Tiffany's news aversion, wolves and politics, the state of public schools

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“When our reporters cover campaigns and attend political events, they are there on behalf of the public. Blocking them blocks the public from vital information.”

– Greg Borowski, editor of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, responding to Tom Tiffany blocking Journal-Sentinel reporters from covering an event

Tom Tiffany and Donald Trump vs. the press

The gubernatorial campaign of Republican Tom Tiffany blocked two Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporters from entering an event Thursday, preventing the state’s largest newspaper from covering the campaign. In statements on social media, the campaign denounced one of the reporters as a “liberal activist,” and Tiffany said only “balanced” journalists will be allowed to cover him. Henry Redman reports.

Tiffany’s move followed a similar edict by President Donald Trump, who last week revoked White House press passes from CNN, POLITICO and MS NOW reporters. This week, a federal judge ordered the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore the White House ‘hard pass’ press credentials” that were revoked, our DC bureau chief Jane Norman reports.

Tiffany’s election-denying pilot

Redman and Baylor Spears published an investigtive report on Leonard Boltz, the 73-year-old who has flown Tiffany to campaign events across the state. Boltz, chair of the Langlade County Republican Party, has long had ties with some of the state’s most prominent election deniers and said recently that if Tiffany loses in November it will be because of “cheating” by Democrats. Boltz had no comment on the story, and the Tiffany campaign physically blocked a question from reporters Redman and Spears.

In a commentary, Editor Ruth Conniff writes that Tiffany’s mask is slipping as he attacks reporters who write stories he doesn’t like. A Trump loyalist who has lately been distancing himself from the president’s most unpopular positions and trying to present himself as a moderate, Tiffany shows a different side in his relationship with Boltz and other peddlers of election conspiracy theories and with his Trump-like contempt for the press.

How will Wisconsin will pay for public schools?

Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly called for the state to overhaul the school funding formula in her sixth State of Education address Thursday, saying that Wisconsin “simply cannot afford to wait any longer.” But, Baylor Spears reports, any change will have to be accomplished by politicians up for election in November, and candidates of both political parties have made statements raising questions about how soon they might act.

Spears also covers agonized discussions among property taxpayers and local school officials on the wave of more than 70 school district referendum requests this fall seeking $1.6 billion in higher property tax assessments. The requests pit beleaguered neighbors who feel they are paying too much against strapped schools facing cuts to popular programs.

Wolf hunt politics

Following President Trump’s executive order earlier this month to remove the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list, Wisconsin’s gubernatorial election will determine the direction of future management of the wolf population in the state. Redman reports on the wolf management debate, which has become a hot topic in the governor’s race.

In a commentary, wolf management expert Adrian Wydeven writes of Tom Tiffany, a big proponent of wolf delisting, “Tiffany’s own rhetoric, exaggerations and misleading comments have not been useful at attaining delisting, and may have emboldened efforts to challenge such delistings through the courts.”

PLUS:

Two GOP legislators running concurrently for reelection and for Waukesha County executive role

Tiffany seeks to distance himself from Trump, rising gas prices and the Iran war

Data center debate hits 3rd Congressional District race

More from Washington:

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