On our Spring 2023 ballot
Voted early this time (and only once, so far). They call it absentee in person, which makes a kind of only-in-Madison sense. Bottom of the ballot listed what looked like college essay questions. Either that or the disclaimers you click through without reading, alerting that the software you just downloaded reports directly to Chairman Xi Jinping. These are the six referenda questions on Madison WI ballots.
Crime — The first two are intended to curb liberal judges’ tendency to release suspected criminals only on their likelihood of showing up for trial. Infernal Republicans propose that gauging the risk to the public is also important.These two constitutional amendments are on ballots statewide. Would have the force of law if they pass this time and in a second referendum; the Democrat in the governor’s office can’t veto them. Proposed after the Democrat in the Milwaukee district attorney’s office letting Darrell Brooks out on low bail so he could mow down kids and the Dancing Grannies at the Waukesha parade two Christmases ago. (D.A. blamed an underling.) (Official explanation)
Conditions of release before conviction. Shall section 8 (2) of article I of the constitution be amended to allow a court to impose on an accused person being released before conviction conditions that are designed to protect the community from serious harm?”
Cash bail before conviction. Shall section 8 (2) of article I of the constitution be amended to allow a court to impose cash bail on a person accused of a violent crime based on the totality of the circumstances, including the accused’s previous convictions for a violent crime, the probability that the accused will fail to appear, the need to protect the community from serious harm and prevent witness intimidation, and potential affinitive defenses?
Voted ☑️ YES and ☑️ YES.
Welfare — Republicans also think able-bodied welfare recipients should work for their bennies. Designed to get progressives undies in a twist. Doesn’t have the force of law like the first two. This one will go down in Madison but prevail statewide. (Official explanation
Shall able-bodied, childless adults be required to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits?
Voted ☑️ YES
Blaska is not one of the "dozens" of voters found to be incompetent. So far.
Gerrymandering — Our overly Woke Dane County supervisors did their own back atcha. Referendum basically asks: Do you support gerrymandering or crooked maps? Which is it? Doesn’t explain how to “unpack” Madison and Milwaukee’s shoulder-to-shoulder Democrat(ic) demographics. Does not advise where more than two non-partisans can be found to accomplish this miracle. Only on the ballot here in Dane County and purely advisory. (Official explanation.)
Should the Wisconsin Constitution be amended to require a nonpartisan system for redistricting legislative and congressional districts in the state?
The devil in Mr. Blaska Voted ☑️ NO
Right to privacy — More mischief from the county board that can’t build a jail for fussing over its pronouns. Designed to gin up the pro-abortion, pro-gender bending vote. Mischievously likens to inter-racial marriage. Counter-balance to the bail and welfare work questions. Only on ballots here in Dane County; also advisory. (Official explanation; scroll down.)
Should the Wisconsin Legislature adopt an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution creating a new right to privacy that would protect rights such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and interracial marriage?
Voted ☑️ NO
Aldermanic terms — This city-only question would give cover for Madison alders to stagger their two-year terms of office like the U.S. Senate. But there are only 20 alders. The WI State Assembly has 99 members, the U.S. House of Representatives 345 and neither staggers (well, maybe after Happy Hour but …). In any event, given that only 14 of the seats are contested this year and that — at most — only 7 incumbents will get re-elected (due to retirements etc.), what is the point? To make staggered terms work, would need to impose one-year terms on half the council. Advisory. (Official explanation.)
Shall the Charter Ordinances of the City of Madison be amended to establish staggered two-year terms for members of the Common Council beginning in 2025, with the 2025 Spring Election including one- year terms for alders in even-numbered Districts and in subsequent elections the term for all alders shall be two years?
Voted ☑️ HELL NO!
Blaska’s Bottom Line: A solution in search of a problem.
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
David wrote, “A solution in search of a problem.”
Well said.
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“Shall able-bodied, childless adults be required to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits?”
This idea was floated locally ~ 18-20 years ago, and (as memory serves) was beaten so savagely its ugly head was ne’er reared again ’til now.
One’s vote is a small price to pay for the…um…opportunity to sit on your able-bodied/child-less, over-sized, no account, lazy @$$ while you await e-delivery of generous more More MORE high quality/quantity free $#!t.
‘Specially after you’ve willingly embraced generational dependence and dutifully surrendered your self-respect.
The Gotch
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Wisconsin has gerrymandered itself with all the blue koolaid drinkers concentrated in Madcity and Milwaukee with just a few in the Southwest and Northwest, leaving the rest of the state to reasonable people.
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Now if only “the rest of the state” could figure out how to achieve a turnout of 80% the way Dane County has, we’d be spared the likes of Tony Evers, Josh Kaul, Janet P. & Tammy B. Why isn’t this the top priority of the Republican Party in WI?
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I lived in a very rural part of northern Wis. No one in Madison gave a crap if we lived or died. You want votes? Come and get ’em. Talk to us and show your face. That flyer I got once every two years just started my burn barrel ablaze.
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The Gotch, who’s covered far more of the Northwoods than 1000 of you similarly imbecilic d!psticks, sees-n-reads of political engagement up there all the time.
Taking the backroads from Anderson TWSP/Iron County to Minocqua Winter Park last September for his niece’s wedding, he observed many signs for Conservative candidates en route; noticeably more concentrated per residence than down this way.
