
You're listening to Civic Media.
You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.
Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime,
anywhere.
You're listening to Mornings with Pat Crichtlow powered by Up North News.
Now for my Lake WSOTA studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Crichtlow.
It's 8-06 now.
Good morning.
Nice to have you back here up north on this Tuesday morning, September 9th, 2025.
Parker Olson producing us down there in Madison Studio A2.
Coming up our Tuesday tag team of
Capital Corridor correspondence with Cam Stephenson standing by live in Washington, DC.
Dan Schaefer from the Recombobulation area covering the Wisconsin legislature will join us at the bottom of the hour.
But first, let's get a quick update of the weather forecast from meteorologist Brittany Merleau where yesterday's picture perfect sunny breezy conditions have been replaced with clouds and some rain, especially the further north you go.
It just looks a little messy up there this morning on the shore.
It sure does.
Flash flood warning in the Ashland area still for another hour and a half.
Highway two got about an inch and a half to three inches and there's still more rain on the way today.
Also a beach hazard statement from Door County through Sheboygan high waves and rip currents out there about three to five feet.
What we're looking at this morning, 45 degrees in Watoma.
54 in Milwaukee and 64 degrees in Eau Claire.
So a 30 degree temperature spread, clear skies south in the state, more clouds north in the state.
We've got showers going on up north that are going to continue through this afternoon and then become more widespread as we go through this evening.
Now that's going to stay north in the state.
Madison, Milwaukee area, you're not looking at any rainfall until possibly tomorrow morning.
But I do think a lot of that's going to dissipate and not even make its way to you.
So rain up north could be heavy at times.
No severe storms.
Highs today in the mid sixties north to mid seventies south.
But then we get summer back.
We do.
As soon as Thursday and into Friday, we're looking at highs hitting 80.
We're going to climb to the mid eighties over the weekend.
Mugginess returns.
Summer weather for sure.
I don't think I've ever used this term for the weather, but that forecast is luscious.
I love it.
That's great.
It's still summer.
Let's bring some.
Make summer summer again.
There we go.
Thank you, Brittany.
Have
a
wonderful day.
We'll talk to you later.
Again, a reminder sign up for our newsletters.
Up North News, wi.com.
Click subscribe in the top banner.
And by the way, if you missed anything that we did over the first two hours, you can pod this program.
Head over to Spotify right now.
and follow us, maybe Apple wherever you get your podcasts.
And that way it's always on your device, always handy.
We are in a world of subscriptions right now.
So subscribe to this show.
And then when you're done with that, get over to Substack, because there are things to subscribe to there as well, like below the beltway.
the newest newsletter from courier newsroom done um you can also find it at beltway.news done by cam stevensson from courier newsroom who is our newest correspondent up there on capitol hill and joins us this time on tuesday's going forward cam good morning how you doing hey i'm doing all right pat thanks for thanks for having me on today hey you know and uh you're getting you're getting all settled in you made the the move from arizona over the summer uh there there wasn't any too much of a
hazing ritual by the the capital press corps or anything they've welcomed you with open arms, I hope
I
mean, more
or less, more or less, there's still the, you know, the occasional at the, at the stoplight, they'll, they'll look over rev their engine and then go in reverse.
But other than that, things have
been pretty friendly.
All right, good.
Glad, glad to hear.
So Cam has come to us after years at the Copper Courier in Arizona.
And so he's got a little bit of experience in
law enforcement and racial profiling, the kind of thing that's not supposed to be a thing.
And as I mentioned earlier in the morning, what in my mind is is an earthquake of a decision by the conservative justices on the US Supreme Court.
It should be a big story all across and that I knew we were going to wait till you were here to get to it.
The short version is, in my words, the six justices on the US Supreme Court
in a shadow docket ruling mean they've said nothing about where this ruling came from in terms of being placed in law.
We don't know where they're coming from a legal standpoint, but at least temporarily, they have said when it comes to racial profiling for the purposes of these immigration raids, hey, fine with us.
You know, racial profiling has made some kind of a comeback and Cam, you've had some experience with that in Arizona.
