Transcript
Making Our Voices Heard with Fusion Voting (Hour 1)
The Todd Allbaugh Show · Wed Aug 6, 2025
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.
On
across Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.
Good afternoon, everybody.
We are on location here, Todd Albaugh with you from Black River Beach Neighborhood Community Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin on the banks of the Black River, one of the backwaters to the Mississippi River, along with Mr. Aaron Zommers, our producer and engineer, the old world headquarters of Civic Media back in Madison on State Street.
Welcome in, everybody.
It is Wednesday, the 6th of August, 2025.
It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite, and it is
day.
Look at that.
The camel has made it all the way here lacrosse on the banks of the Black River.
Zabers, the wind was very calm as we set up.
And about 10 minutes before we came on the air, it's picked up a little bit.
How are our conditions down in Madison?
Well, hope yeah meteorologists pretty low is saying that hopefully these winds start to clear out some of this smoke for the while
fires out west and conditions will continue to improve.
But weather is is absolutely fantastic.
In fact, weather guest Dale Schultz commented its beach weather, but not many people go to the beach anymore.
He is a former life lifeguard, little hitherto unknown fact on the beaches of Madison.
We'll ask our ongoing friend and contributor here.
Also the host of mornings of Pat Cridlow every morning from six until nine.
Patrick, I know you're a captain of a pontoon boat, a Lake Wissota.
Were you ever a lifeguard?
No, no, no, both my daughters were they at the YMCA pool here in Chippewa Falls.
I'm very proud of that.
But no, I've got them to rely on in case anything goes awry with the pontoon.
And by the way, nothing ever goes awry on the pontoon.
No, no,
no.
What do they say the best the two best days of a boat owner are when you buy it when you sell it?
Yeah.
Yes.
But you know what?
The ones in between ain't so bad either.
Right.
Right now.
I've seen it.
It's a beautiful set up.
Pat Scott.
Busy Shelf.
Glad everybody is here today at hour number two.
Brian Van Hooker of cracked.com.
Going to bring us some of the lighter side aside.
The old series of the animated series King of the Hill.
Going to be going back and do a little reminiscing on that.
Also a goofy what's first for you in hour two.
Some state news as well.
But want to begin today.
The reason that we're here.
And by the way, our friend.
Olsen Senior Advisor to the Lincoln Project.
I talked to him this morning.
He's at a beach in Lithuania, so supposedly he's joining us.
He may pop in at the bottom of the hour as well.
But want to get to why we are here today.
Really, really important seminar just wrapping up here on the inside of this beautiful community center in La Crosse having to do with fusion voting.
It was sponsored by Leader Ethics and here joining me at the table on the banks of the Black River in La Crosse is from the Leader Ethics, Mr. Lee Ross.
She was the former president of Western Technical College and former Senate Majority Leader Dale Shultz, who is the co-chair of United Wisconsin.
Lee Dale, how the heck are you?
We're great.
Thank you.
It's great to have you both here.
Of course, Dale's been on the show several times.
Lee, you were on the program last summer when we were down in Viroqua at Wonder State Coffee, so great to have you back on.
Thanks for joining us
today.
I'm delighted to have this chance.
It's our pleasure.
Lee, let's start with you.
Tell folks a little bit about Leader Ethics, what it is and what your mission is.
Leader Ethics is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that is committed to promoting ethical leadership among elected officials.
And the four cornerstones that we promote actively are we expect ethical leaders to be truthful, to be transparent with public information, to be a unifier rather than a divider, and to work to the best of their ability to represent their entire constituency.
And you know, those are things in business, education, health care.
Those are almost normal expectations.
And our question is, why not among political leaders as well?
Yeah, really appreciate that.
Dale, again, you've been on the show several times.
Of course, your co-chair at United Wisconsin is former Democratic Sheriff for Dayton County.
Dave Mahoney had to get on the road, another engagement, as they say.
But tell folks briefly the mission of United Wisconsin, Dale.
