We The People, Voting Rights For All (Hour 2)

Good morning.

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Our friend and colleague and travel companion Todd Alba is going to be joining us after the 9 30 news to kick around some Wisconsin news.

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They have an event that's coming up tomorrow.

Important stuff going on.

Important reminders also about to checking your voter registration.

Yep.

Celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Voters Rights Act.

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I spoke about that briefly with Shala yesterday on the show and she will explain more on the act itself, the event.

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And then at 1035, after the 1030 news, this is our audio sorbet segment.

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She does a lot of stuff for Civic Media, and she has a great feature called Slice of Wisconsin, where she also highlights different industries and stuff around the state.

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We're going to do a little Slice of Wisconsin quiz, Greg Bach.

I hope

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I'm not, and you're like, it'll be easy.

That's what makes me even more nervous, because the easier it is, and if I get it wrong, I got an easy quiz wrong, and I just feel weird and no... This is a not... I'm sweating.

I'm sweating.

It's a no-pressure

quiz.

It's a

no-pressure

quiz.

Okay.

And we'll wrap up the show as we always do, with this shouldn't be a thing.

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Calvin found this one.

Also at the very end of the show, if you care, we'll have an update on my bird.

The bird in the birdhouse.

Based on the responses from yesterday, both internally and externally, people care.

Thank you.

There you go.

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That makes me.

Take

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I just said that.

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that's coming up on Friday download the civic media app as we said it is completely free We're gonna talk about this a little bit more with Todd Alba But this hit this morning just as we were coming on the air from TMJ radio former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson considering a run in 2026 855

752-4842-855-75 Civic.

Should Tommy Thompson run for governor?

This would be his fifth.

If he

would

win, if he would run, he served four terms as governor.

He ran for Congress before that.

He was the director of HHS, the Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2005.

He also ran for president.

a briefly in 2008 and then ran for Senate most recently and lost to Tammy Baldwin, uh, which gave her gave her her second term.

Um, I know, don't honestly, like I don't know.

We're getting to know, uh, Josh Schoeman, Barry, Bill Barry and a little Tiffany.

Well, Tom Tiffany, he hasn't formally announced, but I kind of,

It's kind of the same thing I have with Eric Hovey and Tim Michaels.

I have less I Don't have anything against those two guys personally.

I don't know Tim Michaels Eric Hovey But I feel like all right you guys you three just you're done you go you had your chance Because when you when someone The problem with this kind of run this kind of consideration is Tommy Thompson has it in his head because I believe that that Wisconsinites Republicans and people who live through the Thompson years kind of view him as

Wisconsin's Reagan.

Absolutely.

He has a lot of cachet.

He has a lot of love.

People adore him for their reasons and that's fine.

But he hasn't been the governor for a very long time.

And when you think about running for governor decades after you last served, it sort of feels like, well, I can fix it or I'm here to do it or just let me handle it.

That's not how

someone who runs for an office such as this should feel, it should have more of a fire in your belly.

I have a plan for Wisconsin.

This does, Tommy, like it's just, it's just a, it's just a battlefield of, of losses for him as far as running.

You know, he, he was the governor.

That's fine.

But he's run a bunch of other things and lost.

And now he's going to do it.

Well, I might be governor.

I'll try for governor.

Why?

What do you bring to the table?

Tommy Thompson telling TMG radio yesterday.

I haven't said no.

There are a lot of good candidates and I don't have a desire to get in the race.

But the truth of the matter is, I'll wait to see what's out there.

Tommy Thompson is 83 years old.

Just say, no, I'm not running.

Wouldn't that just be easier?

And

I don't, I guess I don't understand what good this does for their Republican field.

To come in as a little bit of a spoiler.

And maybe honestly, maybe we're maybe.

Maybe I'm thinking too much about it and maybe it said not in a wink He's like I haven't said no wink and then he never says anything and it's not but it's in the paper and it's up there on the front page of their website It's an important story in my opinion to talk about because This is this will sound ages, but I really don't care an 83 year old man saying I can come and be governor again That is not good.

Sorry.

It's just not let

other people have their chance.

You got to be governor for 16 years.

And some would say you didn't do as much as some would try to give you.

So take your flowers, go back to Elroy, hang out.

Be an

elder in Elroy.

I doubt it.

I just I just know he's from Elroy I just think there's there's something to be said about being an elder statesperson of your party being the person who raises money being the person who walks in the door and and people cheer and clap and shake your hand Fill that role.

That's an important role and I feel like a lot of politicians on the right and the left Don't do that.

There are a lot of politicians out there who are who?

constantly want that spotlight.

They want the spotlight.

They want the power.

They want all those things.

And the moment they leave the spotlight, they are seen as irrelevant.

Well, to a certain extent, yes.

And that's hard.

Granted, I get that.

I get that, especially when you've been in the mix of it in the middle of it for so long.

But as you said, at some point,

There are other roles you can fill correct right 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 if you'd like to join our conversation that former governor Tommy Thompson Not saying no when he was asked about running for governor yet again Gene from Eau Claire on the line.

Good morning, Gene.

You're up first.

What do you think?

Thank you for bringing up this subject.

I say absolutely no Tommy Thompson

doesn't work for wisconsin anymore and he had when he didn't stand up against what's happening in our country right now and people need to be paying very close attention to what's going on now he is a yes man who's a man we need somebody in there to protect our state because if we don't protect the state of wisconsin we're all in trouble the whole country's in trouble so we need to stand up for democracy

and thought that the court that the partarianism in a spot it started in wisconsin we got a little bit of a reprieve and we need to save that repriever were all up the creek without a paddle and that's my opinion and i'm thinking to it and he doesn't work for us anymore he had plenty of opportunities to stand up to work for wisconsin when the fake collectors were in there and all the things being pulled on our state million spent on uh... election

checking out the elections and all the BS going on here.