Yeah,
yeah, no, I mean,
it's first the use of the shadow doc is such a cowardly way to go about this, which is where they put out an order, but they don't put their names to it or give any distinction as to what this order actually means as far as our constitution.
So is racial profiling constitutional now?
Have they changed the Fourth Amendment?
We don't know, but we do know that they are allowing
law enforcement to racially profile in Los Angeles right now, which in previous constitutional law, previous Supreme Court rulings have declared this to be against the Fourth Amendment, which is the right to not be unreasonably searched and seized by the police or by law enforcement.
Whereas previously, this was
Seizing someone based on their race based on how they looked was unreasonable and and the current streamport no longer thinks that apparently
No, and the funny thing is we've you've heard the term search and seizure for years and years and years and you just kind of you always focus on the search part of it We're now at the seizing part of it where without necessarily any any cause
or any due process, people are literally being seized off the streets in like a drag net.
And then the burden is on you.
to prove that you're here legally.
It's the paper's pleas kind of authoritarianism that we thought was impossible to bring back in this country.
And yet it's here.
And Arizona, of course, had a notorious sheriff who got his hand slapped legally more than a few times for some of his practices.
Yeah, he was once known as the toughest sheriff in America.
He was one of
Donald Trump's first pardon back in 2017.
Joe
Arpaio pardon, that's right.
Joe Arpaio, he's the one and he was pardoned based on some of the he's being held in contempt for a continuation of these practices where there was a law passed in Arizona back
Almost 20 years ago.
It was called SB 1070 is the show me your papers law where police could stop anyone for any reason and demand to be seen documentation for proof that they were a Documented resident whether an immigrant or a citizen or anything This went through a ton of court battles Where eventually the Supreme Court ruled that this was unconstitutional that people couldn't be stopped
just based on how they looked.
And Arpaio and his Sheriff's Department were found to be racially profiling.
Now, that didn't stop them from doing it for years and years while it was making its way through the courts.
But what it did do is have some very, I would say, unintended consequences for the right.
what these what this law what these show me your papers laws did is the same thing we're seeing now in Los Angeles where it's igniting thousands tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of people into activism where they don't they don't want this they don't like this they don't like being racially profiled they don't like their friends being stopped they don't like you know when they're going out with someone you know just to go get dinner or something for their friend to say hey
Do you think you could drive because you're less likely to get pulled over because you're because you're white?
Because that's the sort of thing that happens.
And so what these blatantly immoral laws, whether or not the Supreme Court deems them to be constitutional, but these immoral laws breed activism.
And in Arizona, we have seen an incredible surge of people drawn away from the right and towards progressive policies.
because they saw their parents getting arrested.
They saw their friends' parents or their teachers going to jail or having to go through the court system, not because they did anything wrong, but just because of the way they looked.
Right.
And that's the point.
And what you're hearing from the Trump administration is, well, if they're here legally, they don't have anything to fear.
And Justice John Roberts quite shamefully had said that, well, this is not a major inconvenience.
because obviously for a white guy like him he won't have to go through being slammed to the ground and having to prove that he's a citizen after being detained for hours if not longer and yet this is the kind of thing that John Roberts and others have been backing up.
We also have our Sunday newsletter with a question of the week and this time around it's about the Epstein files and we ask is Donald Trump protecting himself?
Is he protecting someone else or is he blackmailing someone else?
And Cam, I know we started to talk about this last week with Congress back in session.
The Trump administration is trying to wish away the Epstein files.
But as of today, it's still very much a live topic on Capitol Hill, why the Trump administration isn't releasing more information.
Yeah.
And I think, I mean, first and foremost, I think I don't I don't think it has anything to do with
moral quandary.
I don't think, I don't think Donald Trump feels guilty about anything in general ever.
At least of all this, hiding past transgressions.
I think for him it's more about power and control.
He's someone who enjoys controlling the news cycle, controlling the narrative.
He likes having that power.
That's why he enjoys the highest
position in the world isn't because he likes to be diplomatic or he has an interest in governing but because the world is forced to pay attention to him and this what is happening with Jeffrey Epstein's case and people's frustration with it is it's a narrative about him but he doesn't control it and so I think first and foremost he just wants it gone because it bothers him that he
can't have that control.
