A Quietly Painful Shutdown, For Now (Hour 3)

Transcript

A Quietly Painful Shutdown, For Now (Hour 3)

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow · Tue Oct 14, 2025

Civic Media Voice

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Don Rue

You're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by Up North News.

Now, for my Lake Mesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglow.

Pat Craiglow

Thank you, Don Rue.

Good morning.

It is 8.06.

Nice to have you back here up north on a Tuesday morning.

It is October 14th.

Cam Stevenson from Courier Newsroom is standing by and then at the bottom of the hour, we will be talking to Dan Schaefer, Civic Media's political editor and founder of the recombobulation area, Parker Olson is producing things down in Madison Studio A2, where he continues to believe.

He's a believer.

He's got the Brewer's t-shirt on.

A different t-shirt.

Don't get me wrong, he does wash his clothes now and then, but he is he is he is adorned for game two.

Tonight against the Dodgers.

Parker Olson

You have to bet if you're not wearing Brewer's clothes.

Mr. Crite.

Well, why are you wing of my home?

You are just not as committed as you need to be.

Pat Craiglow

Or it could be that maybe because I was wearing it yesterday, I jinxed the team.

And that's why I just put on civilian clothes today.

You know,

Parker Olson

I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little stitious.

A little stitious.

Pat Craiglow

I have been

Parker Olson

thinking about what I've been wearing and the result of these games a lot.

Yeah.

Pat Craiglow

That that is the difference between your youthful enthusiasm and being a cranky old man.

So Stay on that side of the line

Civic Media Voice

for as

Pat Craiglow

long as you possibly can game to pregame coverage begins tonight at 6 30 on several stations across the civic media radio network I want to get one comment in on the text line from Jim in Appleton for our discussion earlier about wheel taxes These are the locally assessed vehicle fees

and he writes, Jim writes from Appleton, wheel taxes are a far better solution to street construction than special assessment ever was.

I am of an age where I paid both 20,000 for a special assessment in the 90s versus $40 a year for a wheel tax.

If I were the only one that used the street in front of my house, 20,000 would have been okay.

But of course, it's not.

That is a very

good point, Jim.

And I appreciate you making that because, again, for all the years that I was a local reporter.

covering those special assessments for those street projects and the sidewalks and people that didn't want curb and gutter because of the special assessment.

It is a kinder gentler way of doing 40 bucks a year rather than a $20,000 special assessment.

Again, there's people that would take issue with that saying that, you know, again, why do we need another tax when we could just be doing.

things in a different way.

But it's a fair debate to have and I'm really glad that Jim put that wrinkle into it.

So thank you very much for that.

You can always send in your thoughts as well.

Head over to the Civic Media app and just use that text button to send us a message or give your comments on Facebook or YouTube, the Up North News, Facebook and YouTube pages and the Civic Media.

YouTube and Facebook pages joining us now is cam stevensson from courier newsroom live from washington dc Still in the short-term place the one with the Really mint green walls that you've got behind you there.

I mean I I get a hankering for thin mints every time that we were or mint chocolate chip ice cream But this is this is what you got till you.

Cam Stevenson

Yeah.

Yeah, every every wall in the house.

I'm This

Pat Craiglow

every wall in the house is that green?

Cam Stevenson

I used to be a fan of the color, but it is it's wearing thin.

Let me tell you, I can't wait to get some walls of our own so we can paint them literally.

Yeah.

color about

Pat Craiglow

this?

It does make for interesting choices for wall decorating.

You made the right choice.

Nothing on the wall right now.

As long as that's going on.

All right, well, let's get into the let's get into the shutdown here.

And look, you'd look at something like the The New York Times, and you'd almost wouldn't know that there was a shutdown.

Because I get it, the two parties are not really talking to each other right now.

But the shutdown is a very real thing.

It's very much having an impact on Americans and a growing number of them as you have fewer federal paychecks that are going out and everything like that.

And it just feels, Cam, like, I don't know if there's enough of an appreciation yet inside Washington, D.C.

that, you know, this is having real impact outside of the nation's capital.

Cam Stevenson

Yeah.

