With The DCCC Ignoring Wisconsin Again, The GOP Incumbents Are All Safe-- Unlkess They Caught COVID Over The Weekend And Die Before November

Nationally, Republicans have, by and large but with a few exceptions, fought against Democratic governors trying to protect their states' residents from the worst of the pandemic. But no Republican-dominated state legislature has been more pro-COVID than Wisconsin's. They have worked hard-- and effectively-- to prevent Gov. Tony Evers, a very moderate Democrat, from instituting rules to keep the state safe. The Republicans have given Wisconsin 36,448 cases of the disease-- 6,260 cases per Wisconsinite. On Saturday there were 926 new cases reported (and 7 new deaths). Yesterday the state reported another new 769 cases. Each case and each death should come with an engraved card signed by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and state Senate president Scott Fitzgerald: "brought to you by the Wisconsin Republican Party; you can thank us in November."

Remember this report from CNN in April? "Wisconsin's Republican-led legislature filed a lawsuit Tuesday in an attempt to reopen the state and block the extension of a stay-at-home order issued by state health officials to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The lawsuit was filed against Wisconsin's Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm and other health officials, who recently extended the state's Safer at Home" emergency order until May 26, but loosened some restrictions on certain businesses. In the complaint, lawmakers argue that if this order remains in effect, 'many Wisconsinites will have lost their jobs, and many companies will have gone under, to say nothing of the Order's countless other downstream societal effects. Our State will be in shambles.'" The state Supreme Court is a right-wing sewer and it ruled-- as it always does-- in favor of the Republicans and the Trump Death Cult.

This came right after the GOP tried to suppress voting in the April 7 election by overriding Evers' decisions to allow people to vote remotely. It backfired on the Republicans when Wisconsinites turned out in droves and defeated a far right lunatic, Daniel Kelly, and replaced him with Jill Karofsky, a Democrat. She crushed him-- the symbol of the state Republican Party-- 855,981 (55.3%) to 692,523 (44.7%).

The following month, though, Evers just basically gave up fighting the non-stop harassment by the legislature. The Associated Press wire story on May 18:

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Monday that he's given up trying to push through any more statewide restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus because he thinks rival Republicans emboldened by a state Supreme Court decision erasing his stay-at-home order would never allow any.

Minutes after his administration scrapped plans for a new emergency rule, Evers told reporters during a teleconference that drafting rules would be a waste of time given the GOP opposition. His stance leaves local health officials on their own as they wrestle with whether and how to maintain social distancing mandates.

"The Republicans made it very clear they don't believe a statewide approach is the right way to go at this point in time," Evers said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense spending a lot of time doing something we know isn't going to be successful."

Wisconsin is one of a number of states where governors have run into resistance from Republican legislators over coronavirus restrictions. Democratic governors in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Louisiana have faced a mix of legislation and lawsuits designed to curtail their power. Wisconsin's conservative-leaning state Supreme Court didn't hold back, completely erasing Evers' stay-at-home order last week after Republican legislators alleged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

The decision threw the state into chaos. Some bars and restaurants opened immediately while a handful of county officials issued their own stay-at-home orders. Now, the state has a confusing patchwork of regulations that vary from county to county.

The DHS released plans for a new statewide emergency rule the day after the court ruling. The agency said the new rule may contain elements of the stay-at-home order and Evers' phased business re-opening plan. Republicans pounced on the statement, saying Evers was trying to circumvent the court ruling and reinstate a stay-at-home order.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Thursday the two sides might not reach agreement and it will be up to the locals to implement their own restrictions. Republican state Sen. Steve Nass, co-chairman of the Legislature's rules committee, demanded on Friday that the governor withdraw plans for a new rule. The DHS complied on Monday and scrapped them.

Vos called Evers' position "disappointing" but said Republicans will keep working with local public health agencies to see if they need help addressing localized outbreaks in the future.

Alec Zimmerman, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, pointed to a statement Fitzgerald issued Friday saying that the scope statement was too focused on a phased re-opening and the state needs to move faster.

Nass said he has "great faith" that people will make the decisions necessary to fight COVID-19 on their own "without excessive government coercion."

As of Monday, Wisconsin had recorded 12,687 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 459 deaths from the disease, according to DHS data.

Repeating myself, as of yesterday, Wisconsin reported another 769 cases, bringing the state's total to 36,448, all compliments of the Republican Party. No doubt there will be a Green Bay spike next month. Why Green Bay?

