>> The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original
production. >> The idea that we're somehow
going to spend more than we would have or done, a policy
that we wouldn't have supported before. Absolutely not. You
know, it's just not going to happen.
majority Republican legislative leaders balk at bending to their
Democratic counterparts. [MUSIC]
I'm Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on "Here& Now", we hear from
legislative leaders about what's changed for the upcoming year.
Our political analysts say buckle up for the new Trump
administration and a game changing state Supreme Court
race. Plus, what's the status of bird
flu in Wisconsin? As we hit the new year and is. Enough being
done? It's "Here& Now" for January 3rd.
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus Fund for
Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
>> The New year always brings the opportunity to look ahead,
but we wanted to take one more opportunity to look back. A year
ago, at the end of 2023. Here and now, senior political
with legislative leaders and asked them to define what
success would look like for them in the coming year. Remember,
this was before the Wisconsin Supreme Court had declared we
would have new legislative maps. Joe Biden was the Democratic
nominee for president, and some Republicans were trying to find
an alternative to Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. So as
2024 came to a close, we asked the legislative leaders to
reassess their vision of succes. >> End of year interviews
typically have the same format. Ask the politician to wrap up
the old year and what do they want to achieve in the new year?
But in December of 23, it was clear 2024 could bring in some
big changes and we wanted to know what Wisconsin's
legislative leaders would call success a year from now. How
will you determine success? What will be the criteria that we use
to judge whether you had a successful year end campaign
going into next winter? >> Yeah. So in terms of our work
inside of the Capitol, I would really have three priorities. We
protect the governor's veto and we prevent far right legislation
from moving forward in Wisconsi. >> A year ago, Representative
Greta Neubauer was looking in two directions as the Democratic
minority leader in the Assembly, with only 35 members. She had to
make sure everyone was present on the floor. Days to prevent
Republicans from having the two thirds majority needed to
overturn Governor Evers vetoes. And with a redistricting case in
front of a liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, she
was looking at recruiting candidates to run for office in
2024. >> We are again recruiting
candidates and building our infrastructure so that we are in
a great position regardless of what happens in the court, but
particularly if there are fair maps to be able to compete for
the majority. >> Democrats did prevent any
Republican veto overrides from occurring, and they picked up
ten seats in the Assembly in November. In December, I asked
her to reassess her vision of success on the campaign side.
>> Of course, we're always going for the majority. We didn't
quite get there this year, but again, in a tough year for
Democrats, we're really pleased with the gains that we did make
this cycle, and we've got folks who are set up really well for
two years from now. In many of these districts, we did not have
competitive assembly races for over a decade. Now. We've got
grassroots infrastructure. We've got experienced candidates,
we've got, you know, local folks who are mobilized and excited to
participate in those competitive elections. And I think we've
learned a lot about how to run in this new environment in the
Senate last year, the minority leader was Melissa Agard, but
she left to run for Dane County Executive.
>> How will you define success? One year from now?
>> You know, I think that success a year from now is going
to continue ensuring that everyone knows that their vote
does matter and that it is safe and secure here in the state of
Wisconsin. I think that having success here in Wisconsin is
picking up more seats for Democrats in the Senate and in
the Assembly, and being able to have the governors back.
>> Senator Diane Hesselbein is now the Democratic minority
leader. They picked up four seats in the Senate, putting
them in position to compete for the majority in 2026.
>> She got an A plus. Yeah, I think those were great things to
be aspirational. And I think she did just that a year ago.
>> Republicans weren't sure what new legislative maps would mean
for Speaker Robin Vos large majority. And Republicans were
divided on whether Donald Trump should be the nominee for
president. One year from now, how will you judge success?
>> I'm coming back with a good, strong majority is a good way.
Boy, if we have a Republican president, that would be a big
success and better for the country. Hopefully we would be
fighting inflation. We'd actually have a world that looks
at America with respect and most importantly, we'd have a budget
that is affordable for the next generation, not driving us into
bankruptcy. With inflation. I also feel like we will hopefully
at the time, have the ability to help, hopefully have a good,
strong budget to be able to move forward. So I think the number
one thing, of course, is looking at what happens in the
elections. That's how we always judge where we are. But we've
had so many successes this time we'll have to kind of work on
what's going to happen in the next session.
