April 2022 News From Paca County Blue

Waupaca County Democratic Party

Next meeting: 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 14

At headquarters, 401 S. Bridge St., Manawa, WI, 54949

Nonmembers and members welcome

Website: Waupacademocrats.com

Email: Waupacademocrats@gmail.com

Contents in order as you scroll:

Just the Facts: Court settles on GOP maps

Just the Facts: Gallagher votes against capping insulin costs

Just the Facts: Union votes win at Amazon, Starbucks

Pheasants and brook trout and Evers, oh, my

Honoring Clif Morton

Ongoing fundraiser through Staples

Paca Blue alums elected

Paca Blue volunteers get busy

Meeting highlights, April 9, 2022

Donations to aid Ukraine

Salute to Service Members

Local celebrations and gatherings

Quote of the Month

Poem of the Month

For further information

JUST THE FACTS

Court settles on GOP maps

On April 15 the Wisconsin Supreme Court declared valid the redrawn state legislative boundaries after the U.S. Supreme Court declared on March 23 that the maps were still not race-neutral. Gov. Tony Evers (D-Wis.) called the decision outrageous. “This court had clearly and decisively rejected the Legislature’s maps prior to this case being considered by the Supreme Court of the United States, and today, they have backtracked on that decision, upholding the very maps they had previously found to unlawfully ‘pack’ Black voters,” he said in a statement.

The current maps have six state Assembly districts in Milwaukee that are majority Black. Evers’ maps added a seventh. The maps now approved, drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature, have only five.

State Supreme Court Jill Karofsky, writing for the minority, said the Legislature’s maps “fare no better than the Governor’s under the U.S. Supreme Court’s rationale.”

Earlier on April 15, the Wisconsin Elections Commission cautioned that even after any maps are approved, “staff will need time to review, validate, and implement the decision in the WisVote system,” said Riley Vetterkind, public information officer.

June 1 is the deadline to file as a candidate for the August 9 partisan primary. Anyone interested in being a candidate can get help about rules and filing regulations from the Democratic staff at the 8th Congressional District Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/

Summarized from Associated Press; Wisconsin Elections Committee

JUST THE FACTS

Gallagher votes against capping insulin prices

On March 31, 2022, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis 8) voted against capping the cost of insulin, which is a product used by some people with diabetes. The bill, which passed in the House and moved to the Senate, would limit insulin cost at $35 per month or 25% of a health-insurance plan’s negotiated price (after any price concessions), whichever is less, beginning in 2023.

Twelve GOP congressmen voted for the bill; none were from Wisconsin. Now named S.3700, the bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. Neither Wisconsin senator sits on that committee.

gov.track.us — “H.R.6833 — 117th Congress: Affordable Insulin Now Act” https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202299

JUST THE FACTS

Union efforts successful at Amazon, Starbucks

In a first for Amazon, one of the largest employers in the United States, warehouse workers in Staten Island, N.Y., voted on April 1 to unionize. The

Amazon Labor Union is “an independent, worker-led movement for job security, union pay, better working conditions, and worker power and dignity at Amazon.com, Inc.” its website says.

The Amazon win follows at least 20 Starbucks that unionized in 2021- 2022. On April 8, the Appleton Starbucks at 631 Northland Ave. petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a union representation election. In the 8th Congressional District, the Green Bay area has one Amazon warehouse. Numerous Starbucks are scattered from Green Bay through the Fox Valley, plus one in Waupaca.

amazonlaborunion.org; NPR.org; wearegreenbay.com; wikipedia.org

Sign petitions at HQ for candidate nominations

Several state and federal candidates have provided nomination petitions to be signed at the Waupaca County Dems office, 401 S. Bridge St., Manawa. Or petitions can be taken out to collect signatures. Sign at the office from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays through May 14.

Petitions available for U.S. senator, in alphabetical order:

Mandela Barnes, https://mandelabarnes.com/nominationpapers/

Sarah Godlewski, https://sarahforwisconsin.com/

Alex Lasry, https://alexlasry.com/

Adam Murphy, https://murphyforwi.com/

Petitions available for Wisconsin statewide offices:

Tony Evers, governor (incumbent), tonyevers.com

Douglas La Follette, secretary of state (incumbent), douglafollette.com Josh Kaul, state attorney general (incumbent), joshkaul.org

Pheasants and brook trout and Evers, oh my

The Kansas-based Hunter Nation claimed that Gov. Tony Evers (D Wis.) doesn’t care about Wisconsin traditions after he vetoed bills that would have increased stocking of ring-necked pheasants and brook trout and would have allowed more hunting of captive, non-native animals. But outdoors columnist Paul A. Smith of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel praised Evers for rejecting bills that weren’t funded, ignored science, and ignored the wishes of Wisconsin conservation groups.

Summarized from Appleton Post-Crescent, April 8, 2022

Photo by Maggie Thompson

Party member Dean Sauers presented the Leopold bench on April 09 at the monthly party meeting.

Honoring the late Clif Morton

A memorial open house for Clifton (Clif, Kip) Morton, who died in January, will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 25, at E8710 Cut Off Rd., New London, Wis. The retired educator was serving in the post of past chair of the Waupaca County Dems, tracking convention dates and meeting laws, acting as merchandise manager, and more.