He didn't stand up once to protect Wisconsin and people would listen to him.

Thank you very much.

Have a good day.

Bye bye.

You

too, Gene.

Thanks

a

lot.

Appreciate you.

You can always join us as well, like Gene at 855-752-4842.

Joe from Superior texting in listening on WISS and Oshkosh.

The hunger for relevancy knows no bounds.

Thompson had a successful career, but apparently he can't be out of the limelight.

It's hard, it's hard to step away and be in the shadows, like you said, but again, I still think that there are important places where he could step in.

As Gene said, he could step in different ways.

He could step, he could just not just step in, he could step up for Wisconsin.

Yeah, he

could.

Jim from Brookfield is on the line.

Good morning, Jim.

Thanks so much for joining us.

What do you think about Tommy Thompson?

Good morning.

I think Greg nailed it an 83 year old but I'll do respect to the elderly They're just past their prime and it is time to pass the torch and let the younger generation Move in you know Tommy would be a much improved over Scott Walker.

He was but know what when he joined

the mega movement and whatnot.

No, he's, he's past his shelf life.

And I just want to share with you really quick yesterday, my wife and I went to the fair and ran into literally none other than Tom Tiffany.

Really?

Um, outside the expo.

Yes.

Outside the expo building.

And I asked him, I said, Tommy, you're going to run.

And he said, I'm thinking about it.

And he reaches his hand out to shake my hand.

And when I told him, I do fist bumps, he goes, you know, who does fist bumps?

Jim Jordan and I thought man Thank you, but I was civil and polite and said that's nice and I said if you do run I wish you the best just just to be courteous.

Yeah, that was very nice of you Jim

That

was

great.

I wasn't going to go there, because my wife's tugging at my arm saying, don't go there, don't go there.

So I was

very nice.

Thank you, Jim.

We appreciate that.

That's awesome.

Oh,

just the best of luck to

you.

Good

luck, then.

I'll wave at you.

And thank you for sending the pictures in, by the way.

Yes.

Jim and his wife went to the Brewers game last Friday, I think.

Ted from Appleton, you got the last word on this.

Thanks for joining us, Ted.

What about Tommy Thompson running again?

Well.

I don't know how many people remember when he was governor for the great state of Wisconsin, and he gave us, you know, a rebate check from the state, and then he leaves the position to go work for Bush, and then we discover we're in a big deficit.

How many people remember that yeah probably not too many

probably not too many That's a really good point Ted appreciate it.

We're coming up against the against the wall here So thank you so much.

You can join us as well 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 stay with us You're listening to matinee around here.

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Brewers, later on today, our coverage starts at 5.40.

Right before we went to the break, we were talking about former governor, governor, governor, governor, Tommy Thompson.

Now saying he hasn't said no on whether or not he will run for yet another term as governor.

The 83-year-old says, quote, I'm in great physical health.

My mind is sharp as hell.

I've got things I would like to accomplish, but it's way too early for me to make that decision, unquote.

I'm delighted he's in good health.

I'm delighted he's sharp as a tack.

I think, no.

You had your run it was historic because of the number of terms that he had yes,

I Would even say even if he was ten years

younger I

still would say no, and it wouldn't be about age at that point for me It would just be about you served your time you've put in your your hours.

It's time to let other people do it Roger on the text listening right now says I voted for Tommy four times not this time his endorsement of Trump was despicable

That is something that has changed over the years.

He was seen as a uniting factor in Wisconsin, a guy who can reach across lines,

get things done.

Except for the whole stick to Milwaukee thing, which I remember.

Yes, I know you remember.

I

know you remember well.

And it's very much indicative of a person who just wants, as it was said by Joe and Superior, that they need the limelight.

There's a hunger for that.

There is something to be said about a person stepping away and saying, I am done.

There's a lot of respect with that.

And also, you know, I know that it can't be about the money because when you get out of public life,

The ability to

lobby

lobby write books be on television do speeches and sit on boards It's really about the attention and that's more than about the money It's about your own personal ego that you need people to keep in check Tony on the live stream says he's older than evers and evers didn't run again because of age and that there's something and there's also

If I'm a Republican, if I'm the person, let's say I'm a Republican and I win the governor's race and I'm about to take the office, Tommy Thompson is one of the first calls on my call sheet to say, I would love your advice.

If you can give me counsel, be partly, how

do I call on you when I have

questions

and I'm happy to be

an advisor, shout out and show that you are still relevant, but you don't need to have the big chair.

It just doesn't look good.

As I said earlier, we may be making a bigger thing out of it than it is.

He just said he has not said yes, but he's not ruling it out.

But it also was on the front

webpage of

TMJ radio.

Oh, TMJ, I'm sorry.

It's up TMJ, but it's there.

And so

therefore it's, it's about the conversation.

And obviously people calling and texting, giving their opinions on this.

So I just think Tommy, if you're out there listening, if someone out there knows him, it just with

all due respect.

Yes.

Not, you, you, you did, you, again, you had an historic

record here in Wisconsin, just in the amount of terms that you served, rest on those laurels.

Yeah.

Be proud of what you've done.

Be proud of what you did.

Absolutely.

And again, I go, I understand how difficult it is to give up the limelight.

But at the same time, I think I have more respect for folks who can acknowledge they aren't either not qualified or their time is past.

as opposed to someone who is unqualified saying, well, I don't know what I'm really doing, but I can do it.

I would rather have someone who can recognize this is outside of my realm of possibilities.

