DOCTOR URGES SUPPORT OF MEDICAID FUNDING
As a family physician, I am deeply concerned about potential changes to Medicaid funding
and coverage. Medicaid is a lifeline to affordable, accessible health care for millions of low-
income individuals and families, including many of my patients.
I work at the Menominee Tribal Clinic, an IHS supported but independently-run Native owned
by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. Most of our patients qualify for and have
Medicaid (BadgerCare) insurance for their healthcare needs, including working families,
pregnant women, and nearly our entire pediatric population. If the Medicaid budget is
slashed, my patients-- and my entire clinic-- will be devastatingly affected.
Regarding health outcomes, Native patients are already marginalized. The Menominee
Reservation / County is our state’s poorest with the worst state health outcomes (#72 of 72
counties) for the past two decades. Nationally, Native people’s life expediencies are nearly
one decade less than a white person’s. In Wisconsin, Native patients’ maternal morbidity and
mortality is two and a half times higher than a white pregnant patient’s. As a member of
Wisconsin’s Maternal Mortality Review Team, we discuss these disparities at nearly every
meeting. Unfortunately, those disparities will only widen with removing their access to
healthcare.
Again, cutting Medicaid is not a viable option. We are talking about people's health and
literally their lives. Cuts would hurt Wisconsinites in every corner of our state--urban and rural,
Republican and Democrat, young and old. Local hospitals could close. Seniors could be
evicted from nursing homes. Children with disabilities could be put on wait lists for lifesaving
services.
Please reach out to your representatives and urge them to protect Medicaid funding.
Dr. Heather Nennig
DON’T LET BILLIONAIRES WIN, VOTE FOR CRAWFORD
Our state’s future will be determined when we elect a new justice for the Wisconsin Supreme
Court on April 1st.
Judge Susan Crawford has an outstanding record, however, she has been the victim of
multiple lies by her opponent, Brad Schmel and his benefactor Elon Musk. Ads have accused
her of being easy on crime despite her record of putting violent criminals behind bars. Musk
and his pals have spent millions running fake pro-Crawford ads linking her to extreme
positions that are not hers.
In contrast to Judge Crawford’s concern for women’s health, Schimel led efforts to repeal the
Affordable Care Act and supports the 1849 law banning abortion. He was partly responsible
for costing taxpayers $1.6 million over an unconstitutional abortion restriction law.
Additionally, he gave a plea deal to a criminal after getting $5500 from his lawyer.
When Schimel was elected Attorney General in 2015, there were 6,000 sexual assault kits,
also known as rape kits, that had not been DNA tested. Over the next two years his
Department of Justice had only tested nine kits. For the victims, this justice delayed was
justice denied.
As a prosecutor, private-practice attorney, and now as a Judge, Susan Crawford has always
believed in protecting the basic rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites. She has been
endorsed by 178 Wisconsin judges and by various unions.
Don’t let billionaires buy our elections and sabotage our state. Vote for Susan Crawford.
Patricia Merckes
Vote No On Voter ID Amendment
Please Vote No On Voter ID Constitutional Amendment. Our state’s future will be determined when we elect a new justice for the Wisconsin Supreme Court on April 1st.
Judge Susan Crawford has an outstanding record, however, she has been the victim of multiple lies by her opponent, Brad Schmel and his benefactor Elon Musk. Ads have accused her of being easy on crime despite her record of putting violent criminals behind bars. Musk and his pals have spent millions running fake pro-Crawford ads linking her to extreme positions that are not hers.
In contrast to Judge Crawford’s concern for women’s health, Schimel led efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and supports the 1849 law banning abortion. He was partly responsible for costing taxpayers $1.6 million over an unconstitutional abortion restriction law. Additionally, he gave a plea deal to a criminal after getting $5500 from his lawyer. When Schimel was elected Attorney General in 2015, there were 6,000 sexual assault kits, also known as rape kits, that had not been DNA tested. Over the next two years his Department of Justice had only tested nine kits. For the victims, this justice delayed was justice denied.
As a prosecutor, private-practice attorney, and now as a Judge, Susan Crawford has always believed in protecting the basic rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites. She has been endorsed by 178 Wisconsin judges and by various unions.
Don’t let billionaires buy our elections and sabotage our state. Vote for Susan Crawford.
Patricia Merckes
SUPPORT EDUCATION AS NATION GAINS NOTHING FROM IGNORANCE
It all begins with an idea.
Horace Mann," Father of Education", believed that education should be available to all
children, free of charge, and funded by the state. Now, in 2024, a goal of the Heritage
Foundation's Project 2025's is to dismantle the Department of Education, a vow
Donald Trump has repeated over and over on the campaign trail.
Presently 90% of children living in the United States go to public schools. State
and local property taxes primarily fund public school systems. Despite what
Senatorial Candidate Eric Hovde says, decisions such as what books are appropriate for
students, falls to local school boards and sometimes state governments, not the federal
government. The Department of Education conducts research and offers guidance on best
classroom practices and curriculum.
Funds from the Department of Education help low-income students, students
with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency. The department is
responsible for managing federal financial aid programs, runs the federal work-
study program and administers Pell grants to make college more affordable for
low-income students. It issues regulations on how civil rights laws should apply
to students.
So what could happen if the Department of Education was abolished? For over
forty years this agency has made a tremendous difference in the education of
millions of students. The elimination of Title I would affect 180,300 teaching
positions and 2.8 million students who need small group help in order to
succeed. Over 800,000 preschoolers, toddlers. and infants would lose early
learning services if Head Start was eliminated. Free school meals, which
provide food security to millions of children, would end.
The Trump plan would seek to adopt universal school choice, offering
vouchers for student to attend private schools. Unaccountable voucher schools
are already siphoning off resources that can maintain and improve public
schools. They also are able to refuse to admit children with disabilities.
The idea of eliminating the Department of Education is terrifying to me. I believe strongly in
education and support referendums as the one on the on the November
5th ballot for the Shawano School District. What does our country gain if we
have educational systems that don't meet the learning needs of every one of its
students? What does a government and we, the people, gain from a population that is
uneducated?
“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid”
It all begins with an idea.
“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid” is a phrase commonly-used to warn against blindly following people and/or ideas that dangerously coax us astray from reality and our values. The phrase originates from the mass-suicide massacre of over 900 US citizens who followed Reverend Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple from San Francisco to his wilderness “Jonestown” settlement in Guyana, South America where they drank cyanide-laced powdered drink mix on November 18, 1978. A third of the victims were age 17 and under. Less than 100 survived.
In 2016, Donald Trump falsely and arrogantly proclaimed that “I alone can fix it” when it comes to America’s problems. Four years later, when he failed in his bid for reelection, he did try to “fix it” by inciting the storming of the US Capital to stop the certification of the Biden victory and attempting to insert fake delegate votes from numerous states, including Wisconsin, to create another fraudulent narrative to proclaim Trump the “winner”. (The Wisconsin Republicans who participated in the scheme have since acknowledged that they were duped into the con.)
It’s been four years now of “The election was stolen.” “The election was rigged.” “Trump won.” All void of fact, just in-your-face angry rhetoric.
In the years since Trump’s tumultuous four years in office, the courts, the congress, and certainly the media and the people of America have tried to sift through all that has transpired to make some sense of it. However, as the saying goes: “Don’t confuse me with the facts. My mind is already made up.”
How much longer can America withstand this onslaught of misinformation, disinformation and outright lies that become falsely legitimized simply by their incessant repetition? The tactic is simple: wear people down, get them to tune out, intimidate them to join in… and drink the Kool-Aid.