Matthew Brusky 
Friday, September 6th
Join members and allies in Wausau to learn about the role of the State Treasurer
Citizen Action co-op member Sarah Godlewski fought hard to save the Office of the State Treasurer by leading a campaign to defeat a 2018 referendum to destroy the office. Following the referendum, Sarah ran for state treasurer and won last November 2018!
Sarah has many goals for the office and cares deeply for all of the citizens in WI.
Come join the Citizen Action of WI North Central Organizing Co-op, the Wausau chapter of Women for Women and County Board Supervisor (and Co-op member) Katie Rosenberg, as we introduce Sarah Godlewski. Treasurer Godlewski will educate us on the role of the state treasurer and answer audience questions.
The event is next Wednesday, September 11th, at 6:00 pm.
Marathon County Public Library
300 N. 1st Street, Wausau, WI 54403.
This event is NOT sponsored by the Marathon County Public Library
The event is open to the public. There is limited seating, so be sure to RSVP to joel.lewis@citizenactionwi.org or call 715-551-2525.
You can also RSVP on Facebook here. Hope to see you there!
Road Trip with Citizen Action
If you are a member of Citizen Action, we are excited to announce that we are offering 2 opportunities to join us on some issue and political adventures. If you aren’t a member or need to renew, you can still take advantage of the offer if you sign up for a monthly membership. You can do so here!
- Join us in Iowa as our national affiliate, People’s Action, is putting together a Presidential Forum in Des Moines Iowa, September 21.
Can’t wait until April to see the candidates in person? Transportation and hotel will be provided to Des Moines. Here is more information
We only have a few spots left so RSVP soon!
- Caregiving Conference in Detroit! November 6-8th.
Learn and strategize with others interested the caregiving issue (long term care and child care). It’s a chance to develop a deep connection and understanding of care with like minded individuals. Again, transportation and hotel will be provided.
For more information email Karen.kirsch@citizenactionwi.org
Driftless Co-op Update:
The Driftless region Co-op will have a table set up at “Pride in the Park” on Saturday September 7th at Riverside Park in La Crosse Wisconsin. We will be talking to festival attendees about the co op and how they can get involved in the fight for a Green New Deal right here in Wisconsin.
For more information or to join the new Citizen Action Driftless Organizing Co-op contact Ben.Wilson@citizenactionwi.org
North Central Organizing Co-op Update
Members of the North Central Organizing Co-op marched in the Wausau Labor Day Parade. Wausau School Board President and Co-op member, Tricia Zunker, received the honor of being the Grand Marshall for the event, from the Marathon County Central Labor Council AFL-CIO. Here she is photographed with some of the kiddos that helped pass out candy during the parade.
Tricia is also a member of the Central Wisconsin Indigenous Peoples’ Day Committee, and they have been working to pass resolutions all across the State, stating that the school districts do not support using mascots that mock or offend Native American cultures or traditions. Most recently, the Black River Falls School Board passed this resolution. This all started in Wausau!
This past Thursday, September 5th, the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) educated the Environmental Resources Committee of the Marathon County Board on the Carbon Fee and Dividend legislation before Congress. They hope that Marathon County will take up a resolution in the near future, stating that they support this. Several Co-op members turned out in support, and some are also members of CCL.
On Thursday, August 29th, the Wausau Chapter of OWR held an educational meeting about Fair Maps. They requested that NC Organizer Joel Lewis and Co-op member (and all around leader) Hans Breitenmoser speak to their group. You can see coverage of this meeting here.
Upcoming Events in North Central
September 14th
The North Central Organizing Co-op will be tabling at Fighting Bobfest in Stevens Point.
It starts at 9:30 am on Saturday, September 14th and is located at the Pfiffner Building at Pfiffner Pioneer Park, 1100 Crosby Avenue, Downtown Stevens Point, WI. The event will include many great speakers including three of our Co-op members! Hope to see you there.