I think there is potential for Blackmail.
I think that's why he had, or his Department of Justice had, you know, a thousand FBI agents go through the files that they had gotten on Epstein, both redacting his name and making lists of any other names that are in there.
I think that's useful for Blackmail, that's useful for coercion, and it's useful for
power in controlling the narrative, which again is, you know, his his favorite pastime.
Okay, I'm Stevenson, National Correspondent for Courier Newsroom is talking to us live from Washington DC on this Tuesday morning.
The Rose Garden is no longer a garden.
I wondered now that it's essentially been, you know, bulldozed over and being used for, you know, dinners where the corruption is kind of right out there in the open, as you see Donald Trump trying to enrich himself.
But I wonder, have there been alternative uses?
Have you
been invited yet?
Like, are they doing roller skating around the patio now or anything like that?
I mean, that was almost surreal.
Even by Washington Press Corps standards, watching the Rose Garden turned into just like Mar-a-Lago North and just being used as a patio dining set.
Yeah, well I can tell you what it's not being used for.
It's not being used for free meal programs for low-income families or as temporary housing for the people who Donald Trump has pushed out of the district because they didn't have a place to live.
But it is a very symbolic location now for wealth and for the upper class and as a symbol that the White House is
a purchasable good, being able to gain favor.
If I remember correctly, this renovation, I guess you could call it, or even the ballroom they're building, it's not paid for by tax dollars.
It's something that special interests can donate money to, to essentially gain favor with the president.
it's, you know, it's a rose garden for the people and now it's a walled garden for the
elite.
It really is.
And people go, well, you know, private, private dollars are paying for it.
Yeah, there's some things you don't want private dollars paying for because of the potential for corruption.
You can read more from Cam Stevenson and below the Beltway, the newsletter that you can get at beltway.news or their courier newsroom.com.
Cam, thank you so much.
We'll talk to you next week.
Yeah, looking forward to it.
All right, sounds good.
And coming up in 15 minutes, we're going to be talking to Dan Schaefer from the Recombobulation area, covering Wisconsin state government as well.
I'm Pat Crightlow.
You're Up North.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Welcome back on this Tuesday morning.
It is 822 just about 823.
Now it is 63 degrees in La Crosse 57 in Oshkosh and 61 degrees at Brothers Bar on Water Street.
Yeah, we're back on Water Street again for for a story about the magic man.
Parker, if I say the magic man again, I don't know how much of this is a youth thing.
How many Packer fans still know the magic man magic.
Yeah, Don Mikowski.
Okay, there you go.
And this was a few days back, but I hadn't had a chance to talk about it yet, about how a former Packer quarterback, according to the story from WQOW, was cited for disorderly conduct after an alleged bar disturbance on Water Street in Eau Claire.
Police were called to Brothers Bar around 11pm back on August 29th for an undesirable person.
The caller said a man refused to leave the bar after choking an employee.
Officer spoke with the man, identified as Don Mikowski, outside the bar.
He told police that he was jumped because boyfriends of the girls at the bar were jealous of him because he was a former NFL player.
We need the mow green sound because it goes from the Godfather going, you know who
I
am.
That's exactly what this was.
So a bartender tries to break up the fight and the bartender says Mikowski grabbed his throat.
A picture with the police report shows red marks on the bartender's neck after the incident.
Police cited Mikowski for disorderly conduct.
Police said he was extremely intoxicated and unable to unlock his phone to contact an Uber.
Police drove him to the best Western where he said he was staying.
Police later were called back because Mikowsky wasn't staying at that best Western.
He was staying at a different best Western hotel.
Mikowsky, for those who don't know, played for the Packers from 1987 to 1992.
He got the nickname The Magic Man.
He was in 1989, selected to the Pro Bowl, the first one who'd been to the Pro Bowl since Bart Starr.
Had a lot of potential there for a while, till he didn't.
And Brett Farve came along not that much later.
And now, for whatever reason, Don Mikowski is drinking at a bar on water, a college bar on Water Street in Eau Claire, getting in fights.
Weirdly enough, I actually saw a video of this.
You did?