In a separate memorial to Morton, the county party will place a

biodegradable wooden Leopold bench in Waupaca Eco Park. At the April meeting, party member L. Dean Sauers presented the bench, named after famed conservationist Aldo Leopold. Sauers explained its design: It can be used as regular bench seating, or, for instance, birdwatchers can place their legs through the back opening while propping elbows on the back to steady binoculars.

The Eco Park, 1534 Webster Way, is north of the intersection of Hwy. 10 and Hwy. 22 North, off Commercial Drive. The placement has been approved by the City of Waupaca and will be installed by them, date to be determined. Morton’s wife, Connie, is preparing a memorial plaque for the bench.

Easy fundraiser through Staples

Ink and toner cartridges donated at Paca County Dems HQ in Manawa will be recycled at Staples by a rewards member. The proceeds, $2 per cartridge, will be used to buy office supplies. The office will be open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays from April 23 through the November elections.

Paca Blue alums elected

—Austin Hammond, a former vice-chair of the Waupaca County Democrats, defeated incumbent Mark Langdon in a nonpartisan election on April 5, 2022, for a seat on the Menasha Common Council (city council).

—Joni Anderson, who lost to Joan Ballweg for State Senate District 14 in 2020, was elected to the Adams County School Board in the April election. Anderson is a former member of the Waupaca Dems.

Voter phone bank activates,

office volunteers get organized

Office volunteers on 18 April organized a list of light duties and made arrangements to staff the office on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. from April 23 through the November election. The important part of the office job is to greet visitors with a smile. Some work assignments are optional, or the volunteers can chat, knit, or play cribbage, Party Chair Stu Walter said. The Get Out the Vote crew (GOTV), with team leader Robert Forsyth, made about 300 phonecalls on the weekend before the April 5 nonpartisan election. Next to organize will be sign makers, button makers and other groups.

Any volunteer-in-waiting can email waupacademocrats@gmail.com to learn about opportunities.

Meeting Highlights, April 9, 2022

— Chair Stu Walter announced the 8th Congressional District convention on May 1. (Delegate lists must be sent to the district by April 22. Resolutions offered by paid members and presented by the county party must be submitted by April 24.) Contact waupacademocrats@gmail.com.

— The post of vice chair is empty and needs to be filled by a volunteer. — Trudi Pickett protested the singles discrimination in the membership fees for the Democratic Party.

Summarized from minutes by Barb Kobs, secretary;

Donations to aid Ukraine, USO

Kharkiv. Mariopul. Bucha. New names have entered the lexicon of war in the two months since February 24, 2022, when Vladimir Putin started Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine. Since 2014, Russia has also claimed and occupied Crimea and the Donbas region. Two long-established charities that are offering aid are the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.

The United States, in response to the current invasion, has built its European presence to 100,000 troops, the highest since 2005, Stars and Stripes reported online on March 14, 2022. A donation to the nonprofit USO would help bring links from home to the American troops.

Salute to Service Members

—End of the Persian Gulf War, April 6, 1991. Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. A coalition force, including U.S. troops, liberated Kuwait by February 28, 1991. On April 6, the official cease-fire was accepted and signed.

history.state.gov, Office of the Historian; infoplease.com

—Among military-related anniversaries coming in early May: May 6, 1941, Bob Hope’s first show for the United Service Organizations (USO), a radio broadcast from an Army Air Corps base, March Field, Riverside, Calif. The British-American actor, 87, made his last USO tour in 1990, visiting service members deployed during Operation Desert Shield.

uso.org, britannica.com

Local celebrations and gatherings

(through mid-May)

—Earth Day, April 22, which originated in 1970 in a bi-partisan effort led by Wisconsin’s Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson.

—Cinco de Mayo, May 5, celebrating Mexico’s victory over the French Empire in 1862.

—Mother’s Day, May 8

—Iola-wide Rummage sale, May 19-21

Quote of the month

Elliott Roosevelt (1910-1990) served as a military aide to his father during many of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s World War II conferences with the Allies. In the younger Roosevelt’s 1946 book, As He Saw It, he closes with a declaration about the relationship of citizens to successful democracy:

“We who are sovereign, we who are American citizens, must help if any President is to be a great President. If Franklin Roosevelt was a great President, it was — in the main — thanks to the articulated intelligence of the American people during his terms in the White House.”

Poem of the month

In 1961, Democrat John F. Kennedy was the first American president to invite a poet to speak at his inauguration. Robert Frost (1874-1963), unable to read the poem he wrote for the occasion because of sun glare, instead recited “The Gift Outright.” But an excerpt from his intended poem, “Dedication,” makes a point about where poetry belongs.

“Summoning artists to participate

In the august occasions of the state

Seems something artists ought to celebrate.

…A golden age of poetry and power

Of which this noonday’s the beginning hour.”

Complete poem at jfklibrary.org, courtesy of the St. Lawrence University Archives

For further info

8th Congressional District, https://www.facebook.com/groups/8thcddemgroup Democratic Party of Wisconsin, www.wisdems.org

National Democratic Committee, www.democrats.org

www.ballotpedia.org

https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/

Newsletter copyright 2022, Waupaca County Democratic Party