BREAKING: Tony Evers Declines To Run For Third Term (Hour 1)

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Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albaugh, reporting live from Green Bay Preble High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and welcome into this special edition, special report edition of the Todd Albaugh Show.

Back in the world headquarters in Madison, our producer and engineer, Mr. Aaron Zommeres,

Zomers big day, lots of breaking news.

Of course, the passing of Hulk Hogan due to a cardiac arrest was reported.

Also the passing of a legendary musician, Chuck Magione.

But believe it or not, that is not the top breaking news story across the state of Wisconsin today.

Hello, everybody.

Welcome and welcome in and joining us here.

We are here for the Wisconsin Publication Education Network Summit.

Gonna talk a lot about public education in the state, particularly in our two, but first to the breaking news story of the day.

Highly anticipated for some, not particularly a surprise, perhaps for others it is.

Regardless, it is going to send off an

earthquake politically in this state for 2026 about two hours ago at high noon via Twitter account Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers made the announcement that many were waiting for.

And this is what he said.

Hey, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers here.

You know, I was a scrawny kid with glasses who grew up scraping mold off a cheese.

I never dreamed I end up governor of Wisconsin.

But

here I am.

The last six years, you welcome me into your churches, businesses, classrooms, farms, hospitals,

and

communities.

I cherish every moment, every tour, visit, high-five, question, and selfie.

To honor my life, to be able to give back to the state that raised me.

I promised you when I ran for this office, and I always worked to do the right thing, and I always give it to you straight, and that I'd always try to be a governor for all of Wisconsin.

And I work every day to keep those promises.

That'll never change.

I began my run for governor as a proud Plymouth Progressive, and that's still who I am today.

I'm a science teacher at heart who ended up running for office and winning five straight statewide elections.

So would I win if I ran the sixth time?

Of course.

No question about that.

But whether I'd win or not has never been part of my calculus about running again.

There's the truth, Wisconsin.

The only thing I love more than being your governor is being a husband, a dad, and a grandpa.

I spent 50 years in public service.

I'm damn proud I devoted my entire career and most of my life to working for you.

And

from Plymouth to Baraboo, Choma to Oshkosh, Rona to Madison, and everywhere in between, Kath and my family supported me all the way.

Mary and Kathy is the greatest accomplishment of my life because they gave me a lifetime with her, three amazing kids, and nine incredible grandkids.

For five decades, my family has sacrificed to give me the gift of service.

They're my world and I owe it to them to focus on doing all the things we enjoy and love doing together.

It's why at Wisconsin, I'm announcing that I will not be running for a third term.

I'm

so humbled to be your governor.

This is the best job I ever had.

And folks, we are not done yet.

There is, as always, much work to do.

In Wisconsin, I'll be working just as hard as I have for the last six years to keep doing the right thing and deliver for you.

So let's get to work.

Forward for you and for Wisconsin always.

Thank you.

Governor Tony Evers, an announcement about an hour ago, pardon me, two hours ago, that he will not seek a third term for governor of the state of Wisconsin.

Here to discuss it, news director for Civic Media, Shaly Pittman, joining us from the world headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, and political director of Civic Media, also the founder of the Reconpopulation Area, joining us from his studios in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dan Schaefer.

Shaly, Dan, thanks for taking time for us.

A lot of people have been waiting for this.

Dan Schaeffer, you got a lot of press ready to call about it, but today it comes.

Tony Evers is out and we'll see what happens next.

Before we move on to what's forward, Shali, look back with us if you could at what has happened.

Tony Evers three time school superintendent, twice elected governor.

He has quite a legacy.

He leaves behind.

Yes, he touted his five elections and said he would even win a sixth, but that's not why he isn't running.

that he wants to spend time with family, like many working people, he wants to retire.

And that makes sense.

Evers is currently 73.

He was elected when he turned a day after he turned 67.

And if he had gone for a third term, he'd be 75 by the time he's sworn in.

He'd be 79 by the end of his third term.

So like many working folks, the governor wants to retire after another year in office.

Dan Schaefer, as we said, you wrote a column on this at the recombination area.

Got a lot of press, ruffled some feathers perhaps, and were you surprised by today's announcement that Tony Evers will not seek a third term?

