This week at The Recombobulation Area: Guest hosting "As Goes Wisconsin," the "Renewing Civic Life in Wisconsin" conference, more
This week at The Recombobulation Area: Guest hosting "As Goes Wisconsin," the "Renewing Civic Life in Wisconsin" conference, more
The election might be over, but we are Up To Stuff.
The Recombobulation Area is a six-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication written and published by veteran Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.
Greetings, Recombobulation Area subscribers!
And a very special warm welcome to our new subscribers! Our coverage of the midterm elections in Wisconsin has brought a whole lot of new people into our community, and we’re so glad you’re here. Thanks so much for joining us!
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While there will be no new written column this week at The Recombobulation Area — we’re a little typed out after Election Week — we do have a whole lot of new content for you.
On Monday, I guest hosted “As Goes Wisconsin” on Civic Media, filling in from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. while our friend Kristin Brey is away on her honeymoon.
We had some terrific guests join the show, including State Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, national voting rights correspondent Ari Berman of Mother Jones, chair of the Waukesha County Democratic Party Matt Mareno, and Paul Noonan of Acme Packing Co.
You can listen to the full show here, and the full audio of the show is available as a podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google and Stitcher.
You can also listen to individual interviews from the show.
Greta Neubauer talked about the work she did to prevent a Republican supermajority in the Wisconsin State Legislature. Legislative Democrats also came within 1,000 votes spread over three districts of breaking even in the Assembly, even though Republicans drew maps that gave them a path to a supermajority. It’s a pretty important achievement. She also talked about the difficulty some Democratic candidates faced on the campaign trail, particularly in the 73rd District, where Laura Gapske faced threats from supporters of Republican Angie Sapik.
That interview is here.
Ari Berman, who is perhaps the nation’s foremost voting rights reporter, talked about Wisconsin’s extreme gerrymander, his feature story on democracy in Wisconsin, and how Tim Michels’ comments about one-party rule in Wisconsin may have helped Tony Evers secure re-election.
That interview is here.
Matt Mareno, the chair of the Waukesha County Democratic Party, talked about what was in many ways the story of the election in Wisconsin, with voters in the WOW counties shifting toward Democrats like never before. He talked about all of the grassroots work and organizing the party has done over the years to make real change in the county that was once the state’s Republican stronghold and is now their biggest challenge.
That interview is here.
And since it was the first Victory Monday in a while in Wisconsin, Paul Noonan joined the show to talk about the Packers’ win over the Cowboys in overtime at Lambeau Field, as well as the team’s chances to claw back into the playoff picture.
That interview is here.
I will also be hosting the show again today (!), and you can listen live from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Civic Media stations across the state, and live online here.
Guests for that show will include:
Eric Nehm, Milwaukee Bucks beat reporter for The Athletic
Amanda Heideman, political science professor at Marquette University, on the midterms and the role of misinformation in the election
Gregg May, transportation policy director at 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, on I-94 expansion
Anthony Chergosky, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, on the midterm elections in western Wisconsin
And because we just love to stay busy around here, we’ve got a few more things going on this week, too.
On Tuesday, I attended the Urban Spaceship Conference in Milwaukee, where the theme was “Growing Milwaukee to a Million Person City.”
This is the goal stated by Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who first outlined this ambitious initiative in an interview with us here at The Recombobulation Area in January when he was running for the office.
Also at the conference, I had the opportunity to moderate a conversation with Mariia Zimmerman of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Tuesday, the day of the conference, marked the one-year anniversary of President Joe Biden signing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and we got the opportunity to hear more about one of the law’s most ambitious components, the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program. We also heard more about the “cousin” program to that one, the Thriving Communities Initiative, which was part of the Inflation Reduction Act. This administration offers many great opportunities for communities to reimagine their infrastructure with equity in mind, which is a really great thing.
And this Friday, I am very honored to be a part of the program for “Renewing Civic Life in Wisconsin: Fulfilling the Legacy of Bill Kraus” at UW-Madison.
Part of the event includes a panel of journalists discussing “How politics, and the journalism covering it, has changed in Wisconsin” and I will join Jessie Opoien of the Cap Times, Toya Washington of WISN 12 News, and Dan Kaufman, the author of “The Fall of Wisconsin” on that panel.
Also at the event: Former governor Tommy Thompson will deliver a keynote lecture. The event is open to the public (Madison friends, you should attend!) and will be streamed live online at go.wisc.edu/civicrenewal. The event goes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
And just in case you did miss it, here is our column from last week on the midterm elections in Wisconsin and our 15 takeaways from them. This has quickly become one of the most-read stories we’ve ever published at The Recombobulation Area.
Lastly, we are very excited to have been recently named an official “Substack Bestseller.”
Thanks to all of YOU for making that happen!
Let’s keep it going…
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He’s won 13 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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