>> The following program is a PBS Wisconsin Original
production. 2024 election coverage.
>> This morning, we filed a criminal complaint in Dane
County Circuit Court charging three defendants in connection
with an alleged conspiracy. >> Four years later, the fake
electors scheme seized charges filed by the Wisconsin Attorney
General and the outgoing Waupan prison warden charged with
misconduct in office in the midst of death.
Investigation at the facility. I'm Frederica
Freyberg tonight on "Here& " an investigation into deaths at
Waupan prison leads to arrests and charges against the warden
and eight others. Zac Schultz has a report. Wisconsin's top
prosecutor files felony charges against three alleged architects
of the false electors scheme. The Milwaukee Public Schools
superintendent quits leaving the state's largest school system in
a financial mess, and reaction from a teacher and parent. Plus,
the head of the state Democratic Party, talks about this year's
elections. It's "Here& Now" for June seventh.
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus Fund for
Wisconsin. Journalism and Friends of PBS.
Institute, including the warden, at the Waupun Correctional
have been arrested and charged for abuse of a prisoner and
misconduct in office. And once again, there are calls to close
the oldest prison in Wisconsin. Hear. And now, reporter Zach
Schultz has the story. >> We are operating the oldest
prison in the state of Wisconsin at a dangerous and reckless
manner. >> Dodge County Sheriff Dale
Schmidt did not mince words at a press conference Wednesday,
where he released the details from an investigation into the
deaths of multiple inmates at the Waupan Correctional
Institute. >> As the sheriff, I am angered
at how these men were treated and how they died.
>> There have been four deaths since last June, and while the
sheriff expressed concern about the treatment of all four
inmates, only two deaths resulted in felony charges. Two
officers and a nurse are charged with abuse of a resident of a
penal facility for repeatedly failing to check on an inmate
who died of a stroke last October, an inmate's death in
February led to seven employees charged for abuse
of a resident and misconduct in office, failure to
perform a known duty in that case, an inmate's water was
turned on and off over the course of multiple days,
with no record staff let the mentally ill inmate know
when water was available. Video evidence shows the
guards also failed to delivr meals and medication, and then
falsified records showing they had checked on the inmate.
>> The cause of death probable dehydration and failure to
thrive due to malnutrition. >> The death was ruled a
homicide, but no one will be charged for that. Instead,
the sheriff says the death was a result of a lack of
staffing, training and accountability. That's why
charged with felony investigators, Warden Hepp said,
quote, this is the inevitable outcome of a long term staffing
deficit in this type of environment. This is what you're
going to get. >> We are failure properly
failing to properly staff these facilities. Waupan Correctional
>> Waupan is so understaffed. has over 50% vacancy of staff.
Inmates have been on a type of lockdown called a modified
movement plan for more than a year. The FBI and the state
Department of Corrections both have open investigations into
the deaths at Waupan and multiple civil lawsuits have
been filed. Corrections makes up a large portion of the state
budget, so it's always been political, and it didn't take
long for lawmakers to point fingers. Republicans blamed the
leadership of Governor Tony Evers and promised
investigations. Some Democrats called for Waupan and Green Bay
Correctional, the state's second oldest prison, to be closed,
while Evers put out a statement promising to release the results
of the state internal investigation immediately.
>> Nothing gets fixed because they blame each other and
there's plenty of blame to go around.
Waupan. He says Wisconsin's prisons have been ignored for
too long, and after act ten removed union protections,
staffing and morale crashed. >> The last few governors, I
don't think, have done much for corrections. You can go back,
Scott Walker never came to Waupan and never visited a
prison. Tony Evers has done that , but I don't think he's taken
the bull by the horns and fixed any of these problems.
solution is obvious. >> My recommendations to the
state of Wisconsin. Are you seriously consider renovating
the housing units or closing and replacing Waupan Correctional
and Green Bay Correctional? >> Bishop said he will oppose
any effort to close down Waupan Correctional as the state's
oldest prison. It's part of the fabric of the community. Located
just two blocks off Main Street and surrounded on all sides by
homes and churches. >> The problem isn't the
building. The problem is it was understaffed and there's
to be fixed. There's a lot of blame to go around, and I think
there's a lot of blame to go back a good 15 years.
>> Reporting from Dodge County, I'm Zack Schulze for "Here& Now"
>> In other legal news, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh
Kaul this week filed felony criminal charges against three
of Donald Trump's associates in connection with the false
elector scheme staged following the 2020 election.