I think the surprise element of it has perhaps waned a little bit.

I think over the past couple of weeks, things seem to be heading in this direction.

We saw some of the tea leaves with Evers fundraising report.

There were some other reports last week suggesting that he might be announcing that he would not be running for a third term.

So I guess the surprise element isn't quite there at this moment.

But I think Tony Evers.

As he said, he always looks to do in this state is doing the right thing here.

And I think he should be commended not only for this bold and selfless decision to not seek a third term.

You know, I think.

So many of us who have supported the governor in his last in his two terms in office are grateful for the work that he has done.

You know, I think as governor, he brought stability and sanity to the state at a time of genuine crisis in 2020.

He defended the state's democracy when it's been under attack.

He helped dig out from the damage from Scott Walker's two terms as governor and has delivered a number of important wins for the state, despite a hard right obstructionist Republican controlled legislature.

And I think now

with having the opportunity to pass the torch to a next generation of leaders, Tony Evers is only bolstering what is going to be a proud legacy as governor in the state of Wisconsin.

Well, we seem to have lost Todd for a second, but Dan, you and I can hold down the fort while he gets reconnected.

Dan, let's recap the many years of Governor Tony Evers.

He's known as the education governor.

He's a former teacher.

He's a former principal.

He was state superintendent, as Todd said, of public instruction for a decade.

This year, he declared, is the year of the kid.

And he has very much centered education in his policy.

including when he used a partial veto two years ago during the budget process then to lock in school funding increases for the next then 400 years.

Now we have 398 years to go on that.

So what do you make of the education governor and centering that particularly after Governor Walker's time in office and the big bill then?

Yeah, he's you know, he certainly has made that a primary focus of his time as governor You know the very creative use of the partial veto in the budget two years ago is certainly going to be one of those Decisions that's going to stand out You know in this most recent budget here He has touted some increases for special education funding That that was you know part of the new budget that he negotiated in part with Senate Democrats and

Republican leaders in the legislature.

So I think that is going to be certainly a big part of his legacy as governor in the state of Wisconsin.

I think we can also point to two things that happened.

You know, over the last couple of years here, one, I would say the big shared revenue reform bill that he was able to shepherd through in a bipartisan fashion through the legislature and get signed by the governor.

You know, that was a huge win for Wisconsin.

That was one of the things that he prioritized as in his reelection campaign, not your typical type of headline reelection campaign issue to address shared revenue and local funding, but he

he was able to accomplish that in his term.

And I think also bringing new maps to the state of Wisconsin in the legislature and, you know, signing that bill, the bill that he, you know, to bring new maps to the state, new fairer maps, there's still a lot of work to be done in the long term there.

But I think that the shared revenue, new maps, his legacy as the education governor, I think those will be a big part of what

we look back on in Tony Evers' two terms in office.

And he's still got some work to do, as he noted in his press release, in his letter to Wisconsin on this.

I think he's got about 17 months to go as governor.

Still plenty of time to get a lot of things done.

And he said he's going to be getting back to work after making this announcement here.

But a pretty proud legacy for Tony Evers in his six plus years now as governor.

Thank you very much.

A couple of technical difficulties here.

We're on location live in Green Bay, Green Bay Privilege High School.

Thanks so much for for doing yeoman's work is always there as I had to step away and readjust things on this end.

Forgive me if you already if you guys already talked about this, but either one of you will start with Dan.

Have you heard from any other people around the state in terms of political folks?

I mean, what might come next in terms of candidates, but also maybe as interestingly, what about this Governor Evers agenda that he he has laid out?

He's now officially a lame duck.

What chance does he have to get any of his real legislation through the legislature, Dan?

Yeah, to that second part of the question there, you know, that will remain to be seen.

I think the era of divided government has has meant that not a whole lot gets done outside of the state budget.

But I know there are a number of priorities that the governor is going to going to look to address in the coming months.

So, you know, that is certainly going to be a big thing.

And then, you know, we can we're all working the phones here to try and figure out what exactly is going to be happening with other candidates potentially jumping.

to the mix.

You know, I had previously reported that David Crowley, Milwaukee County Executive, he first mentioned to me at the Reconpopulation Area in an interview in December 2023 that he would be interested in running for governor if Evers does not seek another term in office.