And I think, too, the other big point is you have to convince people to vote for you.

And what you are probably going to do, he would do is.

present this image of Tommy Thompson from the 80s and 90s.

And that's not the Tommy Thompson you're going to get.

Well, it's a different world now.

He's a

different Republican.

He's a different, he is a Trump supporter.

He's a Trump defender.

And that flies.

Was it the

inauguration?

I believe

so.

And it flies in the face of who he probably was back, you know, 35 years ago.

The things that, I mean, you're a whole different person, Tommy.

And you've got to get Wisconsin on board.

And I think that's going to be more difficult than you think.

We'll see what happens.

And we're going to continue this conversation.

Todd Alba, our friend and colleague and travel companion and host of the Todd Alba Show from 2 to 4 is going to be joining us after the 9.30 news, couple other things going on, not surprisingly, in Wisconsin politics.

So stick around for that.

Hour number two, Deb Cronmiller from the Wisconsin League of Women Voters is going to join us and also Civic Media's very own Terry Barr with a little slice of Wisconsin for audio survey today.

And we'll have

A birdhouse update.

If you're concerned.

I appreciate people checking in about that.

Really, it means more than you realize.

It genuinely does.

All right, stay close.

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Good morning and welcome.

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Caller text at 855-752-4842.

You can also leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter.

Coming up next hour, Deb Cronmiller from the Wisconsin League of Women Voters is going to join us.

They have an event tomorrow marking the passage of the

Voting Rights Act.

So we're going to talk to Deb about that, also other considerations about more challenges coming towards the Voting Rights Act, and also about how important it is that you check your registration from time to time.

Yes.

Myvote.wi.gov.

Very simple, very easy, very to the point.

Yes, absolutely.

And then Terry Barr, Civic Media's own genie of just about everything.

She's an Emmy winner.

She's incredible.

And she has a feature called Slice of Wisconsin.

And she's going to join us after the 1030 News for Audio Sorbet.

And we're going to have a little quiz, Greg Buck.

We'll wrap up the show as we always do it.

This shouldn't be a thing.

Today it is the pitch imperfect edition.

It's a good one.

And we'll have a little bird update for you as well if you joined us for that.

Right now, we are joined by our friend and colleague and travel companion, Todd Alba, host of the wonderful Todd Alba program two to four across the network.

How are you this morning, my friend?

Dr. Matt Nair, Greg Bach and Kelvin, I'm doing well.

Can you hear me?

I'm having some audio issues, but can you hear me OK?

We can hear

you.

OK.

There we go.

Now that echo is gone.

The

echo is still there.

We have an echo

right now.

We have an echo.

If you want to call

us, I don't know.

All right, let's do that.

OK.

All right.

Todd's going to join us on the phone at 855-752-4842, which you can do as well.

If you want to

give us a call, send in a text, sending a voice note.

That is the latest feature on the Civic Media app.

And again, you can do that all

at 855-752-4842.

Right before we went to the break, we were talking about former Governor Tommy Thompson announcing he hasn't decided yet.

Maybe.

I

might.

Oh, wink.

I haven't said no yet.

Yeah.

Now we got Todd on the phone.

Good morning.

Todd, can you hear us?

I'm very sorry, as I say, often I'm an analog guy living in the digital world,

so I apologize.

Don't worry about it.

Not to worry, it is all good.

What was your reaction?

Did you hear this?

Because TMJ radio broke this morning that they talked to Tommy Thompson at the Wisconsin State Fair yesterday, and he hasn't said no.

I didn't hear it until you sent it to me this morning for the notice.

I read the article.

I think it's fascinating.

I kind of chuckled a little bit when I saw it.

I said, well, that kind of figures.

To cut to the chase, do I think he's actually going to run?

No, I don't.

But it's also quintessential Tommy Thompson.

I heard you guys' discussion in the callers before.

I think everybody made really good points.

You know, if someone who was a former Republican who left the party in 2011, the Tommy Thompson that was Governor Tommy Thompson,

He still has a lot of my admiration.

I mean, I just spent the weekend, or at least five hours on Saturday, with my close friends, paddling down, taking a kayaking trip on the lower Wisconsin Riverway from Sock City down to Tameza, Mady.

And I think that still remains one of the greatest bipartisan pieces of legislation signed into law by Tommy Thompson, and certainly the last 50 years.

and maybe the last 100 years.

Don, I'm going to stop you right there.

And I just want you to explain to folks who may not understand what that was.

Let's talk about that measure that got that bipartisan support.

So it happened during the 80s, and Tommy is the first or second term as governor.

My former boss, Dale Schultz, was in the assembly at the time, considered a conservative at the time, go figure.

And

Spencer Black, who represented the Isthmus of Madison, one of the most liberal Democrats, were considered that at the time, worked together.

And they said, look, the Lord of Wisconsin Riverway.

There's lots of farming along there.

It's ripe for development.

Let's pass legislation that preserves that natural beauty.

In other words, there can't be new structures built with an eyesight from the river.

But in certain cases, if they're upgraded, there's only a certain color palette.

The houses or barns can be painted.

And you can't have major development.

It's basically, let's preserve what Nicolet and Marquette saw as they came down the river.

Years ago for future generations.

It was extraordinarily controversial.

Yes It took a long time to pass and Tommy Thompson's governor had Spencer black and Democrat and Dale Schultz Republican in his office And he said I'm not going there unless you guys can provide the votes if you guys can do it I'll sign it and that was the deal and it took several years Tommy came out a couple of times the Southwest, Wisconsin to very heated town hall meetings and they got it done

And that was, in my mind, that was the quintessential Tommy Thompson who gets things done.