It's... I think it's a result of us...

and maybe a lot more traditional media, treating politics like sports, where it's, you know, they said this, they said this, we're waiting for the next, you know, controversy between the two parties, when really this is a good time for outlets and reporters to be digging into what's really going on.

Well, just like you said, to what is actually happening on the street, you know, what's happening with people's jobs and daily lives, who

are federal workers or who rely on federal programs, or even the fact that Republicans, for the first time in shutdown history, aren't here to negotiate anything.

Normally, they're here in their role.

Their primary role in Congress is to pass a budget, to compromise and to negotiate and debate what that looks like.

But they're not trying that at all.

They've gone home.

They're just trying to kind of ride it out, which is unusual.

Pat Craiglow

Right, because again, in the meantime, you have families going without paychecks, we've talked about the food banks that are already starting to open up.

And frankly, just even beyond, you know, the the layoffs and the furloughs, you also have a historic wave of retirements, people who will not be coming back by their own choice.

And those are not going to be easy positions to fill.

So

Again, maybe this is just me, but I feel like we've reached a tipping point in the era of government service.

I mean, I don't think you're going to see a quote unquote full recovery from this thing when it's all done.

Cam Stevenson

Yeah.

And the thing that's hard to measure until you see the damage is programs that work really efficiently and effectively.

You know, the

Sometimes the best people at their jobs are the ones who you don't even know are there and Right now what we're seeing is just the the Halloween out of our government infrastructure with Jobs of people who do that they they go in every day and they make our lives easier But because they're so good at it.

We don't realize what what they do And we're gonna start seeing that I mean

The CDC has been going back and forth one day.

RFK Junior fires 1,000 people the next day.

The administration is scrambling to hire back hundreds of experts because they're needed.

We have members of the military, like you mentioned, going to food banks.

We have here in DC, there are...

you know, tons of restaurants that are offering free meals and reduce prices to federal workers because, you know, this week they're not getting paid.

Even the ones who are going to work are not getting any money.

Pat Craiglow

No, they're not.

And it does not seem like you have an administration that is anything other than gleeful.

about this, because again, the more pain they inflict, the more they can say that it's actually Democrats who are doing this rather than the people who want to make all the slashing of healthcare and exacerbating this.

Because again, I can't emphasize the math enough, Republicans have the majority in the Senate and the House, and they hold the White House, and it's their inability to agree amongst themselves

that has led to this.

They are actually the governing party.

It's just that they choose not to.

Cam Stevenson

Yeah.

And really, you know, when you only need five, you know, in the Senate, you only need a couple of votes.

How hard would it be to actually meet with senators individually, you know, Democrats and try and win them over, try and give them, you know, something for their state or something for their constituents that would cause them to compromise

Civic Media Voice

or

Cam Stevenson

even, you know, they could do something that I guess is unheard of for congressional.

Republicans and give the Democrats one of the three things that they're asking for, which is to keep our health care laws, to restore funding for public broadcast, and to provide security for public officials, which is another sticking point there, Republicans, for whatever reason, don't want to.

bent

Pat Craiglow

on.

For whatever reason, yeah, that puts it one way.

Michael in Pleasant Prairie on the text line says he answers his own question.

What's going on in terms of the shutdown?

It's affordable health care versus the Epstein files.

And I mean, again, we have a lot of work going on to provide a distraction from something that could be very embarrassing to the Trump administration.

They're really just looking to engage in

quite literal propaganda which takes us to Christie Gnome and the new video that you would see at airports before it was a very informative video about what you can and can't take through TSA checkpoints.

Then the Trump administration took over and it was more of a Christie Gnome look at me I'm telling you how wonderful the Trump administration is at this airport.

Now there's a new version where she specifically to camera

blames Democrats, in other words, engages in partisan politics on an official government video.

And, you know, it's very big brother ask, you know, here's a cabinet official talking you on these monitors where you're a captive audience waiting at a security checkpoint.

And it's a very interesting development cam that a growing number of these airports are saying, Hey, you know what, there's no law that requires us to play this video.

So we ain't gonna

Yeah,

Cam Stevenson

yeah, I we're talking earlier both of us were traveling this past week You know as the shut ends been going on and when I left Baltimore last week there there was Christie gnome Although it's kind of funny because this is a very ineffective big brother system

Anyone who's been to the airport knows that these videos play, but they're they're on mute You know so unless you're sitting there Reading the captions as it's going you have no idea what these videos are even saying

Pat Craiglow

well right because Initially pre-trump.

