“Dan Kelly wrote that it’s fine for judges to mislead the public and to benefit from dishonest ads in their campaigns before he was appointed as a judge,” said Browne. “On the bench and in his campaign he’s shown he believes what he wrote.”

Kelly’s missive, written in 2008 with his current court colleague Rebecca Bradley and two other conservative attorneys, was in response to the effort of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee to keep candidates from producing, or benefitting from others, misleading and underhanded campaign advertising. Just weeks after the article was published, conservative Supreme Court candidate Michael Gableman ran an outrageously racist and misleading television ad against his opponent, resulting in ethics charges that he violated the Judicial Code of Conduct with his actions.

In the article, Kelly and his associates opined, “… the pledge will force candidates to choose between exercising their free speech rights as they see fit and facing a possible scolding by the committee” and that “Vigorous public discussion and debate will be stifled.”

Browne noted in his campaign and on the bench, Kelly has been less than forthcoming with the public on multiple occasions – seeking to scrub years of controversial blog posts from the internet after being appointed to the court and hiding the support of an extremist groups that want to outlaw all abortion and most birth control and threaten doctors, nurses and others with felonies for providing abortions.

Kelly has also raised questions about his commitment to keeping corruption out of the courtroom by opposing efforts to strengthen rules for judges on when they should remove themselves from cases because of conflicts of interest. The current standards were adopted in 2010 by a conservative court majority and were literally written by special interests that spent millions of dollars to help elect them. The lax current standards are also supported by a right-wing group with whom Kelly has regularly sided while on the bench and whose board of directors contributed over $14,000 to Kelly’s campaign in the last six months of 2019.

“Conducting campaigns with integrity need not be chimerical, but it will take a commitment from candidates to be honest and forthright. Based on his writings and actions it seems Dan Kelly is not that guy,” Browne concluded.

“Borrowers know what the student loan debt crisis means to them and their families,” commented One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne. “But the impact of the student debt crisis reaches far beyond just the borrowers, it’s stifling our entire state economy. Gov. Evers is right to be looking for ways to help.”

According to Executive Order #67 signed by Gov. Evers, the Secretary of the Department of Financial Institutions will, working with experts and advocates, develop “long-term strategies to reduce education-related debt, prevent abusive practices by loan companies, and improve financial literacy education.”

Data from The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) finds student loan debt remains a significant burden for Wisconsin graduates. The state ranks in the top ten in the nation for the percentage of class of 2018 graduates with student loans, and the average debt of nearly $32,000 exceeds the national average.

Numerous studies, including the original research by One Wisconsin Institute dating to 2012, have found that student debt depresses economic activity including new car purchases and rates of home ownership. Research also finds the crisis is multi-generational and negatively impacts the ability of borrowers to save for their retirement or a child’s education.

Despite the dire debt situation, Republicans in control of the state legislature have blocked measures intended to help borrowers. During the 2019 state budget deliberations, Republicans rejected proposals to create a state-based plan to help borrowers refinance student loans, just like you can with a mortgage, and to increase the amount of funding for financial aid by five percent to help address the backlog of students eligible for financial aid but receiving none.

“Higher education and technical training should be a pathway to prosperity, but for too many hard working Wisconsinites it’s instead leaving them buried in debt. Gov. Evers is working to deliver help and hopefully, this time, Republicans will join in with Democrats to be part of the solution.”

“It sure looks like Dan Kelly is trying to hide his extreme views from the people of Wisconsin, again,” commented One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne. “This time it’s his dangerously radical view that most birth control should be illegal and abortion ought to be banned in every instance, even if a woman’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.”

Kelly’s latest far right-wing supporters want to amend the Wisconsin State Constitution with a proposal that would have the effect of outlawing almost all forms of birth control, ban all abortions including for victims of rape and when the woman’s life is endangered. Analyses of similar efforts in other states suggest the changes would likely ban in vitro fertilization, stem cell research and could even result in police investigations of miscarriages.

Kelly has not disclosed this group’s support on his website or any of his social media channels.

Browne noted that Kelly hiding the support of the right-wing group and his endorsement of their radical agenda fits a pattern of Kelly trying to keep his extremism from the public.

Kelly attempted to hide years of controversial blog posts he authored from the public by having them scrubbed from the site in 2016. Research by One Wisconsin Now uncovered dozens of posts authored by Kelly between 2012 and 2015 in which he expressed extreme views on social and economic issues. When asked, a campaign spokesperson admitted the posts were scrubbed from the blog at Kelly’s request.