And by the way, I heard you guys talking earlier.

Yes, Tommy Thompson and Suann, the former First Lady, sold their lake house in Lake Wisconsin and added onto the farm back at Elroy.

That's

where they live.

Oh, they do.

They're back in Elroy, yeah.

I wasn't sure about

that.

Oh, go on, Todd, go on.

No, I was just going to say...

My star asterisk and all this and and and you guys for me tell the story I won't tell again when he was Department of Health Human Services Secretary had the opportunity to go out there and visit his office He did groundbreaking work when he was the president of the interim president of the University of Wisconsin System during COVID he got rave reviews and national attention for setting up free vaccine clinics testing sites and led the country

And in how to deal with vaccines and COVID during that whole thing was deeply saddened me and disappointed me And one of your callers pointed this out earlier one of Tommy's few Achilles heels is he just has a lust for relevancy Yeah, and he can't help himself and I think part of that comes from a good place that he feels God dang it I can I'm the one that can get this done

I do

it and and the and that's kind of a good place the bad places

I think he's just always found the vast majority of his happiness through politics, and he doesn't want to let that go.

And in my opinion, he has compromised some of the things that he actually believes in for relevancy in the MAGA party.

Look, based on the information I know, and I'm not going to name names, Tommy Thompson does not like Scott Walker.

Tommy Thompson does not like Donald Trump, but he plays the game to stay in there to be relevant and

I think that's what this is.

And also, you know, I won't violate the FCC violations.

I think he's just trying to mess around with the current Republican.

I think he's like, you know, if I go on TMJ until I haven't ruled it out, I mean, that'll be fun.

Yeah, exactly.

I think, honestly, I think the big, the U lines and all these people, they ain't going to write the big checks until they know whether Tommy is in or out.

And so I think it just kind of messes things up a little bit.

And I love that.

If you're, if you're just joining us on mat and air and air, we're talking to Todd Alba, the host of the Todd Alba show, the Todd Alba show, which you can find on civic media Monday through Fridays, 2 p.m.

through 4 p.m.

And you're hitting the nail on the head for me personally, Todd, on every point here is that the Tommy Thompson that

People want to vote for is the Tommy Thompson, who was the, the governor from the late eighties through the nineties.

And he was someone who stood up for, for mass transit, wanted rail.

He had what now would be considered very liberal points of view, but they seemed at the time, these are very, they serve the people of Wisconsin.

They, they have economic impact too.

That is great for our state.

all these things that just make you kind of shrug your shoulders and go, yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Now he has to distance himself from, because as you said, he has to identify with the MAGA side of the Republican Party to keep relevance and gain credibility.

And he would have, if this is for real, if let's say in a Tommy Thompson perfect world he runs, he has to somehow keep people, he has to convince them that he's still that old Tommy Thompson.

while still trying to be a MAGA Tommy Thompson.

And I don't think that's going to work.

As Roger from Stevens Point said on the text line, he voted for Tommy four times and his endorsement of Trump made him turn.

Well, and I just have to wonder, you know, you talk about this deal that was made under then Governor Thompson to protect the lower Wisconsin River.

Now, if you're MAGA, he has to come forward with a mining bill about how let's mine the lower Wisconsin River.

Yeah, and it's been a few years.

So somebody else is smarter than me listening out there.

It could correct me.

But as I recall, even while Tommy was a governor, he kind of changed his mind of the copper mining up north and was kind of all for it.

And then a lot of locals spoke up and to his credit, he listened to him and he said, you know what?

Okay.

Maybe this is a bit of an over each year and he kind of dialed it back.

So.

Unfortunately, I think the days when you had politicians who actually listened to their constituents, especially at the executive level, and did what they wanted instead of what the money and the power bosses wanted.

You know, I'm not sure those days are going to come back in the near term, but I'll say this.

Uh, I've known Tommy Thompson for a lot of years since I, since he first ran in 1986 and came to Richland center in a primary against Jonathan Barry and Jonathan Barry, the Dane County executive called Tommy Thompson, the Hick from Elroy.

And that, then that kicked him off and he went on to, to beat Jonathan Barry in the primary and spend, and get elected the governor four times.

So I'll say this.

Don't ever count Tommy Thompson out because you do so at your own peril.

I will say that.

Do I think he's actually going to run?

No.

But if he did, it'd be a hell of a race.

There's something to be said, Todd, about trying to achieve your goals with a pinch of spite.

I really do just kind of love the idea of him thinking though, you know, this could be fun just for a couple of months.

Let's just tweak him a little bit for a couple of months and watch everybody running around.

And

he's doing, Jane, I'm sure you've seen this when you worked at other places in Milwaukee and we're at the State Fair.

He loves, Tommy Thompson is in his element.

Going to

the

BMJ Fishbowl, being on there, shaking hands.

He has

a red Wisconsin motion W polo shirt on.

Go to the farm bar.

I mean, we need somebody that, but this is a great point.

And Trini Olson says this on our show.

We need a governor who's going to be a cheerleader for the state and go around and talk about how great we are and how great Wisconsin is and give people hope.

And nobody does that better in my lifetime has done it better than Tommy George Thompson.

He has been a great cheerleader.

You're right.

He was always a great cheerleader for Wisconsin, for most of Wisconsin.

Anyway, I did have the opportunity to meet him once Todd at an event in.

Milwaukee, this is decades ago, and I'll never forget, I shook his hand and he looked right at me and he said, nice to meet you.

It was a life changing, it was a life

changing moment.

I went on to write my book.

I cured many diseases of small

animals.

And then I became a big investor.

But

you know what?

But that's a great point.