You know, the other kind of list that I had run through in that piece that you referenced included Attorney General Josh Call, State Senator Kel DeRoy's former party chair, Ben Wickler.

Secretary of State Sarah Godluschi, David Crowley, and Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez.

So I think there is quite the bench for Democrats in Wisconsin right now.

It's going to be interesting to see how that takes shape in the coming days, weeks, months, and what have you.

But I think it's going to make for a really interesting decision for the voters to decide the next path forward for Democrats in Wisconsin.

Shelly Pittman, you're relatively new to civic media.

Always happy to have you here.

Super happy to have you here.

But you are not new to the news business.

You are with W-O-R-T as the news director there in Madison for a number of years.

You know the scene well.

What are your sources saying in terms of perhaps legislatively what the fallout might be, and also politically?

Well, I'm still, we're two hours in, so I don't want to say anything out of, speak out of school, but I do want to say that this is the first open race for governor since 2010.

It's the first in 15 years without an incumbent running.

So on the Republican side, obviously we have two candidates already declared, Josh Oman, Bill Berrien.

We also have some folks hinting at a run.

But as for Democratic candidates, I remember 2018, do you remember that 10 other candidates in that primary?

It was a lot.

We had debates right here in Madison and elsewhere.

And so I expect we're going to see that again.

Looking back, let's take about a minute here.

So I guess let's start with you, Shali, and someone who's covered this governor.

What just personally, or from a covering standpoint, standing out, you know, what do you think that it might be as far as its legacy?

I guess Zomers is giving me the high side here.

We got to go to do a little business as they say.

We'll come back, we'll answer that question, but also we'll be joined by a political strategist on the Republican side, Bill McCoshen.

What does this mean?

The announcement of Evers not running for a third term for Republicans.

We'll discuss all that.

as well.

Coming back after this along with Shallie Pittman Dan Schaefer.

I'm Todd all about on location at Green Bay Purple High School is the all ball show across Wisconsin on the civic media already network.

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And welcome back live to Green Bay Preble High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin title will hear live on location today for a special breaking news special report show.

Governor Tony Evers announcing just over two hours ago.

He will not seek a third turn.

Joining me at our world headquarters, back in Madison, Wisconsin, Civic Media News director, Shaly Pittman, also a Civic Media political editor and founder of the Reconvibulation area, Dan Schaefer from his office and studios in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and very pleased to give us the Republican perspective of today's fallout news or the fallout from the news.

The one, the only Bill McCosher and former secretary of commerce, former chief of staff to Tommy Thompson and for those of us who've been around a while, have white in our beard, better known as Billy Mack, the boy wonder Bill McCosher.

and Bill, thanks for joining us.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Appreciate

it.

It's great to have you here.

Shallie, let's start with you quickly because I wanted to just I did leave you time at the end there.

Just as someone who's who's been around news for a while, what's just a personal or from recovering this governor?

What's kind of a takeaway or memory that you will have Governor Tony Evers?

That's a great question, and I've had a break to think about it.

Well, his folksy charm, right?

When you talk to folks outside of Wisconsin, they know him for saying, holy mackerel.

And for reserving the worst swear words that we can't say on this radio network, for truly the most high-profile fights with the Republican legislature.

But I also have to say, on a more day-to-day level,

The fact that we are in divided government, the fact that Evers came after, that the governor came after, former governor Walker, and this time a very tense partisan divide, and we're still in divided government, it has felt like a different

period epic in in Wisconsin politics.

And so one of those things in divided government that we always look at is that veto pen.

The governor has the most powerful veto pen in Wisconsin than of all governors in across the nation.

And he has wielded that quite frequently about a third of the time, according to a New York Times analysis of the Legislative Reference Bureau data from several years ago.

But quite often he veto

bills and in a period of divided government that is a significant thing.

Dan Schaefer let's set it up for Bill quickly run down the list of people that you know as people are saying who are people saying who are the top Democrats right now and people are looking at to run as Tony Evers announces he will not seek a third term.

Yeah, I think we're gonna see a whole lot of people jump into the mix as as shawley noted earlier the last time we had a Democratic primary there were quite a few candidates Running for governor.