>> Specifically, the complaint charges Kenneth J. Cheseboro,
Michael A Roman, and James R Troupis, with conspiring to
commit the crime of uttering as genuine a forged writing or
object in violation of Wisconsin statutes.
alleges a plot to flip Wisconsin's ten electoral votes
from Joe Biden to Trump by forging a fake list of elector
certificate s at a meeting at the state Capitol, the complaint
states that on January 6th, 2021, defendants Cheseboro and
Troupis exchanged messages about attempting to deliver the
Unappointed elector certificate to Vice President Pence during
the Joint session of Congress. They then called defendant Roman
to, quote, make sure he gets what he needs. The fake elector
certificates were never delivered to then vice President
Pence. Of the three men charged, only attorney and former judge
resident. The defendants are James Troupis is a Wisconsin
appearance in Dane County scheduled for an initial
Circuit Court in September. If convicted, the maximum sentence
is six years in prison. When it comes to elections, Wisconsin is
the land of the nail biter. Those words from our next guest
state Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler. He's heading off to the
state party convention this weekend in Milwaukee. We spoke
to the state Republican Party chair last month. Ahead of that
convention. Ben Wikler joins us now. Thanks a lot for being
here. Great to be with you. So as you head into your party
convention, what are the stakes in this upcoming election up and
down the ballot? >> This election really is a
hinge moment that will swing one way or the other in the fight
for freedom, for the freedom to make our own decisions about our
own bodies, get the health care that we need in our state, the
freedom of the people to choose their leaders as opposed to
people overturning elections and supporting job. Be able to
organize for representation in a workplace, build an economy that
works for everyone as against from the Republican mega
politicians, from Trump down to the state legislature over and
over. Attempts to ban abortion, attempts to shred democracy and
overturn elections where the people have made one decision
and they want to throw that decision out and on the on the
right from the Republican side of the aisle, we're seeing
attempt after attempt to give massive tax cuts for the ultra
wealthy and then stick the middle class with the bill. We
think we should be bringing down costs for the middle class, and
the wealthy should pay their fair share. Those are the stakes
in this election, and you see it at every level of the election.
And Wisconsin specifically will tilt the entire country. So it
really could not be a more consequential moment for
American democracy and for voters in Wisconsin.
>> In Wisconsin, polls indeed do show a nail biter between Joe
Biden and Donald Trump. How do you think Trump's 34 felony
count convictions conviction plays, even as he is massively
fundraising off it? underscore the threat that he
poses to voters who want to be able to make their own decisions
about the kind of country we should be. Trump cheated. He
broke the law and then broke the law to cover up his lawbreaking
in order to get into the white House in the first place, then
when he was in office, he tried to extort a US ally to make up
attacks against Joe Biden. Then he lost the election again,
oversaw criminal conspiracy to overturn the election. We just
saw indictments this week in Wisconsin and now he wants to
get back into the white House in order to, as he puts it, become
retribution to exact his revenge on the people he perceives as
his enemies. And frankly, anyone who voted against him before
anyone who's concerned about the idea that he should have total
immunity and total power, you might be on his enemies list.
situation for democracy, and the This is not a comfortable
that he will do anything, break felony convictions underscore
wants, even if the public does any law in order to grab what he
>> On the other hand, how does not want to give it to him.
ratings and the apparent blame Joe Biden overcome low approval
for inflation? >> What's striking about this
election is that the more voters learn about what Trump has
planned for the country, the more they support Joe Biden, and
the more they know about Joe Biden's accomplishments and what
he has planned for the next term. The more they support Joe
Biden. So the more information we can get out to people, the
more we can communicate in ways that break through the noise and
are memorable and connect with people's deepest values, the
Democrats up and down the ballot will be, and that is the job of
every volunteer of the campaigns of voters who believe that it's
important to choose someone who will bring decency and continue
to bring integrity and a focus on working. Wisconsin voters to
the next term. >> How is your base feeling
about the president's executive order effectively shutting the
borders? In the case of reaching a cap on migrant crossings,
there's a lot of concern from a huge swath of Americans about
the situation at the border. >> And what most Americans want
is what people have been advocating for years, which is a
solution that involves securing the border and creating pathways
for legal immigration, a pathway to citizenship for folks that
have been here following the law, paying taxes and there was
actually a tough and fair border security bill agreed to by
Trump shot down. So this is this Democrats and Republicans that
legislative solution that that is a far cry from an actual
Trump refused to allow Republicans to vote for. But
it's President Biden working to do something that that is within
potentially within his reach to do while he advocates for a more
long term solution to this crisis, this system, the
situation we have right now, it doesn't work for anyone. And
Americans deserve better. They deserve a bipartisan agreement
that can ensure that we have a safe and orderly system and can
can address the crisis at the border and the humanitarian
crisis associated with it. And ensure that people who are here
to build a brighter tomorrow have a legal pathway to follow
the American dream. >> Now, abortion figures
prominently in your fighting for our freedoms platform. How
salient, though, is that issue for Wisconsin voters who now
have access to abortion? >> The abortion man that was
passed in 1849 and loomed over the state as the court cases
began right here, when every abortion provider in Wisconsin
stopped providing care after the Dobbs decision that is in very
recent memory for Wisconsinites and many Wisconsinites who know
someone personally who is directly affected by that
abortion ban, were one bad election away from an abortion
ban coming back into place. Whether it's Trump with project
2025, his plan to create a de facto abortion ban even without
passing a law or the kinds of national abortion bans that Mike
Johnson would pass, probably with help from people like
Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil if they go back to the US
house, all the way to our state, where Republicans in our state
legislature have been supporting and supported by the most not
just anti-abortion, but anti contraception extreme groups.