I mean,

I can't tell you the number of young politicians that Tommy Thompson mentored and we go to an event and he was there and he'd come up to the new candidate and he'd say, did you shake everybody's hand in this room?

And he said, yep, governor was shook him.

Did you shake him twice?

Because when you, when Tommy would go, especially when he, after he became governor, sometimes he'd come in at the concourse of Madison, you know, they bring him into the kitchen, so they don't have to go with the front door or whatever.

And instead of just whizzing by,

9.9 times out of 10, Tommy would stop and shake every cook, busser, washer, everybody in the back room and say, how are you?

Great to see you.

Thanks for doing what you're doing.

And he made everybody feel special.

And that's really because I saw him a lot of times in private.

That's really who he was and who I think in his heart really is.

And it just saddens me that now we have this logger iteration of it.

dot alba is our guest.

You can catch his fantastic show weekdays from two to four across the network.

We're going to continue our conversation.

Stay close.

You are listening to Matt Nair on air.

We are the Civic Media Radio Network and we'll be right back.

Good morning and welcome.

Welcome to Matt and Air on Air.

Jane Matt and Air.

Greg Bach.

Sweet Calbee on the board.

Coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine where you can join us.

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Hello, live streamers.

Don't forget.

To download the completely free Civic Media app, we have free ticket Fridays coming up this Friday.

Your chance, five chances you'll have to pick up a four pack of Milwaukee Brewer's club level tickets.

The boy is playing some good ball lately.

Heck yeah.

Heck yes.

So make sure you're ready for Friday, Pat.

Great little, we'll start it off between six and nine.

He'll have a keyword for you to text in only on the app.

We'll have another word, Tom Hartman 11 to two, then Todd two to four and Maggie Dawn four to six free ticket Friday is coming up this Friday

and spelling counts.

Spelling does count.

Keywords are pretty easy, but every once in a while Todd gets a word like Rotodendrum or something.

Todd Alba, our friend and colleague and host of the Todd Alba Show is here.

Now that was back when we were competing for the statewide text win contest, Todd.

I encourage them to give you slightly more challenging words during your show, but that never

happened.

It's because you're a legend in Wisconsin radio.

And so I have to, they have to do, I need every advantage I can.

And, uh, so yeah, you beat me.

You guys beat me so bad last time in the statewide text-to-ing contest.

They've retired James Text-to-ingers.

They come out of retirement this fall.

It could happen.

That could happen.

We were going to hang it in the rafters of radio.

but we found out we don't have rafters, we just have ceilings.

Yeah, we

gotta take

the drum ceilings out.

You just kept walking into it every time you went down the hallway like, ah, yeah.

In the way.

Why is this damp?

Don almost here.

We're out.

Let's talk about Tom Tiffany, who again, he was at the state.

Yes, we do.

He was at the state fair yesterday.

Let me

say this real quick.

Let me

say this real quick.

I just was thinking over the break.

I thought if Tommy Thompson was actually listening to the last hour or someone tells him about this, nothing will make him happier.

He'll say, can you believe it?

They actually talked about my race for a God day, almost an hour and never even mentioned Shulman.

He would love that.

He would absolutely love it.

You're welcome.

You're welcome, TT.

We're happy to help you out.

There's, but there's another TT now.

We have Tom Tiffany,

who

is out glad handing everybody and apparently cozying up to the moms from Liberty from what I've read this morning.

I saw that.

Uh,

yeah.

Thanks for sending me that personally in the morning.

I

have to have an extra cup of coffee.

Uh, look, I think Tom Tiffany, you know, again to quote my friend, uh, Triggy Olson.

Some of the Tommy told him years ago was there are two kinds of politicians, those that want to do and those that want to be.

And Scott Walker is somebody that just wanted to be, continues to be that.

I think Tom Tiffany is in that category as well.

He just wants to be, send out pictures of ice fishing.

But I mean, what is Tom Tiffany actually done besides written strongly worded letters to the prime minister of Canada about fires?

You know, and ignoring the fact, of course, we have our own wildfires out west in the United States.

Uh, here's the thing.

I think for a lot of mainstream, Mago, Wisconsin Republicans, he does represent the current iteration of the party.

Tiffany does because he genuinely flex politically to Donald Trump.

But that's really what they want.

Um, Bill McCosh and said on our show when Governor Evers said he wasn't going to run again, that for their side, the GOP side, it's all going to come down to just Trump, make an endorsement.

And if so, who, and that person will win the primary.

So I think.

these guys, if you read that article that used something this morning, Jane, I think they're all positioning, they're really looking for the vote of one person and that's Donald

Trump

instead of the votes of Wisconsinites across the state.

I guess the one thing that confuses me, Todd, because of where Tom Tiffany is, and we were just up there in the Northwoods and folks there have so much love for the outdoors.

That's a big reason why they live there.

They want to be able to

be outside and go on trails and do all those things.

And Tom Tiffany now is the one talking about, yeah, let's mine the Apostle Islands.

There's a copper mine that they're talking about that would be right on the border of the boundary waters in Minnesota.

I just can't imagine that his constituents are supportive of things like that.

I'm old enough to remember when Tom Tiffany was in the Wisconsin State Senate, and I was working for my former boss, and we held a lot of town hall, not official town halls, because Scott Fitzgerald's majority leader wouldn't allow it, but independent town halls in northern Wisconsin and Tom Tiffany's state Senate district around Mellon and around Ashland, around those areas.

And you're absolutely right, Jay.

They packed

High school gymnasiums, 500 plus people, and overwhelmingly, and there were some people there that out of basic economic desperation said, I'll try anything if I understand that.

But overwhelmingly, people were like, we don't want this.