Kelly has even claimed, in a conversation with a reporter, that it would be inappropriate for him to discuss his political views in any way. His protestation comes despite the fact his campaign is literally housed in the headquarters of the Republican Party of Wisconsin and he appears at GOP-sponsored events.

“Dan Kelly isn’t just WILL’s shill on the court, siding with them in every case they’ve argued in front of him,” commented One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne. “He’s also the recipient of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the board of directors running the organization.”

In newly filed campaign finance reports, covering the last six months of 2019, Kelly reported snagging $10,000 from Michael White, $1,000 from Michael Grebe and $1,500 from James T. Barry. All three sit on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.

Earlier in 2019, Kelly’s finance report from in July revealed that he took two $1,000 contributions from WILL board members Grebe and Barry during and immediately after he was considering a case they argued before him. Kelly sided with WILL in the controversial case and joined the opinion reversing a 2016 ruling of the state high court.

A review of court records by One Wisconsin Now found that in six cases that have come before Kelly in which WILL has represented a litigant, Kelly has ruled consistent with WILL’s client.

As a member of the Supreme Court Kelly also sided with WILL in opposing changes to the rules about when judges should not hear cases because of conflicts of interest, proposed by over 50 retired state judges.

Before taking the money from WILL board members, Kelly also served on an advisory board for the group’s legal strategy and worked as legal counsel, including overseeing grant making, for an organization that has donated millions of dollars to WILL.

“Dan Kelly and his campaign supporters would use a 19th century law to threaten doctors, nurses and others with felonies for providing women with health care,” commented Browne. “That’s not just extreme, it’s dangerous.”

In the 2019 race for the state high court, the candidate questionnaire for WRTL asked a single yes or no question: do you favor a reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade?

A state law dating to the 19th century makes performing an abortion a felony criminal offense in Wisconsin. That law became unenforceable with the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to access abortion.

Overturning the 1973 Roe decision, as supported by WRTL, would mean that abortion would again be criminalized. Doctors, nurses and others would be threatened with felonies for helping a woman have an abortion in almost every circumstance, even pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

This is not the first time the extremists at WRTL made a push to put Kelly on the state high court. In his 2016 application for appointment to the Supreme Court Kelly included a letter of recommendation from WRTL’s executive director in which she touted legal work he did for the organization as a private practice attorney.

“A top Trump campaign aide flat out said suppressing votes has been a Republicans strategy to win,” commented One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne. “This right-wing voter roll purge that targets communities that supported Democrats sure looks like it’s part of the ‘playing offense’ strategy a top Trump campaign aide vowed they would pursue.”

Comparing data from the Elections Commission reveals that Donald Trump lost the ten largest communities in terms of the numbers of voters subject to the purge by over 270,000 votes in 2016:

The voter roll purge could also come in time to impact the election bid of right wing state Supreme Court candidate Dan Kelly. In fact, the right-wing Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that brought the suit is arguing the state Supreme Court on which Kelly currently sits should take up their case immediately.

“The right wing and Republicans in Wisconsin have time and again rigged the rules on voting to try to give themselves and their allies like Dan Kelly an unfair electoral advantage,” said One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne. “They tried to do it in December 2018 and they’re back at it with their attempt to force a voter roll purge.”

After record-setting early voting in Wisconsin for the November 2018 elections, Republicans, who lost every race on the statewide ballot, attempted to reimpose limits on early voting that a federal judge had already found to be racially motivated when striking them down. The federal court again stepped in to block the brazen, anti-voter maneuver by the right.

The GOP-controlled legislature also tried, but failed, to move the date of Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential primary preference from April, when it would occur along with elections for local offices and Kelly’s seat on the state Supreme Court, to March. The Republican leader of the Senate at the time publicly admitted the move was intended to boost Kelly’s electoral prospects.

The current push for a purge of over 200,000 Wisconsin voters, disproportionately targets communities of color and Democratic areas of the state. According to media reports, a member of the leadership of the Republican Party of Wisconsin personally lobbied the right-wing Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty to bring legal action to compel a purge that could occur prior to the Spring 2020 elections.

“For years Dan Kelly freely published his thoughts on the internet for all to see, and shared his opinion that our Social Security system is a form of slavery,” said One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne. “Only after he was appointed to the state Supreme Court and saw his extremism as a political liability did he try to hide it from the public.”