Well, United Wisconsin is a group of people
who believe that we ought to be able to as citizens freely associate with whoever we want during elections and that we believe that the major political parties have failed in their mission to provide a mechanism so that people can have a voice through them about the issues that are important to them and that we need to have
real solutions advance on behalf of all of us so as a result of our feelings we have decided that fusion voting which allows well first of all I should mention that fusion was a part of this country for decades and it led to the birth of the republican party in fact many many years ago in rippon wisconsin but it's a way of giving people who are
Left out of the political process agency within that process To be heard to influence what goes on and the way we do that is by saying that when you vote You are basically have the right to vote for a candidate You don't have to be constrained by a political party and what fusion allows is for the same person to be a candidate for multiple political parties and when the election is over
Those votes are tallied jointly to determine the winner.
Now why this works is because in Wisconsin, for example, we have elections decided by, you know, just a couple of points, election after election.
If a group of passionate people were to form a party,
and want to have influence, all they have to do is turn out five, six percent, and they might be in a position to determine who the winner is going to be.
And that candidate would be a fool not to listen to them after an election unless, of course, they only wanted to be there one term.
And the more people that do this, the more likely the candidates, the political parties, would have reason to
Be dependent on extreme voices in their ranks both political parties So those people who are worried about not voting because it doesn't make a difference throwing away their vote on the third party that they know will never have a chance or Voting for the lesser of two evils suddenly now have a person they can believe in who can be an agent to help change
the other partnership that they have to work on issues they care about.
One of the things I like about this is that, you know, a minor party
at least finds a way to get a toehold in here.
So at first, maybe the Alba Party, which I'm a proud member, would simply endorse a major party candidate.
But as more people see, the Alba Party is more in keeping with their line of things.
Maybe someday when there's a candidate from that party conveniently named Todd Alba, they might be inclined to now support that minor party.
Though my question to the guests, I just simply want to repeat what has been noted in the associates.
press in the wisconsin public radio article where a republican party of wisconsin spokesperson said fusion voting could result in voters being quote manipulated into voting for a major party candidate masquerading as an independent and i want to give your guests a chance to respond to that
well any system can be they can work to the parties probably will work to try to distort its impact but
The thing that we have to look at, though, is that we're talking about appealing to voters, and the voters are the power behind it.
Now, this wasn't involving fusion voting, but it's a good example of how powerful third parties can be.
If you remember in the 1990s, at the time George H. Bush was running against President Clinton, essentially, the third party candidate at Ross Perot was the individual who was pounding away on the message of removing the deficit and
reducing the debt.
And he showed graphs on the screen, and he really, really found it with that.
But the thing is, it got 20% of the voters in the presidential election to listen to it.
And both of the presidential candidates from the two parties were forced to recognize that it was a legitimate issue that people were concerned about.
Well, guess what?
Those are four years that we had our federal budget was balanced.
Now, in the recent budget dialogue and activities going on in Congress,
that was not on the radar at all.
There's no one pushing for anything other than what the two parties are bringing forward.
And that's why I think fusion voting does give that voice that's not being heard today a chance to be heard.
We're talking with Lee Rosh, former president of Western Technical College and now with Leader Ethics here in Wisconsin.
Leaderethics.us.
You can find the seminar today at their website.
It was streamed, but can have that there.
We'll put the link in our website as well.
And also a former Senate Majority Leader of Wisconsin, Republican Dale Schultz, also the co-chair of United Wisconsin with former Democratic Dean, County Sheriff Dave Mahoney.
Dale, what to Pat's question there, the current iteration of the Moga Republican Party, which you were not a part of that.
But of your of your party now you're you know saying that basically trying to poo poo fuse fusion voting.
What's your thoughts?
Well, I think that when I was involved in trying to change the whole notion of gerrymandering and Bring some sense to that process that occurs every ten years The political parties had both participated
They liked having that power.
They didn't mind playing the lottery until they lost.
We know that engaging people is the best way to move forward.
Think about this, and it's a point that occurs to me because we started this program talking about this beautiful setting that we're in and it being a beach day.
On the banks of the Black River here.
In the last election, who was the spokesperson for the environment?
There wasn't one.
Not strongly.
You make the argument that former Vice President Kamala Harris really talked more about it than Donald Trump, but in the state of Wisconsin, I'm not sure
who.
I don't know that I have.
the same feeling you have that Kamala Harris was the best spokesperson or inadequate spokesperson.
But imagine the people who care about the environment and they're everywhere.
If they had a chance to be engaged in an effort to have a environmentally based party, they could make the difference in election by having their votes
fused with another party or multiple parties, and they would have agency at the table to drive change.