September 20th
The Northwoods Climate Action Network, Our Wisconsin – Northwoods and the North Central Organizing Co-op are sponsoring a Global Climate Rally, in solidarity with others all across the World. The event will be located at Torpy Park, 806 US Hwy 51, Minocqua, WI 54548 and it goes from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
MKE Laborfest
Watch video of Laborfest highlights from Sue Ruggles
LaborFest 2019 in Eau Claire
All we can say is, “wow!” From the solidarity march through downtown Eau Claire to our powerful speakers and everything in between, an enormous thank you to all of our members who showed up to take action. There is so much energy in the air and people know that the next year is going to be a big one in our part of the state.
(From left to right: *Phil Swanhorst, *Sen. Jeff Smith, *Rep. Jodi Emerson, *Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, and Sen. Patty Schachtner
*denotes Citizen Action Northwestern Organizing Co-op Member
Take Action with Citizen Action in Northwest Wisconsin!
There will be plenty of opportunities to join our co-op and allies over the next two months. If you know of an event you would like to see our Co-op have a presence at, please reach out to our organizer at noah.reif@citizenactionwi.org. Check back next week for more updates on our progress during our membership recruitment drive.
“Sensenbrenner to retire” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
We discuss the surprise announcement that Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is retiring after 40 years in Congress, setting off CD 5 candidate speculation. We take stock of his fractious legacy. The panel reviews the new MU Law Poll which continues to reveal a vulnerable President Trump and plenty of opportunity for Democratic presidential candidates in 2020. We talk about a new The Hill article which includes Sauk County on a list of the 10 bellwether counties that will determine the 2020 election. Citizen Action is building a new organizing co-op this fall and winter in the region. We discuss an open records request by citizen-activist Sheila Plotkin revealing overwhelming public opposition to the GOP’s lame duck session last year, which was entirely ignored by the gerrymandered GOP majority.
Listen Now – Episode #407
Download MP3
Facebook post of the week
Attend a Labor Day
Ben will be working in the last part of 2019 to build our newest Organizing Co-op, the Southwestern WI Organizing Co-op covering La Crosse, Vernon, Monroe, Juneau, Crawford, Iowa, Sauk, and Richland Counties. Email 
Citizen Action Northwestern co-op organized a candlelight vigil Wednesday at Phoenix Park in Eau Claire. State Rep. Jodi Emerson, school board president Eric Torres and local victims of gun violence talked about why they believe universal background checks are necessary.
Rep. Emerson and Gov. Evers introduced a plan to have universal background checks in Wisconsin. Republicans have not been supported background
Members of the healthcare co-op met with Susannah Dyen from Caring Across Generations. They discussed the caregiver shortage and how to build a movement around the caring economy. Solutions discussed were raising the wage and guarenteeed paid leave. We need to keep the discussion going within our community that our elders deserve good care, love and respect and the people that do this work are very valuable.
This week we say a fond farewell to Northeastern Wisconsin Co-op Organizer Joile Lizotte. While we will miss Jolie very much, we are really excited about her new role with our partner and ally SEIU! Jolie and Northeastern Wisconsin Co-op members accomplished some amazing things over the past 2 years, including stopping expansion of the Winnebago County Jail, their work on a Fair Maps Resolution, and the exciting new work on housing in the Oshkosh area. In addition, Oshkosh elected a new progressive mayor with Jolie’s support.
weekly organizer calls and taking over statewide liaison for our Fair Maps work across the state earlier this year. Congrats and best wishes to Jolie on her new adventure!
While families are struggling to afford their prescriptions, Big Pharma is raking in record profits and increasing prices. This Tuesday in Milwaukee, Citizen Action joined Congresswoman Gwen S. Moore, State Sen. LaTonya Johnson, Marlene Ott of Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, and other allies to demand lower drug prices now and put
Continuing a series of events to jump start a new Driftless Organizing Co-op in Western/Southern Wisconsin, 15 labor leaders, county officials, energy experts, farmers, doctors and concerned citizens gathered in Onalaska to talk about how we could upgrade 1,000+ homes to be more energy efficient. Showing that doing so reduces carbon emissions more dollar for dollar than just about anything else, we looked at urging utility companies to access federal USDA funds to create residential upgrade programs at scale. Furthermore, we could create good jobs, lower utility bills and ensure healthier homes.