Because yeah, on Twitter, there was somebody within kind of the community-ish that I guess I'm near who ran into him and like took a picture with him and like had a video of him talking to cops.
Hmm,
I didn't I wasn't sure it was him.
I'm kind of surprised it likely wasn't we asked with you from who it came from on Twitter
Well, and again, you see the report going.
Hey, you know, essentially, do you know who I am and saying and saying that that's that's why the the the boyfriends were jealous Because I'm I'm sure yeah, I can always do vision
the discussion he was having to the girls, and that the girls did not want, you know, creepy old man talking about how I could throw a football over a mountain back in the day, you know?
Uncle Rico was hanging out with the magic man at a bar on Water Street, and this happens.
Was adults like actual parents in bars a thing at all when you were in college?
Because that happens every now and then, and it's a weird sighting.
Adults in bars?
Yeah.
like in college bars.
Oh, like grown, like
older people parents.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, if it's a parent, then that's one thing it's like, Oh, look, you know, mom and dad had to hang around for so and so.
Oh, we just want to see where you hang out.
You know, that's that's one thing.
That's one category.
The other category is yeah, creepy old guy.
And by old guy, I mean like 3335, you know, and and up.
who's probably got a Camaro parked outside and, you know, is still trying to live glory days.
I mean, Bruce Springsteen wrote the song for a reason, you know?
True.
And that's, yeah, when you when you see that.
And even if it's a bar where it's all, you know, all pretty much like, you know, adults or older adults or whatever.
There's always that ick factor when, you know, you get some younger people walk in, some couples or a gang or whatever.
And the women are there and they just want to get a drink with their friends.
And suddenly it's, you know, the modern day equivalent of, Hey, you know, what's your name?
What's your sign?
Where are you from?
It's like, just, just don't order their drinks and go pal.
They're
they're not going to suddenly take a shine to you.
So I've seen one comment on Facebook.
Brett Favre came in to replace the magic man when Mikowski got hurt.
And the rest is history.
So yeah, basically, he was Wally Pip.
And then Brett Favre turned into Lou Gehrig, who came along after that.
So all right.
So, guys, if you're going to a bar,
And look, bars are still a fine place to meet people.
Just be aware that there, there is an age, there's a line below that line, the things that you say, they're kind of cute and charming
and
flirty,
and maybe
even attractive.
And then above that line, you could say the exact same words, but they now come off as ick.
Yeah,
come off as inappropriate.
And you just shouldn't go there.
You know, just, ah,
I'm having weird, ah, weird,
ah.
And, and, and especially if you've got, uh, like any, any kind of celebrity, I mean, I, I can't even imagine.
Hey, you know, I used to be the six and 10 o'clock anchor here in Eau Claire.
Yeah.
And it'd be like.
What they do is they'd say, oh, yeah, I remember I was four years old, you know, when you were on TV.
It's like that'll
stop talking to me in this bar.
I'm trying to drink a beer.
Go away.
Please, please, grandpa, just take your glass of Metamucil and go over there.
Yeah, that's all we would all we would appreciate.
So anyway, back to wrap up our story with Don Mikowski.
I believe the disorderly conduct citation comes with a $213 fine or something like that, which
I'm hoping the NFL paid well enough that he was able to take care of that and maybe find other bars to drink at going forward.
That's the main thing, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, please just just do that for us if you can.
Coming up, we're going to be talking to Dan Schaefer from the Reconbobulation area.
The state budget is a done deal, but there's still plenty of things that the Wisconsin legislature could be working on.
should be working on.
We'll talk to Dan all about that in just a bit from the heart of America's up north, live from the lake.
Thanks for making this the place to spend part of your mornings.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Tomorrow on the program in our homeroom segment, we're going to talk about a new campaign that helps taxpayers understand just how much the private school voucher scheme is taking out of their wallets and out of our hometown schools.
Heather Dubois-Bornan will be along to do that with us.
Let's see, we'll have Amy Berlew from Clean Wisconsin on Wisconsin's data center boom and the environment.
We'll be checking in with our civic media friends and we got lots of them.
We got Melissa K and Wisconsin Rapids.