So initially on my list.

I said I have Attorney General Josh Call State Senator Calderoy's former party chair Ben Wickler, Secretary of State Sarah Godluschi, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez I would also add former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes to the mix there he

mentioned to me today that he is considering a run.

for governor, he's thinking about it and will consider.

So we'll have to keep a watch on what he'll say as well.

And former current Milwaukee mayor Cavalier Johnson, he has also, his spokesman has also mentioned that if evers were not to run that he might jump into the mix as well.

So it could be a very big crowded primary, which, you know, would be very interesting.

And I think presents a real opportunity for voters to determine the next step for the party and their leadership in Wisconsin.

Bill McCosher, when you heard the news today, what was your personal reaction to it?

And on the Republican side, what does this mean for Republicans who are already in the race and who might we see looking forward?

Well, I'll start with the question you asked, Shali.

And that's one word for Tony Evers is undefeated.

If you look at candidates who have won statewide twice or at least three times or more,

There's only two on the Democratic side, Tony Evers and Tammy Baldwin.

On the Republican side, there's only one, Ron Johnson.

So that's a pretty rare feat to go undefeated statewide.

My old boss, Tommy Thompson, won four movement of Toyota races, but then lost a US Senate race to Tammy Baldwin in 2012.

So I'd say undefeated.

I think this is also a legacy period for him.

I thank him for his service.

I think they ended a service to his readers and the civic media viewers and listeners.

with a PC road a few weeks back.

He got a lot of grief for it, but he pushed the envelope.

He said some very positive things about the governor, but then encouraged them to think hard about not running for reelection and go out on what would be called a legacy.

The truth is he has signed four bipartisan budgets.

That's pretty rare as well.

So that's a point Shelly made.

I mean, he sort of toned down things in Madison in a lot of different ways.

For us on the Republican side, it's an opportunity.

There have only been, this is the second open gubernatorial race in my 60 years on this planet.

The only other one was in 2010, where Scott Walker beat Mark Newman in a Republican primary and then went on to beat Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the general election.

They faced off against each other again just two years later in a recall.

which Walker won by an even larger margin, but it's pretty rare in Wisconsin politics to have open gubernatorial seats.

So for me, all the Dems Dan listed are credible.

I don't think they're all going to ultimately be in the race, and we can go over that later.

But for us, we have Josh Showman, Washington County executive already in the race, businessman, Bill Berry, and just got in the race about 10 days ago.

I expect there to be several more.

now that it's an open seat.

I think a lot of people were worried about running against an incumbent who's very good at raising money.

You say what you want about Tony Evers' political abilities, raising money was not a problem for him ever.

There's significant advantages of an incumbent seat, so for us it's a real opportunity to take back the seat, not having an incumbent in there.

creates an opportunity.

And I think as a result of that, you're going to see more candidates getting a race.

A minute left.

Bill, can you stick to the break and join us for a couple of minutes on the other side as well?

All right, cool.

Quickly then, a minute to go.

Congressman Tom Tiffany in the seventh.

This guy's been running a thick for governor for the last umpteen years, although he likes to deny it.

How soon is Tom Tiffany going to get in?

Well, what he said a couple of weeks ago was he was going to wait until late fall.

That's too late.

You can't wait that long.

But if he doesn't run, I am starting to expect State Senator Mary Palskowski to run.

And being the only female in the primary could be advantageous for her.

On the Republican side, yeah.

On the Republican side.

But I think there will be others.

Players to be named later that we haven't heard of before, now that there's an open seat.

Bill McCostian is joining us as Republican strategist, Charlie Pittman, news director for Civic Media and the political editor and founder of the Reconpopulation area, Dan Schaefer as well.

Don't go anywhere.

News, sports, weather update.

Pam Yankee, Farm News, going to come back live from Green Bay Preval High School.

Might talk a little hockey with McCostian on the other side as well.

It's the All Ball Show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

Welcome back to the Taliban show.

We are live on location at Green Bay Preble High School.

Beautiful Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The Packer training camp underway just down the road here from us.

Our very own sports reporter Mike Clemens covering that will bring you sports updates throughout the afternoon as well from Mike on the Packers chances this year right now that we're up here to cover the Wisconsin Public Education Network Summit.