Over the weekend hundreds of Republicans were in Green Bay at the party's state convention, coughing on each other and spreading the contagion while they screamed and went into fits about socialism and anarchy. Of the between 3 and 4 hundred people in the Convention Center, Wisconsin Public Television reported that only about a dozen chose to wear a mask.

The disease-spreading freaks in the video up top, Congressman Glenn Grothman was the day's most aggressive defender of Señor Trumpanzee. "It is a disaster for this country if he loses. It'll be open borders. I'm afraid we won't get it back... Marxists have always been opposed to the family. It shows what danger we are in if we would lose."

Wisconsin COVID-candidfate

The 5 Republicans in Wisconsin's congressional delegation have no worries there. Regular DCCC incompetence has handed all 5 incumbents easy reelections-- even in a wave election. Bryan Steil, a freshman in a swing district who should be extremely vulnerable, has no plausible opponent. The odious state Senate president and major death cult official, Scott Fitzgerald, is waltzing into the seat from which Jim Sensenbrenner is retiring, with no plausible opposition. Psycho-Grothman has no plausible opposition. Nor do either Mike Gallagher nor freshman Tom Tiffany. Odd, when you consider that, on average, Biden is ahead of Trump in Wisconsin by 6.5 points. In the most recent poll-- by Change Research for CNBC-- Biden leads Trump 51 to 43% among likely Wisconsin voters. Too bad the DCCC has put all its effort into stopping progressives like Marie Newman, Jessica Cisneros, Eva Putzova and Jamaal Bowman from ousting their miserable Blue Dog incumbents instead of capitalizing on an anti-red wave and making efforts to turn swing states like Wisconsin blue.

Unfortunately, Randy Bryce isn't running for office this cycle. He's been active helping working class candidates raise money and awareness in Wisconsin and around the country. He told me that "Ever since every Wisconsin Democrat that was in a statewide race won in 2018 the state GOP has done what they could to strip the governor of power. Republicans aren’t in power because of popularity. They’re in power in the legislature because of gerrymandering. It’s because of this that they feel they can get away with anything-- even subjecting people to a deadly pandemic. This helps explain why they had an in person statewide convention. If you notice, quite a few electeds didn’t show up. Notably absent was Senator Ron Johnson who also spent July 4th in Russia not too long ago as well as Aassembly SpeakerRyan Robin Vos who you might recall having been decked out in PPE better than many local nurses are able to access. It wasn’t a surprise to have Glenn Grothman get up on stage and cough into the crowd. With so many people hurting due to the pandemic it’s not too big of a surprise to see that the only thing Wisconsin Republicans want to share is COVID."

Blue America has endorsed just two candidates for the Wisconsin legislature so far: Jacob Malinowski-- for a state Assembly seat representing Franklin in a red-leaning district southwest of Milwaukee-- and Emily Voight, for an Assembly seat southwest of Green Bay on the northeast bank of Lake Winnebago in Calumet County. We're also looking at Sara Rodriguez and Deb Andraca. But my friend Chris Larson (a Democratic state Senator for a district just east of where Jacob is running) is way more optimistic than I am about Wisconsin this November. This morning he told me that there is a real "chance to turn Wisconsin blue again and defeat Trump," and that "we also have the next decade hanging in the balance. Because whoever wins gets to decide redistricting, we have the chance to end the Tea Party control of our state once and for all by simply forcing the implementation of fair maps. With a Democratic Governor, the people have a seat at the table but due to the gerrymandering Republicans did in 2010 (Despite winning 54% of the votes in Assembly races, Democrats won just 36% of the seats), they need to flip just 3 seats in each house to gain a veto-proof majority. This would let them again draw maps that tilt the playing field in their favor and against the will of the people. But beyond just holding our ground, we have a real chance at picking up crucial seats and holding Republicans accountable for their botched response to COVID, their defunding of public education, their systematic attacks on working people, and for the largest corporate giveaway in our country's history. We need all the help we can get. The future of our state hangs in the balance."

