You might have heard about Wisconsin’s notorious gerrymander. Few know the story of how the GOP used that gerrymander to break our democracy even more—thanks to something called the Joint Finance Committee. The JFC.
Pull up a stool, grab a drink, and hear the tale.
Before digging in, a word from our sponsors: the WisDems. We beat the gerrymander—and now we’re helping rebuild democracy in the state that tips the whole country. We need your help. Can you chip in?
Okay, back to our story.
In most states, there's a system called democracy. People are elected to do things voters want. If the elected don’t do those things, constituents vote them out and elect someone else.
Wisconsinites haven’t lived in a state like that for a long time.
In 2008, Wisconsin had a blue trifecta, then in 2010, we had a red trifecta. That’s life in a purple state. Democracy in action. Power changes hands.
But Republicans didn’t like that idea. So they rigged Wisconsin.
The centerpiece of the GOP’s scheme to rig Wisconsin was a system called REDMAP—a gerrymandering initiative of breathtaking ruthlessness and precision. You can read all about it in the book “Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy.”
It worked.
In 2012, Wisconsin voters tried to throw out the Republicans, and a majority of the votes for the state legislature went to Democrats. But because of our rigged maps, the GOP still held on to the vast majority of state legislative seats.
During all that time, the Wisconsin GOP passed voter suppression laws, smashed unions, stripped away funding for schools, and cracked down on enforcement of environmental regulations. They basically supported special interests left and right.
In 2018, voters again tried to throw out the Republicans. A big majority—54% of the votes—went to Democrats. But thanks to the gerrymander, Wisconsin Democrats only won 36% of the seats.
But something else happened that year: the majority of voters also chose Governor Evers and Josh Kaul. Gerrymanders don’t rig statewide elections. In 2018, every statewide office went to a Democrat.
Republicans responded by convening a special session of the state legislature—the infamous lame-duck power grab—to remove powers from the Governor and Attorney General that they'd been elected to wield. Lame-duck Scott Walker signed the power grab into law.
They didn’t stop there. Republicans in Wisconsin went hunting for additional powers that they could abuse. They refused to confirm the Governor’s cabinet appointees—so that they could call them up for confirmation votes and fire them at any time.
And, most of all, they unleashed the powers of the Joint Finance Committee to override the expressed will of the voters.
The JFC has power over supplemental appropriations—which used to mean funding set aside for emergencies like storm cleanup.
Historically, this isn’t wielded for political power. But once Evers took office, the GOP turned this power into a weapon.
The JFC held up funding for combating homelessness.
The JFC held up funding for suicide prevention efforts.
Over and over, the JFC sat on critical funds for things most Wisconsinites wanted.
And now, they’re doing it again.
The GOP-run JFC won’t release more than $140M to clean up “forever chemicals” in our water. These pollutants, often found in well water, especially hurt rural areas, which are mostly represented by the GOP in our legislature. Yet they sit on these funds.
And because Republicans refused to expand Medicaid, hospitals are closing, especially in rural parts of Wisconsin. In Northwest Wisconsin, a couple of major hospitals closed and the governor allocated $15 million to stabilize access to health care to keep clinics open.
Republicans refused to let that money go out. And as a result, clinics’ doors are shuttering. And people are having to drive hours to get the care they desperately need.
It’s terrible. And it’s par for the course for these Republicans who've been abusing this power ever since they lost their trifecta in 2018.
But this time, there's a difference.
Because of your work and the work of thousands across our state, we flipped our state Supreme Court majority. And the Court was able to strike down the gerrymandered maps.
We now have the fair maps going into this fall's election. Now when Republicans do something that most people don't like, we can actually hold them accountable for it.
That’s why last week, WisDems launched the No More Games campaign, a six-figure investment in digital ads across the state with press conferences in all corners of Wisconsin.
We’re calling out all seven Republican members who sit on the Joint Finance Committee—Sen. Joan Ballweg, Rep. Mark Born, Sen. Howard Marklein, Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, Sen. Duey Stroebel, Sen. Eric Wimberger, Rep. Shannon Zimmerman—in individually targeted ads. Check out one here:
These ads don’t pay for themselves. In fact, we’re making a six-figure investment in running them. Can you help us keep up the messaging—so voters know just what their politicians have been doing?
Chip in here.
This is what accountability and democracy look like.
Voters are supposed to find out when representatives and senators in the state legislature aren’t doing what their constituents want. Then voters have the final say, at the ballot box.
It is a breath of fresh air in a moment where people have gotten cynical about government. For years, voters have felt like, no matter who they voted for, so many things they wanted never actually happened. And they had a fair point. But now, if the legislature doesn’t deliver, we can vote them out.
In November, you can help end the GOP majority in our State Assembly and Robin Vos’ dictatorship of the Legislature, so Governor Evers and Democrats in the state legislature can actually represent Wisconsinites—and then be accountable for what happens next.
Democrats want what most Wisconsinites want. Clean water. Open hospitals. These are not controversial ideas. Let’s give them a try.
These abuses by the GOP in the state legislature are terrible, but the fact that you can do something about it should be like a breath of fresh air. Breathe it in. Be part of the revival of democracy—in a place where it’s been long suppressed.
Help give hope to the entire country about what’s possible when people refuse to give up. Can you chip in to lend us a hand? Any amount goes a long way.