And that's what this is all about.
As a former Democratic state senator, what Dale's saying there, I mean, you've been in the building more recently.
Well, as recently as Dale and I, do you think that's possible?
What Dale just said to the current political environment?
In the current political environment, it's a heavy lift, but again, when you see so much dissatisfaction, part of the reason people voted for Trump, not that they loved anything about Trump, but they just said, we're so desperate to fix this system.
I hate to put something in place out of desperation, but if it fixes an unworkable system, which other people have broken, well, then I think we might be more inclined to get to that point, maybe not this year, but soon.
We're we're coming up about a minute here at Dale I want to get your thoughts quickly on this and Lee when we come back from you What's happening right you brought up redistricting you were very involved this for former Senate Majority Leader Tim Cullen and Bob Jowk on the Democratic side Bob Jowk was on this program a couple of days ago, and he said regrettably that he would say
that Democrats have to fight fire with fire and the place like California and Illinois should look at at least consider partisan gerrymandering to counter what may happen in Texas.
Your thoughts in one minute
or less.
I think the fact that we're having this discussion is very disheartening because I think there are a lot of us who believe there is a better way.
On the other hand, it's pretty hard to argue with people who point out that if you don't fight fire with fire, you look like a chomp.
You alienate your voters and we go backwards.
I hope that this discussion about what is a political nuking of the process.
drives people back to their senses.
That's what I can hope for and that's how I feel about it.
Back from Black River Beach Park here in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
We are on location of the Todd Allball Show.
Lee Rosch, Dale Schultz packed quite low and will Trigby Olsen beam in from afar.
Don't miss it.
Come on back after this.
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 to the Tattleball Show.
We are live on location just outside of downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin, not quite on the banks of the old Mississippi River on the backwaters, which is the Black River.
Equally as beautiful here.
We are at the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center.
You can see the beautiful location here if you're watching us on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter.
And of course, we welcome all of our listeners across the Civic Media Radio Network across the state of Wisconsin joining me this hour, packed quite a little host of Up North News Radio every morning from six
Until nine across the network and joining us from we'll say a secure undisclosed location Trig V Olson senior advisor the Lincoln project has beamed in Trig V will get to you in just a bit here, but you you look very comfy today There's a lag apparently across the ocean
Yes, it is More importantly our guests here at the table at the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center talking about fusion voting Here we have Lee Rosh who is the former president of Western Technical College in these days with leader ethics a great group here Which was the main sponsor of today's fusion voting conference or seminar just got over you could watch the seminar seminar if you missed it at leaderethics.us leaderethics.us and a big shout out to Penny who is
a viewer, a listener of our show.
She heard us plug this a couple days ago and she said that's how she found out about it.
So that was very nice.
And we also have former Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz of Richland Center, who is the co-chair of United Wisconsin, who is the co-sponsor of today's event.
And he is the co-chair with former Democratic Sheriff of Dane County, Dave Mahoney.
Lee, I want to go back to you here at the top of this segment.
I pose the question to you or to Dale.
I want you to have a kick at it as well.
I know you're someone who also believes in, you know, maybe bullies in fair maps in Wisconsin, but what do you make of what's happening in Texas?
Donald Trump calling on Governor Abbott to intentionally gerrymander the maps to a five-seat pickup for Republicans.
Now Gavin Newsom saying that he may do the same thing in California, but for the Democrats now former moderate Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger who
Set the example when Dale was still in the state Senate in Wisconsin for having a nonpartisan Commission in California said I'll be back He's coming back to fight what Newsom is doing.
What are your thoughts on all this?
It's sad Nick I gotta be honest Because really what's happening is this is a significant step further in the wrong direction And it makes it harder to try to turn things around down the road.
So there's no getting around I think we need to talk about it as a concern
We need to take action to raise those questions among Democrats and Republicans.
But you know, you can't be surprised if they do this, but I gotta tell you, it's not a good sign and we can't be silent as citizens.
We've gotta speak out against it.
We just have
to.
Yeah.
Pat Crightlow.
Just one more question on the news coverage of this.
Lee, it notes that your group United Wisconsin is suing the Wisconsin Elections Commission to reinstate
the practice.
I was not aware that it once was in practice here in Wisconsin.