Gonna be talking to some of the fine folks who are putting this on discussing K-12 public.

education at greater length.

later on this hour and in hour two.

But the top news story of the day takes precedent.

This is a breaking special news edition of the show.

Joining me to break down the announcement by Democratic Governor Tony Evers a little over two and a half hours ago via Twitter on a video that he will not seek a third term as Wisconsin's governor joining us to continue to discuss.

That's our very own political editor Dan Schaefer joining us from his home studio in beautiful Milwaukee, Wisconsin to help us.

This is very discombobulating for a lot of political reasons, Dan Schaeffer.

So help us re-combobulate.

And also, he's the founder of the re-combobulation area as well.

And on the Republican side, Bill McCosher, longtime political strategist, former chief of staff to Governor Tommy Thompson and secretary of commerce.

Guys, let's talk about this a little bit more on the, because for political geeks like us, this is like kids in a candy store, right?

As Bill said, first open seat since 2010, wasn't Bill?

Right, right.

So, I mean, this is just crazy because it's going to be open seats on both sides.

As we all know in this game of politics, now more than ever, money is the mother's meal.

My former boss, Dale Schultz, said there are three rules to politics.

Remember who your friends are, keep your ducks in a row, and raise more money.

No matter what, raise more money.

So who are the candidates, Dan, on the Democratic side, Bill, on the Republican side, who can have the ends to raise that money?

Dan?

That's a great question, you know, I it'll all depend on who eventually jumps into the mix, you know, I mean for one example Ben Wickler has been talked about as a potential statewide candidate I don't know if this is going to be the time for him, but he's obviously has a pretty prolific record as a fundraiser You know, you look at Attorney General Josh Call.

He's won two statewide races.

He's certainly going to be in the mix You know, kelderoy's has been you know a pretty accomplished

state senator after her run in 2018.

Milwaukee County executive David Crowley has has ties to some pretty you know deep pockets in his run in Milwaukee when he initially ran in 2020 and won that race so you know it's gonna be really interesting to see kind of where that piece of it lines up and yeah you're right it's always smart to follow the money on these things so you know once the first financial reports come in in a couple months that will be a very important one.

watch to kind of read some of those tea leaves for for where how this is taking shape.

Cousin, as you noted earlier, Josh Showman, Washington County executive already in the race.

Business man Bill Barry and also in lot to others could but but who those were in and who could possibly get in.

Who has the ability to raise the money on the GOP side bill?

Well, you know, someone like Sean Duffy, if he were to decide to come home and he got the Trump endorsement on our side.

That's the end of the primer.

Whoever gets the Trump endorsement in the primary, and it's not going to matter how much money they've raised.

So that would be pretty important.

I don't expect Sean to come home and run, but I think he'd have an opportunity to clear the field.

But having said that, we've got two guys in, and Shoman and Barry in.

You

know, there's

rumblings about Tiffany, there's rumblings about State Senator Maryfelskowski, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear a few other names over the course of the next month as people...

explore this possibility because it is so rare that this has come around.

If you've always thought about doing this, this would be the time.

Is there another self-bunder like an Eric Hovey or Tim Michaels?

Not that I'm aware of, but that doesn't mean there isn't one out there.

Money can buy you name ID.

In

a

primary, that's very, very important.

The turnout in the primary is about one-third of what it is in the general election, and it's very specific where the turnout

comes for both sides.

So someone like a David Crowley on the Democratic side would be pretty well positioned in that situation because Milwaukee County produces disproportionate share of the primary votes.

Let's talk about some of these people before we get to who might be in and we talked about this on the break and we'll bring it back But before we go there, let's talk about those that we've already named here Josh Shulman was on this program when we are up at the northern Wisconsin State Fair was really impressed with him seems like he's a great retail politician Bill Berry and stumbled a little bit out of this big gate what I was interested in Bill is when Shulman was on this program I asked him that question do you need Trump's endorsement and he goes look I'm a fan

President Trump, but it's more important to me what the people of Wisconsin think was a little nuanced in it.

Over the weekend, on up front, on WISN's program, Bill Barion was asked by Matt Smith, and he went right out and said, yeah, I got to have that endorsement.