Not A Peep-- Or A Tweet-- Out Of Ole Man Trump As Ryan Deletes The Buy American Provision In The Infrastructure Bill

Wisconsin's deadly job killing duo, Grothman and Ryan

Sometimes when Congress wants to pass embarrassing legislation they're not eager for opponents or just constituents to track down, they give it an innocuous or misleading name. It happens constantly and it happened on Thursday just before the Republicans adjourned the House for the year. The last vote of the year was on S.612, John Cornyn's (and, in the House, Henry Cuellar's) "bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, Texas, as the 'George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse.' It passed 360-61, with 17 Republicans and 44 Democrats voting against it. Democratic Leadership didn't whip the bill one way or the other and Hoyer voted for it, while Pelosi voted against it. Neither of them was thinking about Laredo's courthouse or about the legacy of George Kazen, a Democratic south Texas senior district judge (and FISA Court judge).



The bill was reported out of the House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee looking as innocent as it went in. It takes 90 seconds to read, and triggers no alarm bells. Earlier in the day, however, the House voted on H.Res.949, "providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 2028) making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes, and providing for consideration of the bill (S. 612) to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, Texas, as the "George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse." All the Republicans voted for that and all but one mangy old Blue Dog, Jim Costa of California, voted against it.

So why did 44 Democrats vote against the bill (including Pelosi)? Did you catch that line in the enabling legislation about "making appropriations for energy and water development?" That has nothing to do with the courthouse. But it's what that bill was really all about-- funding water-related infrastructure funding. When I asked Alan Grayson why he voted for it, in fact, he said he had to because there was a lot of really badly-needed money in it for crucial Everglades projects related to environmental catastrophes on both of Florida's coasts.

The first person I reached out to about the Democrats who voted no was Wisconsin Congressman, Mark Pocan, one of the union movement's most ferocious supporters on Capitol Hill. "It is unthinkable," he told us, "why Congressional Republican Leadership removed the permanent 'Buy America' requirements that was voted on and passed by the Senate in the water infrastructure bill. Wisconsin has one of the highest percentages of its workforce employed in the manufacturing sector. Foundries across the state like the Neenah Foundry are scratching their heads wondering why Republicans would want to send taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. Republicans claim to care about keeping jobs here in America, yet consistently rally around legislation that help ship jobs overseas."

Neenah workers are represented by both moderate Republican Reid Ribbble, who's retiring in a week, and bizarre anti-union fanatic Glenn Grothman, who, alas, isn't. (The city of Neenah itself sits just north of Oshkosh in Grothman's district but many of the employees also live in Appleton which is the adjacent city and in Ribble's district.) On their website, the company makes it clear where they stand: "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 was enacted to stimulate the American economy by supporting American jobs. A 'Buy American' provision in the Act mandates that 'none of the funds ... made available by this Act may be used for a ... public building or public work unless all of the iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States.' Millions of Americans-- such as those working at NEI's seven manufacturing plants-- rely upon this stimulus funding to protect their jobs and their families."

The district in nowhere near Paul Ryan's district way to the south, although I'm guessing factory workers in Janesville, Kenosha and Racine aren't too happy with his little maneuver yesterday. Reid Ribble had the decency to show up and vote against it along with Pocan. Grothman, who would like to abolish unions entirely, was delighted to vote against "Buy American." And by the way, the Wisconsin counties most heavily impacted by this, all went for Trump this year-- Outagamie (54.2%), Calumet (58.1%), and Winnebago (50.6%).

Some desperate voters-- and not just in Wisconsin where these two photos were taken-- reached, in a really stupid way if you ask me, for greener pastures and actually voted for Trump. They will be learning their lesson over and over and over for the next 4 years.

UPDATE: Pocan Asks Trump To Walk The Walk

Friday, Rep. Pocan drafted and sent a letter to Trump asking him to live up to his campaign promises about protecting American workers from the excesses of GOP extremists. He was joined by 19 colleagues in urging Trump "to strongly enforce Buy America provisions in government procurement policies and promote Buy America rules in legislation advanced during your administration."

He told the press that if Trump "is concerned with livelihood of American workers, he should take steps to ensure the Buy America Act is strongly and meaningfully enforced. Last week, House Republican leadership removed a provision to permanently require American steel and iron be used in our country’s water infrastructure. It is unthinkable for House Republicans to eliminate these Buy America requirements after they were voted on and passed by the Senate. President-elect Trump can and should ensure that enforcement of the Act is strengthened. It is his duty to stand up to Congressional Republican leadership when the allow taxpayer dollars to go to companies that ship jobs overseas. Wisconsin has one of the highest percentages of its workforce employed in the manufacturing sector. Foundries across the state are scratching their heads wondering why Republicans would want to send taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. House Republicans claim to care about keeping jobs here in America, yet consistently rally around legislation that costs our country jobs. I hope President-elect Trump will ensure what happened to the Water Resources bill doesn’t happen again- we need a firm commitment from both parties to buy American."

