Ron's Weekly Recaps

It's been a somber week as Planned Parenthood has announced it will violate state law and resume the killing of innocent human lives. This comes after a Dane County judge has ruled that the state law that prohibits doctors from destroying an unborn human embryo, does not apply to elective abortion. It's worth noting that the judge has not made a final decision on the case or issued a formal opinion.

The Wisconsin Ethics Commission is currently launching an investigation into allegations of money laundering and fraud involving newly-elected Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz's campaign. The complaint, filed earlier this month by Election Watch, alleges that the campaign engaged in the illegal practice known as "smurfing." Smurfing involves disguising large monetary donations by funneling them through unwitting small-dollar donors.

In my observations, Meagan Wolfe, with the backing of several WEC Commissioners, has often disregarded state regulations and legislative protocols. Her notable absence from the Senate Committee on Share Revenue, Elections, and Consumer Protection's public hearing is just one example. She seemed to think that sidestepping the legislature would cement her position. However, the State Senate took a firm stand, a decision I wholeheartedly endorsed.

Last week, Wisconsin Republicans introduced our "Returning Your Surplus" tax cut plan. This week, Gov. Evers responded by X/Tweeting, "I'll veto it. Plain & simple." Gov. Evers went on to say, "I'm not going to sign an irresponsible Republican tax cut that jeopardizes our state's financial stability." Evers' comments come after he proposed the budgets largest spending increase in Wisconsin state history in February of this year.

Wisconsin's Republican legislators introduced the "Returning Your Surplus" to plan bring some financial relief to middle-class families and retirees. This proposal aims to ease the tax load on these groups by reducing the state's taxes by almost $3 billion.

On Tuesday, I spent the day touring the 3rd Assembly District. My first stop was a Habitat for Humanity event. We discussed the challenges hardworking local families face in finding decent and affordable homes in Appleton before raising the walls for the future home of Habitat homebuyer, Dawn Buelow.

Every calendar year, you can buy a new annual state park pass. However, it does not matter when you purchase the pass, whether it’s January, June or November – the price is the same and the pass is only good until December 31st of that calendar year. That means that, as the year stretches on, people are more and more apprehensive about buying a pass.

Democrat Assemblyman and self-described Socialist, Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) recently posted on Facebook and said, "[Police Officers] jobs have neither dignity nor value." Since then, I have not heard or seen one statement from Democrats disavowing these comments.

This Tuesday, recently elected Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, Janet Protasiewicz, was sworn in. This officially flips our states high court from conservative to liberal, and means liberals now control two out of the three branches of state government. 

Appleton Mayor Jake Woodford sent me a letter as well as a certificate of recognition for my work on the bipartisan Shared Revenue Bill, later known as Act 12. I'd like to thank Mayor Woodford for his kind words and I look forward to our continued work making Appleton a better place to live and raise a family. Under Act 12, the city of Appleton will receive about $1.9 million dollars in additional funding from the state.