Shawano County Dems August, 2021 Newsletter

Posted on August 9, 2021 by John Durben

SUMMER PICNIC

Don’t miss the Shawano Dems’ picnic on Thursday, August 19^th from 5:00-7:00 pm at Kuckuk Park Pavilion (700 Oak Park Drive) in Shawano. Top tier United States Senate candidates Alex Lasry and Gilliam Battino will be there. Lasry is a Milwaukee Buck executive who worked as a White House aide during the Obama administration and has since championed social justice efforts and labor agreements.

Battino is a radiologist from Wausau who is pushing hard on the issue of Medicare-for-all.
There will be pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, beans, dessert and ice cream for all who attend. We will be having a 50/50 raffle and quilt raffle tickets will be available. Come and bring liked-mined friends with you.

SHAWANO COUNTY FAIR

Our booth in the Commercial Building will be staffed the evening of Thursday, September 2^nd and from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm Friday September 3^rd through Monday, September 6^th Those who sign up to work 2-3 hour shifts will receive a complementary ticket to the fair which includes parking. At the fair we will sell quilt raffle tickets, “Proud Wisconsin Democrat” bumper stickers and will pass out information on the Democratic U.S. Senate candidates.
You can sign up at the picnic or call Jan at 715-296-6726.

WEEKEND OF ACTION

The 2022 election is just around the corner and we are working to build our volunteer base. Our action for the week of August 21 will be to again engage voters in face-to-face conversations at their doorsteps. We will be offering training for our new volunteers on Wednesday, August 18^th at the Civic Center at 7:00 pm and again on Saturday, August 21^st at 9:00 am. If you would like to join our efforts, please let us know you plan to attend. There is a lot at stake in the next election and we want to be sure we are ready to get out our positive messages to as many people as possible. At this time, we will be telling voters about how President Biden’s American Rescue Plan increased the Child Tax Credit benefit to put $250-300 per child in working parents’ pockets.

AUGUST LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Democrats should be given credit for the strides they have made since President Biden took office. The Covid-19 stimulus bill gave citizens direct payments of $1400 and $300-a-week federal bonus unemployment benefits. Because of his bill we have free Covid testing and vaccinations. Governor Evers is also trying to improve the lives of Wisconsinites despite all the push back from the legislature. We can see a middle-class tax cut and more funding for education, roads and health care because of his efforts.

UPCOMING EVENTS

August 19: Picnic at Kuckuk Park (Shawano) 5-7 pm

Sept. 2-6: Shawano County Fair Booth

Oct. 2: Fundraising Dinner at Shawano Lake Golf Course. Speaker will be U.S. Senate Candidate Tom Nelson.

Chair’s Comments

It was heartening to see so many people sign the petitions that the Shawano Fairness Coalition had at their ShawanoFest booth in July. Some signed the petition to see stable and competitive wages for employees working in Shawano County and others signed the petition to have the Wisconsin State Legislature pass nonpartisan redistricting legislation.

It is important that we call our representatives at 800-362-9472 and tell them we want them to pass Senate Bill 389 and Assembly Bill 395. These bills would end gerrymandering by creating a fair, nonpartisan procedure for drawing future maps.

AMERICANS BEHIND IN FIXING INFRASTRUCTURE

Posted on May 17, 2021 by John Durben

Below is a Letter to the Editor published in the Shawano Leader.

AMERICANS BEHIND IN FIXING INFRASTRUCTURE

After decades of disinvestment, our roads, bridges, and water systems are crumbling. Our electric grid is vulnerable to catastrophic outages. Too many lack affordable, high-speed Internet and quality housing. It’s embarrassing that the greatest nation in the world is ranked 13^th in the overall quality of infrastructure according to a study in 2019.

Government officials from both parties have been promising for years how they will move forward with an infrastructure plan. Former President Trump announced two different infrastructure weeks that never happened. Governor Evers promised if elected he would fix “the damn roads”. Finally, we have a president and a governor who are working on infrastructure at the same time.

Evers’ Badger Bounceback agenda shows his commitment to fixing the 1,949 miles of crumbling roads as well as the 198 bridges which are in poor condition in Wisconsin. His 2021-23 budget brings the state’s investment in transportation aid for local roads to its highest level ever.

Infrastructure telecommunications include internet connectivity and broadband access. Every Wisconsinite should be able to access and afford internet. Evers’ would like to invest five times the amount invested in the 2013, 2015, and 2017 budgets combined making internet services affordable to all income levels.

President Biden is also committed to improving our infrastructure. Biden’s American Jobs Plan is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs and rebuild our country’s infrastructure.

The American Jobs Plan will invest in America in a way we have not invested since we built the interstate highways and won the Space Race in the late 1960’s. The past year has led to job losses and threatened economic security. Our nation is falling behind its biggest competitors on research and development (R&D), manufacturing, and training. It has never been more important for us to invest in strengthening our infrastructure and competitiveness, and in creating good-paying jobs of the future.

In a Monmouth University Poll survey sixty-eight percent of U.S. adults supported the president’s infrastructure package dealing with physical needs including road, bridge and tunnel upkeep, as well as broadband internet expansion and electric vehicle investments.