Teabaggers Failed To Fire Boehner As Speaker Again

This morning, Boehner-- once banished from the GOP leadership for handing out bribery checks on behalf of tobacco lobbyists on the floor of the House (see video above)-- was elected to his third term as Speaker of the House. "I'll never di it again," whined Boehner, when caught. "It's a bad practice; we ought to stop this." In 1923, another 3-term Republican Speaker, Frederick Gillett (R-MA), was elected Speaker for the last time. (He left the House to run for a Senate seat, which he won.) Gillett was opposed by progressives, who rallied around Henry Cooper (R-WI) and it took 9 ballots spread out over 3 days for him to clinch his victory. There were 22 Republicans voting against Gillett. There has been no second ballot required to elect a Speaker since then.

No one really expected clowns like Gohmert, Yoho or Taliban Dan to be elected Speaker; the game was always to push for a second ballot so that someone with what passes for GOP gravitas could jump in-- a Huelskamp or Hensarling, for example. For the right-wing extremists opposed to Boehner, they would have had to have rallied 29 Republicans to vote no and make it into a real contest. In the end, they managed to get 25 votes against Boehner.

More than a few Republican candidates boasted on the campaign trail just a few months ago that they would work against reelecting Boehner. Among the new freshmen who told their constituents they would oppose Boehner were Dave Brat (VA), Gary Palmer (AL), Jody Hice (GA), John Ratcliffe (TX), Mark Walker (NC), Glen Grothman (WI) and Barry Loudermilk (GA). Brat and Palmer were quick to jump on the anti-Boehner train and announce they were voting against him. The others all voted for him. Tom Massie was disappointed and said that Republican freshman who voted for Boehner should be "worried... they violated a campaign oath in the first 30 minutes of being a Member." Erick Erickson flipped out when Grothman turned out to be a liar:

The reason people are so deeply cynical about politics is because they rally around candidates who say bold things only to see those candidates immediately cave once secured in their position.

Behold Glenn Grothman, a Congressman from Wisconsin.

“I would have no problem looking for an alternative to Speaker Boehner,” Grothman said in a candidate debate Aug. 1. “I have no problem standing up to Republican leadership.”

He now says he will vote for Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) There will be no standing up by Glenn Grothman. Elections have a way of voluntarily and willingly neutering congressmen.

Tom Massie nominated Yoho; Jim Bridenstine nominated Gohmert and Steve King nominated Taliban Dan. Sarah Palin urged her supporters to back Gohmert, who got 3 votes in total (including his own). But the first vote against Boehmer was from Justin Amash who voted for Jim Jordan (R-OH). Stockman's successor, Brian Babib (R-TX) was the next, voting "present." Then it was Iowa freshman Rod Blum, who voted for Taliban Dan. Dave Brat cast his vote for Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and, obviously, Bridenstine voted for Gohmert. The first nut to vote for someone outside the Chamber was deranged Florida multimillionaire Curt Clawson, who voted for Senator Rand Paul. [Nashville Blue Dog Jim Cooper voted for Colin Powell again this year, instead of Nancy Pelosi. The next Blue Dog piece shit to vote against Pelosi was, predictably, Gwen Graham, who voted for Cooper; she's going to be a real nightmare in Congress.] And speaking of Tennessee's fine delegation of right-wing kooks, Scott DesJarlais, the doctor who was drugging and raping his female patients-- and still got reelected-- joined Amash to vote for Jim Jordan. Jeff Duncan voted for fellow South Carolinian extremist Trey Gowdy. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) then voted for Webster, followed by the only House GOP moderate, Chris Gibson (R-NY) voting for Kevin McCarthy. Paul Gosar voted for Webster and Gohmert voted for himself. Huelskamp voted for Taliban Dan, as did Walter Jones and Steve King (R-IA). Massie, of course, voted for Yoho. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and then Rich Nugent (R-FL) and Bill Posey (R-FL) went for Taliban Dan. Gary Palmer (R-AL) was the next defector and he went for home-state racist Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. Scott Rigell (R-VA), who isn't an extremist, gave his vote to Taliban Dan, angry, he said later, that Boehner gives Congress too many long vacations. As best I can tell, Arizona wing-nut Matt Salmon just refused to respond when his name was called, grimacing and folding his arms. He didn't even vote "present." Marlin Stutzman went for Taliban Dan (as did Taliban Dan himself) and Randy Weber voted for fellow Texan Louie Gohmert. Yoho also voted for himself. In all-- 25 Republicans voted against Boehner, not enough to defeat him but more than any other Speaker lost since Gillett in 1923.

