

Brian Noonan

Well, go check out there.

burger specials at Burger King, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dairy Queen, Red Robin, Shake Shack, a lot of places around Wisconsin.

Enjoy a burger today.

We will enjoy saying goodbye to you only because we then get to say hello to you again tomorrow.

So we will be back for our Friday edition.

Thank you for listening and be a part of the show.

I'm Brian Noonan.

Jamie Martenson

I'm Jamie Martenson.

Thank you so much.

We will talk to you again tomorrow morning right here on the Civic Media Network.

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