In a lengthy online musing uncovered by One Wisconsin Now, Kelly wrote:

“Remember involuntary servitude? I know – we need to reach back into antiquity for the definition. Its essence is the requirement that, against your will, the benefit of your work goes to someone else without receiving anything in exchange.”

He went on to label the Social Security System, which workers pay into and then draw from upon retirement and which provides a safety net for others like widows and orphans, as a form of “involuntary servitude”, writing:

“We all see involuntary servitude every day, but without recognizing it for what it is … When the recipients are people who have chosen to retire without sufficient assets to support themselves, we call the transfer Social Security and Medicare. And it’s welfare when the recipients are those who don’t create enough to sustain themselves during their working years. When we look at the other components to these transactions, it becomes apparent that they bear all the indicia of involuntary servitude.”

Browne concluded, “Dan Kelly’s despicable extremism is seen in his writings, like comparing Social Security to slavery. Dan Kelly’s dishonesty is exposed by his failed attempt to hide this extremism from the public.”

A full accounting of the information uncovered by One Wisconsin Now that Kelly attempted to hide from public view can be found here.

“As soon as Dan Kelly was appointed to the bench, he tried to hide years of blog post writings where he openly shared his extremist views,” said One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne. “What he had to say was bad enough, that he tried to hide it from the public as soon he was appointed to the the court makes it even worse.”

Between 2012 and 2015 Dan Kelly was a regular contributor to a blog entitled “Hang Together” along with several other individuals. Archived posts from the other contributor remain online, however Kelly’s posts and comments on other posts have been scrubbed, reportedly at Kelly’s request.

In his writings, Kelly:

• Opined President Obama’s 2012 re-election, supported by 1.6 million Wisconsinites, was a win for the, “socialism/same-sex marriage/recreational marijuana/tax increase crowd”;
• Accused the media of defending and advocating “radical Islam” because of “multi-culturalism”;
• Expressed his view a Wisconsin judge’s decision to uphold worker freedom was emblematic of a “deep state” conspiracy;
• Criticized a federal court decision on marriage equality illegitimate and upholding the Affordable Care Act was the end of democracy; and
• Claimed federal tax funding of social security and other safety net programs like food assistance was akin to slavery and derided recipients of public assistance.

Kelly’s attempt to hide his tracks also came after the writings of his close court colleague and campaign supporter Rebecca Bradley were exposed. Her right wing rants tracked with Kelly in expressing contempt for people who did not support their political views and vile homophobia.

Browne concluded, “As soon as Dan Kelly was appointed to public office he undertook an effort to hide his extreme views from the public. Those aren’t the actions of someone who can be trusted to be honest and impartial on the court.”

A full accounting of the information uncovered by One Wisconsin Now that Kelly attempted to hide from public view can be found here.

“Dan Kelly has toed the line for Republicans and the right wing since he’s been on the state Supreme Court,” commented Browne. “Now Dan Kelly is showing his partisanship on the campaign trail, right down to sharing an address with the Republican Party of Wisconsin.”

In order to be placed on the ballot, candidates for public office must collect a specified number of signatures on nomination papers. According to Kelly’s campaign, signature collectors are directed to return their forms to 148 E. Johnson Street in Madison. The address of the Republican Party of Wisconsin headquarters is also 148 E. Johnson St., an office building they own and occupy blocks from the State Capitol

In recent races for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Republican Party of Wisconsin has been the single largest individual contributor donating directly to conservative candidates’ campaigns. According to campaign finance filings, conservative candidate Brian Hagedorn in 2019 snagged over $156,000 while Michael Screnock was larded with over $345,000 in 2018 and Rebecca Bradley accepted over $72,000 in 2016.

A federal judge agreed and ordered the state to pay OWN’s attorneys. Bottom line is that taxpayers wound up forking over $200,000 thanks to this violation of openness.

“This voter roll purge will result in legal voters having their registrations erroneously deactivated,” said One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Analiese Eicher. “It’s a simple choice for Dan Kelly. He can speak up and support fair elections by denouncing his allies’ attempt to purge voter rolls, or he can do nothing and show he does not.”

In 2017, the voter list maintenance program incorrectly triggered the removal of tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters from the rolls. According to media reports, 21,000 City of Milwaukee voters, nearly half of the city residents flagged for removal, had their registrations restored because it was determined they had not moved.