In 2011, 19 Democrats voted against outgoing speaker Nancy Pelosi who had already lost her post by virtue of losing the House majority in the 2010 election. This year defecting anti-Pelosi Democrats were Blue Dog assholes Dan Lipinski, Jim Cooper, Kyrsten Sinema and Gwen Graham.

The Speaker's first official duty was to swear-in all the new members in one giant clusterfuck in the chamber. Then Boehner moved immediately to revenge. He had put Taliban Dan on the Rules Committee, a position of trust, when he was a freshman. He kicked him-- and one of his supporters, Nugent-- off the committee a couple hours after the votes were counted.

Wisconsin Is In Contention-- To Elect The Most Extreme Member Of Congress… Meet Glenn Grothman

Tom Petri has been the most mainstream of Wisconsin's 5 conservative congressmen. First elected in 1979, he's generally considered a "moderate" in Congress and has been part of Steve Israel's Center Aisle caucus of Blue Dogs and mainstream Republicans. This has also guaranteed that he wouldn't face any serious challenges from Democrats while Israel ran the DCCC. Even though Obama won the R+5 district in 2008, the DCCC protected Petri in 2010 and 2012 and this year-- aside from conflict of interests ethics charges-- the only impediment to reelection looked like a primary challenge from deranged right-wing crackpot (and carpetbagger) Glenn Grothman. This Wisconsin delegation, each with his or her lifetime ProgressivePunch crucial vote score:

• Mark Pocan (D)- 98.64
• Gwen Moore (D)- 92.66
• Ron Kind (New Dem)- 73.17
• Tom Petri ®- 12.72
• Jim Sensenbrenner ®- 11.32
• Reid Ribble ®- 6.83
• Paul Ryan ®- 4.14
• Sean Duffy ®- 4.07

And then Petri announced in April he'd had enough and was retiring. Once Petri was out, less extremist Republicans, state Sen. Joe Leibham, state Rep. Duey Stroebel and Tom Denow, a retired college instructor, all jumped into the race. As of the July 23 FEC filing deadline these are what the candidates spent in the primary:

• Duey Strobel- $468,286 (part of a $691,950 check he wrote to himself)
• Joe Leibham- $207,888
• Glenn Grothman- $176,346 ($100,000 of which was self-financed)

Leibham was generally viewed as the relatively mainstream conservative and Grothman as the off-the-rails Tea Party candidate from the Joe McCartthy/Ted Cruz wing of the party. Last time we looked at him, we noted that Grothman is the furthest right whack-job in the Wisconsin state Senate who sensed an opportunity to advance himself and his insane agenda. And his insane agenda goes beyond just the standard fare of the far right. Sure, he wrote the concealed carry legislation that Scott Walker signed into law in 2011 and he has been an outspoken opponent of equal pay for women, a fanatic opponent of LGBT equality and an advocate for tobacco companies-- all pretty standard Republican Party fare these days-- but that's where it gets bizarre. Grothman is the anti-chlorination nut (every legislature needs at least one) and the guy who obsesses over unpasteurized milk. He's also the guy who wants to abolish Martin Luther King Day as a holiday for state employees. And the weekend… yes, Glenn Grothman is another reactionary, union-hating Republican who wants to take the U.S. back to the "good old days" when workers had no right to even one day off for a weekend.

One of his colleagues in the state Senate laughed when I told him Grothman was running against Petri at the time. "Let DC take him… He's caused nothing but problems for Wisconsin since he was elected to the Assembly in the early '90s… I don't think West Bend, where he lives, is even in Petri's district but everyone in Madison will be hoping to never hear from him again… He's really the quintessential ALEC puppet."

A Democratic congressional staffer from Wisconsin was less sanguine at the prospect of Grothman in Washington. "It's radical right asshats like Glenn Grothman that make serious legislators hate Washington so much and want to leave. You can't ever get any common ground between the two parties with extremist ideologues like him. I never studied more psychology than Psych 101 and 102 but I am confident in saying that the man is insane-- and a danger to democracy."