Hopefully our elected officials can support the people, compromise, and come up with infrastructure plans that improve life for all Americans.

Shawano Dems News Update

Posted on March 15, 2021 by John Durben

March Meeting Reminder

Wed., March 17th
7:00 pm

Zoom link below

Jay Heck, Executive Director of Common Cause

Jay will speak about the voter suppression measures being introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature and about the fair maps redistricting process.

TEXT

For Our Future is a grassroots group calling voters across the state, reminding them about the election on April 6th.

Throughout the month, they are spending every Tuesday night hosting a fun virtual phone bank to educate voters about the candidates for the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) race and encourage them to request their absentee ballot ahead of the April 6th election.

Sign up for our next phonebank- March 16th @ 5:15pm- now! They will also be texting on March 23rd and 30th.

This year, we have a chance to elect Jill Underly, a state superintendent of schools who cares about all students and teachers, and who will take the necessary steps towards getting them back in the classroom safely and effectively.

Letter to the Editor

Below is a letter that was on the online Shawano Leader.

Can White people claim they’re not racist?

Published by andynewsengin on Thu, 03/11/2021 – 11:16am

To the editor:

Based on certain events of the past year including the infamous George Floyd affair, it has become increasingly embarrassing for me to be a White man in America. I have put a considerable effort into learning more about how deeply racism is ingrained in our society. I have come to agree that racism is systemic and that each White American bears a portion of the collective responsibility.

Let me give a personal example. If I see a White person walking on the street in front of my house, unless that person trespasses onto my property, I don’t give the matter a thought. If that same incident involved a Black person, I would have the reflexive reaction of “What is he or she doing in my neighborhood?” Another example, have you ever had the automatic verbal or internal response of “Gee, he sure does not sound Black”? I’m not proud of my reactions but they are real.

It is absolutely true that no white person can experience the daily profiling that occurs. No matter how successful in life, every Black dad or mom has to have the “talk” of how to act around a White police officer. Every Black person regardless of how successful has in effect had to start 20 yards behind a similarly qualified white person in life’s 100-yard race. Most white people’s ancestors came here by choice in search of a better life. Black people starting in the early 17th century came here as property.

Here is food for thought:

Consider the reaction of government to the events of Black Lives Matter protests compared to the insurrection of Jan. 6 largely put on by White people.
Consider that Wisconsin still does not formally acknowledge Black History Month. Politicians like Robin Vos and Jim Steineke let the matter slide and when asked why offer no response.
Consider the actions of Republicans to suppress the scope of absentee voting and voting by mail for the implicit purpose of impairing the process for people of color — a modern day version of Jim Crow.

I have submitted this piece as a form of personal and public shaming. I need to take ownership. Though not a traditional Christian, I do believe that Jesus came not only to comfort the afflicted but to afflict the comfortable. Think about it.

Ken Kroenke, Shawano

JULY OP-ED ON INEQUALITY

Posted on July 17, 2020 by John Durben

If you did not get a chance to read the op-ed in the Shawano Leader, here it is:

OUR PAST ACTIONS DON’T SHOW EQUITY

“…with liberty and justice for all.”

How often have we said those words when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and not really thought about what the words really meant. Being free within a society from the oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life is liberty. It means civil rights and human rights.

Just behavior or treatment is justice. It means fairness and equity.Since 1892 these words have been recited as an expression of allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. However, the “for all” part of the pledge has never really applied to everyone. Continue reading →

Who’s muddying the election year waters?

Posted on July 21, 2016 by John Durben

To the editor:

Although I agree with Wendy Gribben to a point — “government for the people” and “every vote is important” — I do believe we still have a big decision to make this election year.

“Vote your conscience.”

Now for the real problem. Mr. Watters is so quick to blame all these murders, yes, senseless murders, on our elected Democratic officials that he fails to look at who voted for the gun laws that are now in place.

Continue reading →

Democrats can reverse state’s backward direction

Posted on July 21, 2016 by John Durben

To the editor:

It’s happened again, just like last campaign season. Vandals tried to tip over a Democratic sign on Lake Drive. When they failed, they got a red marker and crossed out the word “forward” on the sign and wrote “backward.” Actually, Democrats want this to happen.

Our state will have to go backward to go forward.

Continue reading →

Letter: State residents need to stand up for public education

Posted on October 7, 2015 by John Durben

To the editor:

The continued destruction of the public school system in Wisconsin needs to stop. The provisions of Act 10 eliminated teacher bargaining powers and effectively silenced their voices. Now reduced to second-class citizenship, these teachers would put their jobs in jeopardy if they made any strong protests in regard to the current reductions in public school budgets.

Letter to the Editor: Walker is Not Moving Wisconsin Forward

Posted on October 31, 2014 by John Durben

We are being bombarded by TV and radio ads promoting our next governor. The profusion of ads is the result of the Citizen’s United Supreme Court ruling which allowed seemingly unlimited caps on campaign donations so today big money groups like the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Foundation and the Koch Brothers can attempt to buy elections. Walker’s campaign is using this money to flood the airwaves with negative ads against Mary Burke and half truths about himself. Too much of this money is from out of state. Continue reading →