Two very takes on that.

If you look at 2022, though, Rebecca Clayfish had a very substantial lead in that primary.

There actually wasn't a primary.

Tim Michaels got in in April of 2022.

And by late July, he secured Trump's endorsement, actually the Tuesday, the Friday before the primary, and he was able to win the primary by five points.

So it is very impactful in a low turnout primary because Trump voters, at least in those situations, turned out.

So I think it is going to be critical to get through the primary to have that endorsement, and it's going to be a very steep mountain to climb if you don't have it and you decide to stay in.

We're lo-

I don't think he personally I don't think he could win a Democratic primary because of his lack of going after the

the fake voters in Wisconsin.

I just think that he's he seems to want it too much and I just don't think the Democrats have his stomach for it.

Am I wrong?

I think because he's won two statewide races, he's certainly going to be one of the first names you hear.

whether that is the same type of level of support for Governor as he's had for Attorney General, obviously that remains to be seen.

And I think you're right.

There will be some people who will be critical of his actions, kind of slow walking the case against the fake electors.

I don't know if he's really made enough headlines over his time as Attorney General to really break through beyond just like the political chattering class of what people's perceptions of him really are.

So I think that's

It's going to be interesting to see, but the Democratic field doesn't have the issue like what Mr. McCosh identified with the Republican side.

On the Republican side, it's all going to come down to Trump's endorsement.

I think you're absolutely right about that.

You look at the congressional primary that we had in the eighth district with eventually one by now state representative, or now Congressman Tony Weed.

He got the Trump endorsement.

Every single one of his signs said Trump endorsed Tony Weed, and he cruised through the primary.

and was able to win that general election as well.

So I think that is absolutely the key factor looking at the Republican side.

On the Democratic side, we've all been waiting to see what the governor is going to do.

And I think as much as we've, Todd, you and I have talked about over the last couple of weeks, things have been kind of trending in this direction that he's not going to seek a third term.

You know, there was still some uncertainty about that.

And so I think we, this field is, you know, still is going to take shape in the coming days, weeks, months here.

There's a lot of time until the.

I think we've ran through a number of names, a half dozen names, whatever it is, I expect there to be far more than that, too.

I think

this

is going to be a big, weird primary.

And as I noted in the column that I wrote a few weeks back, I think that's a good thing.

I think there's been so many like post 2024, where did Democrats go from here?

How do we message?

What do we do?

I think it needs to be the voters who make that decision, not the chattering class, not people looking for the Joe Rogan of the left, or who's talking about what, you know, tactic Democrats should take.

It should be the voters who decide where the party goes from here, who their leaders are going to be.

I think this, I think Democrats have avoided primaries to their detriment in recent past, and I think this is a real opportunity for the state in so many ways.

Alright, it was as much as I'm going to have to take some Pepto abysmal after we bring this up.

Dan shape.

I've been setting stuff up here in beautiful height.

By the way, Green Bay Preble High School.

What a beautiful high school here in a beautiful part of the state.

Shout out to all of them for hosting us up here today.

But over the break, Dan Schaefer, you've been monitoring Twitter.

Why been doing this?

Like a Phoenix or a bad penny, which everyone is saying former Governor Scott Walker putting out cryptic tweets on on the Twitter.

What do you got for us?

Yeah, so Scott Walker is.

tweeted twice since the news of about Tony Evers.

He posted one with that.

make America great again hat that was the 45-47 and he said interesting so I think he what he's alluding to here is perhaps serving in non-consecutive terms as President Trump is doing now and Scott Walker you know obviously the governor before Tony Evers defeated him in 2018 would Scott Walker run again that's my question for Mr. McCosh and over here is Scott Walker going to make another run for governor what to make of these cryptic tweets

Just soon to tell, I think Scott Walker's got another run in him.

He's younger than I am.

Will it be in 2026 to run for governor?

I'm not sure, or is it 2028 if Ron Johnson doesn't run for United States Senate?

But Scott Walker, I think, is 57 years old.

So he's a young man.

He's got statewide name ID.

He's got an ability to raise money himself.

But that would be new.

He wasn't on the list of potentials until two hours ago.

Funny

how that happened to politics, right?

