Eau Claire County Democratic Party Coffee Klatch Notes Thursday, August 27, 2020 Present: Carol Craig, Jan & Lou Frase, Ann Heywood, Linda Ladolce, Dennis Myhre, Mike O’Brien, Linda Norton, Connie Russell, Jeff Smith, Tate Williams

UPCOMING EVENTS Coffee Klatch – Thursday, September 3, 10 a.m. – Noon via Zoom Let Carol Craig know if you have suggestions for guest speakers who would be knowledgeable resources for providing information about current issues. Video conferencing eliminates travel time, making it easier to have guests from beyond the local area. Campaign Nonviolence Action Week – September 19 – 27 to celebrate the International Day of Peace, Sept. 21. Look for updates in the E-News of events happening that week. Absentee Voting – September 1: The Elections Commission will be mailing information about voting in November to approximately 2.6 million registered Wisconsin voters who have not already requested an absentee ballot. The information packet will include an absentee request form and a postage-paid reply envelope September 17: Deadline for Clerks to mail absentee ballots for November 3 (47 days before) to registered voters with requests on file WPEN - The Wisconsin Public Education Network’s Online Workshop Series: See Link for details of the #VotePublicAction workshops on these dates, all on Thursdays from 3 – 5 p.m. Sept. 3 – Messaging & Media Nov. 19 – After the Election: Legislative Advocacy Sept. 17 – Back to School: Get the Facts Basics Oct. 15 – GOTV Strategies Dec. 17 – Local Level Action: Statewide Impact RECOMMENDED READING Book: It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump (August, 2020) by Stuart Stevens. An insider’s testimony on how the Republican party submitted to greed and power. Stevens demonstrates convincingly that the GOP is hollowed out, overtly racist, and existing only to perpetuate power in a country growing less White every day. DISCUSSION Welcome Tate! Tate introduced himself. He is going into his third year at UW Eau Claire as a Political Science/Spanish major. He’s from Sparta, WI and will be an intern at the Resource Center working with Gloria Hochstein. ELECTIONS: The group spent some time reviewing which Assembly and Senate seats are critical to win in this election. All are encouraged to throw their support and whatever donations they can to Democrats running locally, as well as to Democrats running in open seats where incumbents opted to not to run. Particularly, look at: AD 68: Emily Berge running against Jesse James AD 91: Jody Emerson (Incumbent); Charlie Walker is the Republican challenger AD 93: Charlie Warner running against Warren Petry AD 29: John Rocco Calabrese vs (this was ’s seat) AD 67: Chris Kapsner is running against Rob Summerfield (I) AD 69: Brian Gilles vs Donna Rozar (Bob Kulp (R) is not running for re-election) AD 92: Amanda WhiteEagle is running against Treig pronschinske (I) SD 10: Patty Schachtner (incumbent); Rob Stafsholt is challenging Patty SD 14: Joni Anderson vs (Luther Olsen isn’t running for reelection) SD 18: Aaron Wojciechowski is running against SD 24: Paul Piotrowski is running against SD 30: Jonathon Hansen vs ( (D) isn’t running for re-election; Jon is his nephew) SD 32: is running against ( (D) is not running for re-election) 1

Gerrymandering It is imperative that the Republicans do not gain the 3 seats in each chamber that they need to have a Veto-Proof majority, which would stop Governor Evers from vetoing another partisan redistricting process and start the process of moving to a non-partisan process, something similar to the Iowa model. Partisan gerrymandering results in having representatives who are not responsive. For example, Jeff Smith meets regularly with all 22 school superintendents in the 31st Senate District, which includes schools in Petryk’s gerrymandered 93rd district. Warren doesn’t respond -- disappointing.

Voting The City of Eau Claire will be having drop-off boxes at Festival Foods stores, in addition to the two boxes at City hall downtown.

Party Politics Platforms – The RNC has apparently abdicated its role in setting the direction for the party and just succumbed to being a Cult of Personality and reverting to running on a campaign of Fear – Safety and Taxes. The misleading ad showing Biden saying he will raise taxes, was actually his response to a wealthy woman. Biden’s plan does not target the middle class. The Democratic platform is about fair taxes and unbiased law enforcement. RNC Convention – The fact-checkers were busy during the 4 nights of misleading, dishonest, ironic hyperbole. Trump, Jr. reminded the base on how quickly his father acted to address the coronavirus, Tim Scott accused Biden of wanting to incarcerate more Black Americans, the gun-totin’ MCloskeys claimed Biden will abolish the suburbs, and Trump said it’s the Democrats who want to get rid of the Postal Service. Eric Trump asserted that Biden wants to defund the police. take away everybody’s guns, give amnesty and free health care to undocumented immigrants, and much more. BLM -- The continuing protests are escalating the notion that we need law and order, when the call is for better policing. The recent tragedies in Kenosha provide a stark reminder of the difference between how black suspects are treated vs white. Kenosha law enforcement not only failed to apprehend an armed 17-year-old Illinois boy who shot protesters, killing two, but thanked him and others for their assistance. White supremacist groups calling themselves militia should be called what they are, gangs, and need to be held accountable. In an unprecedented move, pro sports players are taking action in support of Black Lives Matter by refusing to play some games. Real celebrities may have the power to counter the reality show celebrity in the White House. It is notable that both police and pro sports associations have spoken out against racial injustice. Hatch Act – Many watchdog groups assailed the Trump Administration’s use of tax-payer funded events and venues for the RNC, a violation of the Hatch Act. But, it’s not likely to be enforced. The President is in charge of enforcing that law. Tariff War – this hurt Wisconsin’s dairy industry, but it’s difficult to be assured that farmers voters will turn away from Trump in November. The large urban areas of Wisconsin will still be the crucial voters to turn out.

Campaigning Knocking on doors and getting signs out is still possible, if campaigners are wearing masks and keeping the six-foot distance. But, people are still reporting that signs are being stolen and people living in condominiums often are not allowed to display political signs on the property. What will energize young voters? Try to reach young people in smaller cities outside of Milwaukee and Madison and the college towns. Use social media and/or communication that focuses on issues important to younger folks, such as student loan debt, which is a constraint for middle-aged graduates as well. Student Loan Debt See: Student Debt Task Force and its Final Report released on August 18. One of the eight recommendations listed in the report contains possibilities for helping students refinance their loans. Messaging: Why is Defunding the Police considered a threat and Defunding Public Education isn’t? One of the functions of good government should be consumer protection and reasonable market regulation.

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COVID and Sports There was discussion about the recent protests by the Regis football team and their parents objecting to a County Public Health Order that would persuade the school administration to cancel or postpone a high-risk contact sport for the Fall season, as some other districts have done. Athletics is often perceived as the “heart and soul” of a school’s community and a key driver of school scheduling for any district, as is transportation. The WIAA, however, ducked the issue by advising districts to do whatever they deemed best in their given local situations. Some lamented the FDA giving in to political pressure on its new rules regarding testing. Public Health decisions should be science-based, but this has become a partisan issue dividing our communities.

LET’S HEAR IT FOR OPTIMISM! We need to flip a fairly small percentage of voters in a few states to end this dark period and start to bring our country and the world back into the light.

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