Author: Scott Bauer

Republican U.S. Representative Glenn Grothman said on March 3 he will run for a sixth term next year representing east-central Wisconsin, despite promising when he first ran not to serve more than a decade in Congress. Grothman, 67, said in a telephone interview that he is campaigning and raising money for a sixth term. “That’s the plan right now,” Grothman said when asked if he was running again. “It’s not something we’ve thought a lot about. … I’ve talked to a lot of people over the past few months. Nobody has told me I shouldn’t run again.” He made...

A newly released audio recording offers a behind-the-scenes look at how former President Donald Trump’s campaign team in a pivotal battleground state knew they had been outflanked by Democrats in the 2020 presidential election. But even as they acknowledged defeat, they pivoted to allegations of widespread fraud that were ultimately debunked, repeatedly, by elections officials and the courts. The audio from November 5, 2020, two days after the election, is surfacing as Trump again seeks the White House while continuing to lie about the legitimacy of the outcome and Democrat Joe Biden’s win. The Wisconsin political operatives in the...

Tony Earl, a Democrat who served one term as Wisconsin’s governor in the 1980s and later bemoaned the increasing partisanship in politics, has died. He was 86. Earl, a champion of gay rights and a staunch environmentalist, died on February 23 “peacefully surrounded by family,” his daughter Julia Earl said in a statement. Earl had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke earlier this week. “A formidable leader and public servant, trusted colleague and mentor, and a good and loyal friend, Tony was well-liked and respected by so many “A formidable leader and public servant, trusted colleague and mentor, and...

A liberal Milwaukee judge and a conservative former state Supreme Court justice won the primary on February 21 to face off in a pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court race that will determine majority control with major issues looming. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz and ex-Justice Dan Kelly were the top two vote-getters in a four-candidate field and advance to the April 4 general election. Conservatives currently hold a 4-3 majority on the court and have controlled the court for 15 years. But an open seat this year gives liberals a chance to take the majority with issues like abortion...

A Wisconsin judge recently considered whether to make clear that local election officials can accept absentee ballots missing parts of a witnesses address, the latest legal fight in the battleground state where Republicans oppose the acceptance of partial addresses. The case was brought by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin last fall, weeks before the midterm election. The crux of the lawsuit, and another similar pending case, rests with how much of a witness address needs to be present in order for an absentee ballot to count. Wisconsin law says if the witness address is missing, the ballot...

Governor Tony Evers recently proposed that counties and more than two dozen large cities in Wisconsin be allowed to ask voters to raise the sales tax to pay for local services such as police and fire protection and road repairs. He first unveiled a proposal to change how local governments are funded in his State of the State speech last month. Evers, a Democrat, wants to fund local governments with 20% of the state sales tax, or 1 cent of the 5-cent sales tax charged per dollar spent. That amounts to about $576 million in the first year, with...