The Native American tribes, after a member, you guys know this, the Native American tribes, those rice fields, that's like their churches, their temples.

It's sacred.

It's sacred.

And so Tom Tiffany really has no regard for, again, Wisconsinites.

He's looking for the votes of Trump.

He's looking for the votes of the big money people and what they want in my opinion.

And I think now more than any other time, when you speak about those who want to do and those who want to be looking for the endorsement of Donald Trump is the easiest way for any politician to just be.

100 percent.

Yeah.

Couldn't agree more.

Joe, what you got coming up on your show today?

I'm going to talk a little bit about tariffs.

We have somebody from Main Street Business Lions here in Wisconsin talking about the effects of Wisconsin or the effects of the Trump tariffs on Wisconsin businesses.

And I understand he's also on the PBS Board of Directors as well.

So pick up our discussion from last week and you guys have talked

about it on the

cuts to the National Corporation of Public Broadcasting.

Why do Maga folks hate Big Bird so much?

We'll discuss

that.

What's worse, which I love that usually comes up in hour number two.

Thank you so very much my friend.

We will talk soon Thank you guys.

I'll have my

technology worked up next

week.

No worries news is coming up next and then we're gonna talk to Deb Cronmiller from the Wisconsin League of Women Voters stay with us You're listening to Matt and air on air on the civic media radio network

Good morning and welcome, welcome to Matt and Air on Air.

Jane Matt and Air, Greg Bach and Calvin Butenoff coming to you live from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine.

You can always join us, call or text.

The number is the same, 855-752-4842.

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We do have baseball coming up later on today.

The boy's doing quite well lately.

Our broadcast starts today at 540 the crew in Atlanta you can catch the game on terrestrial radio on WRC in Richland Center W ISS in Oshkosh here in Racina Kenosha on WRJN in Park Falls on WCQM and our newest brewers affiliate WBZH hello Hayward So join us for the game today crew at the Braves our broadcast starts at 540 today

day.

Delighted to be joined.

She leads the Wisconsin League of Women Voters.

Deb Cronmiller is here, the executive director.

Good morning, Deb.

Thank you for joining us at the last minute.

Good

morning.

We look forward to our conversation

as always.

Yeah, we really appreciate it.

So the Voting Rights Act is being celebrated for its institution, what, 60 plus years

ago?

60

years.

60 years tomorrow.

What's going to be happening at the league?

We are sponsoring a 60th anniversary event in the capital.

We will have about 200 attendees, a little over 200.

And our national president of the board for the League of Women Voters is our keynote speaker at noon.

And I'm very excited.

We're gonna have some.

great breakouts in the afternoon led by Attorney T.R.

Edwards from Law Forward and Judge Derek Mosley from Marquette University.

Wonderful.

And we are going to talk all things voting rights and really celebrate the great accomplishment, which was the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Talk a little bit about some of the attacks that the Voting Rights Act has seen over the last number of years.

and how we can support the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act now, currently, to ensure that these rights are all restored and that everyone's access to the ballot remains intact.

Well, and honestly, this is fantastic, Deb.

And I expected nothing less than what you'd be putting together here because the way it was

first brought to us, I was thinking it was more of a dinner to celebrate, maybe a keynote speaker, but this isn't all day.

This isn't just a celebration.

This is a get boots on the ground.

Let's get working.

Let's talk about the importance of this.

And how do we, of course, as the league always wants to do, preserve democracy?

Correct.

And that's, you know, our mission is to defend democracy and empower voters and really combining the what is

You know, you have to be educated as a voter.

That's why civics education is so important to the league and so many of our partners.

But with that education, you are empowered to elect your representatives.

And those elected representatives are supposed to, you know,

carry your voice to the Madison Capitol, to DC, to your municipal leader boards and councils and whatnot.

And when they fail to, that's the crisis that is the breach of our constitution.

And that's why in April, our National League declared

We are in a constitutional crisis.

We have a judiciary that is no longer the check and balance for the executive in the legislative branch at the national level.

We have a Congress that is not holding the things together that

they

are supposed to be doing by the passing of laws.

And we have an executive who frankly is

trying to do the work of the Congress, which is not the function of the executive, and through executive order trying to make law, which is not constitutionally permissible.

And so, so many moving parts, but at the end of the day, we've got, you know, kind of run amok government entities, and we've got to pull it back.

We've got to retain or regain what was our strong commitment to representative government, to our democracy.

And we will do that.

And the crux of that is really shoring up everyone's access to the ballot, making sure every ballot is counted, making sure every voice is heard.

But most importantly, making sure every single voter recognizes that they are the power.

The power is not in the executive.

The power is not in the Congress.

The power is not in our courts.

The power is with the people.

We the people.

Yep, that's what it says pretty people

has a pretty good ring to it

does I kind of like that Deb Cronmiller is here from the Wisconsin League of Women Voters and we're talking about an event that they're having tomorrow in Madison to mark the passage of the Voting Rights Act 60 years ago Deb for people who may not be familiar with this and there's no shame in that but why was it nest what was the impetus in in In the Voting Rights Act, what why was that necessary?

Well, there are so many reasons but I think

what what we had been fighting for you know in 1920 when the league was formed suffrage was granted to white women so that left a whole bunch of voters behind um our our you know women of color were not admitted at that in 1920 um so there were reasons to be fighting and what we saw leading up to um 1965 was a

a real outcry by the people that they needed to have voice in order to be full citizens.

And we saw, you know, at Selma, we saw so many fight and, you know, literally fight for these rights.

And then finally, in 1965, a very robust

robust voting rights act was passed and you know the franchise was expanded to include all these you know previously disenfranchised groups and we worked so long and hard since 1965 to preserve that only to see in the last decade you know real assaults

to what

is

people's ability to be empowered, to have the boat, to have that boat counted.