They were very graphic heavy just showing you yeah that you could or couldn't take through security and Like I said the first Cristinoma was just her talking to camera and like I said I don't think she realized that they're on mute that most of these airports So you're right.

It's it's not the most effective propaganda is

No,

Cam Stevenson

no, that's what you get when it's a bunch of people who enjoy being on TV above all else.

But we are seeing, like you mentioned, more and more airports are refusing to even air it.

By the time I got back home, when I stopped in Phoenix and Atlanta, I didn't see it.

And it just seems like people and organizations and institutions are finding their own way to say,

We

Civic Media Voice

don't

Cam Stevenson

have to politicize everything in life.

People just want to get to the airport and get to where they want to go.

They don't need to see the Department of Homeland Security Director.

Pat Craiglow

Right, exactly.

Let's see, State Senator Chris Alpham in Appleton says, even Speaker Robin Voss came to the table when a compromise was needed to pass a budget, when they needed Democratic votes.

He wasn't happy, but he brought Senate Dems to the negotiation when the Republican Senate wouldn't.

And again, that's that's the sign of being a grownup.

And so for people that say like, well, you know, you need 60 votes for for something in the Senate, so it's the Democrats fault.

Well, it's not the Democrats fault if you won't negotiate with them.

If you need their votes, it's really that simple.

So in the meantime,

You have a protest planned nationwide for Saturday, the so-called no-kings protests.

And they're going to be all over Wisconsin, all over every place.

And it really says something when you have cabinet officials like Sean Duffy and others who are trying to get ahead of this and say that it's all paid agitators and it's all Antifa.

And it just makes Sean Duffy and the others look absolutely ridiculous that you feel that you need to pre-but a demonstration against you.

It does.

It

Cam Stevenson

does for anyone who is able to see the whole picture.

What I'm worried about is that they say these things, they're these sound bites, and then this far-right media propaganda network is able to take those, splice it with footage of violent protests and say,

you know, this is what you're going to see in your city and cause unnecessary agitation or just cause people to believe something that isn't real, like what we're seeing with Portland and Chicago.

Pat Craiglow

Absolutely.

And although, again, they're going to do it anyway.

And so if people, you know,

people want to protest about what they think is happening in DC, then they should.

And hopefully without this administration trying to goad anybody into violence or intimidation.

Catch all this from the below the beltway newsletter that cam puts together head over to courier newsroom.com or below the beltway.

news for more cam.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Go enjoy some thin mendoorios for

Cam Stevenson

me.

Don't mind if I do.

Pat Craiglow

Thanks, cam.

We'll talk to you a little bit later.

Dan Schaefer from the recombobulation area in 15 minutes.

I'm

Matt Kratlow, this is the

Civic Media Voice

Civic Media Radio Network.

Pat Craiglow

Dan Schaefer from the Reconpopulation Area coming up in less than 15 minutes now here on this Tuesday morning live from Chippewa Falls all across the Civic Media Radio Network where we've mentioned a few times already there will be this baseball game being played tonight Brewers Dodgers game two of the National League Championship Series pregame starts at 6 30.

All kinds of other sports happening as well.

You've certainly got the Badger football team playing Ohio State this weekend.

That should be interesting or

Parker, let's let's let's do the glass half full thing glass half full of empty dreams.

It could be the greatest Badger football victory ever.

Yep.

I am not telling you to go bet money on that by any way in any way shape or form.

I'm saying it would be the Badger football team, arguably their greatest victory ever if they were to beat Ohio State.

Are they still the number one ranked team in the country?

I don't

Parker Olson

think they are, but I don't know who is maybe

Pat Craiglow

they

Parker Olson

are.

Pat Craiglow

Okay.

So that that would be something.

So why would you tune in for for that that potential?

Anyway, Badgers, Ohio State,

Parker Olson

they are number one.

Pat Craiglow

I like, okay, going against the number one team in the country.

So again, for for the for the potential for a massive history making win that you're going to want to tell people you heard on the radio live as it happened.

tune in this Saturday starting at 2 30 on several stations across the civic media radio network and You've got the Packers.