Can you share a little bit about the history of fusion voting here?
I can.
Dale mentioned earlier fusion voting started with our foundation of our nation and it was used all through the years up to the turn of the 20th century.
It was the process that was used in Ripon, Wisconsin to form the Republican Party.
It brought together the Whigs, the Free Soilers, anti-slavery individuals, and they all came together, and that was the foundation of the Republican Party.
But it worked on the other side of the aisle as well, because following the Civil War in North Carolina, an African-American slave ran for Congress in 1865, and he won.
And he won because he had
not only former slaves and other African Americans and Republicans who were supporting that, but also poor white farmers who felt neglected by the whole process.
And so, in both cases, there was really good success using fusion voting.
However, both parties, both parties were concerned about the threat that it brought to their party strength.
And state by state, they eliminated it with the exception of New York and Connecticut.
Dale just a couple minutes left.
You let's pick up what we just said.
I mean, it worked for you.
I know that you've said several times your former Senate district in Southwest Wisconsin was a purple swing district and you often said if I was to be strictly partisan, I couldn't keep getting reelected.
Let's pick up what we just said.
We've seen this in Wisconsin individually, but fusion voting kind of puts it out there and available for everyone.
Well, it does and and you know, it's about again giving people hope.
by giving them agency.
And how I conducted myself, I believe, gave people hope.
They knew that if they came and they talked to me, I would in fact listen and they saw examples of where in fact at times I would admit I was wrong and changed my mind or I was influenced by some priority they had or something they had to say.
I think that's what we expect from the political process.
And what fusion voting will do is enhance that by giving people a an agency that they haven't had since fusion voting disappeared.
Trivia also knows involved United Wisconsin as well.
We could pick up after the bottom the hour with him.
But to Pat's point, there is a lawsuit going on right now on this, correct?
Yes, there is.
Do we know the status of it?
Is it before appeals court or Supreme Court?
Where were we at?
Well, I'm not an attorney, so I'm not going to opine.
I'm smart enough to know that.
But, you know, it has been filed, and we'll wait for the courts to tell us.
All right, very quickly.
Tommy Thompson, the state fair on TMJ this week, was asked as he's running for governor.
He said he hasn't decided yet.
One of our viewers yesterday said they thought Dale Schultz would make a great governor.
Dale Walter Schultz, are you running for Wisconsin governor in 2026?
Let
me just say I hardly agree with your listener.
But I am not a candidate and don't plan to be a candidate.
I think Don't plan to
be as different than a
no.
Well You know you got me there Todd
I just have to be candid and upfront about it.
All right, we'll leave it there.
Time for a new generation.
All right, Pat Critello.
Mornings of Pat Critello.
Every morning from six until nine.
Lee Rush from Leader Ethics and Dale Schultz from United Wisconsin.
Thank you, gentlemen.
We appreciate it.
Come on back from La Crosse Live with Trigvie after this on the Pacific Media radio network.
Welcome back to the Toddleball Show live on location from La Crosse, Wisconsin.
on the western shores of the state of Wisconsin.
We are on the Black River at Black River Beach Neighborhood Center, a great community center here in La Crosse.
Behind me, you can see the Black River flowing into.
It's got the backwaters of the of the Mississippi River here at La Crosse.
Great to have you along with us.
We are here covering fusion voting.
Many thanks to Lee Roche from Leader Ethics who is one of the co-sponsors.
of today's forum here at the Community Center on Fusion Voting and also to Dale Schultz, co-chair of United Wisconsin, the Pat Crite Low host of mornings at Pat Crite Low every morning from six until nine.
And now joining us from across the ocean in a secure undisclosed location.
Trig V. Olsen, senior advisor to the Lincoln Project, our ongoing contributor and friend, and also is part of the United Wisconsin, so we want to continue our discussion of fusion voting here.
I thought that was great, Trig V, and to hear two people, two leaders, particularly from Western Wisconsin, like Lee Rosh and Dale Schultz, just...
talk so knowledge will be about that.
When you hear it from those two, you think, well, yeah, it has to make sense.
But unfortunately, modern day politics gets in the way.
I think United Wisconsin has hit on, which is why I'm glad that I've been able to play a small role in helping those guys.
They're talking about core issues beyond just fusion voting, which is quite frankly part of the solution.