With the latest round of list maintenance, the Wisconsin Elections Commission has extended the period for voters to either update their registrations to reflect a new address or notify the commission that they have not moved until after the 2020 election cycle. The largest numbers of voters flagged to receive the most recent Election Commission mailing are in Milwaukee and Madison.

The lawsuit brought by WILL, on behalf of plaintiffs who have donated thousands to right-wing candidates and causes, would force the Elections Commission to instead purge voters within 30 days, prior to the Spring 2020 elections. Members of the Board of Directors of WILL donated thousands of dollars to the campaign of State Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly when he was deciding a controversial case in their favor. Kelly also served as a member of a committee advising WILL on litigation strategy and worked for a right-wing foundation that has provided over $1 million in funding for WILL.

Eicher noted this is not the first time the right wing in Wisconsin has sought to make voting harder and more complicated to give try to give themselves an electoral advantage. In a federal voting rights lawsuit brought by One Wisconsin Institute and other voting rights advocates a former state legislative aide testified under oath that some Republican legislators were “giddy” at the thought of their efforts reducing voting by people who tended to oppose them.

In striking down restrictions on early voting enacted by the GOP-controlled legislature and signed by the then Republican governor, the judge in the case found that they were intentionally discriminatory on the basis of race.

“When Scott Fitzgerald schedules more fundraisers for himself in two weeks than Senate business over four months we can see what’s his priority,” said Eicher. “Wisconsin taxpayers aren’t paying for Scott Fitzgerald to run for Congress, they’re paying him to take care of state business. If that’s not what he wants to do, then he should have the decency to step down.”

Since announcing his candidacy for Congress in September, Fitzgerald, who controls the state Senate agenda as leader of the Republican majority, has convened the body to take up state business on two occasions. The meeting on November 5 was the last for the year, as he had announced earlier he did not intend to convene the Senate in floor session again in 2019.

Fitzgerald’s fundraising flurry kicks off with a Washington D.C. special interest shakedown on December 4 and concludes on December 16.

Meanwhile, state business left unfinished as Fitzgerald hit the campaign trial ranges from funding for homeless shelters and helping with the farm crisis to other pressing economic concerns for Wisconsin families like student loan debt, affordable child care, family and medical leave and health care protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Fitzgerald also gavelled in and out of a special session on common sense gun control laws supported by the vast majority of Wisconsinites in mere seconds on the evening of November 7 after, according to media reports, spending the day working on his Congressional campaign.

Eicher noted that Fitzgerald’s Republican colleagues have been just as disappointing at fulfilling their state duties as has their leader. Not one Senate Republican has publicly called for Fitzgerald to step aside as he spends his time on his personal political ambitions for higher office instead of on state business and the job Wisconsin taxpayers are paying him to do.

She concluded, “By silently standing by and letting this happen, every single Senate Republican is just as culpable for this gross dereliction of duty as Scott Fitzgerald.”

The liberal group says the suit is WILL’s attempt to influence the outcome for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly, a conservative who is up for reelection in April and has received thousands of dollars in donations from WILL’s board members.

“There is no low to which the right wing won’t go to rig the rules to try to get the election result they want,” One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Analiese Eicher said. “They think fewer voters showing up in spring 2020 will help them elect Dan Kelly and they know what they’re doing will result in legal, registered voters getting thrown off poll lists.”

That has happened before, as One Wisconsin Now points out. In 2017, a voter list maintenance program erroneously triggered the removal of tens of thousands of voters, and this glitch is part of WEC’s rationale for extending the deadline for voters to respond to its notices.

“There is no low to which the right-wing won’t go to rig the rules to try to get the election result they want,” One Wisconsin Institute executive director Analiese Eicher said in the statement. “They think fewer voters showing up in Spring 2020 will help them elect Dan Kelly and they know what they’re doing will result in legal, registered voters erroneously getting thrown off poll lists.”

“There is no low to which the right-wing won’t go to rig the rules to try to get the election result they want,” said One Wisconsin Institute Executive Director Analiese Eicher. “They think fewer voters showing up in Spring 2020 will help them elect Dan Kelly and they know what they’re doing will result in legal, registered voters erroneously getting thrown off poll lists.”

