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GREEN bills

Dems propose climate change legislation that builds on Evers’ green energy plan

Milwaukee Dems Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde and Sen. Chris Larson presented a framework for future legislation building on Gov. Tony Evers’ clean energy plan.

The lawmakers, joined by climate advocates from Citizen Action Wisconsin, said yesterday the developing package will be introduced during the next legislative session. Moore Omokunde praised Evers’ clean energy plan and said he and Larson aim to codify tenets of the plan into law.

The climate proposal includes measures to: *Set greenhouse gas emissions standards for 2030 and 2050 to comply with the Paris Climate Accords; *Transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy; and *Establish a program to hire workers displaced by the transition to renewable energy with long-term, green energy jobs.

Also included are previously introduced bills that did not receive a hearing in the GOP-run Legislature. The bills aim to help Wisconsinites save on energy costs, particularly those struggling the most from the effects of climate change.

Larson noted the storms in Wisconsin this week and severe weather across the country to demonstrate the severity of climate change.

“This is a constant reminder from the planet that we have altered the ecosystem to a point where we need to be doing something about it to address the existential crisis of climate change,” Larson said.

Cruz calls Wisconsin ‘pivotal battleground’

Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz will be in Milwaukee on Saturday, headlining an event meant to mobilize Republican voters ahead of the midterms.

“It absolutely underscores that Wisconsin is a pivotal battleground,” Cruz said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “It has been a perennial purple state. It is a battleground. The road to a Senate majority comes through Wisconsin.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is expected to speak at the Saturday event as well.

“Ron, I believe, is going to win,” Cruz said. “But it’s going to be a close and contested race, and reelecting Ron Johnson is a big part of the way that Republicans retake the Senate, and I think we’ll retake the House as well.”

Cruz wouldn’t speculate on his 2024 ambitions as he promises to campaign in key battlegrounds ahead of November.

“I’ll tell you my focus is 2022,” Cruz said. “Between now and Election Day, I’m going to be on the road almost nonstop campaigning in closely contested races for the Senate, closely contested races for the House.”

The head of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin says all legal options are on the table if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Judge fines Gableman for ‘unprofessional behavior’

A Dane County judge is fining Michael Gableman’s office $2,000 a day — the maximum allowed — for a “pattern of intentional disobedience” in defying to fully comply with an open records request.

Judge Frank Remington also referred Gableman to the Office of Lawyer Regulation to review what he referred to as the former justice’s “unprofessional behavior.” Among other things, Remington wrote in yesterday’s order Gableman made misogynistic comments about a fellow attorney.

A live microphone captured comments Gableman made during a recess in Friday’s hearing sarcastically impersonating the judge and suggesting that American Oversight attorney Christa Westerberg could “come back into my chamber” so she could dictate what she wanted. Remington called Gableman’s behavior an “affront to the legal system” and denounced his “sophomoric innuendo” that Westerberg wasn’t capable of litigating without the help of a judge.

“The circus Gableman created in the courtroom destroyed any sense of decorum and irreparably damaged the public’s perception of the judicial process,” Remington wrote.

WASB won’t renew membership in national organization

The Wisconsin Association of School Boards has voted not to renew membership in the national organization over concerns about its governance structure, fiscal management, and “failure to prioritize and serve state school board associations.”

In a message to lawmakers late Monday, the WASB wrote many of its concerns “pre-date last fall’s events,” when the National School Boards Association sent a

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letter to President Biden seeking help from the federal government in response to threats of violence and intimidation aimed at school board members. The letter added some of the actions could be classified as “domestic terrorism” or hate crimes.

The group later apologized to members, but the WASB in November withdrew from participation in the national organization’s programs, activities and lobbying efforts. The WASB couldn’t terminate its membership at the time because it had already paid dues and there was no mechanism for a refund, the state organization said at the time.

In Monday’s message, the WASB wrote those actions “needlessly harmed school board relationships and inflamed partisan tensions.”

The WASB Board of Directors voted on Friday not to renew its membership for the 2022-23 school year, and more than half of the nation’s state school board organizations have distanced themselves from the NSBA or dropped their membership.

Wikler: Dems will offer sharp contrast to GOP at convention

State Dem Chair Ben Wikler cites a noticeable difference at his party’s convention this weekend compared to Republicans’ May event.

Dems aren’t trying to eat their own.

With no endorsement process, little drama is expected when Dems gather in La Crosse Saturday and Sunday ahead of the midterm elections. They also don’t have nearly as many incumbents facing primary challenges — 13 Republicans to just one Dem — and there aren’t debates over whether to decertify the 2020 election results or admonish a party leader.

Instead, Wikler says the public will see a party that’s fired up and unified.

“It really is a study in contrast with the Republican Party where politicians and activists are eating their own,” Wikler said in a new WisPolitics.com interview. “For Democrats, it’s clear we’re a party united by our values, which are Wisconsin values.”

It’s also a party facing a major headwind blowing out of Washington, D.C. President Biden’s job approval numbers nationally have been in the upper 30s and low 40s, while gas prices have set a string of record highs with little relief in sight and inflation is a persistent problem. It has Republicans talking up the chances of a “red tsunami.”

But Wilker sees a series of flawed GOP candidates on the ballot this fall. The Republican primary for guv is “brutal” with the candidates “all leapfrogging each other into the right-wing fear swamp.” U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, is a “uniquely problematic candidate” who has “served himself at every turn and abandoned Wisconsinites.” And 3rd CD Republican Derrick Van Orden is “one of the most toxic nominees in Wisconsin” who’s on probation for trying to bring a gun on a plane, is accused of yelling at a young librarian over an LGBTQ book display and used campaign funds to travel to the Jan. 6 violent protest at the U.S. Capitol.

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