They're talking about issues that people care about.
They're talking about public education that are the cornerstone of our community.
They're talking about the Wisconsin idea.
They're talking about conservation.
They're talking about the things that have always made Wisconsin great, that have somehow become political footballs.
and that quite frankly I would argue if you know you've got all these people thinking about running for governor you want a blueprint for a winning gubernatorial campaign it's right there in what was united wisconsin was pushing and backing
I want to go back to the web.
By the way, it's a great website.
If you really want to do a deep dive, folks, on fusion voting, go to United Wisconsin.
It's all spelled out, not WI, but the full word Wisconsin.
So, unitedwisconsin.org and Zomers, if you'd be so kind, we'll put that link in our show notes as well.
but unitedwisconsin.org.
I want to read you just a couple of sentences here and then trigger me.
Let's get into this a little bit more says fusion voting was once common everywhere in American elections, including Wisconsin.
The historic electoral concept is just as relevant in today's political landscape and could be implemented at both the federal and state levels of government.
Here's how it works.
Fusion voting permits more than one party to nominate the same candidate.
with votes for that candidate first being tallied separately by the party before being fused, quote unquote, together to a final total.
A candidate who appears on the ballot as the nominee for one major political party could also be listed as the candidate of a second potentially
more centrist political party if that second party also nominates them and the candidate accepts their support.
Fusion voting allows people to vote for the candidate they favor and do so on the party line that best represents their values and instead of being spoilers
Small parties can play a more constructive role in our politics, giving voters more choices while not asking them to quote unquote waste their vote on a candidate that can't win.
So let's put that down there where the chickens could get at it a little bit.
Pat did a good job in the first half of this hour, but I just wanted to reset it up and get your thoughts on this trick.
And someone who has run statewide and helped run national elections for president.
So if
I'm
getting this correct as a party United Wisconsin, so let's say let's just use my former boss for a second Let's say that the Dale shows who shows would hypothetically run for for governor and he said you know what I'm not gonna I've always been a Republican so I'm gonna run as a Republican But I know I never get the Republican nomination so he could run as Republican but a Centrist party Let's just say United, Wisconsin could say well we want Dale Schultz to be our nominee as well and they
He could also nominate Dale.
He could accept that nomination.
So on election day, people that wanted to vote for Dale under the Republican ticket as they have many years ago could do that.
But people that say, I want nothing to do with modern day Republican MAGA politics, but I will vote for Dale based on his record as a United Wisconsin candidate.
And all of the votes for Dale Schultz on both Republican and the United Wisconsin ballot would count for him, not double votes, but but whoever voted under one party and the other.
All those votes would count for Dale.
Do I have that right, Trigby?
You
That is exactly how it will work.
As Lee was pointing out, you know, the Republican Party is the reason the reason that the Republican Party was launched in Wisconsin was fusion voting.
And quite frankly, the irony is the Republican Party and the Democrat Party, after the Republican Party came about, sought to get rid of fusion voting because they understood that it becomes something that allows smaller parties to grow and become a threat.
The two-party system in the US has been a duopoly for the last 150 years.
and it really hasn't been challenged and there are so many obstacles to trying to do that.
I think it's a great point because as you know this as you've traveled around the state what we hear so often from people in Wisconsin is we're just sick of both parties you know we're tired of the fighting and I think fusion voting is a great way and I'll use the cliche
you know to address a problem without throwing the baby out with the bathwater in other words you can you can still have both major parties and people can still run under those under those tickets but there's also this more centrist hypothetically united wisconsin party that that could help bring people together answer me this trigger me as someone who's won elections more than i have so so let's do a person that is nominated by
a fusion party or a centrist party under fusion voting.
Does that person automatically get to advance to the general or do they still have to stand in a primary election?
It doesn't really impact primaries.
So let's say United Wisconsin, you know, nominates Dale and ultimately the Republican Party doesn't in the primary.
He would still be a candidate of United Wisconsin.
But where it really comes into play, United Wisconsin could say, we're going to be a good housekeeping seal of approval on the candidates that are going to stand for the Wisconsin idea, that are going to stand up for public education that's the cornerstone of our small towns.
It's going to stand up for conservation and things like the Mississippi River Partnership and say, you know what?
It's a Republican here.
It's a Democrat there.