We got Jim Koska and Bosquebell, James Kelly and Chippewa Falls and Earl Ingram from Milwaukee will tell us what's happening with the What's Going On with Earl Ingram podcast.
All of that tomorrow here on the program.
But today, we have Dan Schaefer, Civic Media Political Editor from the Reconpopulation Area down there in beautiful Milwaukee, where the
Milwaukee County executive in the Wea Smalls made it official that he is now a candidate for governor.
Dan Schaefer, good
morning.
How are you?
Good morning, Mr. Creightlow.
I am doing well and it is always wonderful to join you here on Mornings with Pat Creightlow.
We appreciate it so very much.
And so you will obviously have more familiarity with David Crawley than we will up here in the Chippewa Valley, though Crawley was here about two weeks ago visiting an affordable housing program that
up here and talking a bit about what he's done for affordable housing.
And he said, you know, that a decision was coming in the next few weeks.
So clearly we are now in the next few weeks where David Crowley becomes the second Democrat running for governor along with Lieutenant Governor, Sara Rodriguez.
So Dan is as the person from that corner of the state.
How would you give us your 30,000 foot view of the county executive, David Crowley?
Yeah, I you know David Crowley is somebody I have a pretty a very positive opinion of from being here in southeastern Wisconsin being in Milwaukee He's I actually in the very early days of the recombobulation area I endorsed David Crowley in the race for Milwaukee County executive after doing a series of interviews with all of the candidates and Crawley really, you know ran as a bridge builder trying to bring Milwaukee County together trying to solve some of its big problems and
And I think in the last five years that he's been at the helm in Milwaukee County, he's done a terrific job.
But I think as far as being a statewide candidate, I think...
someone from Milwaukee always is going to have some sort of baggage about being from Milwaukee when it's running a statewide race.
Candidates from around here, you know, can can be painted with a certain brush.
And I do wonder if his name recognition outside of the southeastern Wisconsin Market, where I think he is well known and well, well liked, is going to be the same as some other candidates who might have a little bit more of a statewide presence.
So but I think, you know, he's somebody that I
wrote a piece about the potential candidates who might be running for governor at the Reconbibulation Area last month, my too early look at the race for governor.
And I talked about David Crowley a little bit.
And I think, you know, of anyone on the Democratic side who is running for the race, anybody who's running for governor really, I think David Crowley has the highest upside of anybody potentially running in this race.
I think he has a potentially very dynamic and interesting candidate.
And I'm excited to see what his
his message is going to be and how voters respond to him once he really hits the campaign trail.
Yeah.
Now, Crowley, who's 39 years old, is vying to become the state's first black governor.
Rodriguez would be the first woman elected to the post.
And they would both tell you that is neither one of those.
That's not why they're running.
Crowley says he wants to be a governor for everybody.
He wants to focus on lowering costs for families, affordable health care and housing, fully funding public schools.
The Associated Press write up notes that Crowley grew up in the 5-3-2-0-6.
The zip code that a 2013 UWM study found was the most incarcerated zip code in the country with the majority of men who live there having spent time behind bars.
The area is known for high rates of poverty, a high concentration of vacant lots, and poor health care.
And Crowley does not shy away from that in his launch video, which we may listen to in a little while here, but he leans into it, talks about his family once being home.
homeless and then becoming a community organizer.
And we have seen a growing share of folks, Dan, from the 53206, who are saying, I don't want to be tagged as just that.
There is so much more that our community can do, but somebody's got to be fighting for them, you know, out beyond the boundaries of their zip code.
Yeah, this is, you know, a part of Milwaukee.
Milwaukee, obviously, as we know, is one of the most segregated cities, major cities in the country, has some
parts of the city that battle really extreme poverty, experience a lot of gun violence, and this 5306 neighborhood has been really kind of the...
heart of where a lot of these problems lie in the city.
And I think David Crowley has talked about growing up in this neighborhood.
Mandela Barnes has talked about growing up in this neighborhood.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has talked about growing up in this neighborhood.
And I think it is shaping a generation of new leaders in the city who have grown up in this type of environment and want
to make a difference.
And I think David Crowley is not shying away from that.