After a voter list maintenance program incorrectly triggered the removal of tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters from the rolls in 2017, the Wisconsin Elections Commission extended the period for voters to either update their registrations to reflect a new address or notify the commission that they have not moved. The lawsuit brought by WILL, on behalf of plaintiffs who have donated thousands to right-wing candidates and causes, would force the Elections Commission to instead purge voters within 30 days, prior to the Spring 2020 elections.

Kelly’s connections to WILL make the effort to tip the electoral scales in his favor even more unseemly. Members of the Board of Directors of WILL donated thousands of dollars to the campaign of State Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly when he was deciding a controversial case in their favor. Kelly also served as a member of a committee advising WILL on litigation strategy and worked for a right-wing foundation that has provided over $1 million in funding for WILL.

Eicher noted this is not the first right-wing scheme intended to try to help Kelly’s electoral prospects. As part of their post 2018 election sore loser session Republicans tried, but failed, to move the date of Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential primary preference from April, when it would occur along with elections for local offices and Kelly’s seat on the state Supreme Court, to March.

One Wisconsin Institute was the lead plaintiff in a successful federal lawsuit striking down numerous Republican-passed laws on voting including racially motivated restrictions on early voting and other measures intended to make voting harder and more complicated.

She concluded by calling on Kelly to denounce the tactics of his allies. “Dan Kelly says he respects the constitution, now it’s time for him to show it. Wisconsinites have a state constitutional right to vote and Dan Kelly needs to demand his right-wing allies to stop their lawsuits and schemes to undermine that right.”

“Dan Kelly’s judicial activism was on display for all to see with his decision in this case,” said One Wisconsin Now Research Director Joanna Beilman-Dulin. “He went to great lengths to interpret the law as he wished it to be to reach the conclusion he wanted, tossing out a prohibition on carrying loaded, hidden guns on city owned buses.”

At issue in the case, Wisconsin Carry, Inc. v City of Madison, was whether the City of Madison’s transit agency could maintain a policy banning the carry of concealed weapons by passengers on city owned buses. The measure was challenged by a group that opposes any restrictions on people carrying concealed weapons including supporting changes to state law to allow hidden weapons to be carried in schools.

In response to Kelly’s opinion, colleagues noted:

“Discarding seminal rules of statutory interpretation, the majority slips into legislative mode, and ignores the plain meaning of the words chosen by the legislature. It rewrites the statute in a manner it wishes the legislature had chosen … The majority evinces a further lack of judicial restraint when it reaches out to address constitutional issues not raised or briefed by the parties.”

Kelly’s reckless judicial activism means that passengers on public buses cannot be banned from carrying loaded, hidden weapons. Ironically, the same law does allow prohibitions on firearms from being carried in State Capitol offices and other government buildings.

This is far from the only time Kelly’s actions during his brief time on the bench have not matched his rhetoric on the campaign trail. In 2019, Kelly joined a controversial decision in the case Koshkee v. Taylor, reversing a 2016 ruling of the state high court that struck down nearly identical legislation as it applied to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Adding to the unseemliness of Kelly’s judicial activism were the thousands of dollars in campaign contributions he took in the days immediately before and after the decision was released from members of the board of directors of the right-wing legal group that argued the case before him.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Analiese Eicher commented, “As shameful as it is that Sen. Fitzgerald used the last day of floor session for the year to settle his petty, personal political scores, it is even worse that every other Senate Republican is going along with it.”

With the cowardly silence of the rest of the Senate Republican majority, Fitzgerald was allowed to fire the state Agriculture Secretary because he spoke out against unnecessary delays by Republicans in releasing mental health aid for state farmers.

What isn’t happening on what appears to be the last day of Senate session for the year is any debate or vote on a bipartisan package of bills to help with homelessness. The legislation cleared the Republican controlled state Assembly months ago.

Republicans are also refusing to consider common sense gun safety legislation supported by 80 percent of Wisconsinites, the subject of a special legislative session call issued by Gov. Tony Evers. Fitzgerald, in a transparent effort to pander to the NRA and the gun industry to benefit his U.S. Congressional campaign, has refused to allow any legislative consideration of the measures.