>> Republicans lost seats but won enough of the swing
districts to maintain their his run as the longest serving
Assembly speaker in state history. How would you grade
your predictions? >> I guess that's pretty good,
actually. I'm glad I did that. I mean, obviously we have a GOP
president that's good for the country. We kept the majority.
if they had new maps, they would be able to get the majority.
What I've said for really the entire time I've been elected is
we have better candidates, a better message, and people who
work harder. We prove that correct. That's great.
Inflation. That's what we're in the equation, because I
really thought that those tax cuts would have already taken
effect. Here we are where Governor Evers kept the money in
the Treasury. We're still going to have a chance to correct
that. One last thing, and maybe I'll get all three right.
>> Reporting from Madison. I'm Zach Schultz for here. And now.
>> So legislative Democrats made some gains. But a state budget
battle looms with a probable fight over whether to cut taxes
or spend a $4 billion surplus in Washington. Look for President
Donald Trump to act fast on his priorities. And then turn your
attention back to Wisconsin for another supersized election for
control of the state Supreme Court. The discussion of what's
ahead politically in the new year is teed up for our
panelists. Republican Bill McCoshen and Democrat Scot Ross.
And thanks for being here. >> Happy New Year.
>> So first to you, Bill, let's start with what we're going to
see out of the new Trump administration.
>> So I would say this is going to be the NASCAR start all gas,
no brakes. I expect to more than maybe several hundred executive
orders on day one. I expect them to come forward with a
reconciliation package, probably in February, that includes
immigration and energy. A second one later in the year on
government reform and taxes. They have two opportunities.
There are team votes, including for speaker. We're on to round
two on that already. Hopefully Mike Johnson will get that and
we can get back to business. But I think there will be a fast and
furious start for the Trump administration. I think the four
years between his terms, they've learned a lot. They knew what
they did wrong in the first term, and they'll be more
prepared this time. >> So it's a hold on to your
hats moment. Scott, do you think Democrats will work with the
Trump administration in any measure?
the things that they're going to do are going to, you know,
dismantle the social safety net, attack the rights of people, you
know, I mean, we're going to have mass deportations. We're
going to have trans people, you know, bullied into suicide with
their things. I mean, it's going to be a bloodbath. And also that
they can raid our treasury and give billionaires even more
money, you know? And so I think so I hope Democrats are not up
to it. And they shouldn't be, because I'll tell you, I got an
A, rule and I'm gonna give you the B, which is bipartisanship
is BS. Donald Trump, you know, in 2016 he said, oh, I, you
know, hinted that he might prosecute his political enemies
in 2020. He got a little bit more aggressive in 2024. He went
all in on, you know, on attacking Democrats. And that
was it. I'm not working with the Democrats. And he did better
this time. incumbent on Democrats to
acknowledge the electoral popularity of Donald Trump after
having apparently misunderstood their base?
>> Well, you know, I'll tell you this story. So a couple weeks
before the election. My wife is like, you know, I don't think
she's going to win. And I'm like, I don't want to hear it
because, like, I'll live in that world if it exists. I'm going to
live in denial. Like there's nothing I'm going to do about i.
And after I go to her and I was like, you know, hat in hand, I'm
like, what happened? She's like the joy thing. She's like, we
have a comfortable life, you know? Do you feel joy? And I'm
like, well, when I'm around you. But generally, no. So why were
people going to feel joy, you know, who felt joy? The people
who were on the gravy train, you know, and suddenly were able to,
you know, be in a position where they could be president, you
know, and the consultants and all that sort of thing. It
wasn't, you know, they weren't it wasn't it wasn't a reflection
of reality. As it turns out. I bought into it, but I was wrong,
I think Democrats missed the signal.
telling us something very specific. Trump picked up on it
early on, and he capitalized on it. And that's why he actually
won 231 congressional seats. And he won 57 Senate seats. So I
think there is some room for bipartisanship in this coming
Congress bill. priorities like mass
deportations, apparently help people with the cost of
groceries? >> Well, I think that's one
function he got elected on that. There's no question about that.