Citizen Action co-op members named to 34 most powerful Wisconsin Latinos list
A huge thank you to all of the volunteers and partners who attended our Citizen Action Deep Canvass Training and Action! Our deep canvassing training and script makes having those hard conversations on doors easier and lays the groundwork for our issue campaigns in 2020 and beyond. If you would like to see a deep canvass training in your community, reach out to your co-op organizer to schedule one today!
Join Citizen Action on August 28th in a vigil to commemorate all victims of gun violence. There have been more mass shootings in 2019 than days in 2019. Thanks to the leadership of our Governor there is a renewed call for Universal Background Checks. We will gather to remember the victims, support survivors, and take action. The vigil will begin with speakers at 730PM, followed by a moment of silence at 8 PM. The venue is the Phoenix Park Amphitheatre in Eau Claire.
A growing number of school boards across Wisconsin that already have – or will consider – supporting a proposal to retire Native American mascots thanks in part to an amazing organizing effort of North Central Co-op member, Tricia Zunker. The proposal that is rapidly spreading across the state, was drafted by Zunker and originally passed at the Wausau School Board this month.
Since the Wausau school board unanimously approved the resolution last week and called upon other school boards have signed on. Other school districts that have approved similar proposals, or are slated to do so in the next few weeks, include: Shawano, Appleton, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Madison, Milwaukee, Prescott, Shorewood, and Sun Prairie.
This week Citizens for a Clean Wausau (CCW) was selected from a nation-wide application process as a grant recipient from the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ). CCW is a grassroots volunteer group that monitors the activities and impacts of significant current and past polluters, in order to define the nature and extent of local contamination so that it will be remediated. Many of the members of the group are also founding members and current leaders of the Citizen Action North Central Organizing Co-op.
Guest panelists Claire Zautke, Citizen Action’s healthcare director, tells us about this week’s national day of action to lower prescription drug costs. We also discuss Gov. Tony Evers’ creation of a new office to help achieve his goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050, as well as new data showing Wisconsin’s life expectancy is plummeting, especially for African Americans. We welcome Susannah Dyen from Caring Across Generations to discuss building a national movement to make caregiving a respected profession that it is properly compensated.
In a huge win for Citizen Action and our partner organizations in other states, the American Medical Association (AMA) has ended their relationship with the Partnership for America’s Future. If you aren’t familiar with the Partnership, they are a coalition of corporate healthcare organizations that support the for profit healthcare system. They oppose Medicare for All and also are against many of the provisions that were in the ACA like Medicaid Expansion.
You can read more about them
It was an exciting weekend, because Citizen Action of Wisconsin and the Chapters of the DPW (Democratic Party of Wisconsin) worked together in the NC region, to do issue based canvassing in Wausau (Marathon County) and Merrill (Lincoln County). It is great to see groups working together, and it will take this kind of unity if we want to be successful in 2020 and beyond.
Chair of the Steering Committee for the NC Organizing Co-op, Don Dunphy, and organizer Joel Lewis went as a team in Merrill. They had at least 2 people who typically vote Republican, but told them that in 2020 they are strongly considering voting for a Democrat. One of the people gave the reason that the cost of healthcare is out of control and the Republicans are offering no solutions to this problem. Other voters were not pleased with how the President speaks about minority groups or with how he acts. We look forward to doing more of these types of canvases throughout the year.
Co-op member, and all-around community leader, Hans Breitenmoser continues to fight tirelessly for Fair Maps. He believes that this is the top issue, because until this is changed to a more fair system, the politicians are picking the voters instead of the other way around.
Co-op members get chance to meet new State Chair of the DPW
The Healthcare for all Co-op is at Center Street Daze having conversations about Medicare for All and 2020 Election
“Face-to-face communication is the most effective way to connect with supporters. Canvassing is a key part of any campaign, however, it can also be extremely intimidating! Learn from Citizen Action how to have difficult conversations with our deep canvassing training and feel more empowered talking about difficult topics. Connect with your neighbors on the issues that matter to you and your community.