Last night, because the non-teabaggers split the vote, Grothman eked out the narrowest of victories in the primary (which will probably be subject to a recount):

• Grothman- 23,241 (36%)
• Leibham- 23,026 (36%)
• Stroebel- 15,867 (25%)
• Denow 2,115 (3%)

Grothman will be favored to win over little known, underfunded Democrat, Mark Harris, the Winnebago County Executive. Despite polling that shows WI-06 voters amenable to electing a Democrat (see chart above), the DCCC was unprepared for the race, took no role in finding a candidate and will just write off the district and allow Grothman to skate to victory, a direct consequence of Nancy Pelosi reappointing the most incompetent and ill-prepared DCCC chairman in history. For his part, Grothman has already announced he plans to impeach President Obama, ban women's Choice and repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Yes Another Earth-Shaking Republican Scandal In Wisconsin

You probably read yesterday that Tom Petri (R-WI) will be formally announcing on Monday that he will be retiring from Congress at the end of this year. He just doesn't have it in him to fight off right-wing extremist Glenn Grothman, the union-hating kook who wants to abolish weekends. Grothman doesn't live in Petri's district, but part of his own state senatorial district is part of WI-06, Petri's district. Another state Senate seat that makes up part of WI-06 is the 19th district, currently held by another Republican extremist, Senate President Michael Ellis. He represents parts of Outagamie and Winnebago counties and most of Appleton and Menasha.

Ellis is, to keep it short, an authoritarian anti-democracy fanatic. He was just caught in a serious campaign finance fraud and announced yesterday that he's dropping out of his reelection race. He feels sorry for himself… very, very sorry… for himself.

State Senate President Mike Ellis dropped out of his re-election race Friday, two days after a secret recording was released revealing him discussing setting up an illegal political action committee to attack his challenger.

The decision by the Neenah Republican ends a political career spanning four decades and leaves Democratic state Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber of Appleton as the only candidate in the race. Gov. Scott Walker was just three years old when Ellis won election to the Legislature nearly 44 years ago and his departure will accelerate a trend in the Senate toward sharper party clashes, observers agreed.

"I don't fit in anymore," he said in an interview. "There isn't room for independent thinking and compromise...There's no room on the street anymore for people to walk down the middle of the road."

He leaves undone by the very qualities that helped him endure: his willingness to jostle his own party, brag and spout bull as he aired private views that were not always in line with his public stances. Following the release of the recording, Ellis found himself forced to tell a skeptical public that he didn't understand the limits of campaign laws that he had long championed.

Ellis, 73, was elected to the Assembly in 1970 and made the jump to the Senate in 1982, facing little opposition at the ballot box in recent years. In Schaber, Ellis faced his first opponent in 16 years and he did so as conservatives hinted at challenges to him in the GOP primary.

Surveying the bitter end career, Ellis said he had no regrets and likened himself to a quarterback who wanted to keep playing after he could no longer ably do so.

He made the decision to get out of the race Wednesday night, after the recording was released. He said he suspected people were recording him on other occasions, including when he was out for dinner with his wife Sandy.

"My wife doesn't deserve this," he said. "Nobody's wife deserves this.

"I grew up like Tommy Thompson in the '80s and '90s," he said, referring to his political ascent with the longtime Republican governor. "Our entire political makeup does not recognize that approach to politics. We didn't grow up in it."

…Ellis talked in the recording about establishing a separate political operation with $400,000 to $500,000 to help him. Campaign law precludes candidates from working with groups that are set up to independently run ads aimed at helping them.

"I am putting together my own super PAC," Ellis said in the recording.

He said he proposed the operation because he wanted "somebody else to attack" Schaber.

Should Schaber win in the 19th, it will make it more likely that the Democrats will take back the Wisconsin state Senate and be in a position to stop the Republican war against working people dead in its tracks. Were that to happen the likely next Senate Majority Leader would be current Minority Leader Chris Larson, who wasn't exactly leaving the Republicans to repair the damage the Ellis revelations have caused. "The people of Wisconsin," he told us, "are sick of the culture of corruption in Madison. We need to end the days of pay-to-play governing and do-anything-to-stay-in-power politics utilized by current Republican leaders. Mike Ellis not running for re-election is a good start, but he needs to be held accountable by those in his Party who elected him head of the Senate. They should join us in calling for his removal as President of the Wisconsin State Senate. Footage released earlier this week about Ellis’ illegal plans to attack his opponent, Penny Bernard Schaber, with illegal campaign money marks a new chapter in the continued culture of corruption within the Senate Republican caucus. Voters will not stand for this kind of unethical behavior any longer. It's time that we restore balance to our state government by electing a proven reformer like Penny to a Democratic-led Senate."