Whether it was the Trump people think it was his number one
issue. I still think the economy was the number one issue. And
both of those things are going to get done in the first six
months. But it probably you're not going to see massive reduced
grocery prices in the first couple months. But if you have
them by summer, I think that's a pretty good start for the Trump
campaign. >> I mean, I think the problem
is, is that like when you talk about bipartisanship, that this
is not the Republican Party that deals with bipartisanship
anymore. You know, there are Democrats who are thinking, oh,
I still want a Republican Party where we can come together and
put a man on the moon. You know, the Republican Party basically
now denies that the that we even landed on the moon essentially,
in that way, there is no room for bipartisanship with them.
Democrats do that at their peril. And again, Republicans
have been saying no to Democrats since they were rolling. Old man
Cheney off the dais. In January worked with the Democrats. And
suddenly they're, you know, suddenly that's they've paid no
price for it basically is what I was going to say. So why would
they do it now? >> I want I want to come back
here to Wisconsin. And what you call the Super Bowl of politics,
that being the spring election for state Supreme Court. Why is
it the Super Bowl? >> This is the biggest election.
It's for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Currently, it's A43 progressive majority, one of the four
progressives is not running for reelection. And so there's an
opportunity for conservatives to take back the majority. And if
they don't get it this time, the next opportunity doesn't present
itself until 2028. So there's progressives will have this
majority for some time, and they could undo things like act ten.
They could undo school choice. They could undo some of the
welfare reforms. And many, many other things. So it is the Super
Bowl for conservatives and Republicans, and it's incumbent
upon us to get behind. Brad Schimel quickly early. He's a
battle tested candidate. He's run statewide twice before he
was successful in the first bid. He was unsuccessful in the
second bid, primarily because there was a third party
candidate in here who prevented him from beating Josh Kaul. So I
think he's a strong candidate. It's going to be the most
expensive race in Wisconsin history.
this? >> Oh, I think she's a terrific
candidate. She's ten years of prosecutor. You know, she's then
went into private practice where she protected workers rights,
abortion rights and voting rights. And then she went on to
be a respected judge, which she is now. Brad Schimel, on the
other hand, is a partisan hack. I mean, he was fired.
>> He was fired. >> Yes. And he's a judge because
he and Scott Walker, you know, in the lame duck after they both
got fired for their performance. You know, voters fired them. He
appointed him a judge. The fact is, is that Brad Schimel. You
know, bungled prosecutions of sex offenders, the rape kit
backlog was massive under him. And, you know, I'll give you
I'll give you another one. You know, 71 or 72 counties begged.
They pass resolutions begging Brad Schimel and Scott Walker to
do something about the opioid crisis. Brad Schimel, after
being the only state candidate in Wisconsin history to take a
PAC check from Purdue Pharma, the big opioid kingpin. He
refused to prosecute, absolutely refused to prosecute. And it
wasn't a lot of money. It was only $250. But like the question
is, can you be bought for that little or did you actually think
Purdue shouldn't be held accountable? Josh Kaul, on the
other hand, $750 million to help the effects of that has come
into the state of Wisconsin because Brad Schimel is no
longer the attorney general. >> I think Democrats are going
to be careful what they wish for here. This act. Ten case that
was adjudicated in Dane County Circuit Court is now in the
appellate court, could make it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
A year ago. I think Scott and I will agree on this. Janet
rules on judicial elections. It used to be that judicial
candidates couldn't take positions on cases that might
come before them. Janet Protasiewicz erased that bright
line on whether it was the maps or abortion or a variety of
other things. So Schimel is going to have to take advantage
of that and tell people act ten is going to be repealed if you
don't, if you elect Susan Crawford, school choice, if you
choose a charter school or a choice school or open enroll
your kid, that could all go away. If Susan Crawford is
elected. So he's going to have to motivate the same voters that
elected Donald Trump. The low propensity voters who typically
don't turn out in April. >> So it's going to be about
we're suddenly going to, you know, the Wisconsin Supreme
purview over immigration and transgender issues. That's going
to be what Brad Schimmel's campaign. He's already he's
already talking about those sort of divisive, you know,
destructive campaign that we saw from Trump, that we saw from
Schimel. I do not believe Schimel will be will be elected
in any way, shape or form, mostly because, you know, the
credentials of Susan Crawford, the you know, the bad stuff that
we have with Brad Schimel, but also the fact that it is going
to be insane what the Republicans do and Democrats are
always motivated once we've lost the big battle to clean things
up. And I think that that's, you know, where we're at.