And nominate those.
And those candidates could accept that nomination.
So we had one of our listeners, Troy in Mount Hora, listening on WMDX of Madison says, Trig V, why is fusion voting better than ranked choice voting?
Well, I would say this, having worked in a lot of places, both around the world and across the United States, and this is just me personally, I think ranked choice voting becomes very, it becomes kind of confusing for voters, quite frankly.
And I first encountered ranked choice voting working overseas.
And I know they have it in Alaska and some other places.
But the reality is fusion voting is pretty straightforward.
And it has a tendency, I believe, to empower the center of the electorate far more than ranked choice or...
Open primaries jungle primaries and some of the other sort of things and you're kind of seeing that play out across the across the country Right in Alaska where you upper Frank choice in California where you have jungle primaries?
You're really not getting more gravitational pull towards the center what what fusion voting allows is for a party and I think that's what Dale and Lee and Dave Maloney and the others were driving fusion voting are talking about is really
those things that unite people in the center.
And the reality is, if 6% of Wisconsinites said, you know what, we're going to go with fusion parties, and fusion became the law, United Wisconsin becomes that good housekeeping seal of approval.
And in places where you have the Republican and Democrat parties nominating extremist candidates, there's nothing to stop fusion from nominating somebody who's going to stand for the center.
And, you know, theoretically, do you think this could be passed, or not passed, but I guess approved via the court system and ready to go for the 2026 election?
Because the scenario that you just laid out there, you know better than anybody else.
Boy, I mean, even three or 4% of these points, let alone five or six, that's the governor's race right there.
And I think it would cause, it would force the parties to pause.
and think a little bit before they nominate people where both sides are saying, you know, neither choice is great for me.
But it would also give the potential, where I really think that it has the potential to be powerful, is down ballot and state legislative races.
I want to go back to what you just said about giving parties pause before they nominate.
Our mutual friend Bill McCoschian, Republican strategist, former Thomson administration official, Tommy Thomson administration official was on this show.
I lost track of time a week or two ago.
Whatever evers dropped out.
And McCoschian said, for our side, quote unquote, meaning the Republican side, that the Trump endorsement in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race is everything.
that basically whoever Trump nominates, that's going to be a Republican nominee, which to me is completely undifficult.
Because really, they're all whether it's Tom Tiffany, he's probably going to get it, and got Josh Showman from Washington County Executive, you got Barry and the so-called business guy, and who else knows who's going to get in.
But these folks that they really care about Wisconsin voters, all they really care about is Donald Trump.
Here's the thing.
I mean I've said this before Todd and I I am of the understanding you alluded to this when you were talking to Bill There's three people that I've said so far Maybe they'll be some more that I would walk back to Wisconsin To help them if they ran for governor to knock on doors Bill MacCosh and being one of them killed the Roy's those who are listening She's another one.
They couldn't be further apart on a lot of political things, but I'll tell you what
Both of them, along with Ben,
who's
They're going to stand up for the University of Wisconsin system because they understand that job creators like Epic are a result of the computer science school at the UW.
They understand that the University of Wisconsin-O'Claire is the driver.
of the essential driver of the economy and is producing future doctors through their partnership with Mayo Clinic.
I mean, Mayo Clinic that we learned about when we talked to Jim Schmidt, right?
They get that.
They get that the public schools are the cornerstones of our small communities.
They get that conservation is critical, whether you're somebody who cares about the environment or you're somebody who cares about the environment because you want good places to fish and hunt.
Like yeah Go ahead No, I mean
that's the key We're gonna want to pick that up more with Trigby Olsen senior advisor the Lincoln Project also of United, Wisconsin after this come on back we're live in the banks the Black River in La Crosse, Wisconsin across Wisconsin on the civic media Ready Network
you're listening to civic media find the latest news information and archives of all your favorite shows on the civic media website civic media dot US
Blasting out of Trig V. Olsen's cassette deck in his 1978 Buick as he went through the streets of downtown La Crosse during Octoberfest.
That's the music from the tape deck back in the day.
Did you ever drive down from well Clare to La Crosse to party Trig V. Olsen as he joins us from across the pond as they say in
I
We are live on location.
Viterbo.
Viterbo, yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
What?
That's it?
Yeah.