This is a letter Larson, who Blue America has endorsed, sent out on behalf of Penny Schaber's campaign:

Now that the Republican's Culture of Corruption has been exposed, we can elect Penny Bernard Schaber to the State Senate and she can usher in a new era for Wisconsin politics.

The Republicans knew that Penny was going to defeat Mike Ellis in the 19th Senate District so they did what they do best, attack and personally vilify Mike Ellis in order to drive him out of the race-- And they succeeded.

Will you join us in helping Penny Bernard Schaber, and her positive campaign, bring a new era to Wisconsin politics. Your recurring donation of $19 or whatever you can afford today will ensure that Penny has the ability to fight back against the culture of corruption.

While Mike Ellis is the one who got caught this time, we know that this culture of corruption is business as usual for the Republicans who have been plagued by scandal after scandal.

For years, Wisconsin Republicans have used their wealthy and powerful supporters to create Super PACs to do their dirty work, but with Ellis dropping out of the race, we have a real chance at electing Penny Bernard Schaber, winning back the majority for Democrats, and putting an end to the corruption.

Penny wins elections the old fashioned way, by knocking on doors, working with volunteers and respecting the people who live in her community.

  Can you help Penny Bernard Schaber break the cycle of Republican corruption with a recurring contribution of $19 or whatever you can afford today? This a great opportunity to stand up and send a strong message to the Republicans in Madison that their the Culture of Corruption will be stopped.

We want honest Senators that we can trust, who campaign on the issues, and don’t rely on negative attacks funded by big corporations and the super rich.

We want Penny Bernard Schaber-- but we can't do this without your help!

Are You Having A Nice Weekend?

Everybody likes inoffensive, friendly, old Tom Petri, right? He's the 4th most senior Republican in the House-- having beaten Tommy Thompson for an open GOP seat back in 1979. His central Wisconsin district is a swing district that leans red. Obama eked out the narrowest of victories there in 2008 and lost to Romney in 2012. A former member of Steve Israel's Center Aisle Caucus for mainstream conservative Republicans and conservative Democrats, the GOP has consistently passed over Petri for a committee chair but the Democrats have just as consistently given him a free pass to reelection. They never challenge him-- never, not even in a Democratic wave election year. Steve Israel has pledged to never challenge any of his old Center Aisle frat brothers and Petri knows he can sit back and never worry about reelection as long as Steve Israel has anything to say about it.

But then, late last year, MoveOn.org hired PPP to poll WI-06 (Oshkosh, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Fond Du Lac, the Wisconsin Dells and the conservative, white suburbs north of Milwaukee). The results-- right after Petri voted with the crazy extremists in his party to shut down the government-- surprised everyone. His job approval ratings were underwater, only 37% of his constituents approving and, by a narrow, margin favoring replacing him with a Democrat. Take a look for yourself:

Israel, of course, ignored the poll and ignored the district, preferring to use precious and limited DCCC resources not against Petri in the R+5 district, but trying to get Bue Dogs and other conservative fake-Dems elected in more prohibitive and much deeper red districts-- like the execrable Jennifer Garrison (R+8), Patrick Henry Hays (R+8), James Lee Witt (R+15), Jackie McPherson (R+14), and Nick Casey (R+11). Of course Israel isn't allowing the DCCC to challenge any of the Republican incumbents in Wisconsin this cycle, even in the swing districts like WI-01 (Paul Ryan) and WI-07 (Sean Duffy), where there are very strong progressive candidates in the race, respectively, Rob Zerban and Kelly Westlund.