The Senate Republicans too cowardly to stand up for their constituents and let Scott Fitzgerald get away with his petty partisanship and bullying are:

• Kathy Bernier
• Rob Cowles
• David Craig
• Alberta Darling
• Dan Feyen
• Andre Jacque
• Chris Kapenga
• Dale Kooyenga
• Devin LeMahieu
• Howard Marklein
• Steve Nass
• Luther Olsen
• Jerry Petrowski
• Roger Roth
• Duey Stroebel
• Pat Testin
• Tom Tiffany
• Van Wanggaard

“Ron Johnson talked himself into the ridiculous position of offering himself up as a witness who wants to exonerate Donald Trump and a juror, who also wants to exonerate Donald Trump,” said One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Analiese Eicher. “What Sen. Johnson is proposing isn’t just nonsensical, it’s unethical.”

Sen. Johnson found himself in the Trump impeachment spotlight after a disastrous performance on a national public affairs program where he was asked to respond to reports he seemed to be uncomfortable with Donald Trump’s apparent linkage of U.S. aid to Ukraine with efforts to dig up dirt on his political opponents. Johnson spiralled off into conspiracy theories to avoid answering simple, direct questions and offered laughable proof Donald Trump had done nothing improper – he told him he didn’t do it.

According to the latest reported comments from Johnson:

“Johnson hasn’t been asked to testify in the House’s impeachment inquiry but has said he would cooperate if asked.

‘I wouldn’t resist,’ he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of how he would react to a request to testify. ‘I’m always happy to tell the truth.’

Two ethics experts told the Journal Sentinel this month that Johnson should consider recusing himself from a vote on removing Trump if the matter gets to the Senate because of Johnson’s involvement in the matter.

Johnson said he would not do that because the people who elected him deserve to have representation if the issue comes to the Senate.”

Eicher noted Johnson, who before joining the U.S. Senate ran the plastics factory given to him by his in-laws, has a history of sharing his ill-informed opinions with the public. Selected Johnson gaffes are listed on One Wisconsin Now’s The wRONg Johnson Archive.

“I doubt it was Paul Ryan editing those videos on his laptop,” Browne adds, pointing out that the videos on the new foundation’s website look like campaign ads produced by a professional political consultant.

“I doubt it was Paul Ryan editing those videos on his laptop,” Browne adds, pointing out that the videos on the new foundation’s website look like campaign ads produced by a professional political consultant.

“Rep. Vos himself might not be sure about climate change or whether human activity is contributing to the crisis,” said Eicher. “But he’s definitely not doing anything to help stop it.”

Vos was expressing his unscientific opinions as part of his response to questions about the efforts of the Evers administration to develop state policies on climate change. By executive order, Gov. Evers formed a bipartisan task force that also includes representatives of business, labor, the utility industry, environmental leaders and academics to come up with strategies on how Wisconsin will deal with climate change and pursue efforts to reduce factors that are driving it.

For his part, over just the last year, Vos has led Assembly Republicans in opposing a proposed state Office of Clean Energy and Sustainability, millions of dollars in clean energy grants and a goal of having all electricity produced in Wisconsin be 100 percent carbon free by 2050.

Eicher noted that Vos, with apparently no sense of irony, also raised the issue of possible increases in utility rates as a reason to not engage in serious discussions about climate change policies. As part of the Foxconn legislation, the largest state tax subsidy to a foreign corporation in history, enthusiastically backed by Vos, utility ratepayers will be socked with well over $100 million in higher utility bills to subsidize the Taiwanese based corporation.

According to new media reports, Johnson met personally with a Ukrainian diplomat in early July 2019 to discuss a right-wing conspiracy theory about Ukrainian involvement in the foreign interference marring the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.

Johnson’s meeting is drawing additional scrutiny because of the timing, occurring just before the infamous phone call in which Donald Trump appears to have solicited the President of Ukraine to help him attack a political opponent in exchange for military aid and a visit to the White House. This new information comes in the context of Johnson having numerous other interactions with high-ranking Ukrainian officials and significant association with U.S. policy on Ukraine.

That this is not Sen. Johnson’s first foray into the orbit of the Trump impeachment investigation is also worth remembering. He burst onto the scene in large part as a result of his performance on a national public-affairs program where he was asked to respond to reports he seemed to be uncomfortable with Donald Trump’s apparent linkage of U.S. aid to Ukraine with efforts to dig up dirt on his political opponents.

The interview proved to be a disaster for Johnson, as he spiraled off into conspiracy theories to avoid answering simple, direct questions and offered laughable proof that Trump had done nothing improper: He told him he didn’t do it.