We're moving, you know past the win over the Bengals, which was great But again, we're really trying to build some momentum on offense We want to see him start to run up the score against some of these opponents.

So why not the Arizona Cardinals, right?

And so pregame coverage will begin Sunday at 1pm on stations across the civic media radio network.

And again, another 325 kickoff, which I don't I don't know how how those sit with you, compared to say a noon kickoff.

I mean, obviously, we know the prime time games, you get the national audience.

But I mean, everybody's a wreck the next morning, staying up too late.

The the 325 is actually not a bad kickoff because you can get

more done before the game whereas if you've got a noon kickoff and then the game's done and then you just don't really feel like doing anything or maybe you had a couple of barley pops during the game and you're not really at your

Soberest, you know, the

Civic Media Voice

rest of the day

Pat Craiglow

is shot.

Whereas a Sunday at 325, I used to really not like those.

Actually, I liked them better when they were at three o'clock, back when football games didn't last nearly four hours.

They moved them to 325 at least.

Parker Olson

I don't like the three o'clock or the 330, whatever it is.

I

Pat Craiglow

prefer

Parker Olson

the noon games.

I feel like I'm just waiting around all day.

Even if I am doing stuff, I just feel like I'm waiting around all day.

If it's a three 30 Sunday night, for whatever reason I have less of an issue with though.

Pat Craiglow

Well, yeah.

And again, if you didn't have that whole, you know, having to get up really early in the morning, uh, like we do, but we do.

And so we've got the three 25 games.

So that'll be a little kinder to us, although there will be, uh, hopefully a baseball game bar, barring a sweep and that ain't going to happen.

So we'll have, we'll have competing sports events come Sunday.

No, no, no, no.

I take that back.

Sunday is going to be a travel day for this series.

Yes,

Parker Olson

because

Pat Craiglow

it's back at American Family Field for games six and seven, if necessary, next Monday and Tuesday.

So no, we won't have that.

All right, I'll get off of that little sports soapbox there to tell you that the Up North News Daily newsletter is out.

Ellie Bordo puts that together, sign up for it over at UpNorthNewsWI.com.

And we mentioned earlier, there is a Texas based survey firm that

asked thousands of people, where would they most like to own a cabin?

And there were three different Wisconsin destinations that made the list up in the Northwoods in Door County, in Wisconsin Dells.

And so you can get that article there.

And then there's a story as well about the

proposed data center in the Port Washington area, and what people are saying about that.

And then finally, there's a feature story, a timeline of the history behind the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant in central Wisconsin.

So for all of that, to get newsletter, head over to UpNorthNewsWI.com and click subscribe in the top banner.

And this is from David Newberg.

I know what you just read.

Happy that he's tuned in.

Nobody knows more about day drinking than Todd Alba.

By the way, we want to say most of that is a bit.

Okay.

Most of that.

Hey, look, what did we establish earlier today?

We said that that Drake cannot sue Kendrick Lamar for things that were said in a song because apparently that's just

Kendrick Lamar's opinion about Drake.

So having established a title ball cannot sue me now based on that for saying it's mostly a bit about the day drinking.

That that's what people, the fact that listeners are already putting that in the text line tells me the bit is working, which I really appreciate because

Don Rue

you

Pat Craiglow

haven't had something like that since the days of, you know, Dean Martin,

Don Rue

you

Pat Craiglow

know, and the rat pack.

Is this a new bit?

I don't think I've heard this one.

What just that then

Don Rue

he's a date

Pat Craiglow

drinker drinking?

Parker how many times on his cut ins with us on Thursday mornings as he made some kind of a joke off air or is held up a bottle of bourbon or Pretended to pour it into his coffee.

That's true.

Yeah

Parker Olson

shower and Jack Daniels.

Yeah.

Pat Craiglow

Yes.

Yes, and I for one I'm here for it Everybody's got to have their their vices that they

emphasize.

And for Todd, that's great.

And now how, how that plays into a noon game versus a 325, you know, we'll ask him on Thursday.

Parker Olson

You might be a little less rowdy during the game, or maybe ask the starter earlier.

Pat Craiglow

What what what do they always say, you know, you can't drink all day if you don't start first thing in the morning?

