It's time for a Reader Mailbag!
In these discombobulating times, let's recombobulate together. Send us your questions, and we'll give you some answers.
The Recombobulation Area is a ten-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication written, edited and published by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.
Folks, it’s time. We’re doing it. We’re answering your questions for a Reader Mailbag.
It’s been quite a while since our last mailbag. In fact, it’s been nearly a year! Much has changed since then, of course. In that reader mailbag, I wrote about the possibility of the state legislature addressing the pressing issue of shared revenue and local government funding (done!), the race for the 8th Senate District (it was close!), the electoral future of the WOW counties (that was a pretty big deal in the Spring Election!), along with questions about the best kids’ TV shows, the best movies set in Milwaukee, and the best Wisconsin pastries (shoutout to the cruller).
We always want to be hearing from our wonderful, loyal readers here at The Recombobulation Area — on a wide range of issues, clearly.
And there has been so much happening this year that’s been in our coverage wheelhouse. Whether it’s state and city budgets or changes to redistricting or the Brewers stadium deal or child care, there’s been a whole lot that we’ve been covering for a long time that’s come to a head this year. And this being the nature of the news in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, there’s probably a whole lot more than we haven’t been covering that you might want for us to weigh in on, too.
So, we want to hear from you.
There are a few ways to do that. First, you can leave a comment below.
Then, you can email us directly and securely. If you want to remain anonymous in your question, this is the best way to do it.
Email: therecombobulationarea@gmail.com
Then, there are a few different ways to send us a question on social media.
Twitter (err, “X”): @DanRShafer
Instagram: @therecombobulationarea
Facebook: The Recombobulation Area
Threads: @danshafer
Bluesky: @danshafer.bsky.social
We’re looking forward to all of your questions, and hope to answer as many of them as we can! No topic is off limits!
Programming notes
One thing we’ve done since the very beginning here at The Recombobulation Area is break down every single Marquette University Law School Poll. The next installment is going to be released on Nov. 8, so look for our breakdown soon after.
Also, coming up, I will be moderating a panel at the Urban Spaceship urbanism conference on Tuesday., Nov. 14, on housing and transit. Tickets are still available. You should go! They’re interviewing the mayor! Details are all here.
If you missed it this week, I was on three radio shows. Well, I’m on those shows every week. You can listen to each here, and listen live on Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. (for WTMJ N.O.W.), at 10:30 a.m. (for As Goes Wisconsin) and 5:15 p.m. (for Driving it Home with Patti Vasquez).
Also: I will be traveling during Thanksgiving Week, so I will not be publishing my weekly column.
Any other questions, comments, concerns? Send it to the mailbag!
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 17 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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#BucksInSix
I understand the "what" about the WOW counties being as deep red as they have historically been, but I've never really gotten the "why" particularly as it relates to Waukesha. Seems to me it should at the least be a swing county (manufacturing, union presence). I've never really been able to wrap my mind around why it's historically deep-red. For that matter, if it was upper middle-class suburbanites responsible for that, why the suburban shift has happened slower there than such areas around the country.
Dan, I am glad Evers is suing about UW pay plan, but I wonder if you could say more about their reason. I've argued that UW employees could sue for discrmination, as it is illegal, even by state code, to discrminate against people (withhold raises) based on a perceived political belief. Evers aproach seems more procedural maybe? That the full Assembly/Senate must vote? If that's the case, then people like me (a UW employee) will still likely lose out. Vos is a terrible person, we know this, but why not just withhold raises from Chancellors, who make such decisions?