>> Well, ratings for a lot of progressive shows are at their
all time low. I think Democrats are demotivated by what happened
in November. And I think that will continue through April.
>> We have a lot more to talk about and we will in the coming
months. Bill McCoshen, Scot Ross, thank you, thank you,
thank you. The Wisconsin Elections Commission late this
week voted unanimously to launch an investigation into the city
of Madison. Clark over nearly 200 missing absentee ballots in
the November election. The commission first learned of the
ballots that were cast, but not counted in late December, six
weeks after Election Day. >> I thought this was so
egregious that it was important we move immediately, I suppose
my biggest concern here is why it took a month and a half for
this to come out. >> And that's very, very
disturbing. And I'm hoping we can determine that why that
happened as well. >> Election officials say the
ballots not counted in Madison did not affect final results of
any federal, state or municipal race. In other news, just before
Christmas, former state Senator Tim Cullen of Janesville passed
away. >> I believe that anybody who is
going to vote for this bill ought to go to Mellen.
>> Cullen served in the Senate from 1974 to 1986, including as
Majority leader. He was then appointed Secretary of the
Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services under former
Governor Tommy Thompson. Cullen left for the private sector,
becoming the VP of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, only to reenter
politics, running and winning his seat back in the state
Senate. In 2010, he was among the 14 Senate Democrats who fled
Wisconsin over the act ten vote. He retired in 2013. In
retirement, Cullen advocated strenuously against legislative
gerrymandering. He was the author of three books former
state Senator Tim Cullen was 80 years old, former state senator,
Republican George Petak also passed away December 23rd, Petak
cast the deciding vote to fund construction of Miller Park.
That 1995 vote cost Petak his Senate seat, but kept the
Milwaukee Brewers franchise in Wisconsin. He was 75. In public
health news is bird flu or highly pathogenic avian
influenza high risk for livestock and poultry flocks?
But low risk for humans and could that change? For the
latest on the status of bird flu outbreaks in Wisconsin, we turn
to Tom Haupt influenza research scientist at the Wisconsin
Department of Health Services. And thanks very much for being
here. >> Thank you. Frederica. I
appreciate the invitation. >> What is the current status of
bird flu outbreaks in Wisconsin? >> Well, we've had approximately
4 or 5 commercial outbreaks and one backyard flop as far as
human cases. We have had only the one human case that person
has made a complete recovery. Thank goodness. As far as other
testing, we have tested about 3 or 4 other people. All have come
back negative, but we continue to monitor very closely in
conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and
Consumer Protection and the DNR to monitor all kinds of
wildlife, any kind of flocks. We have had no cattle, dairy farms
in Wisconsin that have been infected so far. We're hoping it
stays that way. >> Could there be more human
cases out there that people just haven't been tested? Or they
think they've got a cold or, you know, what are the concerns
about that? >> That definitely could be the
case. And especially now when influenza has started to spike
the way it has been over the past couple of weeks. And we've
over doubled, doubled our number of cases for seasonal influenza
over the past few weeks. So there could be some people who
probably should be tested, but are not being tested. But we
really are trying to be very conservative on this and make
sure that we try to capture everybody who may have had
exposure. Make sure that they are tested for flu.
>> Speaking of flu and seasonal influenza, I understand that the
CDC provided flu vaccines to 12 states that also were affected
by bird flu. To prevent this kind of co-infection of both the
human flu and the bird flu, that could lead to kind of emerging
variants of that, that could be a more transmissible. Why didn't
Wisconsin participate in that? CDC vaccine program?
>> It actually was not the Wisconsin's decision. There was
like six initial states that were categorized to get it. At
first. We're hoping to be part of the second or third round to
get this vaccine from the CDC. But again, it was not in our
hands. >> How worrisome is it from a
public health standpoint that co-infection of these two
different influenzas, anytime you have co-infections, it's
always a concern, whether it's with avian influenza and
seasonal influenza, Covid, RSV, whatever the case may be, the
more pathogens that actually are infecting a person, the more
severe the outcome could be and which could lead to
hospitalization and unfortunately, deaths.
to prevent making sure we're getting people tested in a
timely manner at a proper laboratory, which now is the
Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, to get that information
and to get those tests run as quickly as possible. But yes, it
definitely could be a concern. >> What's the best advice for
people as we head into the peak of the seasonal flu season here
in the midst of this kind of avian influenza outbreak?