It's true.

That's exactly how this is supposed to work Where was I I was talking about the newsletters and by the way We have a question of the week in our Sunday morning newsletter and what are your thoughts on mining for Zinc and copper and gold in the north woods and whether you believe that that can be done safely and responsibly or if things are

just a little too precious with Wisconsin's natural resources to do things like, you know, contaminate the groundwater and, you know, some of the wetlands and things like that.

That's my biased way of asking the question, but I want your answers.

And again, sign up for the newsletter up north news wi.com.

Dan Schaefer, who does not engage in any of this day drinking banter whatsoever, is going to join us from the recombobulation area next.

You're up north.

Welcome back on this Tuesday morning.

Dan Schaeffer about to join us from the Reconbobulation Area Civic Media's political editor and we will talk about the Wisconsin legislature finally deciding to do some business and be back in session.

Take up some bills, a couple that we've referenced before.

and uh one that we've not because we frankly don't know if it's gonna pass or not but dan Schaefer's here to talk to us more about that uh dan we're getting a note uh from one of our listeners alisha on youtube that it looks like once again democrats are going to try to attach an amendment to one of the bills today that would fund a facility for homeless veterans and ship will falls and i bring that up first because you've got much like the shutdown

The Republican strategy appears to be a cause the shutdown be blame Democrats Similarly for the homeless veterans.

It's a take all the governor's requested funding out of the state budget and be blame Democrats And I feel like in both cases They know that they got their hand caught in the cookie jar or whatever analogy that they want to make and now they're looking for like the right way to kind of

They don't want to say cave in, but, you know, somehow work together to solve the problem.

And maybe today is the day they do it.

SPEAKER_03

Maybe it is.

Thanks to Alicia for sharing that latest with us here.

Yeah, you know, I think it's been such an example of how frustrating state government can be in Wisconsin when you have, you know, Republicans playing this constant game of heads I win, tails you lose with every issue.

You know, you talk about it with the shutdown.

This is definitely another example of that.

So, yeah, the Republicans caused this problem by taking the funding for these veterans homes out of the budget.

And so how often do we hear from Republicans, oh, we don't want money going to immigrants, or we don't want money going to this, that, and the other thing, people who don't deserve it, we need to take care of our veterans.

Well, here's an example of how Republicans don't do that either.

They just don't want to take care.

They don't take care of what's needed there either.

And it seems like this is of all of the

things that state government funds, a place for homeless veterans to get back on their feet, seems like something we should fund with a very small percentage of our state budget.

So hopefully these amendments will move forward and will get through the constant nonsense games of heads I win, tails you lose from the Republicans and can actually pass something meaningful.

Pat Craiglow

Well, I would hope so, but it would be helped if there were a couple of Republicans who would essentially speak out because Lord knows Democrats have never had a problem with one or two members calling out their own party leaders when when they think it is warranted.

And I can think, for example, of Senator Andre Jacques, who was the one Republican who voted for an earlier Democratic amendment to restore this funding for homeless veterans.

But I could just as easily pick on

Former state senator Dave zine the the person that I defeated back in 2006 he continues to be a tireless advocate for veterans Still a rock-ribbed Republican through and through but it would it would sure be a breath of fresh air if Instead of just saying we need to put this funding back in if you'd say my party screwed up and they need to fix this we whether it's that

particular issue or things at the federal, you know, shutdown level, a few more profiles encouraged would be real nice these days.

SPEAKER_03

Sure would.

But, you know, it doesn't seem to be the era that we are in exactly for the Trump Republican Party.

Pat Craiglow

Mitt Romney.

Oh, sorry.

I just, you know, somewhere along the line, we would get that.

Okay, so we may see that vote today on an amendment to the homeless veterans funding.

We've talked about some of the other bills that are gonna come up and so I want to get your take on these as well one is the the ongoing Republican war on quote-unquote regulations and that we're such a heavily regulated state and there's too many regulations and we need some regulations to expire or we need to pay people if they successfully get some regulations overturned and

And I will simply restate my position, take out regulation, put in the word protections.

Protection for the environment, for consumers, for employees.

And you've got a totally different debate here.

They know Governor Evers.

They know what he vetoes.

Why do they keep going through this exercise, Dan?