Over 68,000 Wisconsin Citizens are disenfranchised from voting due to laws that disproportionately affect communities of color and individuals of low-income. Thank you to EXPO and in particular, Carl Fields and Sarah Ferber, for their leadership and advocacy. Citizen Action is proud of our member, Representative Jodi Emerson, and her co-sponsorship of the Unlock Lock the Vote legislation.
The panel talks about Boss Vos’ stubborn unwillingness to accommodate State Rep. Jimmy Anderson, a legislator with a disability. We discuss the news that state leaders met with Foxconn officials this week in the wake of reports that taxpayers will pay $172,000 – $290,000 per job, if there are any. Governor Evers floats the idea of a special session on gun violence and pays a visit to the heart of right-wing political darkness, WMC. Clean Wisconsin and other environmental groups sue EPA over Trump’s retrograde coal power rule, and we discuss the presidential candidacy of Sen. Kamala Harris.
This week state legislators who support accepting federal Medicaid money to expand BadgerCare introduced new legislation to save the state money and cover tens of thousands more Wisconsinites with health coverage.
The legislation is open for co-sponsorship. We are encouraging everyone to 
Citizen Action organizer Noah Reif and former organizer and current state senator Jeff Smith attended a community forum on the deepening farm crisis facing Wisconsin’s small family farms. Issues ranging from milk prices, healthcare costs and Trump’s trade war were discussed.
Learn how to have those scary political conversations on the doors, or at the dinner table with that difficult family member! The training will last roughly an hour; afterwards we will put our new skills to the test and canvass the community together.
Health Care Co-Op at Center Street Days in Milwaukee
The North Central Organizing Co-op has had one of those weeks that feels like an entire month worth of events and activities. On Sunday, the Steering Committee had their bi-weekly meeting. In case you’re not familiar, the Steering Committee is made up of 13-15 people, democratically elected by the membership every two years. They are what makes this a member organization as they approve or disapprove of the work that the Co-op Organizer does.
On Tuesday, August 6th, Gov. Evers’ Student Loan Debt Task Force held a roundtable discussion in Wausau. This task force is led by the WI State Treasurer, Sarah Godlewski. Members of the North Central Organizing Co-op helped to find citizens to speak in this discussion and helped to promote the event. It was surprising to hear how many people are saddled with student loan debt. A couple of the people even exclaimed that they may not have their student loans paid off before they die!
Citizen Action’s annual BrewFest social and fundraiser is scheduled for Thursday, September 19th at 5pm in Milwaukee. Join us for a fun evening of camaraderie and celebrating the hard social justice work that we’re all passionate about. We’ll have a wide selection of union and locally sourced beer to sample, appetizers, and the ever popular silent auction.
We discuss the growing death toll of white supremacist terrorism, last week’s mass shootings, and the tepid response from Wisconsin GOP leaders. State Senator Jon Erpenbach joins us to talk about this week’s introduction of legislation to expand BadgerCare. A new study says Foxconn jobs will cost state us $172,000 – $290,000 per job, or an astounding 6 to 10 times the national average. Finally, Citizen Action co-op organizer Noah Reif tells us about door canvassing this Saturday at 10 am in Black River Falls and next Saturday in Menominee.
Thursday evening in Milwaukee at the beautiful Wisconsin Black Historical Society, over 50 Citizen Action members and allies joined together to celebrate a 3 year effort to create a City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County Green New Deal task force to create a long term plan for the area to meet international climate targets and addresses the horrendous level of racial economic inequality in Milwaukee.
Citizen Action members from the Southeast Wisconsin Organizing Co-op are playing a very active role in leading this campaign. This work is being coordinated by the Milwaukee Economic Climate Justice Coalition (MECJC), which includes Citizen Action, Sierra Club, 350.org, and other partners. The Milwaukee Area Labor Council endorsed the task force, and there will be members of organized labor on the panel.