>> Well, we need to control what we can control. And that's two
things. One is to get the vaccine for influenza. Our
numbers are a little bit low. They're about 30.7%, which is
just a couple of percentage points lower than what it was
last year, which is a bit disappointing, to be honest with
you. We need to do a better job because we are optimistic that
the vaccine is going to be effective in preventing severe
illness and in many cases, it will be effective in preventing
illness altogether. The other thing is to practice good
hygiene, coughing into your sleeve, sneezing into a tissue,
throwing it away right away, washing your hands and above
all, if people do get sick, stay home and give yourself the time
to heal. Too many people think it's just the allergies. Or as
you said, just a minor cold. They could be infecting someone
who could be at high risk, and that person could actually
result in becoming hospitalized. And hopefully and not. And
really, hopefully it's not that it won't result in any kind of
fatalities. what should people be looking
for to see whether or not that might be what they have?
>> Yeah, it's very hard to say at this point. One thing that we
do definitely look at, at the state is do you have an
exposure, do you have an exposure to any kind of birds
that are with a die off, whether it be wild birds, poultry,
anything like that? Do they work on a farm? You know, on a dairy
farm where maybe the cows are not producing the milk the way
they're supposed to be doing, or there the milk is very unusual.
I mean, those are the people who come down with symptoms where we
really want them to consider testing, calling the local or
state health departments. We can arrange for testing to be done
as quickly as possible, but the symptoms that could be very
vague. I mean, it could be just conjunctivitis. It could be just
an upper respiratory mild upper respiratory illness. It really
not a precise symptomology when you're dealing with HpaI. Had
with an influenza. >> Well, I know you will be
watching this on all of our Behalves. Tom Haupt, thank you
very much. >> And thank you, Frederick. I
appreciate it. >> The UW American Family
Children's Hospital reports this week that two students gravely
injured in the abundant Life Christian School shooting have
had their conditions upgraded. The two came into the hospital
with critical injuries, but are now listed in fair condition. It
was December 16th when a fellow 15 year old student shot and
killed a teacher and a 14 year old inside the school before
fatally turning the gun on herself, according to police,
six others suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to the
hospital. All but the two students, whose conditions are
now improving, were treated and released. Madison police tell us
they are continuing their investigation and have filed
warrants for shooter Nathalie Rupnow online communications to
determine if any charges should be filed. Finally, tonight, a
conversation with a Milwaukee native who is one of Hollywood's
top filmmakers "Here& Now". Reporter Murv Seymour takes us
to the big screen as he chats with John Ridley about
cultivating artists and making movies in the state. Here's a
sneak peek at this month's In Focus with Murv Seymour
interview. >> Will we ever see a situation
where John Ridley shines a light on a Milwaukee story in
Milwaukee? >> Oh yeah, we've been doing
that through no Studios. We do mini docs. We get out, we tell
stories. That's something that's very important for us. You know,
we do storytelling in no studios in ways that aren't just about
film either. You know, we have our dance fest every year where
we celebrate dance. We celebrate motion, we celebrate all of
of stories out there to tell. We've been telling the stories.
We're going to continue to tell. The stories. If you're asking in
a bigger sense, like a motion picture, until Wisconsin gets
tax credits and that's something that I've advocated for. No,
that's not going to happen. You have to I don't want to say it's
not going to happen. It's going to be a challenge because those
tax credits, like any other business, it's really, really
important in terms of attracting Hollywood dollars or Hollywood
spend. So yes, we are telling stories. We continue to be
engaged in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. But in terms of doing
feature films out here, whether it's myself or anybody else,
Wisconsin, I'm going to look tax credits. We've talked about
this. You got to advocate for tax credits. Please do that.
Reach out to your representatives. There are no
Hollywood. There are no dollars that are better than Hollywood
terms of spending better than Foxconn, I'll tell you that.
Well, I will tell you that for more on this and other issues
facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBS Wisconsin.
>> Org and then click on the news tab. That's our program for
tonight. I'm Frederica Freyberg. Have a good weekend.
[MUSIC]
You.