SPEAKER_03

It's just a show, Bill.

It's just a show to try to say that we cut regulations.

And obviously it's going nowhere.

Tony Evers is going to veto this.

It sure seems like because it just seems like a nonsense way to govern.

Like you can't just what is it every seven years having to having to revisit these regulations?

Is that what it is, Pat?

Pat Craiglow

Yeah, seven seven years and a regulation would simply go away, which state representative Jody Emerson said 24 hours ago on the show.

Imagine if that seventh year happens during an election year.

When

Civic Media Voice

the

Pat Craiglow

legislature is hardly meeting and there's even even more pressure, why would we politicize consumer protections, environmental protections, employee protections in that way?

SPEAKER_03

And it's even just even take the ideology aside of it.

You know, the Republicans want to cut regulations or like you say, cut protections.

I think that is a better way of framing it.

And it's just creating, I mean, our

State government is not exactly that active, not exactly a proactive legislative body to begin with.

So creating these problems that they would have to revisit each of these different things, you know, the assembly turns over pretty frequently, we get a lot of new state senators, you're going to have people revisiting this who might not know exactly what was passed initially.

It just seems like a design to create more gridlock, more bureaucracy.

And that's always, you know, what they talk about with these

regulations that we need to cut bureaucracy, but by doing this, they're having the opposite effect.

And is that often the case with these Republican measures in the state, perhaps?

But I do think that it would just create a nonsense way to govern.

And I think it would be smart to not pass this one.

Pat Craiglow

As noted on the text line from Andrew, but regulations on hemp are OK.

And again, it's very selective, you know, putting putting more regulations into qualify for Medicaid, like you said, or, or other things like that.

So those are those matters are going to be discussed in Madison this week.

There was also a bill that we talked about that would remove one step in the process when they're officer related deaths.

Right now, if a district attorney decides not

to file a criminal complaint against somebody related to an officer involved death, a judge can still choose to hold a hearing, look at the evidence, and make a decision on whether to issue a criminal complaint.

There's a bill being considered that would remove that judge's discretion to do it and say, if the district attorney decides not to press charges, then a judge can't take this up and hold a hearing unless there's some kind of new evidence.

And I really don't see a reason Dan to be getting rid of that safeguard that that bit of independence in case you've got a DA who might be a little too cozy with some some bad actors.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's it's another example of how

We're just trying to eliminate checks and balances in certain instances in this country, right?

You know, we're seeing that all over the place in the Trump administration, and Congress just not doing its job as a co-equal branch of government.

And now we have examples like this, where they're trying to remove some sort of legal oversight or whatever it might be.

And we still hear the term all the time, officer involved shooting.

the officers involved because the officer did the shooting.

Now, whether that's justified or not, we can leave those to the courts or the people who are witnessing the event or whatever it might be.

There was one in Milwaukee last week where I think even the family of the person who was shot in the exchange with the officer said that the use of force was justified, but that's not always the case.

stop calling these an officer-involved shooting because, again, it's a police shooting.

The officer is obviously involved because they were the person who did the shooting.

And so there's better ways to talk about these.

And I think, again, you mentioned the fact that district attorneys and police officers will often work closely together in these instances.

And so we want to have honest oversight of these instances that involve use of force.

Pat Craiglow

We are talking to Dan Schaefer, political editor for Civic Media and founder of the Reconbobulation Area.

You can get that newsletter by signing up at thereconbobulationarea.news.

So we've gotten to the things that the legislature is going to be talking about.

So we have the things that are

active in the here and now rather than we've often led with the governor's race because there have been people making announcements that they're in or they're out or they get in and and then they get out and this time around I think since our last visit we've had the announcement of somebody who just was not going to get into the race at all and that would be Attorney General Josh Call so let me ask up front on on the

Scale of one to ten of the surprise factor.

How surprised were you that he decided not to run for governor?

SPEAKER_03

No, I would say somewhere in the middle somewhere about a five or so You know, I think things had kind of been trending in that direction For a little while here as we've been hearing some of these announcements from various candidates Democrats getting into the race over the last couple months here and and you know, I think

There was an article in the Cap Times a couple of years ago.

There were some other quotes from calls suggesting that he would be interested in a run for governor if the race were to open up, if Tony Evers were to not seek reelection.