I think he's got a pretty interesting personal story, you know, getting involved with some nonprofit organizations in Milwaukee after growing up, you know, in kind of a difficult situation.
I believe he was his family was evicted from their home a number of different times living in the city.
But he found he found his calling in public service and has, you know, really been a rising star in Milwaukee politics for the last
decade or so he was a state assembly representative for a number of terms and then ran for county executive in 2020 and what a time to begin that job too but but at the same time I think you know I think he
stand out in a field of potentially large field of Democratic candidates that we might be seeing here as somebody with executive experience.
And I think that is something he's going to lean into as well.
You know, some of the other folks who, you know, might have
you know, might be in the legislature or whatever it might be.
The fact that he's run the most populous county in the state for the past five years, I think is something that is going to afford them opportunity to stand out.
And again, like you mentioned, he's 39.
He's a young guy.
He's an energetic guy.
He's very personable as well.
And, you know, I did an event with Crowley a couple of years ago in Milwaukee, where it was like a live podcast interview that we did at Anadine Coffee at Walker's Point.
And before he came on stage to talk with me at that event, he's
stopped at every single table and introduced himself and was cracking jokes.
And I think he's a pretty dynamic retail politician too.
And it's going to be interesting to see how people respond to him when he's getting around the state for this campaign.
We are talking to Dan Schaefer, the political editor for Civic Media and founder of the Reconpopulation Area.
You can subscribe to that over at thereconpopulationarea.news.
Crawley at 39 would be one of the younger candidates in the race.
You've got Sara Rodriguez, who is 50.
Potential candidates, Senator Keldor-Royce is 46.
Former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes is 38.
Attorney General Josh Call is 44.
You've got Washington County Executive Josh Schoeman on the Republican side who is
43 and then you've got suburban Milwaukee businessman Bill Barry and who is 56 all of that by comparison to Tony Evers who is 73 and You of course Dan are quite familiar with the whole notion of Democrats and passing the torch and so whether it's one of these younger Democrats or one of the younger Republicans, you know We are seeing a bit of a generational shift at the tops of tickets in politics these days
Yeah, and I think it's a welcome shift in a lot of ways, and an overdue one in a lot of ways.
You know, I think there were statistics, particularly about the U.S.
Senate, showing that it is as old as...
It has ever been.
I believe the statistic that I dug up when I was writing that piece this year, there are more.
There are more senators over the age of 80 than there are under the age of 50 in our politics.
And I think that needs to change.
I think part of the problem with having older politicians is you failure to connect with what
younger generations are looking for in their politics.
And I think we're seeing this divide between millennial and Gen Z politics and some of the boomer politics of the past.
And I think we need to, I think one of the real fault lines in our politics is this generational divide that I think some older politicians have not spoken to.
So I think for younger people, for younger families, I think having younger candidates that can understand the issues that people are facing.
is really a benefit and I'm really interested to see how that plays out.
Well, there's nothing beneficial about the flash flooding that hit Milwaukee.
It is from a timing standpoint, it works well for Crowley in this way.
He has been able to highlight what the county has done in the wake of the flash flooding damage.
The ball is now in the court of FEMA and Donald Trump and the whims of Donald Trump in terms of declarations and things like that.
Crowley targeted Donald Trump in his launch video, as did Sarah Rodriguez, who called Trump a maniac in her launch video.
And so Dan, in the race for governor, which is going to be seen as a midterm referendum on the Trump presidency so far, is it smart politics that any Democratic candidate is also throwing some punches Donald Trump's way?
Definitely.
Yeah, I think it is.
You know, clearly everything that's happening in American politics right now is going to be viewed through the prism of what's happening with the Trump administration.
And as the one big beautiful bill starts rolling downhill, I think we're going to see some really damaging impacts of that.
You know, we saw some polling on the bill earlier this week, and it was way underwater.
Trump's approval rating is very low, you know, and we've seen time and time again that when he is not on the ballot, that does not drive.
turnout for Republican voters.
And so I do think, you know, Wisconsin being the swing state that it is, it's going to have all eyes on us for any kind of statewide race.
You know, obviously, this is a little bit different than it might be for like a U.S.
Senate race that might have the obvious more national implications, but it's still Wisconsin.
