After months of being cooped up indoors, this is the time of year you’d love your favorite supper club to have an outdoor deck, maybe overlooking a lake. I’m sure there are folks who immediately think of the Ishnala supper club in Wisconsin Dells — others might pick one of the lakeside supper clubs listed by Travel Wisconsin. 

☀️ I’m fortunate to live near two other outstanding venues: Wissota High Shores on Little Lake Wissota and 1917: Lake Wissota (formerly Water’s Edge, later The Edge). In every case, there are moments when the sun is off its peak, the day is starting to cool down, and the cheese curds are what’s hot. Whatever you call your favorite outdoor dining spot, I hope it’s got a good umbrella during a hot stretch like this one.

🤝 Now let’s talk politics. I’ve been thinking about this week’s Marquette Poll that showed 80% of respondents supported the surplus spending plan worked out between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican leaders of the Legislature. It has bipartisan support, and it went down to defeat in bipartisan fashion as well.

📈 There are things that poll in the 80% realm that should not be ignored. Background checks on gun purchases (Marquette 2019). Women’s reproductive rights (Marquette 2022). Restoring healthcare tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (Marquette 2025). Each has broad bipartisan support, but Republicans have continually ignored them, and voters may be ready to punish them for it. 

👉🏼 There’s a difference, though, between broad issues and current events. I see this week’s 80% figure as proving there’s overwhelming public support for fixing our broken school funding system so that we end the spiral of referendums and property tax hikes. That means ending nearly 16 years of the Legislature dismissing bipartisan support for our public schools. And we know who’s been running the Legislature for the past 16 years. 

On a lighter note: You really need to get subscribed to the daily newsletter that our colleague Ellie puts together on weekday mornings

…and not just for the adorable illustrations that include badgers going tubing and enjoying a frosty beverage! There are also breathtaking reader photos of mornings across Wisconsin.

And her Badger State Buzz is a wonderful collection of weekend events. It’s also on the website, but see it before everyone else by subscribing here. 

Be sure to keep scrolling to a story that newsletter subscribers like you get to see before anyone else. It’s about having a candidate for governor willing to send your tax dollars to the mob that embraced political violence on that fateful January 6 at the US Capitol.

Have a wonderful weekend. And be sure to stay up to date with our posts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

🥦 It’s become a familiar scene by now, watching someone whose previously normal behavior undergoes a radical change when they enter the MAGAsphere.

Watch former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, now President Trump’s transportation secretary, put on a performance worthy of his old reality TV work when asked to defend filming a family road trip series funded by some of the transportation corporations he’s supposed to oversee.

🫜 Here’s another example: Rep. Derrick Van Orden. The moderate tone he offered in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police is nowhere to be found now, as demonstrated in a series of social media posts about the 6th anniversary of a killing he once described as unconscionable. As a comfortable incumbent, he prefers to call Floyd a criminal and remove police practices from scrutiny.

🫒 Small business owners are looking at the new, troubling inflation numbers and wondering about the fate of their entrepreneurial dreams.

“I totally understand why you can’t come here and buy a candle or a t-shirt for me when you don’t know how you’re gonna afford your next doctor visit,” said Erin Klaus, owner of Tangled Up in Hue in Eau Claire. She talked to our Salina Heller about her concerns.

🧀  Before we get to our main story about the Republican candidate for governor, we’d like to invite you to check out our latest overview of the seven major Democratic candidates who will face off in the Aug. 11 primary. 

Those of us who surround ourselves in politics on a daily basis sometimes forget that there are lots of folks who are still learning about these women and men for the first time. So here’s a reintroduction, done in trading card style.

Newsletter subscribers are seeing a preview of this story before anyone else. Read the full version on our website starting Friday.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican congressman from up north and presumptive nominee for governor said this week he’s willing to go along with a plan to send tax dollars to insurrectionists.

Asked on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s demand for a $1.8 billion fund to compensate “victims” of government overreach during the Biden administration. Tiffany expressed an openness to the idea.

“I would want to take a look at what was the harm that was done to those victims?” Tiffany said. “If it’s significant enough, perhaps they should receive compensation. What I think is more important is those who have abused their authority in a federal agency, that they should be charged and they should be prosecuted, if they have abused their authority.”

His comments leads to two questions: Who are these purported victims? And who abused their authority?

The money Trump is seeking could go to a range of people who have been adjudicated in court as being closer to criminals than victims: Members of the violent mob. Staff who assisted Trump in removing classified documents and hiding them from authorities. And the people who helped Trump try to rig the results of the 2020 election.

Already, one of the architects of Trump’s fake electors scheme, former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis, has written to the US Attorney General seeking $3.2 million, even as he awaits trial on a felony charge of forgery for his role in the plot.

As for abuse of authority, Tiffany’s comments reopen the discussion about his role in trying to help Trump stay in power despite losing the election to President Joe Biden and his same-day support on Jan. 20,  2025 for Trump’s pardoning of around 1,500 people charged with crimes during the insurrection. 

For more, see the story on our website starting Friday, including a review of Tiffany’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021 and the response by state and federal Democratic lawmakers, who have their own plans for that “anti-weaponization” fund, if it becomes real.

What does it all mean come November?

Click the blue box to answer over on our website. Leave us a comment and your first name and hometown for a chance to see it featured in this newsletter next week.

We asked: Who do you trust to pass new rules about data centers in Wisconsin — about water use, electric rates, jobs, and other issues?

0%  chose A) No new rules are needed. Big Tech can police itself in the free market.

1%  chose B) Republicans. They will guard against the worst practices while protecting economic growth. The talk about harms is overblown.

37% chose C) Democrats. They will write specific, enforceable rules. The talk about chasing away tech companies is overblown.

36% chose D) Bipartisan coalition. Moderates will drag both parties to a compromise that won’t make everyone happy but form a good set of rules.

23% chose E) Nobody. Rules are needed, but a partisan deadlock will leave us to the mercies of Big Tech and secret deals.

👉🏼Darrel in Melrose: “Republicans have had ample time to address this and many other issues facing our great state and have failed us over and over again.”

👉🏼 Gail in Milwaukee: “In this polarized legislation, it is doubtful that both sides will work together to regulate data centers. I am 100% behind AI technology but want it and the systems that support it to be regulated.”

Thank you, as always, for some great table talk about whether human intelligence can prevent the worst parts of artificial intelligence.

🗓️ Our favorite supper clubs often have a bulletin board filled with information about upcoming events and local services. Here’s our version: A “Do Something!” calendar of opportunities to get involved in your community. Find the full calendar on our website.

Monday [June 1]

League of Women Voters of Wisconsin: Civics Reboot (Virtual, 6:30-8 p.m.) – Hear from experts on how to make a difference at the municipal and county levels.

Thursday [June 4]

Fair Maps Coalition: Our Maps, Our Say, Rallies Across WI – Coordinated statewide rallies calling for an Independent Redistricting Commission to make fair maps permanent. Locations of rallies include: Madison, Milwaukee, Appleton, Menomonie, Janesville, Kenosha/Racine, Green County (Monroe), Wausau, Sheboygan, and more. Sign up for location details and event times. 

Send your events and announcements to Abigail Deatrick, regional community development organizer at Courier Newsroom at abigail@couriernewsroom.com at least one week before the event to see them here.

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

🏁 Thanks for reading our update.

Have a great weekend!