We break down some of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers' budget proposals when it comes to education, healthcare, prices and gun reform, as compared to what Republicans in the state are doing to help the working class. We talk about Evers on education funding, free school lunch, background checks, mental health initiatives and medical costs. All things Wisconsin Republicans have called dead on arrival, as they again make it a point to say they are going to throw out Evers' budget and create their own. We also discussed how Republicans in Minnesota tried to grab all the power with a temporary two-week window where they held a one-seat majority.

William Garcia, chair of the La Crosse County and 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party, in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk discussing Donald Trump “saving” TikTok and the inauguration, plus the priorities of Democrats and Republicans in Wisconsin state government. We also took a couple of calls, including one from a listener accusing him of disrespecting President Trump and another on alleged Democratic corruption. In reference to Trump, Garcia addressed the controversial TikTok “ban,” the metaphor of moving the inauguration indoors, and the president’s new cryptocurrency venture, which Garcia warned could lead to corruption. In the second half of the show, Garcia discussed the contrasting priorities between Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled state legislature and the Democrats. He highlighted the GOP’s push for a Voter ID amendment, while Democrats focus on bills for free school meals, as well as initiatives to lower taxes and healthcare costs. The show wrapped up reading listener text messages, that were clearly meant to flatter Garcia and offer praise for his insights.

Wisconsin's state Legislature has been at work for a week and Republicans in control have already done some outrageous things to both grab power and spark outrage where it doesn't exist. With a Wisconsin Supreme Court race on the April ballot and control of that court between "conservatives" and "progressives" up for grabs, we start the conversation in North Carolina. There, the GOP-led Supreme Court has refused to certify the Democratic candidate who won the latest election, setting the stage for more ways Republicans can ignore voters.

It's already started, and Donald Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet as president, but Republican chaos is brewing and it's only going to get worse. We talk about how this isn't normal, even though this has been the norm for the past decade — and for those who turned 18 and began voting in 2015, that's all they've lived with. Part of the conversation hovers around two feuding factions in Donald Trump's orbit — all the billionaires that he has running the show and Trump's voting base. Those two groups aren't seeing eye to eye with what the vision is the next four years with Trump as president.

President-elect Donald Trump made grand promises about grocery promises and is now re-negotiating that deal. In his Time Person of the Year interview, Trump flip flops on bringing prices down. “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up,” Trump said in his Time Magazine “Person of the Year” interview published Thursday, referring to grocery prices. “You know, it’s very hard … But I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down.” We discuss how Democrats knew that was an impossible campaign promise and all the factors that surround prices going up, plus how Trump's policies on tariffs and deporting immigrants will actually raise prices.

Two weeks later, the dissection of the 2024 election continues. La Crosse County and 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party chair William Garcia breaks down how Wisconsin fit into the mix, both nationally and locally, in the past election. We break down how Donald Trump’s gains across the nation match up to what we saw in Wisconsin. We also look at the Derrick Van Orden-Rebecca Cooke race in the 3rd US House District and the Tammy Baldwin-Eric Hovde US Senate race, plus how Democrats did in the state Legislature , including a clean sweep in the La Crosse area. 

Republicans in Wisconsin, again, are putting a confusing question on your fall ballot that could take away your voting rights. Multiple organizations, nonprofits and the Democratic Party are saying vote no on this question:  Voters must be prepared to answer this question on the November 5 ballot ⬇️ ❌ Question: “Eligibility to vote. Shall section 1 of article III of the constitution, which deals with suffrage, be amended to provide that only a United States citizen age 18 or older who resides in an election district may vote in an election for national, state, or local office or at a statewide or local referendum?" We get into the reason why this question is not only confusing, but dangerous for voting rights of everyone in the state -- "every" being the key word.

We take a look at the wild flyers from the Republican Party of Wisconsin on behalf of candidate Ryan Huebsch that are ending up in potential voters' homes attacking Democratic Assembly Rep. Steve Doyle. We also discuss how no debates are happening in Assembly races, as Republicans cite "scheduling conflicts."   See the flyers here.

Tom Vilsack, former Democratic governor of Iowa, joined to talk about how Democrats can win back more of the rural vote. And he might know the secret formula, because, back in 1998, Vilsack was the first Democrat to be elected as governor in Iowa in over 30 years — plus he won a second term. Before Vilsack joined (10:20), we opened the pod basically game planning what to talk about with him. And, afterward (21:35), we do a bit of a wrap up.