And here in Wisconsin, for the last decade and a half, we saw the very real impacts of what I think of as run amok government with the gerryman.

We are a purple state.

We should have

you know half of our congressional delegation should be blue and half should be red um the same should be true in our um legislature in madison and yet that's not what we see at all and that is the

the kind of the remnants of what was that extreme gerrymander and we're so happy that in February of 24 the governor actually signed into law more fair maps but that doesn't mean we're still not experiencing some of the the real ramifications of having that severe

gerrymander and only as we go through more redistricting cycles will we see the true benefit of fair maps which is why the league our partners at the fair maps coalition are working so hard to actually stand up a

independent redistricting commission.

Let's take this power of redistricting out of the hands of elected officials who have a motivation

by the

way to retain their power.

And let's give it to the people.

And let's make sure that the maps are fair and that we can test their fairness using all the models that are coming out of academia.

We don't have to have maps being drawn in secret by people who are trying to retain power.

We can have maps being drawn transparently by people who know how to make sure that districts are

contiguous, that they are compact, that they meet all the constitutional requirements, and that all of our communities of interest in, you know, all across Wisconsin are heard and are represented in those maps.

And that's a thing that hasn't happened for a decade and a half in Wisconsin.

Well, and it's when you put it like that, Deb, it's so basic.

Why would you give the people who have an absolutely vested interest in the results of these maps?

I'm going to put it in your hands to make this decision on how this will affect your future because of course you're not going to have any bias as to how this gets drawn to have an independent person unrelated to politics draw up maps that should quite frankly not make anybody 100% happy.

Right,

I believe isn't that a rule you can never make a hundred percent?

Well, right, I mean it's if they're gonna be fair districts, then we should be able to have fair fights That's what it's all about.

Yeah, and we

have to be able to have the conversations, you know

We have to draw boundaries.

And some of those boundaries can be geographic boundaries, a river, a county line, a municipal boundary.

But some need to make sense.

Some need to incorporate a community that share a common interest, maybe a farming community, a water district,

a tribal area.

We need to keep these voting blocks together so that as is defined constitutionally, we have a voice in determining our future.

And that right is above all, it is the right that we have as citizens living in this democracy.

And when we chop and block and take

take all of those rights away essentially, then...

then we get what we had when we were under the extreme geriatric.

It just is, it is not functioning.

It is not sustainable.

It's not good for the people.

In the Fair Maps Coalition, we've put up a lot of information to the people about important issues.

We want Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin.

We want better access to healthcare.

We want a strong, clean environment where our children can breathe clean air and drink clean water.

These are not the bills that our legislature is advancing.

They're advancing bills that aren't coming from the

people.

They're coming

from a small

faction.

Deb Crommiller is the executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, and she's joining us on matinee on air today to talk about the event they're going to be having tomorrow in medicine to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.

And before we take a pause, I just want to say something really quick, too.

You are a nonpartisan group.

These are nonpartisan issues.

These are things, as we spoke about earlier, that seek to take care of the people.

Wisconsin, empower them, make democracy stronger and better, and this is not something that should be up for a, well, this is liberal, well, this is conservative.

No, this is about the people, we the people, coming together and making a simple decision to say, it's important for our voting rights to be not only secured, but enshrined and never touched and never threatened and with the matter of the maps.

Make sure that those areas represent all the people and individuals who seek

office of public service must work to get that not just be handed to him because it's easy

well and that's the whole thing about the the gerrymandered maps which we went on on and on and on about but if you want your lawmakers to actually have to respond to you

They can't be in these super safe positions where no matter what they do, there are no there are no ramifications.

That's the whole idea behind fair maps is to actually keep our lawmakers accountable.

Crazy idea to us.

We're going to continue our conversation with Deb Cronmiller, the executive director of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters.

Stay close.

This is Matt Nair on air on the Civic Media Radio Network.

you

Good morning and welcome back to Matt Nair on air.

Jane Matt Nair, Greg Box, Sweet Calbee on the board, coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

You can always join us, call or text, the number is the same, 855-752-4842.

You can also leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.

Coming up in a little bit after the 1030 news, Civic Media's, we call her the genie of just about

Everything Emmy winner Terry Barr is gonna be joining us.

She has a great piece She does that ears across the network called slice of Wisconsin and she's gonna have a quiz for us

Pop quiz.

Oh God

every

every piece of anxiety I own in my system is

just raging

right now.

It's

not that much pressure Trust me.

It'll be fine.

I believe you he's gonna study now

And we're going to wrap up the show.

We have a tis band.

This shouldn't be a thing to wrap up the show.

And then I'll have an update on the bird that was stuck in my birdhouse.

if you're wondering about that.

That was not a euphemism, by

the way, either.

No, it's a bird, sucking a bird off.

Anyway, our guest is the executive director of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters.

Deb Cronmiller is here talking about a big event they're having tomorrow in Madison.

Can people still attend, Deb, or is this kind of a not open to the public event?

Well, we closed the registration to end the last week so we could get everybody lunch and make

sure that they

refreshments in that

sort of

thing So it's not really a walk-in event, but the we're just very hopeful that you know everyone who has registered Makes the way to the capital so they can You know see the program and hear from our wonderful speakers and we do have a number of Numbers of the press will be there to cover the

and we are having a press conference after the program, so hopefully you'll hear more about it.

And it's a good reminder for folks, and we talked about this, we haven't talked about it probably enough recently, is for people to go back and just to make sure that their voter registration is still there, because various states handle this differently when they decide to start purging voter rolls.