anti-abortion extremist running for Supreme Court in 2025. Brad
Schimmel. So this is very real. And the threat is felt very
personally to voters. It might not be what you think about
every day when you wake up, but what we found over and over is
that when you have a conversation with someone at
your front door or with a friend who's reaching out to talk to
you about the campaign, this an uncrossable line, the idea that
a politician would invade your family's private choices about
medical care, that people should be making their own decisions
about. That's not something that Wisconsinites are ready to
accept. very much.
on. news, hundreds turned out in
Ashland for public hearings this week on a proposed addition and
reroute of the controversial line five pipeline. The US Army
Corps of Engineers held the hearings on a proposal by the
Canadian Enbridge Energy Company to install 40 miles of new
pipeline, seen in red in a reroute of line five around
the bad River reservation. As to the reroute, the tribe
sued Enbridge over concernsf leaks and ruptures affecting the
watershed, and a federal judge ruled the company must remove
the pipeline from tribal land by 2026.
Bad River does not want you there. We're talking about
lengthening our addiction and our commitment to using this
thing to flow. >> Oil and gas through it at a
time when we need to be doing everything we can as fast as we
>> Those in favor say the can to stop that.
energy independence, is safe, pipeline is needed to maintain
support of Enbridge to get line and will create jobs here in
these get these permits through. five, the reroute underway, get
>> So our members, a lot of tradesmen from northern
Wisconsin and across the state can get to work on this project.
>> Without line five, there would be a significant impact to
not only the fuel, but definitely the natural gas
liquids that would raise prices. It could cause shortages.
>> Currently, line five transports half a million
barrels of oil and gas every day from Western Canada through
Wisconsin and Michigan. Also this week, President Joe Biden
took action on the hot political issue of immigration and border
control. >> They choose to come without
permission and against the law. They'll be restricted from
receiving asylum and staying in the United States.
>> Asylum request would be shut down when ports of entry
averaged 2500 encounters with migrants per day, because those
numbers are higher than that now, this means that the border
could be closed to migrants effective immediately. We asked
Erin Barbato of the UW-Madison law school's Immigration Justice
Clinic for her reaction. >> I'm not surprised that there
is a more restrictive policy that is coming across, even from
Biden's office, because it has become so politicized and
there's so much misunderstanding about the border. You know, all
we do is hear influx in emergency. And, but we're really
forgetting about that. This is a humanitarian issue. And that as
the United States, we have laws that allow people to seek
protection here when they will be persecuted or have been
persecuted in their home country, and now we're just
blocking that off again. For many people, that will be, would
otherwise be eligible for protections in the US. But as a
political the political nature of immigration right now is I
think this is by restricting things at the border is the only
way someone is going to gain popularity with the general
population, even though that's incredibly disheartening.
>> Financial and operational mayhem at Milwaukee Public
Schools resulted this week in the resignation of the
district's superintendent and the firing of its comptroller in
charge of finances, educational and political heavyweights like
former Governor Tommy Thompson are calling to dissolve MPs
midweek. The district responded to the dysfunction.
investing dating and we will provide updates as soon as
we're able to do so. >> The district was still in
need of those resources to fill what what what we would
be in, which is dire financial straits even in
the midst of passing a $252 million referendum, the district
failed to submit mandatory financial reports to the state.
>> As a result, DPI is withholding nearly $17 million
in state aid because the reports are now nine months past due.
Plus, federal officials cut the district's Head Start funding
for early learners after finding incidents of verbal and physical
abuse and lack of supervision. All of this came to a head at a
school board hearing this week during which the superintendent
tendered his resignation. MPs teacher and parent and chair of
the Black Educators Caucus, Angela Harris, joins us with her
reaction. And Angela, thanks a lot for being here.
>> Thank you for inviting me. >> So how would you describe
what happened this week, if I had to choose one word to
describe what happened this week, it would definitely be,
chaos. It was very it was a very chaotic week. There were new
revelations every day about what was going on in the district.
Things that we as staff community members are not, we're
not aware of. Right. We had no idea, what was happening behind
closed doors within our district.
