Today’s Key Reads focus on ballot questions.
How should elections be conducted?
Was your identity stolen to trigger an election?
Is your school district looking to spend beyond state limits?
And, who will be America’s next Top Chef?
The Dean of Wisconsin Talk Radio is out with a column encouraging a yes vote on two statewide referenda in the Spring Election, which concludes on April 2nd.
Vote yes and then vote yes | Mark Belling GM Today Commentary
This happened after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a notorious lefty, formed a nonprofit that went into the six biggest Democrat strongholds in the state and ran massive voter mobilization efforts using the resources of each of the six city governments. The successful operation has come to be known as “Zuckerbucks.”
Defenders say it was all legal. They say there’s nothing in Wisconsin law that stops cities from outsourcing their get-out-the-vote efforts to private biased groups. That’s why the Wisconsin Election Commission led by Meagan Wolfe not only didn’t stop it but praised and defended it.
Fair enough. (Actually it wasn’t fair at all.) But really, fair enough. This outrage was “legal.” There’s only one thing to do about it. We have to make it illegal.
That’s what the two constitutional amendments on the Wisconsin ballot in the ongoing election set out to do. They would change the state Constitution to make it clear that only actual government officials can run elections and that outside organizations can’t “donate” money to run elections.
Depending on where you live there are a lot of referendum questions on the ballot. But everywhere in the state, the two constitutional amendments are the first two questions. So here’s what we have to do to prevent this Mark Zuckerberg hijacking of our elections in 2024. We have to VOTE YES on question one. Then we have to VOTE YES on question two.
You should also be aware that dozens of school districts will have funding referenda on the ballot as well. If you live in any of the following school districts, make sure you are aware of the requests and rationale for the proposed spending hikes and what they could do to your property tax bill.
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will file his formal challenge to the insufficient and dubiously-obtained recall petitions submitted last week. For the last few days, he’s been outspoken in his condemnation of the effort.
Vos: Recall petitions ‘election fraud, plain and simple’ | The Center Square
Dozens of people have come forward to say their names are on a recall petition that they did not sign.
Prosecutors in Racine County have opened an investigation, and Vos said he expects criminal charges to come from somewhere.
Specifically, Vos said recall organizers were using out of state felons to collect their signatures. Wisconsin election law says felons cannot be part of the signature petition process.
“They broke the law in Wisconsin,” Vos added. “Whatever the DA does with that, or [Attorney General] Josh Kaul does with that is up to them.”
A group that supports Vos, the Wisconsinites for Liberty Fund, on Wednesday launched a website that allows people to search for their names on the recall petitions.
The group says that includes signatures from someone named Cyber Houdini, and Vos’ own forged signature.
Recall Vos organizers have repeatedly tried to shift the blame for their failures, even releasing a statement Monday that hints at a conspiracy.
As mentioned above, there is a website where you can check to see if someone stole your identity in an attempt to remove Wisconsin Speaker Robin Vos.
See if out-of-state paid activists stole YOUR identity and forged YOUR name by searching the DidYouRecall database HERE.
Foodies and Wisconsin boosters are very excited that the television competition Top Chef, filmed last fall, just had its season premiere. This could be quite the marketing opportunity for the state, the entire season was filmed here. It remains to be seen if the show will highlight the agricultural and culinary skills found in Wisconsin, or if it will be laden with common tropes about Midwest living, complete with references to Lavern, Shirley, cows and, well, you understand. So far, so good.
Top Chef season 21 premiere: Hello Wisconsin! | AV Club
Eighteen years in, Top Chef is a well-run kitchen. Devoted fans know exactly what they’re getting each season. There will be burners and tensions cranked high during Eliminations, there will be both triumphs and tragedies—an undercooked protein, an over-seasoned sauce—on the plate, there will be the warm presence of Gail Simmons and the gastro gruffness of Tom Colicchio at the judges’ table, and there will inevitably be at least one contestant who misguidedly decides to make risotto in a Quickfire Challenge. But season 21 of Bravo’s long-running cooking competition, which brings the gourmet action to Wisconsin in newly-extended 75-minute episodes, ushers in a different era for the foodie franchise.