You might be asking yourself at this point: How can someone who’s a member of the United States Senate, with influence over critical questions of national security, go on national TV and unquestionably say that serial prevaricator Trump was telling him the truth when he denied committing potentially impeachable offenses?
Well, Johnson also believed he was recruited for the U.S. Senate when Fox News contributor Dick Morris spoke to him through the TV to inspire him to run for the office.

As disturbing as what Johnson has had to say about the sordid dealings of Donald Trump at the center of the impeachment inquiry is his silence now.

Having talked his way into the spotlight, Ron Johnson is now refusing to answer legitimate questions. Wisconsin news reporters’ calls to Johnson and his staff are going unanswered and he is mum on important questions about whether or not he would participate in any U.S. Senate consideration of impeachment, given his apparent role in the scandal.

Has Johnson been instructed to keep quiet by Trump’s team? Is he concerned about his own ethical and legal exposure for actions he may have taken?

An examination of Johnson’s record reveals no shortage of ill-advised statements and instances where he put partisan political loyalty before public service. But based on what we know now, it seems this may be the worst mess Johnson has been in yet.

“On the campaign trail, Dan Kelly is telling us that he’s just interpreting the law and not taking sides on the state Supreme Court,” said One Wisconsin Now Research Director Joanna Beilman-Dulin. “But when he’s back on the bench in Madison, his actions tell a different story. Dan Kelly is pushing the activist agenda his right-wing backers want.”

The 2019 decision Kelly joined in the case Koshkee v. Taylor reversed a 2016 ruling of the state high court that had struck down nearly identical legislation as it applied to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, a statewide elected constitutional officer.

Adding to the unseemliness of Kelly’s judicial activism were the thousands of dollars in campaign contributions he took in the days immediately before and after the decision was released from members of the board of directors of the right-wing legal group that argued the case before him.

In a stinging dissent to the decision of Kelly and his conservative court cohorts, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote, “ … nothing in our Constitution has changed since Coyne was decided, what has changed is the membership of the court. This time around, a new majority of this court does an about-face and now concludes that the substance of Act 57 is constitutional. To reach this conclusion, it throws the doctrine of stare decisis out the window.”

Beilman-Dulin noted that the Koshkee case was not the only instance of Kelly’s right-wing activism on the court. During his short time on the bench he has also:

• Authored the opinion requiring the City of Madison let people carry hidden weapons on city buses (Wisconsin Carry, Inc. v. City of Madison);
• Refused to require a pipeline company with a poor record of safety to carry additional insurance to protect citizens and clean water (Enbridge Energy Company, Inc. v. Dane County);
• Allowed a right-wing college professor who harassed a student to get his job back even though his private employer suspended him over the incident and other alleged inappropriate behavior (John McAdams v. Marquette University);
• Refused to enforce the state open records law and allowed former right-wing Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke to keep immigration detainment records secret (Voces de la Frontera, Inc. v. David A. Clarke, Jr.);
• Opposed reforming court rules to set standards requiring judges with conflicts of interest to recuse from cases and voting to close court conferences to the public and media.

Eicher said the student loan debt issue in Wisconsin is not surprising considering state institution’s increasing tuition cost, financial aid underfunding and lack of legislation to help borrowers refinance their loans.

“A closer look at the data shows many of the students receiving vouchers aren’t changing from a public to a private school, they were already attending private school,” Eicher said. “What’s changing is that it’s taxpayers picking up the tab.”

That number comes straight from the DPI website. A closer look reveals that most of the private-school students who make up that 81% were already in the voucher program last year.

“Wisconsin’s right wing has a lot invested in Dan Kelly,” commented One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Analiese Eicher. “They’re going to pull out all the stops to keep him around, like trying to bully the Wisconsin Elections Commission into a pre-election voter roll purge that could kick 234,000 voters off registration lists.”

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, fueled by state and national right-wing funders, on Wednesday announced they were filing a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, seeking to have the registrations of an estimated 234,000 voters revoked prior to the Spring 2020 elections. Dan Kelly will be running to keep the state high court seat to which he was appointed by former Republican Gov. Walker.

WILL further threatened to sue the Wisconsin Elections Commission if they do not accede to their demands to purge the state voter registration list within 30 days.

After a voter list maintenance program incorrectly triggered the removal of tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters from the rolls in 2017, the Wisconsin Elections Commission extended the period for voters to either update their registrations to reflect a new address or notify the commission that they have not moved.