Garren Randolph, Wisconsin Democratic coordinated campaign manager, joins to talk about near every level of government that's on the November ballot, including Donald Trump, the state Assembly and Senate races under new maps, and the US Senate race. Began the podcast on Trump, Project 2025 and Kamala Harris taking the reins from Joe Biden. After that, we got into the competitiveness of state Legislature races with new, fairer maps. Lastly, we talked about the race between Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republicans bringing in challenger Eric Hovde. 

Donald Trump has a plan to solve the US deficit. The only problem is, it won't fix the deficit and it will make the price of everything go up. We can't explain why Trump is obsessed with tariffs, but we do talk about why his plan to put tariffs on all foreign goods, especially China, will cost households thousands of dollars a year. We contrast that with some of the things the BIden Administration has done to boost manufacturing in the US, plus some of the policies that Kamala Harris has proposed in her bid to win the presidential election.

William Garcia, the La Crosse County and 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party chair joined La Crosse Talk on WIZM. He took some calls a day after the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump debate and his take on how things went down. Also, Garcia spoked about the visit from Gwen Walz, wife of Minnesota Gov. and VP candidate, Tim Walz, who spoke at the debate watch party at the Concordia Ballroom. 

Harry Dunn is a former Capitol police officer, who was on the job during the Jan. 6 riots. We discuss who he's endorsing as president, the irony of Donald Trump and Republicans being the "law & order" party, despite their actions, and the constant fearmongering that Trump continues. Dunn, who also ran for political office, testified in front of the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6. His efforts during the attack earned him both the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Citizens Medal.

We rehash Donald Trump's quick visit to La Crosse, where he held a town hall that lasted 35 minutes. We also brought up the fact that, despite Trump being an hour and 15 minutes late, no Republican candidates in the area spoke to the 7,800 supporters in the crowd, who were left to their own devices. Republicans in the area, also didn't post on social media about Trump at the La Crosse Center. We also discussed Democratic counterprogramming, including Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Minnesota US Sen. Tina Smith and La Crosse Assembly Rep. Jill Billings all in town, discussing the economy, as well as Kamala Harris' CNN interview.

We recap the August primary election in Wisconsin, including Tara Johnson moving on in the 96th Assembly District, Rebecca Cooke winning (12:00) the 3rd District for US House and Republicans losing (3:20) on the partisan constitutional amendments they put on the ballot. We also, at the end, talk a bit about the Democratic National Convention that runs Monday-Thursday this week in Chicago — in which William Garcia will be in attendance.

As Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continue to spread their message, enthusiasm among Democrats is through the roof. We talk of how the campaign seems to be one on vibes over policy, at this point, while Donald Trump's campaign has little to combat the message, after going all-in on anti-Joe Biden rhetoric. We also talk about how that rhetoric is very ironic now, considering Trump's latest public appearances. 

La Crosse County and 3rd US House District Democratic Party chair William Garcia stopped in the studio to discuss his role as a delegate, nominating Kamala Harris to the ticket for president. We also talked about VP picks (before the news came out). Garcia got what he wanted to MN Gov. Tim Walz, but he had a great prediction about MN Lt. Governor, Peggy Flanagan. Lastly, we discussed this bodycam footage from the RNC in Milwaukee, where Republican US House Rep. Derrick Van Orden claimed he was assaulted by a young woman and claimed it was an act of political violence. 

We rehash the events of the past week, beginning with Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 race and Kamala Harris looking like she'll be the Democratic nominee. We also discuss potential VP picks, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz making some noise after not being on the initial list. Also, are Republicans regretting JD Vance as their VP pick and could they make a switch.

William Garcia joins WIZM's La Crosse Talk with guest host Rick Solem to discuss his new responsibility as a delegate to pick the Democratic nominee for president, after Joe Biden dropped out.

A lot of things to talk about in politics today, but we narrowed down to three (in this order): 1. The Republican-written Constitutional Amendments on the Aug. 13 primary ballot, in which multiple groups, including Wisconsin Democrats, are saying vote "no." 2. The assassination attempt on Donald Trump. 3. The Republican National Convention being held in Milwaukee this week.