And in

fact, Wisconsin just completed, it's regularly scheduled as is in statute, what is called the four year maintenance.

And if you haven't voted in the last four years, but are showing as active in the voter registration list, you were in fact removed from the voter rolls as an active, you moved to inactive.

which means for you as a voter, if that's your situation, then now you're going to have to re-register.

So the league always suggests that you go to myvote.gov to get your confirmation that you are still registered.

And if you're not, you can re-register there so that the next election you'll be able to vote.

And though it seems like a long way away, because our next election isn't until next spring,

maintaining your registration on a year-round basis

is

a good thing to do.

Why wait until you're in a panic right before the election?

You could do that now.

So go ahead.

Yeah, my vote.wi.gov will include a link in the show notes.

All you have to do is go to that website you put in your address and that will tell you your voter status along with every person who represents you all of their contact information which is there for

to be used is the way that I look at it.

That's why they have their phone numbers there.

And

if you're new to Wisconsin, if you recently moved into the state, you can use that portal to register.

You do have to upload some additional documents to make sure that you complete your registration.

You can always go in person to your clerk's office and register there.

But it's really, that's the first step to being...

a voter to having access to having your voice heard is registration and then go do it.

Vote on election day.

And I think one of the reasons why I wanted to bring this up is because we see nefarious plans from all over the country trying to purge names from their voter rules for whatever reason they're doing.

And I don't want to focus on that right now.

What I want to focus on is that this was a routine maintenance that happens.

There was nothing.

There was no bad plans behind it and also speaks to.

the level of competence and excellence that Wisconsin's voter system is, the way elections are handled, they are run, they are...

trusted by most, but also I think that it's important that people know that these names that are being moved from active to inactive is simply a matter of process, then someone twisting their mustache saying, we shall kick them off the rolls because for whatever reason, this is just business.

But what is happening in some other states does seem to be the curly mustache going, yep, we're going to find some ways to get these people off of here because they don't vote the way we like.

Right.

And that's one of the reasons that we're

blessed all of us to live in the state of Wisconsin.

You know, our statutes are so prescriptive about how our elections are administrating.

And the four year maintenance is described in statute.

It's not to disenfranchise.

It's to just make sure that we're checking in with a voter at least once every four years to say, hey, you haven't been exercising the franchise.

Are you still here?

Do you still live where we thought you lived?

And if they don't respond to the message, then they do leave the roles.

And then the league actually is part of our work.

We request that list, and we try to do follow-up.

So for people who are still in the state,

We'll text them.

We'll try to get them to go register and we'll show them how to register and how easy it

is.

That's fantastic.

Go to myvote.wi.gov just to check to make sure you are still on the voter rolls.

And if you got pushed into that inactive file, there are steps you can take to get back on the active file.

Deb Cronmiller, you have a great website too, Deb.

And you have like a whole toolkit and everything at the league's website.

We do.

We have many toolkits.

But getting

Getting registered is a very easy process.

We have just passed a constitutional amendment, which changed nothing.

It just says, we need IDs.

Well, we needed IDs before.

So bring those when you come to vote.

And then to register, you'll need both an ID and your proof of residence.

We will include all the links in our show notes.

Deb Cronmiller, the executive director for the Wisconsin League of Women Voters.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you for making time.

Appreciate it.

News is coming up next.

Stay with us.

You are listening.

to the vast state-wide, country-wide, you can pick us up around the world on the app, the Civic Media Radio Network.

Good morning and welcome back to Matt Nair on air.

Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach and our resident young person Calvin on the board coming to you from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine.

You can always join us.

Call her text at the same number.

You can also leave a voice note at 855-752-4842.

Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter coming up a little bit later on taught all by show today two to four.

he will be joined by Kyle LeFond, who's the founder and president and CEO of Natural Contract Manufacturing.

He's also a member of Main Street Alliance, and he's gonna talk about the tariffs and how these are impacting Wisconsin businesses.

He's also on the board for...

I think public radio, he's on a board that deals with, I'm sorry, I apologize for not knowing the exact thing, but he's, he's also going to be talking about the closure of the corporation for public radio, public broadcasting, which is something we're going to keep that conversation going on this show as well.

Cause we want to talk to some people about that.

Yep.

So join Todd today, going to be a great show as always, a two to four across the network right now.

This is the portion of the show we call.

Audio Sorbet or we like to take a breath get away from the news and have a little cleansing for our brains.

We call her civic media's genie of just about everything because she does pretty much everything around the network.

Emmy winner Terry Barr is our guest.

Good morning, Terry.

How are you?

Good morning, Greg and Jane.

And you called him young cow.

Yes,

young cow.

Young cow.

I like that too.

Adventures of.

Oh,

it's great to be with you.

I have a question, though,

for you.

Mustard or ketchup on your brat?

I would go mustard.

You know what?

I'm going to say this.

In my younger years, definitely a cats up type person.

Of course.

And as I've gotten older and my pal has evolved, I'm more of a mustard person.

And then throw a little if I if I'm allowed to throw a smidge of sauerkraut for that crunch.

Oh, that's delicious.

Okay.

Here's why I'm asking about the mustard in particular.

I went to a recent Brewer's game and it was the $2.50 brat.

Oh

boy.

Ah, I think everybody was worried the brats would run out.

So people were buying two, four, six, eight brats at a time.

Nobody could find mustard.

It was crazy.

Interesting.

The friends I was with, she'd run over to one.

Another would run to another.

We're all yelling, there's no mustard.

What's happening?

It's the end of the world.

First world problems, I know.

Well, then that got me thinking.

What is the deal about mustard?

And from there, that took me to there is a national mustard museum.