Eicher noted that the right wing in Wisconsin has a long and shameful history of seeking to manipulate the rules on voting to give themselves an unfair advantage. Numerous schemes enacted under former Gov. Scott Walker were struck down in federal court, including racially motivated limits on early voting and other measures intended to make voting harder and more complicated.

She concluded, “The Wisconsin Constitution Dan Kelly swore an oath to uphold guarantees the right to vote. He ought to publicly demand his right-wing pals cease and desist their scheming to undermine the right of the people of Wisconsin to have their voices heard on Election Day.”

And she said the complaint follows a national trend.

“We’ve seen voter roll purges across the country that affect young people, people of color and those who move often,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that it’s come to Wisconsin.”

Eicher said conservatives are working to make whatever gains they can to win elections in the state.

“At nearly $350 million for this year, the private school voucher program is a huge cost to state taxpayers and a drain on our public schools,” said One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Analiese Eicher. “A closer look at the data shows many of the students receiving vouchers aren’t changing from a public to a private school, they were already attending private school. What’s changing is that it’s taxpayers picking up the tab.”

According to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the cost of all programs providing Wisconsin taxpayer-funded vouchers for students to attend private schools will hit $349.6 million for the 2019-20 school year. The statewide expansion of the program will top $77 million for just under 10,000 students at 254 private schools.

DPI data further reveals over 81 percent of the students attending private schools in 2019-20 in the statewide program attended a private school in the 2018-19 school year. Meanwhile, fewer than 11 percent of 2019-20 students were in public schools in the 2018 school year, 7.8 percent of participants were not in school and just over 2 percent were homeschooled.

The number of students receiving vouchers at participating private schools compared to their total enrollment varies widely, although two schools new to the program this year reported to DPI that 100 percent of their enrolled students are receiving a taxpayer-funded vouchers.

Republicans in control of the state legislature in recent years have dramatically increased the size of the private school voucher program, including expanding eligibility statewide for private schools to apply take students paying their tuition with a taxpayer-funded voucher. The value of the voucher for the 2019 school year is just over $8,000 for students in grades K-8 and nearly $8,700 for those in grades 9-12. The vouchers are paid for by a combination of state general tax dollars and reductions in state funding for public schools.

“In Wisconsin, there is a system where, in order to try and have as accurate as possible voter lists, there’s a process whereby people who may have moved are sent a follow-up mailing saying that ‘We have information which suggests you may have moved, we need you to respond to this communication and tell us whether or not you haven’t moved [and] you’re actually in your same address,’ or also encouraging you to register to vote at your new address,” Browne says.

“If people are determined to have moved, or don’t respond to this mailing, the process would then be that they are removed from their current voter registration, they’re removed from the rolls, [and] they would have to re-register at their new address or re-register to vote once they’re removed.”

Browne also says that this system is not flawless.

In fact, both Browne and the Wisconsin Elections Commission , in its own statement released Wednesday, point to 2017 when tens of thousands of letters were sent to Wisconsinites who did not move. Many of those individuals were subsequently removed from voter rolls and had to re-register.

Browne argues that these errors, and the complaint, ultimately suppress potential voters.

“We believe the timing of this current legal action is suspicious because it’s happening in the lead up to the spring elections, and potentially there are hundreds of thousands of people who could be flagged for removal from the voter registration rolls and forced to re-register, even in cases when they haven’t moved, on election day, which creates delays, chaos, [and] frustration, potentially discouraging people from exercising their franchise, and we believe that is absolutely the wrong way to go,” Browne shares.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Institute Executive Director Analiese Eicher:

“The right wing in Wisconsin has a long and shameful record of manipulating the rules on voting for their own advantage. This effort to bully the Elections Commission into a back door voter roll purge is just the latest example.

“Less than a year ago Republicans in the state legislature were trying to change the law to move date of presidential primary to boost their state court candidate’s election prospects. Today they’re threatening lawsuits to force a voter roll purge in the lead up to that same election.”

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One Wisconsin Institute was the lead plaintiff in a successful federal lawsuit striking down numerous Republican-passed laws on voting including restrictions on early voting. The lawsuit resulted in a finding that the state, under former Gov. Walker and the Republican controlled legislature, was unconstitutionally administering the state voter ID law.

According to Internal Revenue Service Tax records, the right-wing Bradley Foundation has given nearly $5 million to the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty from their inception in 2011 through 2017, the last year for which records are available. One Wisconsin Now previously exposed the Bradley Foundation connection to anonymous voter suppression billboards in Milwaukee.