October 23, 2015

Volume 1 Issue 19

State Representative Janel Brandtjen:

John Doe Reform:

There is nothing more un-American than being investigated, interrogated and intimidated because you have exercised your First Amendment Rights by engaging in the political process. Add to that the prospect of being denied legal counsel and therefore the ability to defend yourself and you’re living a real nightmare, not behind the iron curtain or some small third world dictatorship but right here in Wisconsin. I placed my vote for political freedom.  I voted for reform.

GAB:

Since its debut in 2007, the GAB has failed to regularly audit the voter rolls to remove any felons, failed to audit electronic voting equipment, and regularly failed to promulgate rules as statutorily required.  They followed no formal procedure for processing complaints brought to the board and the board's staff regularly went outside the approved fee schedule when assigning fines. In short, the entity that was in place to uphold our laws, broke more laws than they enforced.  I find that to be indefensible. I voted to restore fairness, common sense and integrity to Wisconsin’s elections.

Campaign Finance Laws:

“Wisconsin’s campaign laws that were written decades ago are clearly in need of several substantial changes.  Even the Journal Sentinel has referred to Wisconsin’s campaign laws as ‘Zombie laws’.  There have been numerous court cases including Wisconsin right to Life (WRTL) and Citizen’s United that have found that existing Wisconsin laws violated First Amendment Rights. There are three major aspects of the Campaign Finance Reform.

Government has no right to limit issue advocacy.

We must have a clear definition of what constitutes coordination.

The contribution limits have been in place since 1973 when gas was 55 cents a gallon and the minimum wage was $1.60. It is time to increase the limits.

These changes will be good for Wisconsin and the integrity of our elections. We should embrace more political free speech, not discourage it.

Unemployment in Wisconsin is at a 14 Year Low:

Wisconsin's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.3 percent in September 2015, its lowest point since April 2001, is down from 4.5 percent in August 2015. The 4.3 percent rate is below the national unemployment rate of 5.1 percent for the month and below the state's rate of 5.3 percent in September 2014. The state's September rate is the lowest for the month since September 2000, when the rate was 3.7 percent. Additionally, the state's labor force participation rate of 67.4 percent in September outpaced the national rate of 62.4 percent. See full report.

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       Wisconsin: Leading the Way Forward!