I don't know, I mean, look, you know, I, you know...

listeners this show know I'm a former Republican.

You know, I still have friends in the party.

Bill still talks to me.

God love him.

But you know, I think there are people that I was super impressed with Josh showman as a retail politician.

He came.

I saw Scott Walker campaign a lot.

To me, my personal opinion, it's forced.

It's sappy.

It's syrupy.

It's not genuine.

It's ain't no Tommy Thompson.

Josh showman seems like a guy who really means it.

Who's genuine, authentic and can connect with people.

I think Barry and is already he's disqualified himself with his Nikki Haley.

stuff and and I don't know.

It just doesn't seem like a deal.

I think there are other Republicans out there.

Bill Sean Duffy.

Yeah, I think he might not vote for him.

I think he's a legit candidate.

But boy, it just seems like Scott Walker brings a lot of baggage getting into this race.

Well, I'll pick up on your first point.

Showman's working his tail off.

He is very authentic.

He's got a great resume, not only is he run a county, one of the large top 10 counties in the state, but he's also a veteran.

So he.

I would not underestimate Josh Shulman's ability in this race.

Dan and I have had some offline communication about that where we disagree.

But nobody all worked.

Can he raise enough money to get his name ID high enough to win the primary?

That's really the question for him.

And we'll know more on the January report.

He did OK on the July report.

But he's going to need to triple that, at least, on his January report to be considered credible, especially considering who might get in this race over the next few months.

We'll see how our side shakes out.

My guess is there's going to be some more teases like Scott Walker's over the next few weeks, but it doesn't necessarily mean somebody's going to get in the race.

They may just be trying to get attention.

We'll see.

Let me ask

you this.

Our mutual friend, Trigby Olson said, I walked back to Wisconsin to work on two races for governor.

One is Ben Wickler.

The other is Mr. Bill McCauchon.

Bill, any inkling, any thought that you might consider getting in this race?

I've had a few texts today, but.

What I tell those textures is you got to talk to my wife.

This decision was made in 22 by my wife.

I was prepared to run that year.

So you're thinking about you're not saying no.

It's I don't see it in.

I'm happily married me and I love my family and.

I'm not gonna Our mutual

our mutual friend of the late great senator Tim Cullen told me many years ago He said Todd any type of politics somebody says anything but a no is a yes anything I think they say anything but a yes It's a no so so yes, it's not a no.

It's not a no for Bill McCosh and all right a little over a little under two minutes left Dan Schaefer final thought

we have 30 seconds.

Oh 30 I guess there are 30 seconds story.

I'm on location Bill McCosh and thank you very much.

I appreciate

your time, my friend.

Dan Schaefer, always a pleasure as well.

We'll come back live from Green Bay after this on the Civic Media Ready

Number.

civicmedia.us.

Pursuing truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the title ball show live on location in beautiful Green Bay at Green Bay Preble High School.

Glad to have you along here for the Wisconsin Public Education Network Summit.

That was really what led us here today and super happy to be here.

But the breaking news of the day of course, Governor Evers announcing he will not seek a third term.

That took top billing here if the first part of the show.

So many thanks to our guest, Shali Pittman, news director of Civic Media, Dan Schaefer, political editor at Civic Media and founder of the Reconbobulation Area and political strategist Bill McCosh and all for joining us.

And now at the table, we can actually talk about the Wisconsin Public Education Network Summit here.

The Northeast Regional Coordinator of the organization, Denise Gomer Hutchinson is here at the table.

Denise, thanks for taking the time.

My pleasure to be here.

Well, it's so much.

fun.

And this were basically home for you where you live in Green Bay.

I do.

And this is my Children's Home School.

Is it really?

Right.

That's

amazing.

That's and I help pass the referendum that made all the improvements that you see right here in this commons area.

Well, for those watching on the stream, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were in the commons.

You can see Preble Pride, the Preble Hornets logo here up behind us were some great food was served earlier.

We're into the second part of this.

Tell folks that might not have joined us before a little bit of

about the Wisconsin Public Education

Network?

Wisconsin Public Education Network is a statewide coalition of advocates who are committed to high quality public schools around the state.