But I think there are a number of factors going on here.

I think, for one, I think call recognizes the need for a strong legal presence in the state in this time when Trump is doing what Trump is doing.

at the national level.

So I think it's really important to have a strong Democratic attorney general, someone with experience, someone with that legal authority.

to be able to push back and file lawsuits.

And obviously he's been very busy this year doing just that.

And so perhaps it makes sense to stay in that position and run for reelection.

And again, there's a lot of people running for governor.

I thought Kahl would perhaps walk into the race as a front runner of sorts, just based on the fact that he has won two statewide elections and most of the other candidates in the field.

can't say the same for them.

But I didn't think he would be an overwhelming frontrunner either.

And so perhaps it just makes sense for him to run for reelection where he is.

And I think that makes for a cleaner race in some senses for him to run for AG.

And we have this big, weird primary for governor.

Pat Craiglow

You know who?

who I think listening to your answer, if she were still with us would be nodding her head in agreement would be Josh Call's mom, Peg Lottenschlager, former Attorney General herself, widely respected and would

I knew her just well enough to know that I think that reasoning alone is something that you know, she would get and understand why Josh Call is in the right place at the right time, even if it isn't the big stage that people would want.

So it takes us to this little graphic that I put together every time there's an update on the candidates.

I started with this graphic with 12 headshots on it and a lot of them had question marks.

Others said in, then out, or in, or out, or if you're Bill Bering had said then and now it says out.

So Josh calls got the out and there's only one photo left with a question mark next to it And that's former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes and whether we think an announcement in or out might be imminent

SPEAKER_03

That is the big looming question over the primary right now.

What Mandela Barnes is going to do, you know, because I think his entrance to the race would certainly impact, you know, fellow Milwaukee and David Crowley, what his path forward might be.

It might impact, you know, fellow progressives like Kelle Roy's and Francesca Hong, what their path forward in the race might be.

And he has some strong name recognition, but, you know, there are a lot of candidates in Wisconsin.

more on the Republican side lately, who have run in statewide races, lost, and then tried again, and then also lost.

You know, we're thinking Brad Schimmel, thinking Dan Kelly, that's Kelly with two Ls.

And so I think there's a real concern there to consider.

Pat Craiglow

Dan Chafer from the Reconbobulation Area, we will turn things to the Brewers, sadly enough, and a little more live from Lake Wissota coming up next on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Civic Media Voice

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Pat Craiglow

All right, we are back with Dan Schaeffer here at the just coming up on 853 now on this Tuesday morning We were talking about the race for governor and you know Looming behind all of that of course is that there's also going to be a US Senate race

in 2020, 2028 rather, when it's, I would say not likely that Ron Johnson would run for a fourth term.

After all, he promised to serve only two.

How many times do you want to be a liar?

But you know, for anybody that doesn't run for governor this time or runs and falls short, there's that right away.

They're always, it's Wisconsin Dan, there's always the next big thing looming.

SPEAKER_03

We don't really have an off-season when it comes to politics in this state, do we?

There's always another election around the corner, and that's for sure.

Pat Craiglow

And more to talk about beyond the governor's race, for example, in the 7th congressional district here up north with Tom Tiffany running for governor, you...

would not have been wrong in assuming that Mary Felskowski, the state Senate president from the Tomahawk area, would just slide right into that role as of being the Republican candidate for Congress up here.

But she has taken herself out of the race, which was somewhat of a surprise yesterday, Dan.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, a little bit of a surprise.

State Senator Mary Falskowski says she won't be running for higher office this year.

She had also been mentioned as a potential candidate for governor as well.

That always seemed a little bit unlikely, but you know, she was the assembly representative who stepped up to run for state Senate when Tom Tiffany, who was then a state senator, ran for Congress.

So it stood to reason that she might follow a similar path in 2025 as she did in 2020 by taking that next step up for higher office.

but taking herself out of the race for Congress for the 7th Congressional District to run for that seat that Tom Tiffany currently represents.

So it looks like she will remain in the state Senate and she's been a pretty significant presence there.

And she had a pretty fiery speech for the state budget.

She was actually at odds with some of her Republican colleagues in that state budget battle.

