Retiring Guy's Digest

Monday, September 25, 2023

GET ME REWRITE: GOP candidates for governor love the commute from Connecticut

Top headline: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/2/2022

Bottom headline: Vanity Fair, 9/21/2023

From the Journal Sentinel:

Michels, a co-owner of the Brownsville-based Michels Corp. who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, said Monday he calls the Waukesha County lake country community Chenequa home but also has split his time for the last nine years on the east coast.
Most recently, Michels and his wife purchased a $17 million estate in Greenwich, Connecticut in 2020 — real estate holdings first reported Sunday by the conservative website Wisconsin Right Now.

From Vanity Fair:

Through the marvel that is modern air travel, a candidate for public office is no longer confined to living in the state they hope to serve in. This relatively new phenomenon appears to be a godsend for David McCormick, a Republican who reportedly now lives in a Connecticut mansion but is poised to run for US Senate in Pennsylvania, where he appears to have chartered a number of private planes to promote his political bid.
Federal Aviation Administration records list McCormick as a co-owner of four Pilatus PC-12s operated by PlaneSense, a fractional aircraft ownership program.

Cheating to win elections: Wisconsin GOP attempts to defend the indefensible use of cracking and packing in drawing legislative districts (City of Kenosha part 3)

Diluting the urban vote in southeastern Wisconsin, part 5.

With a population of just under 100,000, the City of Kenosha has enough residents for 1 Assembly district all its own, as shown here, and two-thirds of another.

Tod Ohnstad (D-Kenosha) has represented the district since January 2013. In November 2022, he defeated his Republican opponent by nearly 24 percentage points.

Headline: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/11/2023

Map: Wisconsin State Legislature (highlight added)

Somehow, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Tyler Katzenberger can write an article about legislative district without mentioning 'gerrymandering', 'packing', and 'cracking'.

It's called journalistic malpractice.

The UW Applied Population Lab defines 'cracking' as

drawing districts in such a way as to divide a concentration of specific types of voters across several districts such that they are a minority in each one, with practically no hope of achieving representation in any of the districts. This practice also helps make districts less competitive.

Th UW Applied Population Lab defines 'packing' as

the practice of drawing particular districts in such a way as to ensure that another party's candidate wins that seat by a tremendous margin. Although the opposing party is all but guaranteed the seat, packing makes surrounding districts less competitive, and thus tips the balance of power in the legislative body overall toward the ruling party.

Meet the leaders of the packing and cracking brigade!

Bad optics: Wisconsin Senate, Wisconsin Assem/bly

Wouldn't you rather have this diverse group in the majority? They support fair maps.

Related reading:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/2/2023

“In the past 12 years, one political party captured the Legislature and has insulated itself from being answerable to the voters,” Jeff Mandell, partner at Stafford Rosenbaum and board president of Law Forward, said in a statement.

“Despite the fact that our legislative branch is meant to be the most directly representative of the people, the gerrymandered maps have divided our communities, preventing fair representation. This has eroded confidence in our political system, suppressed competitive elections, skewed policy outcomes, and undermined democratic representation. We have endured 12 years of rule by right-wing interests, and the voters of Wisconsin deserve fair representation.” [emphasis added]

Other posts in the series:

See also: Wisconsin Gerrymandering Spotlight, round 2

See also: Spotlight on Wisconsin gerrymandering

David LeRoy Cohan (1942-2023) Warren High School class of 1960

1960 Dragon yearbook

Source: Peterson Blick Funeral Home

1967 Warren City Directory

David lives in Tiona

1983 Warren City Directory

Cohan David L & Wanda L; machinist Struthers Wells h405 East Street

The popularity of David as a baby name is graphed here. Let's take a look at Kari.

Source: Social Security Administration

Kari experienced a meteoric rise and fall during her 50 years on the baby name chart. She spent 19 years in the top 200 (1970-1988), peaking at #127 in 1976.

Other class of 1960 obituaries (53):

2023

Garry Hunter. (7/26)

Roberta Rhoades VanOrd. (7/13)

Rebecca Weaver McMillan. (6/11)

Thomas Stilwell. (6/9)

Dennis Strandburg. (1/29)

Patricia Ann Briggs Orcutt. (1/15)

2022

Sandra Shine Eldridge. (12/15)

Nancy Temple Standley. (12/10)

Bonnie Emerson Loebelenz. (9/22)