And it's still, you know, we saw how much attention was paid to us for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
Obviously, it's going to be a similar type of dynamic for the midterms as well.
as we look ahead to the governor's race.
And so everything is in the shadow of Trump as much as we might not like that so much.
No, but it is.
And it's been that way with every presidency.
And there's certainly, there's a lot to talk about with this presidency that any candidate on any ballot for any race is going to be asked their thoughts.
And whether they essentially stand with Trump or do they, you know,
vow to fight for their constituents rather than the whims of the president.
So there's really not that.
much downside to mentioning the president and especially one that is this far underwater, basically.
We're talking to Dan Schaefer from the Rican population area here and just a couple minutes before we take a break, which is probably all the time we should probably leave for it, but there is drama in the Assembly, Democratic caucus.
One of the members is no longer a member of the caucus.
and that's fine with many of the other members of the assembly democratic caucus and i can say from having been in the senate democratic caucus or anybody in any of these legislative caucuses you don't always all work and play well together especially if there is shall we say a character amongst you
Yeah, there's been a lot of issues surrounding Milwaukee area State Representative Sylvia Ortiz-Velez who had her access to the Capitol restricted after some Sounds like some threats that she made to fellow Democratic legislators.
She has since left the Democratic caucus giving them one fewer Democrat in the ranks there Fortunately, the the margins are not so tight as they this does not no longer give Republicans a super majority of the way
may have under previous gerrymandered maps.
But yeah, I believe there's going to be more information on this coming soon.
It's a pretty wild story.
And the fact that she has left the Democratic caucus over this, not leaving, she's still a Democrat.
She's actually endorsed Sara Rodriguez in the race for governor.
But the fact that she's leaving the Democratic caucus among these growing tensions with some other fellow Democrats there, it's
it's a pretty wild story.
Yeah and look you can say that you are prone to engaging in hyperbole and that's fine but when you mix that with you know making references to weaponry
that can be a real problem.
And that is one that, again, is dealt with in plenty of other workplaces as well.
And you try to take those kinds of threats seriously, and that they're just some things you don't joke about.
We're talking to Dan Schaefer from the Reconpopulation Area.
I'm Pat Crichtlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio 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.
Got some Brewers baseball for you tonight.
Coverage begins at 630 as Brewers take on the Texas Rangers in game two of their three game series.
The Brewers were blank yesterday for only at the 11th time this season, five to nothing.
Jose Quintana was perfect through the first four innings, then not so much.
However, the Cubs also lost, so the Brewers
could clinch a spot in the playoffs today.
Their magic number is two to get into the postseason.
Their magic number is 11 to clinch the National League Central Division and the magic number is 12 to have the best record and the number one seed.
So
You might want to keep on listening to the Brewers taking on the Rangers.
Again, 6.30 this evening is when the pregame gets started.
We're talking to Dan Schaefer now from the Recombobulation Area and Civic Media political editor.
And we spent the first segment talking a bit about David Crawley making the announcement that he would be running for Wisconsin governor, but there are other
topics out there as well other candidacies including uh secretary of state because sarah god lusky is running for lieutenant governor uh right so where where does where are these pieces starting to fall together or are we still way too early in the process
It's early in the process, but we're seeing how some of this is going to, uh, the domino effect of some of these candidacies.
So because Sarah Rodriguez, uh, our current lieutenant governor is running for governor that, that will leave that lieutenant governor spot open.
So secretary of state, Sarah Godlowski.
going from secretary of state to running for lieutenant governor.
And now we have a couple folks running for secretary of state as well.
One announced yesterday, Colin McNamara, who's from central Wisconsin, Stevens Point area.
He launched his campaign.
He says he's been an active member of the Portage and Wapaka County Democratic parties.
He ran for state senate unsuccessfully against a Republican incumbent in the last cycle.
And then we also have
Milwaukee elder person, Joe Castez Amaripa, who launched her campaign last week for Secretary of State.
She's currently Milwaukee, on Milwaukee Common Council, and she was, she served in the Wisconsin State Legislature for several terms in the 2010s as well.
So, you know, we're getting a couple candidates making the run for statewide office.