I think it was the first time in forever that the state Senate president

and the majority leader of the same party voted on different sides of the budget.

So I thought that was interesting.

So maybe she's got some designs on what's next in the state legislature.

Who's to say?

Pat Craiglow

It's very possible.

It could also be possible that she saw the writing on the wall and that the seventh congressional district might have its first nepo baby as a member of Congress because the son-in-law of

Former Congressman Turn Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is considering a run.

Michael Alfonso is married to Sean Duffy's daughter Avida and has been calling around to county chairs, according to Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, expressing potential interest in running, which would bring in all of the Duffy family's connections and make him a formidable candidate.

Even though nobody knows him in this congressional district, but

SPEAKER_03

politics

But as we saw last year with Tony Weed, a relative political unknown emerging from the primary in the eighth congressional district, pretty much on the backs of a Trump endorsement alone.

The old adage was that all politics is local.

Now I feel like that has flipped in the Trump era.

Everybody's attention is going to the Donald.

And now I think all politics is national, is what

Pat Craiglow

we can say.

I would also say it's all politics is

is loyalists.

You know, we're not looking for mavericks anymore.

And the fact that you don't know who this person is, but you know that he is going to vote with Donald Trump 100% of the time, and never ever, ever, ever stand up to him to represent the constituents is is perhaps best describes where the the Republican Party at least has gone in this day and age.

SPEAKER_03

Sure does it's uh, it's you know, it's been a 10 year complete takeover of the party by Donald Trump and his supporters There's really no one left who is questioning him except for like maybe one or two Members of the House of Representatives who want to see those eps theme files.

Pat Craiglow

Yes And again, that shouldn't be a heavy lift.

There's no reason why all six Wisconsin Republicans in the US House wouldn't sign that discharge petition Why are you helping cover this up?

and yet none of them get asked this question, you know, as they're going around doing their local, you know, meet and greets and farm tours and things like that.

So maybe as the shutdown goes on and they have to eventually come out of their basements, maybe they will be asked about these things just a bit more.

In the meantime,

We have our distractions here and Dan the question needs to be asked somebody with with your great power and connections Or were you sitting like behind-home plate last night?

I would were you like could you shout to front row Amy as you were keeping score?

Or are you not in that in that class of season ticket holders?

SPEAKER_03

I'm not in that class of season ticket

Pat Craiglow

holders.

SPEAKER_03

I was watching at my house here in the west side of Milwaukee.

Not far from American Family Field, but yeah, that was a tough one last night.

Running into a generational pitching performance to start the series doesn't make things easy.

And then we had the dramatic ending in the ninth inning.

Man, I'm sure Bryce Terang is waking up today wishing he had a bruise on his leg

Pat Craiglow

for

SPEAKER_03

taking that pitch.

in

Pat Craiglow

the worst

SPEAKER_03

way.

Absolutely could have tied the game, yeah.

Pat Craiglow

It tells you those little things about instinct, like in that double play, the instinct to get that ball home as soon as possible, and the instinct to take the pitch when it's coming right at you rather than flinching.

And there are players who, I mean, they just know in a heartbeat that's what you're going to do.

But again, the human instinct is to get out of the way of a 100 mile an hour fastball coming at you.

So I can't really fault him.

But yeah, somebody with a little bit more savvy of the game, willing to take the bruise, that would have been a whole different ending then, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_03

I know.

And I think of one of the guys on the coaching staff for the Brewers, Ricky Weeks, who was always one of the league leaders and getting hit by a pitch.

He'd always stand in and take those hits.

And I think Tarang seemed to acknowledge it a little bit.

And maybe that's why he's a little rattled, starting to chase the high fastball on that final pitch of the game there.

Tough way to end that game.

Pat Craiglow

Thought they had

SPEAKER_03

it.

Pat Craiglow

I know.

It was so close.

You can't face Blake Snell every game.

So we got that going for us.

and going to have much better luck coming up in game two tonight.

Dan Schaefer from the Reconbobulation Area, the Reconbobulation Area dot news.

Thank you, Dan.

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks, Papi.

Well,

Pat Craiglow

yep, have a great day.

Thanks to all of you for joining us.

We will see you back here bright and early 6am tomorrow

Civic Media Voice

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