☀️ Good morning!

It’s Sunday, January 25, 2026

📺 I’m safe in assuming most of you don’t grab a bowl of popcorn, curl up on the couch, turn on the TV, and flip over to… WisconsinEye. But I would argue the public affairs channel is about as valuable as anything else on the dial. 

(Personally, I’d take a livestreamed Assembly committee meeting over “90 Day Fiancé,” “Dr. Pimple Popper,” or “The Golden Bachelor” any day.)

Channels like WisconsinEye (for the Legislature) and C-SPAN (for Congress) exist to remind our elected leaders to always act like someone is watching. Voters deserve to know if what their senator or representative is saying in the Capitol syncs up with what they’re promising back home.

But with WisEye down due to a lack of funding, Democratic lawmakers say Republicans have turbo-charged the amount of bills being pushed through committees — and the committee chairs are not allowing anyone, even legislators, to live-stream or take video of what’s being said.

🤝 Fortunately, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer have reached an agreement to partially fund WisEye and get it back on the air. Now we wait to see if Senate Republicans will go along.

It was a shame seeing WisEye have to resort to “Go Fund Me” pleas to cover the work of keeping government transparent. This is not the kind of government oversight that should be dependent on wealthy donors. But since the tentative deal would still require a healthy degree of outside fundraising, allow this former legislator to offer a suggestion.

Do you know who values Wisconsin Eye as much as legislators, their staff, reporters, and interested constituents? Lobbyists. WisEye has made lobbyists’ lives infinitely easier, enabling them to monitor multiple meetings and access an archive of quotes and votes. Some of these lobbyists and their firms make multiples of a legislator’s salary, which is their right — and honestly, I found many of them to be very helpful conduits between lawmakers and certain groups affected by legislation. 

💵 Lobbying requires a license from the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, with fees that top out at $400. For most firms, that’s pocket change between the couch cushions. I would propose a hefty increase, dedicated to the WisconsinEye budget. And the Association of Wisconsin Lobbyists, if they haven’t done so already, should be encouraged to make a generous donation, no strings attached.

Here’s hoping the return of WisEye is the result of what I’d call tri-partisanship: Democrats, Republicans, and the independent people and groups who recognize the need to work together. It will be great to see a final deal — especially if we can see it celebrated on WisconsinEye.

You’ll notice some formatting changes starting with today’s edition. It’s kind of a birthday present to ourselves, as this political newsletter marks its first anniversary. For example, we’re introducing a new, streamlined way of responding to our Question of the Week. So don’t scroll away until you get all the way down to this week’s question about how to handle new data center proposals in Wisconsin.

Have a great week — and remember to stay up to date with our social media posts.

After months of entry announcements and behind-the-scenes early fundraising, the seven Democratic hopefuls for Wisconsin governor gathered for the first candidate forum of the 2026 campaign Wednesday.

The group did not show wide differences on several key issues, but each used part of their own life story to tell the audience how they would govern on topics such as health care, child care, tax reform, and small business health. 

Click the image below to read the full story on our website.

1️⃣ Keep Trying — US Senate Republicans still show no sign of taking up a bill to resurrect tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, but Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Black Earth) urges people to keep applying pressure. The US House recently passed a bill that would roll back the big premium price hikes, including votes from 17 Republicans.  Pocan says abortion politics are now in the way. 

“It would have been a slam dunk, but now there’s some talk that people might want to add the Hyde Amendment [federal limits on funding] abortion into this,” Pocan said. “And if they do that, clearly it wouldn’t be a clean extension. We need to put pressure on the Senate to pass it cleanly, just like we did in the House. And then let’s really work together on health care.”

2️⃣ PFAS Deal – Gov. Tony Evers expressed optimism that he and legislative Republicans are on the verge of breaking a years-long impasse on funding programs to identify and remove industrial chemicals known as PFAS from water supplies. The grant program has been hung up on Republicans wanting to exempt more people and industries than Evers and environmental advocates when it comes to paying for cleanup.

3️⃣  No Actual Healthcare Plans – Watch our video about President Donald Trump’s recent release of what he says is a comprehensive healthcare plan. At 325 words in length, “comprehensive” isn’t one of the adjectives most folks would use. While we’re on the subject, we examine Congressman Derrick Van Orden’s claims about a “new” $50 billion fund to support rural healthcare. We explain where the money is coming from and whether it’s really new.

In 2026, we’re going to do much more to inform you about events, activities, groups, and campaigns that might motivate you to increase your civic engagement and leave you feeling like you’re doing your part to bring our country back from the current realm of ridiculousness. Don’t hesitate to send us your events, suggestions, and questions.

Tuesday [Jan 27]

Media Disinformation: Why it matters and what to do about it

League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County – Virtual forum, 6:30pm

Learn what disinformation is and how it affects our civic lives. What media changes have led to the growth of disinformation. And how to spot disinformation

Immigration: Facts & Myths

Democratic Party of Grant County – 5:30pm

Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant, 135 E Main St., Platteville

Speaker: Alex Baum, Director of Advocacy, Data and Learning at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. Advanced Tickets required.

Wednesday [Jan 28]

Drinks with Dems: Trivia with Fitchburg Progress
Fitchburg Progress – 6:45pm

Meet at Delta Beer Lab to talk about what’s going on and what we can do about it. And answer some trivia questions, too. No expertise required. Look for our table marker and join Something Blue.

Saturday [Jan 31]

Health Care Under Attack: Our Plan to Fight Back

Citizen Action of Wisconsin – 11:00am

MLK Library, 2901 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Milwaukee

Learn what’s happening, hear from neighbors directly impacted, and find out how we can fight back together. Discussions about hospital accountability and new legislation to expand health care access through a BadgerCare Public Option.

NEW THIS WEEK: We are streamlining the way we collect your responses to our weekly questions. Click the blue box containing this week’s response options and you’ll be taken to a page on our website where you can press the option for your answer.

⏮️ Last Week:  Once Democrats have control of Congress and the White House, what do think should be done about seeking justice against Trump’s MAGA minions and healing the country?

10% said Trump only — Prosecute Trump for his misdeeds and let’s move on.

21% said Let it go — Don’t give Trump more media attention. 

69% said Get ‘em all — Seek legal consequences for every last MAGA official where there’s evidence of lawbreaking. 

Your Comments

Ann – “Concentrate on undoing all of his Executive Actions and removing all of his political appointees. Let him sink into irrelevance.”

Marilyn from Milwaukee – “I am leaning towards B. Trump and his cabinet seem to thrive on media attention and prosecuting them would feed their egos. Cleaning up their messes will shine enough light on their errors.”

Karen from Green Bay – “C. I believe we will need a special committee like the Jan 6 committee focusing on prosecution, so the cabinet and rest of the government can focus on rebuilding and building back better.”

⏭️ This Week:  Data Centers

Wisconsin is no stranger to the natural conflicts between progress and our natural resources. Our state has faced the need to balance environmental concerns with the earliest industrial factories, modern-day factory farming, mining, and now data centers.

There is no doubt that this technology age will only grow and require more computing power, but at what cost given what we know about how data centers require copious amounts of water and electricity?

How do you think Wisconsin will handle the growing demand for data centers? What kind of report card grade will we give our state a decade from now?

Click the blue box (above) containing this week’s response options and you’ll be taken to a page on our website where you can press the option for your answer.

If you get a pop-up window asking for your email address, go ahead and enter it even though you’re clearly already a subscriber.

📱 Remember, you can stay up to date all day with all of our team’s work through our social media feeds, including Instagram and TikTok.

🏁 Thanks for reading our update.

Have a great week!