Task Force sponsors, Milwaukee Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton and Milwaukee County Supervisor Supreme Moore Omokunde, attended and laid out the process and timeline for the task force to produce recommendations. Both leaders also answered questions from those in attendance.
Citizen Action’s annual BrewFest social and fundraiser is scheduled for Thursday, September 19th at 5pm in Milwaukee. Join us for a fun evening of camaraderie and celebrating the hard social justice work that we’re all passionate about. We’ll have a wide selection of union and locally sourced beer to sample, appetizers, and the ever popular silent auction.
Four members of the North Central Organizing Co-op took part in the WI Leadership Development (WiLD) Training in Wausau this past weekend. At these trainings, people learn how to use their story and the stories of others to help push an issue. The Citizen Action team focused on continuing to use referendums for Fair Maps (an end to partisan gerrymandering). This is an intense, 2.5 day training.
Fair Maps Summer Kick-off for Northeast Co-op
As many of you know, Citizen Action WI has been holding a series of conversations around southwestern and western Wisconsin, the “Driftless” area, about how we might build a Rural & Urban Alliance that could seek to heal that which has caused so much strife in Wisconsin – the urban/rural divide.
Learn how to have those scary political conversations on the doors, or at the dinner table with that difficult family member! The training will last roughly an hour; afterwards we will put our new skills to the test and canvass the community together.
Wisconsin Fair Election Project Director Sachin Chheda joins us to discuss new state legislation for fair legislative maps and the possibility GOP leadership could attempt to dodge Gov. Evers to gerrymander Wisconsin again. We also talk about Speaker Vos refusing to make accommodations for Rep. Jimmy Anderson to participate in committee meetings and Gov. Evers looks to protect water from nitrates. We also review the latest Democratic presidential news and Robert takes a first look at Kamala Harris’ new healthcare plan released this week.
Brian Wooldridge 
Thanks to the excellent work of Citizen Action members on the ground and our elected members, the Eau Claire City council allocated $200,000 to purchase and prepare land for small, single-family homes. In addition City Councilors 
First, leaders with the Wausau Chapter of OWR (Our Wisconsin Revolution) wanted to organize a response to Duffy’s support of Trump’s hateful speech aimed at AOC and the squad.
Big moment in Wisconsin history and for Citizen Action! A coalition of various organizations, activist, and elected officials got together and help pass a local version of Green New Deal at the Milwaukee County Board. In general, the plan will be to focus on giving poor communities and communities of color an economic opportunity to train and obtain for “green” new jobs. While tackling unemployment we will also combat climate change and racial injustices. We are proud of all our comrades and honored to be part of this movement.
Healthcare Co-op member, Mike Bernstein, joined a press conference with the DNC’s Chair Tom Perez at the Clock Shadow Creamery in the fifth ward of Milwaukee.
Founding member of the North Central Organizing Co-op, Rob Norton won his recall election in Merrill, WI, along with all but 1 incumbent. Some of our Co-op members in Merrill helped him with his efforts.
NC Organizing Co-op member Scott Kirby and other co-op members have been working hard in Oneida and Vilas County on Fair Maps, and Move to Amend resolutions. The Oneida County Board refused to take up either issue, so co-op member Jackie Cody and others decided to make progress in the County by organizing township by township!
Two of our elected co-op members held office hours on the Eau Claire city bus last Friday. State Senator Jeff Smith and Representative Jodi Emerson met dozens of constituents. From the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram: “This is amazing,” said Brooke Whiterabbit, 29, who recently moved to Eau Claire from Barron County. “I never would have gone to anything like this if it were anywhere else. I never would have reached out to a legislator on my own.”
We are proud to join in solidarity with the nationwide protests that took place on July 12th. Our members are deeply disturbed by the humanitarian crisis on our southern border that has been fabricated by the current administration. It is critical that we stand with those in our community who are targeted and we pledge to be allies in the continuing fight.