Maybe we'll have a primary.
Who knows?
It's very, very early, but interesting to see some of these candidates
and it's getting into the mix here.
I think that all Democratic voters need to get used to the idea of showing up next August for their primary, not just for Governor, Secretary of State, perhaps for a Lieutenant Governor, maybe Attorney General, but also for some legislative races.
For example, in Southwest Wisconsin in the 17th State Senate District, which is currently represented by Republican Howard Markline, who's co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, there's already one Democratic candidate and that would be State Representative Jaina Jacobson.
but I know that child care provider Kareen Hendrickson from Nuglaris, who has now had to shut down her child care center, a longtime advocate for child care support in the state budget.
Had been considering a run for state Senate also in that 17th district and Dan you and I saw notes that a campaign committee Registration had been filed now that does not necessarily mean that you're about to announce a campaign But you know you're starting to get your paperwork in order and I can say that Kareen Hendrickson will be with us one week from tomorrow To make some kind of an announcement and does have an event plan so the upshot of all
is that Democratic voters probably need to get used to the notion that there will be multiple primaries come August that they need to weigh in on.
Yeah, primaries are not a bad thing.
I think that Democrats have avoided primaries in certain respects to their detriment.
And I think we have to get back to a place where people having these conversations are able to be critical.
And I think there is kind of this iron sharpens iron quality that can come from having these competitive primaries to get you ready for the general election stretch run when you're going to hit with with, you know, all kinds of, you know,
super PAC ads and crazy attacks and whatever it might be.
But I'm very interested to see what Corrine Hendrickson is going to do next.
And she is somebody who's been a guest columnist at times at the Reconvibulation area.
I'm certainly familiar with her work advocating for childcare.
She was really the face of childcare advocacy in Wisconsin for the past few years.
And, you know, I'm really very interested to see what she's going to do next.
And I imagine that, you know,
There may be more high-profile candidates.
There may be candidates who have better paths to victory.
No one is going to outwork Corrine Hendrickson in a campaign like this.
She is a dedicated person, that's for sure.
Yeah, some of us were, you know, we first saw her in testimony before Congress on the issue of childcare.
And I think a lot of people were very happy to see her take on that role as being a, you know, a leading spokesperson on the issue.
But as she has told us on this program, that connects to every other issue out there.
And she has certainly talked about those connections.
And so when she is with us one week from tomorrow, it may be quite possible that she gives all the specifics on what it is that she wants to get into next.
We've got about two minutes left here, so that's just enough time to talk about.
We talked about the drama in the Assembly Democratic Caucus, but the Assembly itself is meeting.
The fall session is getting underway in earnest.
So again, some non-budget bills are going to be considered.
Are you following anything in particular?
Yeah, there's a few things working through the assembly right now.
The Senate doesn't seem to have anything on its calendar.
I don't know if they're going to be doing anything between now and the end of the month, which would be a real problem for those homeless veterans facilities that need funding to stay open before the end of the month.
So hopefully the Senate gets back in gear and schedules some things too.
But the Assembly has a number of committee meetings this week and also a floor session on Thursday as well.
I believe they are taking up at least.
three bills that I've already passed through the Senate.
So some stuff might actually be getting over the finish line in the Wisconsin State Legislature and, you know, not in the budget cycle here.
So we'll see what exactly that is going to come from that.
You know, and then I think we'll be voting on a number of bills and we'll see if both chambers of the of the Wisconsin State Legislature can can get some things down here in the fall.
Dan Schaefer from the Recombobulation Area sign up at the Recombobulation Area dot news.
Dan, thanks.
much.
Have a great day.
Thanks, Pat.
Be well.
You bet.
Coming up on the Maggie Dawn show at 5 30 this evening, we will hear from Stacy Abrams, former candidate in Georgia, being part of cap times idea fest and the work to defend DEI against ongoing attacks.
Again, that's coming up at 5 30.
I'm Pat Crite low.
Thanks for being a part of things here on our mornings powered by up north news.
You hope you have a great Tuesday.
We'll see a six a.m.
tomorrow morning right back here up north.
The national news cycle never stops, but it can be hard to find news about your local community.
Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.
With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.
Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.