No Democratic Voice podcast this week, but William Garcia did join WIZM's La Crosse Talk with host Mike Hayes. The two talked about voter ID, mentioned the Biden visit to Madison very quickly and then got stuck discussing the notion of voter fraud in the 2020 election. 

Recapping last week's first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, including whether there are meetings among Democrats to replace the president on the ticket — in which William Garcia is one of the delegates. 

Donald Trump just held a Racine, Wis., campaign event and set the unofficial LPM — Lies Per Minute — record for the ex-president. We discuss some of those biggest lies — saving the best/worst for last about Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers. Before that, however, we talk about Foxconn. Trump didn't mention Foxconn at his rally. It was literally in that county, where he, six years prior, said the deal he made with the Taiwan company would be the "eighth wonder of the world," this biggest tax incentive handout to a foreign company in U.S. history. Instead, it's failed and President Joe Biden recently championed a deal with Microsoft at the same site — a deal that has La Crosse implications, as well.

For the second consecutive election, Wisconsin Republicans are putting two confusing questions on the ballot that could change the state Constitution. These questions are over emergency funding, and who gets to distribute it. When it was GOP Gov. Scott Walker, and the Legislature was controlled by Republicans, there was no problem. But, after Walker lost to Gov. Tony Evers, Republicans, again, set in motion, a plan to seize more control from the governor. They're also doing it on very low turnout elections, with ballot questions that are written intentionally to confuse the voter. Republicans control who and what gets to go on the ballot. They've denied the governor and Democrats in the Legislature multiple times to have other questions up for a vote. Here are the questions, that the Democratic Party and other groups say to vote "No" on: Question 1: “Delegation of appropriation power. Shall section 35 (1) of article IV of the constitution be created to provide that the legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated?" Question 2: “Allocation of federal moneys. Shall section 35 (2) of article IV of the constitution be created to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the legislature by joint resolution or as provided by legislative rule?”

It's no joke, Republicans are really going after women's access to contraception and trying to stop allowing no fault divorce. We argue a lot about "culture war," and what legislation is real and what is for show. Last week, the US Senate tried to pass a bill to guarantees women's right to contraception -- things like birth control -- and Republicans voted down the measure. Same thing happened weeks ago in Wisconsin, when Republicans wouldn't pass a similar measure. The GOP will argue state's rights, but we talk about two examples where both federally and at the state level, the GOP wouldn't vote for women's rights. Meanwhile, other states are blocking access to contraception and Republicans are making it a priority to stop women from being allowed to get divorced. 

We take a look at Republican Stacey Klein, who is running for Wisconsin state Senate in District 32. We begin with the ethical controversy of where she lives, and then get into her far-right positions on the issues. While her opponent, Democratic incumbent Brad Pfaff, was voted the most bipartisan Senator in the state, we do not see that here with Klein, like most candidates Republicans are throwing into races.

A lot of attention went to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a few weeks ago, about a worm having eaten part of his brain. And while that sounds interesting and we spend a little time on it, what we get into here are his policies — for those thinking about voting for him over Joe Biden. We get into his stance on Israel, the environment and how Republicans are funding his campaign — along with his VP pick, the ex-wife a a Google founder. 

Republicans in Wisconsin's state Legislature called themselves back into session last week to override 36 of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' vetoes. Well, half the Republicans did. First, the Legislature has been off since mid-March and was scheduled to be off the rest of the year, despite its full-time status. But, the Senate met to override these vetoes, including on PFAS, where Republicans have been withholding $125 million in funding to help communities like the Town of Campbell, despite the release of those funds being signed into law back in January. We discuss how the GOP only did a third of the bills they wanted to, plus the other half of the Legislature didn't even meet, leaving anything the Senate did moot. 

A recent audit has shown half of Universities of Wisconsin schools across the state are in financial trouble. Altogether, if these seven universities as they're currently running and funded, they would be $254.9 million in debt by fiscal year 2028. We dissect why this is happening and what can be done. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers put over $300 million in funding in the state budget. Instead, Republicans, who control the Legislature didn't increase funding at all and, in fact, withheld staff raises and $32 million for DEI.    