Black River Beach, the neighborhood center is where we are at on the banks of the Black River.
That is the backwaters of the Mississippi River here in beautiful lacrosse, Wisconsin.
We're here covering the Fusion Voting Seminar sponsored by United Wisconsin, of which Trig V. Olsen is a part and also Leader Ethics.
You can find today's forum if you missed it at LeaderEthics.us.
LeaderEthics.us.
It really was a really great one hour seminar.
It's a quick watch.
You learn a lot.
Lee Rosh was there.
Dale Schultz was there.
Other people as well.
And would encourage you to do that.
Trigby, you're being joined by your assistant now in Overseas, the lovely and talented Oula.
She called me and I thought she was an AI because her UK accent was so good.
She's like, this is Mr. Olson's assistant.
you?
You can say Todd, because we're live on the air.
All right, thanks.
Have a great day.
All right, very good.
show.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate that.
Trigby, I want to give you thoughts on this here before we let you go.
Because right before the end there, you were really doing, in my opinion, a great job of saying what
Canada anybody wants to win in Wisconsin next year for governor or any other race in Wisconsin the core issues that people believe in our colleague our friend Jane Matt Nair on Matt Nair on air this morning along with Greg Bach under their show had Joseph Pecky Democratic strategist of course he ran for the chairmanship of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin lost to the close race to Devon a Remaker but the Pecky said this but he brought this up on Jane's show this morning and the Pecky said look Donald Trump ran on lowering prices and
bettering the economy neither one of those things are true six months in plus two as to his presidency and Democrats would be wise to keep focused on those two things and reminding voters in the state that what Donald Trump ran on was a lie and it's not coming true and not getting distracted by what's that what's that woman's name the gene woman Zoe Zoe is singular I well what is it Zombers do you remember what it is
It's the hot thing right now.
But I know I don't follow this.
She's a
The topic is a hot thing, but yeah, I guess if you bet if you bat for that team That's also a thing is this young model who's who says she's a conservative and got into an
there Sidney Sweeney got into this jeans ad and now and now the left is the far left is all up and arms over this.
Oh my gosh She's wearing jeans and she has an ad campaign and and social influencers on the left
This is real.
I showed the Zomers this I think yesterday that there is one influencer on the left who is who is guilt going after this campaign
simply because it's blue jeans and how blue jeans were repressive to blacks in this country and yes if you go way back to the indigo and the cotton trade you could find some some interesting and unfortunate history but to somehow connect that with american eagle and this campaign i think that's bonkers and it's exactly why it's so easy for maga and donald trump to look at the other side and say see how crazy these people are i think the pecky's right uh uh trick me
he's right.
Yeah, sorry, I'll trouble my motorcycles, those crash rocket
It might be crazy.
The bottom line is the economy is not getting better.
The engine that drives the economy in a place like Wisconsin is things like our public education system, the University of Wisconsin system, conservation in the environment and Main Street business, right?
Like that's what drives the economy is the workforce is driven by that sense of community and the education and the bottom line is
the center of the electric cares about that.
They don't really care about the blue jean stuff and falling into that trap is just a waste of time.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
I really was appreciating what Zappecki was saying on Matynair on air this morning.
We encourage everybody to go back and listen to that podcast.
Listen to Jane and Greg's entire interview with Joseph Pecki because I think he's absolutely
the way, Todd.
Yeah.
Oh for goodness sake, are you serious?
By the way, for people who haven't seen it, there's a, I don't know if it's the Netflix or HBO or one of those streaming things.
If you have kids like who was age, you have a gajillion of them.
Anyway, there's a really amazing movie about what went on at Ohio State.
when Jim Jordan was there amazing in an unfortunate way watch that and not yeah in a really bad way but like I don't know how you can watch that without being incredibly sympathetic and and come away thinking that Jim Jordan is even a remotely good human being
No, he's a terrible individual, and the fact that Derek Van Orden wants to associate him with him is ridiculous.
And on the way up here, and I was driving by Bangor, and there's a digital billboard with Van Orden's picture that says Van Orden, release all the Epstein files.
So there's that.
Well, they should.
Right?
Exactly.
All right.
Be well over there.
Give the family
Well, come on back, we'll give you a quick answer to that.
Once versus next, an hour or two we're livin' across on the Civic Media Ready Network.
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.
