Pro-War, Anti-Speech Democrats
On February 17, Assembly Bill 446 passed the State Assembly. As we’ve described previously, AB446 is part of a corrosive conservative project that conflates criticism of Israel with anti-semitism using the IHRA definition, in order to attack diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices across the country. Unfortunately, Wisconsin Democrats are taking the bait and getting played. Now that it has passed the Assembly, the IHRA bill will soon have a vote in the State Senate, where the Minority Leader has committed to it, as well as enough other Democratic Senators to pass it.
At the same time, Israel and Donald Trump are bombing Iran, and murdering more children. They are starting a very preventable and terrible regional war, that endangers the more than 400 members of Wisconsin National Guard who have been deployed to the Middle East. National Democrats are responding with weakness and concessions. Some Wisconsin Democrats are going further, pre-emptively chilling opposition to the war. The IHRA legislation conflates antisemitism with the state of Israel. Among other things, it makes it so someone who is arrested at a protest, or takes civil disobedience or direct action against the war can face hate speech penalty enhancers. This is some anti-speech, warmongering bullshit.
Anti-speech Warmongering Democrats
The following 10 Democratic Representatives and 5 Senators either voted with the Assembly version or indicated they will vote with the Senate version of this ALEC-drafted legislation:
Rep. Deb Andraca, Rep. Steve Doyle, Rep. Jodi Emerson, Rep. Russell Goodwin, Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin, Sen. Dianne H. Hesselbein, Rep. Jenna Jacobson Rep. Karen Kirsch, Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, Rep. Lori Palmeri, Sen. Brad Pfaff, Rep. Ryan Spaude, Rep. Sheila Stubbs, Sen. Jamie Wall, and Sen. Robert W. Wirch.
Unless the five listed Senators, or a bunch of Republicans, flip on it, the IHRA bill will go to Tony Evers’ desk. The chances of blocking it there do not look good. Evers has long been one of the most fascist-collaborating Democrats in the state, and Kathy Blumenfeld, his Secretary of Administration (a very influential position) is married to Michael Blumenfeld, the lobbyist for the pro-genocide Milwaukee Jewish Federation. MJF reported putting 139 hours lobbying for the IHRA legislation between July and December. They’ve likely put more in since January 1, but that won’t be reported until after the legislative session. Meanwhile, various Muslim, Jewish, and civil liberties groups have been lobbying against IHRA (16 hours ACLU-WI; 33 hours UW Faculty PROFS; 20 hours Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance) and mounting public pressure campaigns calling on Evers to veto.
Please participate in those efforts: call Evers’ Milwaukee Office: (414) 227-4344.
These Democrats are collaborating with fascist Republicans to restrict our freedom of speech and ability to protest Trump’s war at the behest of a genocidal theocratic ethnostate. They each deserve to be primaried based on this alone, but we’ve also got some additional background on the worst of them. The good news is, some already have primary challengers who we can support!
Senator Diane Hesselbein is the most powerful figure on that list. She’s Senate Minority Leader and boss of the State Senate Democratic Committee (SSDC) where her political strategy is trash, as we recently described regarding SD17. Hesselbein also led the move to give away the tiny bit of leverage legislative Democrats finally had by voting for a terrible Republican budget.
Others on this list who also voted with Republicans on that budget are Senators Brad Pfaff and Jamie Wall, as well as Reps Steve Doyle, Jodi Emerson, Lori Palmeri, and Sylvia Ortiz-Velez.
Rep Sylvia Ortiz-Velez is not even really a Democrat anymore, but she is still running as one. Fortunately, she already has an excellent primary challenger. Support Ismael Luna!
Rep Russel Goodwin also voted with Republicans on transphobic legislation. We are excited to hear that someone good is running against him!
Rep Jenna Jacobson is leaving her seat to run for State Senate District 17, where she’s benefitting from Hesselbein’s above-mentioned trash strategy. We hope she loses the primary to a real Democrat, Corrine Hendrickson.
Rep Sheila Stubbs helped Republicans pretend to care about Black people by chairing a 2020 task force that was egregiously obvious in its tokenizing lies.
Rep Deb Andraca wants to be friends with Republicans even though they rallied a wave of death threats against her. Democratic weakness in response to Republican cruelly is incredibly unpopular. Andraca has never faced a primary challenger.
Rep Steve Doyle has been in office since 2010 without a primary challenger.
Karen Kirsch has never faced a serious challenge, in the primary or even the general.
We do not know that these Republican collaborators are the best Democrats for these districts, because voters have not yet been given another choice in a primary.
Genocide denial doesn’t win
There’s two big problems we need to solve in Wisconsin. First, that every Republican supports genocide and anti-muslim hate. Second, too many Democrats do as well. The general election is when we solve the first problem, but the primaries are where we will solve the second.
I know running for office seems difficult, but there is a strong desire in the electorate for left populist fighters to take on both Trump and the collaborationist-Democratic establishment, especially around support for Israel’s genocide and war-making. Last night progressives won three primaries against conservative Democrats in North Carolina and Republicans had to cheat to help secure a primary win for a moderate Texas Democrat. Meanwhile, these Wisconsin politicians who support the IHRA bills are completely out of line with core values of Wisconsinites, and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (WISDEMS) as expressed in the party’s platform and resolutions.
They are also helping Trump fight against his many vocal critics by putting a bipartisan sheen on extreme right wing policies. This weakness and collaboration from Democrats is driving the party’s atrociously low approval ratings (even below MAGA in a recent Marquette poll). Supporting Israel will all but ensure the Democratic Party’s defeat in the very important upcoming state and federal elections.
If we want to win elections, Democrats need to give voters a reason to not only cast a ballot, but to enthusiastically volunteer, win over friends and family, and to donate. That will not happen if the party doesn’t offer a genocide-free option. These 15 politicians do not meet that minimum standard. It’s time to primary them and eject them from our party.