>> And so what was your reaction to those revelations?
>> I was very disappointed. I was very disheartened, heartened
to hear, that this was what was happening, particularly on the
heels of a $252 million referendum.
the removal of the superintendent, but is that
because you believe he was ultimately responsible for the
financial mayhem, as we called it?
responsibility starts with him. But I don't believe that the
responsibility stops with him. I think that as the head leader of
our district, he definitely holds some culpability in what
was going on in terms of our financial paperwork not being
submitted, in a timely manner, nor do I feel like he is the
sole responsible, responsible person for this happening.
Absolutely not. prior to this for his
resignation, we had had questions about superintendents.
>> Superintendent Posey's leadership through the pandemic.
Right. The district had received , several hundred million
through Esser funding. And we were questioned at the time the
way that that funding was being allocated, the way that
community voice was not being listened to in terms of how that
money should be spent and allocated. And so it was really
during that time that we really began to question the fiscal
responsibility and the fiscal management of Milwaukee Public
Schools. ago, but what was your reaction
to the district successfully passing? Again, this $252
million referendum at the same time that their financial books
apparent were not square? >> It really makes it hard for
the community for staff to trust, our district, knowing
that they knew that these financial this financial
paperwork had not been submitted on time and that it could
negatively impact our finances. And they knew this while
simultaneously asking for the community to raise our property
taxes, to provide financial assistance to a district that
can't even make sure that their financial paperwork is submitted
in a timely manner. >> So how concerned are you,
then, about the suspension of state aid to Milwaukee?
>> I'm extremely concerned because although DPI says,
right, this money is just being withheld, and if the paperwork
is submitted and everything is correct, they will release the
funds. My worry is what if the paperwork is not correct and
what if they have to withhold money that they will not return?
These are monies that we cannot afford to lose and cannot afford
to lose. Not a single dollar. >> So also as as we discussed,
just there's the loss of federal funding because MPs Head Start
programs were found to have maltreatment of children. What
is your response to that? As, as a second grade teacher who no
doubt sees some of these youngsters who are in head Start
and then come into your school, I am really saddened by by that
loss, especially, we know that when students have access to
quality K-3 and K-4 education, that definitely makes my job
easier as a second grade teacher, right?
facing not only the academic side of learning, they're also
getting that social and emotional learning, that happens
in those spaces as well that they wouldn't otherwise get. If
they were at home. And to know that a program that is supposed
to be accessible to some of our most marginalized families,
right Head Start is a program that is for families that are
specifically low income to know that they will then suffer a
loss because of our financial mismanagement and our
mismanagement of this program. It just really makes me sad for
our students and our families here in Milwaukee.
>> And what about the idea of these little children?
Reportedly suffering this very, very concerning to hear.
>> I mean, as an educator, a lifelong educator, right? I have
to pass a back a background check. If I were to ever hurt a
child, I would lose my license and lose my job and be unable to
work with children any further. So to know that not only are
these children now losing an opportunity to help levy some of
the academic disparities that they face, but they were also
being harmed and will potentially have some trauma
that is related to that care as well is just really devastating
to hear as a teacher and a parent of students, I understand
attending MPs. >> Do you feel like all of this
dysfunction trickles down into the classroom, oh, 100.
>> I always say, you know, it is very difficult to bear ripe
fruit from a rotten tree. And so when we have issues that are
happening in the very highest levels of our district is only
natural that that is going to boil down to the classroom, to
the school, to the teachers, to the students. And I mean,
ultimately in our community as well.
staff? >> I think at this point,
there's a lot of uncertainty that exists among staff.
>> People are often asking like, is my job? Will my job be safe
if we lose this funding? What does that mean for my job?
There's so many questions that still remain due to the lack of
transparency from the district. >> When you hear people like
Tommy Thompson and others calling to dissolve MPs, do you
think that's a good idea? >> I absolutely do not believe
that dissolving in Milwaukee public schools is the answer,
Milwaukee Public Schools is the largest public school system
here in our state. We serve the largest number of students,
public school is a right, everyone is entitled to a free
and appropriate public education . And as we begin to have
conversations about dismantling, Milwaukee public schools, that
means that we're dismantling that ability for students to
have that free access to public education that serves all
students. And not just some. I think that Milwaukee Public
Schools definitely needs structural change. But, being
dis mantled is not in the best interest of our city or our
community. >> We leave it there. Angela
Harris, thank you very much. Thank you for more on this and
other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBS
Wisconsin. Org and then click on the news tab to see all of our
election coverage. Visit Wisconsin Vote.org. That's our
program for tonight. I'm Frederica Freyberg. Have a good
weekend.
>> Funding for Here and Now is provided by the focus
Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS.