Category Archives: Events

Shawano County Dems Fall Fundraiser

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The Shawano County Democrats held their annual Fall Fundraiser on Friday, September 24. The event was held at the Lumberyard Bar & Grill in Bonduel. Activities included a few key speakers, raffles with an assortment of prizes and a delicious meal.

Aaron  Richardson attended the Fall Fundraiser

Judge Everette Mitchell addresses the guest in attendance

William Switalla with attendees

Fair Maps Rally

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Thank you for being a Fair Maps supporter and attending the Lobby Day activity. Here is another chance for you to support Fair Maps for Wisconsin. A rally is planned for Friday, January 21st at 2:30at the Brown County Court House. Masks are strongly recommended as are hand held signs supporting Fair Maps!

We hope to see you at the rally! Feel free to spread the word!

Penny

Shawano County Dems August, 2021 Newsletter

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SUMMER PICNIC

Don’t miss the Shawano Dems’ picnic on Thursday, August 19th from 5:00-7:00 pm at Kuckuk Park Pavilion (700 Oak Park Drive) in Shawano. Top tier United States Senate candidates Alex Lasry and Gilliam Battino will be there.  Lasry is a Milwaukee Buck executive who worked as a White House aide during the Obama administration and has since championed social justice efforts and labor agreements.

Battino is a radiologist from Wausau who is pushing hard on the issue of Medicare-for-all.
There will be pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, beans, dessert and ice cream for all who attend.  We will be having a 50/50 raffle and quilt raffle tickets will be available.  Come and bring liked-mined friends with you.

SHAWANO COUNTY FAIR

Our booth in the Commercial Building will be staffed the evening of Thursday, September 2nd and from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm Friday September 3rd through Monday, September 6th Those who sign up to work 2-3 hour shifts will receive a complementary ticket to the fair which includes parking.  At the fair we will sell quilt raffle tickets, “Proud Wisconsin Democrat” bumper stickers and will pass out information on the Democratic U.S. Senate candidates.
You can sign up at the picnic or call Jan at 715-296-6726.

WEEKEND OF ACTION

The 2022 election is just around the corner and we are working to build our volunteer base.  Our action for the week of August 21 will be to again engage voters in face-to-face conversations at their doorsteps.  We will be offering training for our new volunteers on Wednesday, August 18th at the Civic Center at 7:00 pm and again on Saturday, August 21st at 9:00 am.  If you would like to join our efforts, please let us know you plan to attend.  There is a lot at stake in the next election and we want to be sure we are ready to get out our positive messages to as many people as possible.  At this time, we will be telling voters about how President Biden’s American Rescue Plan increased the Child Tax Credit benefit to put $250-300 per child in working parents’ pockets.

AUGUST LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Democrats should be given credit for the strides they have made since President Biden took office.   The Covid-19 stimulus bill gave citizens direct payments of $1400 and $300-a-week federal bonus unemployment benefits. Because of his bill we have free Covid testing and vaccinations. Governor Evers is also trying to improve the lives of Wisconsinites despite all the push back from the legislature.  We can see a middle-class tax cut and more funding for education, roads and health care because of his efforts.

UPCOMING EVENTS

August 19:  Picnic at Kuckuk Park (Shawano)  5-7 pm

Sept. 2-6:  Shawano County Fair Booth

Oct. 2:  Fundraising Dinner at Shawano Lake Golf Course.  Speaker will be U.S. Senate Candidate Tom Nelson.

Chair’s Comments

It was heartening to see so many people sign the petitions that the Shawano Fairness Coalition had at their ShawanoFest booth in July.   Some signed the petition to see stable and competitive wages for employees working in Shawano County and others signed the petition to have the Wisconsin State Legislature pass nonpartisan redistricting legislation.

It is important that we call our representatives at 800-362-9472 and tell them we want them to pass Senate Bill 389 and Assembly Bill 395. These bills would end gerrymandering by creating a fair, nonpartisan procedure for drawing future maps.

U.S Senate Candidates

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State Senator Chris Larson will be on Zoom at our July 21st in-person meeting
Shawano Civic Center
7:00 p.m.

Here is the Zoom link if you can’t make the meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/6228488386

Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson will be stopping by on his 72 county tour across the state July 28th 9:00 a.m.

Angie’s Main Café back room

132 S. Main St. Shawano, WI

Soon to be announced:

Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes will be the seventh candidate to take on Johnson.  We will be inviting him to a future event.

MAKE SOME IMPORTANT PHONE CALLS

Contact your representatives and tell them to support these bills to have fair maps and end gerrymandering.  The bills define a new procedure for the drawing of nonpartisan legislative and congressional redistricting maps.  If we want popular progressive legislation passed by our Legislature, we need to let them know that we want these bills passed:

Senate Bill 389:
Senate District 2:  Robert Cowles    608-266-0484

mailto:Sen.Cowles@legis.wisconsin.gov

Senate District 12:  Mary Felzkowski   608-266-2509

Sen.Felzkowski@legis.wisconsin.gov

Assembly Bill 395:
Assembly District 6:  Gary Tauchen   608-266-3097

Rep.Tauchen@legis.wiscnosin.gov

Assembly District 36:  Jeffrey Mursau   608-266-3780

Rep.Mursau@legis.wiscosin.gov

Assembly District 35:  Calvin Callahan   608-266-7694

Rep.Callahan@leg.wisconsin.gov

This is Tauchen’s last term.  Tell him he needs to do what is best for our democracy—let the people choose their representatives, not the other way around.  Call the Legislative Hotline if you aren’t sure of your representatives (800-362-9472).

JULY LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sent to the Shawano Leader:

This past year students and their families, schools and educators had to sacrifice so much. The one-time $2.3 billion in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan was meant to help public schools recover.  However, the funding was not meant to relieve the state of its responsibility.  By law federal funding will NOT be received by any Legislature that fails to increase education funding by at least $387 million over the next two years.

The original Republican supported 2021-2023 budget sent to the governor cut Evers’ budget to $128 million, thus putting the federal aid in jeopardy.  The governor, who cares deeply about education, did not want Wisconsin lose the federal funding.  Therefore, he used his constitutional authority to revise the budget adding $100 million in recovery funds to invest in Wisconsin’s classrooms.

Districts will now be able to use these funds for non-pandemic-related expenses such as hiring educators and staff, providing additional educational or mental health supports or buying computers.

This is such a breath of fresh air after Wisconsin had been ranked 49th in the nation for per-pupil education investment increases.  Over the past decade, Wisconsin’s investment in K-12 per pupil spending had increased a measly 4.3% compared to 18.9% nationwide.  The Joint Committee on Finance had a chance to change that in the 2021-23 budget, but it took the governor to prioritize our children and their education.

In the past the State of Wisconsin had one of the best public school systems in the nation.  Part of this was due to state funding which provided two-thirds of the cost.  For two decades this has not been the case and the local tax payers have had to support their school districts.  This made it difficult for many rural school districts to provide a quality education. Thanks to Governor Evers the 2021-23 biennial budget provides roughly $685 million in additional net general and categorical school aids. This funding restores the state’s commitment to providing two-thirds of the cost.

There will be $89 million that the governor put into reimbursement for students with disabilities and $19 million in school mental health programs.  These services had been drastically underfunded.

As a retired educator, it is heartening and a relief to see our state putting money back into the education of our children.

Jan Koch