So we do what we can for kids and communities that serve these public schools and building partnerships so that all schools can be successful.

And so it's a private organization.

You're not a tax funded anything or that.

You put this together.

How long has it been

around?

This is our 11th annual summer summit.

And it's been around.

The organization has been around even longer than that.

It came out of.

the need to really bring attention to fair funding for public schools and it wasn't being done and so Wisconsin Public Education Network was born.

I love the fact that the slogan is public schools unite us because it shouldn't be, although it has been politicized, no matter who we vote for at the top of the ticket, everyone should be invested in our public schools.

Right.

It's what we say every single day is when kids walk through the door of a public school and nobody asked them their political affiliation.

They just say hi and welcome.

Yeah, that's great.

I love that.

Tell us a little bit about the six of one of the successes.

We're literally in right now, but tell us some of the successes of Wisconsin Public Education Network in the Northeast part of the state.

Well, it's very exciting.

We have a huge win that we're really thrilled about.

between the Green Bay Area Public School District, their school board, wrote a resolution and sent it to the mayor and asked the mayor to create transparency on the tax bill for the city of Green Bay.

And the mayor, you know, looked at it, said this has to go to the city council.

They took it to the city council.

It went into committee.

It was defeated in that committee.

We brought it back the next year.

um had the support we needed and brought it to the floor of the uh city council and we are now putting for the first school for the first city in the in the state is putting the cost of vouchers on the tax bill

and

separating it out so that we want taxpayers to know how much does it cost you to be funding a non-regulated non-credited non-transparent private school system

But I think this is so important because so many folks, the news becomes overwhelming and they don't stop and look where their tax dollars really go and what this means.

So I think breaking this out and making it understandable, I think it's a great service because then people are going away away.

I didn't know that, right?

Right.

Exactly.

And they deserve to know when our taxed out, and because of what happened in the state legislature of a $00 increase to public schools, taxpayers could potentially see some raises in their income tax, or excuse me, in their property taxes.

And so this tax break that they wanted to give to people.

could be really kind of null and void because it's going to public schools have to keep going.

And if you can't keep up with the cost of living, which there hasn't been a cost of living increase for at the end of this budget, 18 years.

Lots of people.

Great attendance here at Green Bay Purple High School for the Wisconsin Public Education Network Summit.

What do you hope to get out of this today?

What your what your participants want to walk away with today?

Participants want to walk away with more knowledge on what they can do in their own communities, how to have conversations, because we want to talk to everybody because we endorse and having community gatherings.

People love their public schools in the state of Wisconsin.

That's why our logo has always had a heart in it because we know that it's the heart of the community.

And so we hope that people leave here with more information, more knowledge, and re-energize to go back into their communities and say, I want to love my public schools so that our community understands the value of what we have here.

About a minute left.

What have I not asked you that you want people to know about today's Wisconsin Public Education Network Summit?

There's a real need for people to come together.

on the issue of public education.

You know, I mean, there are people that think that public education should be run as a business.

Well, guess what?

There's no revenue source.

The revenue source for public education is taxes.

And when we don't get those dollars, it makes it hard to compete on an international and national level.

So we're going to work every day because that's what it's all about.

Yeah, I totally agree.

I'd be remiss if I didn't ask to ask you at about our 40 seconds left here.

thoughts personally or politically on the Evers news.

I'm not running into it.

I am really thankful for everything that Governor Evers has done for the state of Wisconsin.

When he was at the Department of Public Instruction, he moved things forward and did good things for public schools.

And as Governor.

He's very approachable and reachable and he cares about this state and what more can we ask for but people who care passionately about our state and he has served our state well and but I hope that there's somebody that wants to step in and

continue his legacy of doing really good things for the state of Wisconsin.

I think that whoever is going to be the Democratic nominee would do well to grab public education as a main issue because there's a lot of votes to get out across all spectrums.

I would totally agree with you.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate you.

Denise Gilbert Hutchinson, thanks for being here.

Thanks for all you do.

You're part of what makes Wisconsin great.

Thank you.

Our pleasure.

Come on.

You are

too.

Oh, that's too kind.

Thank you very much.

Come on back.

Well, a live on location at Greenville Ball Show on the Civic Media.

Ready Network in hour two.

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