But not everybody ignored Petri's growing vulnerability. Way on the far right fringes of the Republican Party, West Bend extremist Glenn Grothman, the furthest right whack-job in the Wisconsin state Senate, sensed an opportunity to advance himself and his insane agenda. And his insane agenda goes beyond just the standard fare of the far right. Sure, he wrote the concealed carry legislation that Scott Walker signed into law in 2011 and he has been an outspoken opponent of equal pay for women, a fanatic opponent of LGBT equality and an advocate for tobacco companies-- all pretty standard Republican Party fare these days-- but that's where it gets bizarre. Grothman is the anti-chlorination nut (every legislature needs at least one) and the guy who obsesses over unpasteurized milk. He's also the guy who wants to abolish Martin Luther King Day as a holiday for state employees. And the weekend… yes, Glenn Grothman is another reactionary, union-hating Republican who wants to take the U.S. back to the "good old days" when workers had no right to even one day off for a weekend.

One of his colleagues in the state Senate laughed when I told him Grothman was running against Petri last week. "Let DC take him… He's caused nothing but problems for Wisconsin since he was elected to the Assembly in the early '90s… I don't think West Bend, where he lives, is even in Petri's district but everyone in Madison will be hoping to never hear from him again… He's really the quintessential ALEC puppet."

A Democratic congressional staffer from Wisconsin was less sanguine at the prospect of Grothman in Washington. "It's radical right asshats like Glenn Grothman that make serious legislators hate Washington so much and want to leave. You can't ever get any common ground between the two parties with extremist ideologues like him. I never studied more psychology than Psych 101 and 102 but I am confident in saying that the man is insane-- and a danger to democracy." Delusional Tea Party members and the Club for Growth are celebrating already.

Wisconites tired of relaxing on weekends and staying home on federal holidays are in luck: On Thursday, GOP state Sen. Glenn Grothman announced his challenge to 17-term moderate Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.). In a conservative district that went to Mitt Romney by seven points in 2012, Grothman hopes to channel dissatisfaction with Republicans in Congress whom he believes haven't done enough to slow down the Obama administration's policy agenda. But he comes with some baggage of his own.

In January, Grothman introduced legislation to eliminate a state requirement that workers get at least one day off per week. "Right now in Wisconsin, you're not supposed to work seven days in a row, which is a little ridiculous because all sorts of people want to work seven days a week," he told the Huffington Post. Eliminating days off is a long-running campaign from Grothman. Three years earlier, he argued that public employees should have to work on Martin Luther King Day. "Let's be honest, giving government employees off has nothing to do with honoring Martin Luther King Day and it's just about giving state employees another day off," he told the Wisconsin State Journal. It would be one thing if people were using their day off to do something productive, but Grothman said he would be "shocked if you can find anybody doing service."

MLK Day and "Saturday" aren't the only holidays Grothman opposes. At a town hall in 2013, he took on Kwanzaa, which he said "almost no black people today care about" and was being propped up by "white left-wingers who try to shove this down black people's throats in an effort to divide Americans."

When he's not advocating for people to spend more time working, Grothman has gotten in trouble for advocating that (some) people be paid less. "You could argue that money is more important for men," he told the Daily Beast's Michelle Goldberg, after pushing through a repeal of the state's equal pay bill. And he has pushed to pare back a program that provided free birth control, while floating a bill that would have labeled single parenthood, "a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect." Grothman justified the bill by contending that women choose to become single mothers and call their pregnancies "unplanned" only because it's what people want to hear. "I think people are trained to say that 'this is a surprise to me,' because there's still enough of a stigma that they're supposed to say this," he said in 2012.

Enjoy the weekend.

Grothman pointedly keeps his state office open on Martin Luther King Day, always eager to send a message of divisiveness, hated and racism. Although Scott Walker announced he is staying neutral, Paul Ryan has already issued a statement endorsing Petri against Grothman. That's not slowing Grothman down of course: "I don't think Congressman Petri in particular or the Republicans in general have been aggressive enough at all in [addressing] the increasing culture of dependency in this country and that culture has led to the breakdown of the family and this huge deficit… I think these programs have to be fundamentally changed to remove the marriage penalty and to remove the disincentive to work."

There is speculation that Grothman's challenge is making Petri, a multimillionaire many times over, reconsider whether or not he'll even run for reelection, although he told the press "I will run a strong campaign and I expect to win in August and November." Well, Steve Israel will take care of November for him again, but August… I guess it depends on whether Wisconinites are looking for another Joe McCarthy or not.

Will this be Grothman's top campaign issue?

UPDATE: And, Indeed, Petri Is Retiring

He'll make it formal on Monday but he's already told everyone he knows. Maybe someone should tell Steve Israel.