Then, a coupla clicks below Powell on State Road 47S they abruptly turned gimmee gimmee Lefty, only to return to sanity after hitting State Road 70 @CTH D.
Why? He passed through the Census designated Lac du Flambeau Reservation, who know upon which side their bread’s buttered.
YOU never saw anyone because reps understandably waste precious little time courting the attention of blithering idiots.
The Gotch
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richard lesiak wrote, “I lived in a very rural part of northern Wis. No one in Madison gave a crap if we lived or died.”
That’s a very interesting claim. I’m really curious, where was that and roughly what year(s) was that Richard?
Madison has been dominated by progressive Liberals long before I moved here in early 1977. So you’re openly claiming that the bigoted anti-rural progressive Democrats in Madison didn’t give a crap if you lived or died out there with your fellow rural rubes in Wisconsin’s fly-over country? So why would you ever become an anti-rural progressive Democrat bigot after they treated you like that?
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Heh!
The Gotch
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1965 to 1978. Ashland wis. And who do you think you are calling me a rube and a dipstick? So you took a ride through the countryside and saw a few signs; big deal. I became a progressive democrat because I lived there. If it wasn’t for people like me and the folks at Northland Collage shitheads like you would have turned that area into another polluted shithole.
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richard lesiak wrote, “1965 to 1978. Ashland wis. And who do you think you are calling me a rube and a dipstick? So you took a ride through the countryside and saw a few signs; big deal. I became a progressive democrat because I lived there. If it wasn’t for people like me and the folks at Northland Collage shitheads like you would have turned that area into another polluted shithole.”
Why are you conflating comments from two entirely different people into one reply as if Gotch and I are one person? That’s what unethical trolls do to try to anger those they are trolling.
So you don’t like me using the word rube to describe you when you “lived in a very rural part of northern Wis”, that Richard is what you call snowflaking hard. Grow up fool.
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Aw, isn’t that cute, the 76 year old, uneducated Lazy @$$ Blogge Idiot TROLT actually thinks he made a difference…in Ashland…45 years ago.
Try harder……
The Gotch
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OK Stevie. I see your point. It’s a point very typical of a fat, entitled, blowhard who spends his day between Starbucks and pastries on Monroe St. while reading QANON tweets. God Bless.
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richard lesiak wrote, “OK Stevie. I see your point.”
We’ll you’ve got that one point going for you and then you proceed strike out.
richard lesiak wrote, “It’s a point very typical of a fat, entitled, blowhard who spends his day between Starbucks and pastries on Monroe St. while reading QANON tweets.”
Not a word of that is truth; therefore you’re making up nonsense to troll, so you get a well earned, “bite me”.
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Will there be enough votes outside Madison and Milwaukee to counter the woke? I always get a kick out of the gerrymandering argument only comes up when republicans have a majority and never during the Doyle Administration. I admit that technology has come a long ways since then but I figure after the democratic maps that were struck down by the WI. and US. Supreme Courts it is just more politics. What ever happened to the guy (Andy McCabe?) that kept complaining about all the money spent on elections?
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Dave, you have chosen wisely!
(btw, I wrote in your name against Nicki Vander Meulen for school board.)
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The crime ones and the welfare one will not pass in Madison. Alas!
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I oppose the cash bail referendum (the second question), and here’s why. I’ve heard many times that the Waukesha parade tragedy could have been avoided if only the perpetrator had a higher cash bail. So the theory behind the referendum is to hope that court officials will generally set higher cash bails if they are able to consider public safety concerns in addition to just flight risk. Cash bail, then, is seen as a tool to effect preventative detention. But no one knows what would actually have happened if Brooks had a $5,000 cash bail… or a $10,000 cash bail (instead of the $1,000 bail). Could he (or someone) still have paid for his release? In the course of a four minute initial appearance where cash bail is set, it’s impossible to know all financial resources available to a defendant, whether it be a wealthy aunt or a robust crowdfunding effort. The bottom line is that cash bail is a poor tool if the goal is to keep someone off the streets, pretrial. If what we really want is to detain people who pose a high risk to public safety during the pretrial period, there is a better constitutional amendment to pursue. Article 1, Sec. 8(2) currently says “All persons, before conviction, shall be eligible for release under reasonable conditions designed to assure their appearance in court, protect members of the community from serious bodily harm or prevent the intimidation of witnesses.” ALL PERSONS… SHALL BE ELIGIBLE FOR RELEASE. That’s the problem. Make it so that NOT all charged defendants are eligible for pretrial release. You’ve heard of jurisdictions where a judge will order the defendant to be held without bail? Such a thing is not possible in Wisconsin (well, there is a preventative detention statute but no prosecutor anywhere in the state has ever used it). With this sort of amendment, the court official determining bail would assess the overall risk posed by the defendant. If the risk is deemed to be lower, release them during the pretrial period. If the risk is deemed higher, hold them. And here’s the quiet part out loud: When you adopt this approach, you have eliminated cash bail altogether! Again, lower risk people are free on a recognizance bond… higher risk people are detained until the disposition of their case, and it doesn’t matter if they’re as rich as Elon Musk, they cannot buy their way out. ALL OF THAT SAID, I have no doubt that the proposed amendment will handily pass.
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It is a good bet that the chance of release is reduced the higher the cash bail. Your question is a silly one.
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good
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nice good day
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