In an another attempt to bring in a rich out-of-state candidate to run for a major political position in Wisconsin, Republicans have managed to unearth Eric Hovde. The multi-millionaire, who couldn't win a Republican primary 12 years ago in the state, is now running against Democrat Tammy Baldwin for US Senate. The California banker has managed to say something to alienate just about every voter. From the elderly and is recent comments on those in nursing homes to farmers and young people over their work ethic, Hovde has a message for you, and we break them all down. PHOTO: A screenshot from a Hovde tweet, where he proves he's Wisconsin by sitting in a cold lake.

A recap of the spring elections in La Crosse County and statewide. First, we look at the La Crosse County board races, where Republicans supported nearly twice as many Democrats, and saw nearly the same amount of members re-elected or elected. Plus, from what we know so far, the La Crosse County Republican Party also out spent Democrats 8 to 1. Statewide, we look at, essentially, the no-votes Joe Biden and Donald Trump received, plus the repercussion of the two Republican state constitutional amendments that passed.

As the spring election season wraps up Tuesday, we look at the strange, alarming ways Bill Feehan, the 3rd Congressional District Republican Party chair and La Crosse County board candidate, is involved. We discuss the attack fliers he's sending out against his opponent Kelly Leibold, as well as fake letters to the editor in the La Crosse Tribune, also attacking her. Those letters were taken off the site, proved to be fake. Plus, a bit on Feehan's consulting firm taking money from conservative candidates in the spring elections. Before that however, a quick update on Tim Alberts for La Crosse School Board. He has come out publicly against being named on the 1776 PAC flier, which was discussed on last week's podcast. 

We look at how La Crosse Republicans differ from the La Crosse County Democratic Party in these local, spring elections for school and county board. In Part 2, we talk La Crosse County board, where Republicans are spending over $6,000 for candidates, and the timing of that funding stands out. Also, we break down some of the campaign fliers that are going around, and how dishonest and misleading they are.

We look at how La Crosse Republicans differ from the La Crosse County Democratic Party in these local, spring elections for school and county board. In Part 1, we talk school board, where two candidates are on the ballot and both are endorsed by the far-right wing group, the 1776 Project. Just a note, since this recording, candidate Tim Alberts has come out and said he was included on the 1776 mailer "without my knowledge or endorsement." Nothing on social media on Adam Manka, in which the 1776 Project highlights a made up statistic from Manka on drugs in La Crosse schools.

Randy Erickson is the second Vice Chair of the La Crosse County Board. First appointed in November of 2019, Erickson represents District 12 and is running for a fourth full term. He talks about what good things the board has done, what continues to happen and some of the misinformation that's coming from the more conservative candidates on the board.  You can follow Erickson's county board Facebook page for a lot of updates. Early voting starts Tuesday (March 19). The election is April 8

We talk about the upcoming membership drive and what it means to join the La Crosse County Democratic Party. On Monday, Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Ben Wikler and former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes are the headliners for the La Crosse County Democratic Party membership drive. The event happens from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Capella Arts Center (721 King St.). Many others from the state party will be at the event, where attendees can sign up to be a member and hear from party officials, as well as candidates up and down the ballot. 

Kelly Leibold is running for La Crosse County Board, to represent District 1, which is the north side of La Crosse. Leibold talks of her bout with brain cancer and how that gave her a new perspective on helping others. She also talks about what she's seen from the county and county board, so far, plus the needs of the north side, as well as La Crosse County. 

Em Anderson is running for La Crosse County Board in District 5. That's the district that contains UW-La Crosse. Anderson is a UW-L student. We discuss what brought her to UW-La Crosse, what's she's studying, why she's running for county board and what and how she's learning about the issues. 

Explaining that time Donald Trump said he'd encourage Russia to invade NATO countries, and just what his endgame is with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. At a South Carolina rally last week, Trump conjured up a vague story of telling an unidentified NATO member that he would withhold U.S. help and “encourage” Russia to do as it wishes with allies that do not contribute enough to military spending. Trump said, "'You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent? No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.’” 