Over the last week, Citizen Action has partnered with NextGen in their push to expand ballot accessibility in the state of Wisconsin. This included events in Eau Claire and Hudson. We are proud to support the push to expand ballot accessibility and ensure that the voices of voters are truly heard across the state.
Acción Ciudadana 
Join us on Aug 1st at 6 pm at the Black History Historical Society Museum for our Green New Deal campaign kick off. We’re going to be talking about how to get involved and what we have coming down the line in the next few weeks. We want to push these Green New Jobs in communities of color and low income. Join this revolutionary campaign and help us kick off Milwaukee into the future. We this more than ever.
We discuss Donald Trump and his campaign doubling down on racist, white nationalist appeals this week. Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy says Trump’s tweets were not racist and denies calling four congresswomen anti-American. We are joined by Citizen Action member and State Representative Amanda Stuck who announced this week she is running for Congress. Citizen Action’s Kevin Kane stops by to discuss the new member organizing co-op we are organizing in the “Driftless” area of Wisconsin and how you can get involved in an initial campaign to get area utilities to accept federal funds to create energy efficiency jobs in the region upgrading homes at no cost to residents.
In a telephone news conference this week, Citizen Action of Wisconsin and seven state lawmakers called for urgent state legislative action to protect Wisconsinites from the health care chaos that would be unleashed by an adverse decision in a federal court case challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Oral arguments started this week in federal appeals court on the case of Texas v. United States, which President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General William Bar are using as a vehicle for invalidating the entire ACA, including the popular protections against pre-existing condition discrimination.
“I have two daughters who are out of college and haven’t really hit that career job yet. So it’s really important to me that they’re able to be on our health insurance until they’re 26 years old,” said Rep. Jodi Emerson. “Having health care protections for young people as they start their career is so important. If the ACA is done away with, if this case succeeds, our young adults are really going to be at risk for not being covered because of the gig economy that’s going on and maybe having a couple of different part-time jobs. As a mother of two twenty-year-old girls, this is really important to me.”
“The Republican challenge of the Affordable Care Act is cruel, it’s reckless and it will ultimately hurt our nation’s most vulnerable population,” said Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa. “When healthcare options become limited or unattainable, it’s people of color – especially women of color – like myself who are the most harmed.”
On July 9th, the Milwaukee Common Council passed a Citizen Action supported resolution calling for the creation of a joint city & county task force that seek to address the climate crisis according to the guidelines set by Paris Accord while also being intentional about who benefits from a 100% Just Transition.
Today, Friday July 12th, 2019, Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Detention Camps, will bring thousands of Americans together to protest the inhumane conditions faced by refugees.
Citizen Action Executive Director Robert Kraig spoke to a group of healthcare activists from GrassRoots South Shore this week. He detailed the various bills in Congress and reviewed where many of the first tier presidential candidates stood on the issue. It is clear that healthcare will be the top issue in 2020. If you want to get involved in Citizen Action’s healthcare organizing contact Karen Kirsch at 
Having an awesome time at the LULAC Convention and joining our Latinx family in solidarity with the issues they are facing. We have developed long lasting relations with folks locally and all over our nation. We have had lots of folks interested in supporting and learning more about our Accion Ciudadana. Specifically, folks wanted to learn more about the co-op.
We welcome Citizen Action co-op member Mireya Sigala-Valadez to discuss the Lights for Liberty national day of action event she is helping organize in Eau Claire where people will gather Friday night in solidarity to end refugee camps and to protest the inhumane treatment of refugees. Co-op member and State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski gives her take on the signed state budget and organizes us to fill out her new student loan surveys. We discuss the Texas lawsuit to end the Affordable Care Act and what state legislators are preparing to do to in response. Gov. Evers says Foxconn will only create 1,500 jobs. The 2020 Presidential Election heats up in Wisconsin this week with candidate visits and Trump fundraiser.
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2019 Press Clips
“GM Strike & Working Families Party endorses Elizabeth Warren” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
Bill Kaplan: Can a Democrat succeed Duffy?
2019 Press Clips