Saturday, October 10: Lawsuits against U.S. and Trump, campaign funding and disaster relief politics, and a turnabout on data center tax breaks
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Weeks before a midterm election that will largely serve as a referendum on the President’s policies, the Trump Administration has turned the federal treasury into a campaign war chest.”
– Democratic Party of Wisconsin, in a lawsuit charging President Donald Trump flouted the Constitution and federal laws with taxpayer-funded political ads in late September.
Devin Remiker, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, speaks at the state party convention in June. On Friday, Oct. 9, the state party sued President Donald Trump and three Trump administration agencies over political ads that the federal government posted in September using taxpayer dollars. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
New: Wisconsin sues the feds
The Wisconsin Democratic Party sued President Donald Trump and a group of federal agencies Friday for using federal funds on partisan campaign ads ahead of the November midterm elections. Erik Gunn reports on the litigation, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Gunn also covers another lawsuit, filed late Thursday, by Wisconsin and 13 other states in response to the Trump administration’s cancellation of grants that were made during the Biden administration to help states shore up their unemployment insurance programs after they were pummeled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the campaign trail
Republican Michael Alfonso, the son-in-law of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Democrat Fred Clark, a conservationist and former state lawmaker, faced off Wednesday night in the only scheduled debate in the race for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. Baylor Spears covered the exchange, which saw little agreement between the two.
Spears also looks at the funding in the campaigns, with billionaire Diane Hendricks backing Republicans aiming to defend their legislative majorities after Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein have flooded Wisconsin’s midterm elections with money, also on behalf of Republican candidates.
In other election campaign news, Democratic candidate for governor David Crowley committed to advocate for a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to decide whether access to abortion and reproductive healthcare is a right protected by the state constitution, Spears reports.
Federal disaster aid to Wisconsin for damage from a tornado in July got intertwined with politics as well. Trump announced on social media that Wisconsin will get nearly $18 million in relief funds and praised Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany. Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, greeted the news with skepticism (and a barnyard epithet) but the Federal Emergency Management Agency subsequently confirmed the aid will be coming through.
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice Project fellow Frank Zufall profiles Frank Davis and Aaron Hicks, formerly incarcerated men who have created a program that is reaching out to work with other incarcerated or recently released people to help them find “a path forward” after prison.
The Milwaukee Police Department intends to renew its contract with Flock Safety, the multi-billion-dollar producer of controversial AI-powered license plate reader cameras, Isiah Holmes reports. Meanwhile, a former police detective pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges related to his alleged use of Flock to track people for personal reasons.
Holmes also looks at the recent dismissal of a civil rights lawsuit stemming from the non-fatal shooting of a man by Wauwatosa police officers in April 2022.
Data centers and factory farms
A group of four legislative Republicans, including two who aren’t running for reelection, announced this week proposed legislation that would repeal the sales tax exemption for data centers that was included in the 2023-25 budget. The timing for the bill is such that it won’t go anywhere this year, reports Henry Redman.
Redman also explains the implications of a lawsuit that a factory farm in Pierce County has filed to overturn an administrative law judge’s decision that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources didn’t include enough groundwater protections when approving a permit allowing the farm to expand from 1,700 to 6,500 cows.
PLUS:
More from Washington:
ICYMI
Attendees at a Feb. 12 protest called for a pause on data center construction in Wisconsin. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
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