The special counsel that the Biden Administration's Justice Department hired to look into the president's classified documents case came out late last week. It exonerated President Joe Biden of criminal wrongdoing in having those documents. But, all the attention has gone to what the Donald Trump-appointed counsel focused on and that's Biden's inability to recall details from years ago — his memory. We get into how, again, Democrats walk the line and allow these investigations into their own people to go about, and release the report to the public. Remember "Hillary's emails" right before the 2016 election? But, when it's Republicans, these reports are hidden from the public. Remember Republican Robert Mueller looking into Trump-Russia and then Trump's Attorney General, Bill Barr, releasing his one-page summary of what the report said, withholding it from the public? So, we call out what is another hit piece on the Democratic president in an election year, when the GOP has nothing to run on when it comes to policy or helping the American people. 

A bit of a conundrum for Democrats — or those against strangely powerful executive powers — as some Republicans have proposed curbing the Wisconsin governor's powers. Of course, the timing is peculiar, with Democrat Tony Evers at the helm, and the way in which the GOP wants to get this bill passed — through a manipulatively worded constitutional amendment. We discuss why it's happening now — perhaps because Evers' used it to extend public school funding for 402 years — and how governors of the past — both Democrats and Republicans — have abused this power. 

The US House, last week, passed another continuing resolution that will keep the government partially funded and open through early March. It's a bill 3rd District Rep., Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) voted against. Part of his reasoning was because Congress needs to agree on a full spending plan that includes doing something about the southern border. But, Republicans also just tanked their own deal to do something on the southern border, apparently taking the order from Donald Trump — because that would look good for Democrats and Joe Biden. So, we discuss the consequences of Van Orden's vote against the continuing resolution and the straw man of saying it's, in part, to solve the southern border crisis.  

After venting a bit about how Wisconsin draws voting maps, we look at the latest iteration, where the Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide amongst seven groups that made submissions. We look at the criteria for drawing new legislative maps set up by the state Supreme Court, the groups that drew new maps and how those submissions look in the 3rd US House District.   

We will know what seems inevitable that Donald Trump is going to win the Iowa Caucus on Monday and therefore, we look at the 2028 presidential candidates. Rick and William argue if it's still going to be Trump. After that, more discussion on 2024 from Joe Biden not being on one ballot, to why Wisconsin has, so far, kept the two other Democratic candidates (Dean Phillips, Marianne Williamson) off the primary ballot. Plus, can Trump's opponents get any momentum to bump him, like Bernie Sanders did a bit in 2016. Also, sticking to 2016, does Joe Biden have voter enthusiasm or could there be a Hillary Clinton-like turnout that allows Trump to win again? We also talk about GOP controversies, including a US House Rep. already saying they won't certify the 2024 election unless Trump wins, plus Trump's argument that he can do whatever he wants as president — including hiring killers to take out political opponents. 

A celebration of the Top 10 things Democrats did in 2023 — five federally and five in Wisconsin. Before that, however, we duped Garcia into being a Grinch for a few minutes on some of the Republican 2023 highlights, before getting into that Top 10 list.

It's been over a decade since former Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker's legislation that destroyed union rights in the state through what's called Act 10. A recent lawsuit looks to restore collective bargaining rights for unions. We explain what Act 10 did to unions, such as educators, and how this lawsuit might give rights back to workers.

There are two ways you can approach things Donald Trump says and does. One of those is to find the funny gaffs and mistakes or literal missteps that he takes, while continuing to bounce between court hearings and campaigns. Another is to take the things that he says he plans to do if he were re-elected president. This podcast is about the latter, as we go through documented quotes Trump has said while campaigning that he plans to do if re-elected.

As the Wisconsin legislative session comes to a close, and the Legislators get set to take a long holiday, we compare and contrast the priorities between Democrats and Republicans. 

We dive into the farm bill, which needs to be re-upped every five years and Congress let it expire back in September. The estimated $428 billion package is as much about feeding people, as it is about farms, but the political fights are in both areas. A large portion of the farm bill has to do with food stamps and we explain why and where the lines are drawn to pass the next five-year spending package.

We take a look at the newest US House Speaker, after 22 days without any leadership, as the government ticks toward a shutdown. Republican Mike Johnson was a near-unanimous pick. It was near unanimous, because one Republican didn't vote for Johnson — and didn't vote at all. So, yes, we also talk about why Derrick Van Orden, Wisconsin's 3rd District Rep., wasn't in DC to vote. As for Johnson, we look at his viewpoints on certifying the 2020 election, his stance on, not just gay marriage, but legal sex between gay people, and his take on climate change.