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The people want legal marijuana; only a handful of business interests and ideologies which ignore facts remain standing in the way towards progress. But even Republicans are starting to wake up to the changing status quo.

When questioned about marijuana reform on Wisconsin Public Radio, Republican state Rep. Jim Steineke admitted that the state is on its way towards reform, despite Republican heel-digging. Obviously other states throughout the country are moving in that direction. I think that's likely the direction at some point with the state of Wisconsin, Rep. Steineke said.

This comes as anew pollby Marquette University Law School found that 61% of Wisconsin residents want legal marijuana. It is the highest level of support ever recorded by Marquette for marijuana.

In 2013, when the question was first asked of respondents, only 50% were in favor of legalization. In the last decade, not only did outward support increase, but so did undecided responses. Proponents of illegal marijuana shrank from 45% to 31% today.

Democrats saw an increase in support, from 53% to 75% in favor of legal weed over a decade; but Republicans saw the more significant progress. At its lowest, Republican support for cannabis reform was as low as 29%. In this new poll, for the first time in Marquette Laws surveys, a majority of Republicans wants legal marijuana. The majority is slim, just 51%, but it is more than ever before, as it goes against the Republican Partys promise to maintain the illegal status of marijuana.

It is not so surprising to see rising, soon-to-be overwhelming support for cannabis reform, after Wisconsin residents voteden massefor legalization in 2018. The advisory referendums of 2018 saw nearly 1 million votes cast, more than 60% of which were in favor of legal marijuana. In Milwaukee County, 70% of voters explicitly wanted legalized, taxed and regulated recreational marijuana.

This wind of change among public opinion has been reflected in the fact that Wisconsin saw attempts by Republican lawmakers to reform cannabis laws. Just last month, a dozen Republicans in the state Legislature, led by Sen. Mary Felzkowski, introduceda billaiming to partially legalize medical marijuana in Wisconsin.

This is not a Republican issue and this is not a Democrat issue, said Felzkowski in defense of her bill. When you look at the map of states where medical marijuana is legal, you will see conservative states like Florida and South Dakota and more liberal states like California and New York offering a compassionate option for those who need relief. It is time to have the conversation in the state of Wisconsin.

However, as evidenced by the fact that Democrats vowed to legalize marijuana and republicans vowed to keep it illegal, this sentiment does not reflect reality. Wisconsin Republican lawmakers have even demonstrated a willingness to set the engine of progress to reverse: They introduced and subsequently passed a regressive bill that would increase the maximum penalty for simple, non-violent possession of a personal-use amount of marijuana from 3.5 years in prison to a whopping 15 years of incarceration. Gov. Tony Evers had toveto it.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos himselfdeclaredin the past that [the Legislature is] not going to legalize recreational marijuana. The only form of marijuana supported by the Republican establishment has long been the most repressive and regressive form of it: marijuana pills, manufactured and sold for profit by healthcare corporations, difficult to access and expensive.

I think its more likely that legalization occurs when it comes to medical marijuana, using it for the purposes of alleviating pain and treating some illnesses, Rep. Steineke added. Recreational marijuana, I think, has a much tougher path to get through the Legislature and eventually signed into law, but I do think were headed in that direction. Its just finding the right legislation that is tight enough to pass.

It seems likely that cannabis reform will come in two steps in Wisconsin, starting with medical marijuana before even considering recreational use. Most states follow the same pattern, and it serves to ease into a new status quo. However, it is now obvious that Republican lawmakers are abundantly aware of the public opinions perception of marijuana. They even recognize the inevitability of legalization. The question is what form cannabis reform will take: Will it be the progressive Democrat version, or will it be the anemic Republican version?

More:
Republican Obstructionism Cannot Impede the March of History - Shepherd Express

I want to thank The Chronicle for their March 7 and 8 articles that clarified some of the campaign ad accusations made by Hiedi St. John against Joe Kent in the 3rd Congressional District race. I hear conservatives call The Chronicle a bunch of liberal leftists and liberals call them right wing radicals, and I sure don't agree with everything printed, but I consider it a pretty fair, moral paper doing a good job in a divided country.

The monthly Republican Precinct Committee Meeting March 7 in Winlock was a special committee meeting to vote on whether to make an exception to bylaws that prevent endorsing anyone other than the current incumbent in a primary election. On Feb. 7, precinct committee officers (PCOs) requested a vote to endorse Joe Kent and all PCOs received notification of the subsequent vote. Lewis County has 96 total precinct positions: 34 are vacant and 42 showed up to vote, the majority demanding a vote by secret ballot. Sixteen voted yes, 27 voted no.

I have been attending these Republican meetings since March 2021 after the fraudulent 2020 election shocked me into doing something. It took a lot of phone calls to contact the local Republican party. Three PCOs said they hadn't attended meetings for a year or two. One senior person told me we lay-people needed to stay out of politics and let experienced people like her decide elections. Another longtime precinct official said in written correspondence to not even to use the term RINO (Republican In Name Only).

I don't care what label is used, but when our elected representatives hide their votes from us and vote to maintain the status quo, in this case, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler's program, then they are supporting what Rep. Herrera Beutler has allowed to happen: inflation, open borders, crime, government overreach and now possibly war.

I'm told, two years ago, the Republican meetings had 10 to 15 attendees. Last Monday, the cars filled the parking lot, the railroad right of way, and extended all the way down the main street of Winlock. The annual Lincoln Day Dinner, organized by Rachel Anderson, chair of the Lewis County Young Republicans, generated a seven-fold increase in what the party brought in compared to past years. People want to get involved and are looking for ways to bring back the America we used to know.

Carla Askew chairs the Lewis County Republican PCO Recruitment Committee. Becoming a PCO is a good way to influence our government at the ground level. She invites anyone interested in becoming a PCO to call her at 360-901-6331. Those 34 vacant positions are important in this year's elections.

And you sure do find out a lot about who's doing what in Lewis County politics including your own PCO.

Linda Clark

Onalaska

See original here:
Letter to the Editor: 'Don't Say RINO' and Other Thoughts From a Lewis County Republican - Centralia Chronicle

Friday, March 11 was the last day for republicans to get their names on the May primary ballot.

Folks were bringing in and dropping off candidate petitions at the Brewerie at Union Station.

A candidate needs a petition with a specific number of signatures in order to get on the ballot. They are important for any candidate, regardless of party.

Congressional candidates need at least 1,000 signatures to be on the ballot.

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We have got some committee people and we have other folks who are just here because they feel passionate about one candidate. We have over 30 candidates running for U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania Governor or Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor, said Melanie Brewer, Campaign Manager for Congressman Mike Kelly.

Continue reading here:
Last day for republican candidates to have their names on primary ballot - YourErie

That was probably the first thing that Chuck did that showed him as a national political leader, recalled Kessler. With Scotts plan, he said of Schumer, Im sure he sees it and says to himself, Ive taken this apart before.

Privately, Democrats are realistic about their chances of hanging onto the Senate, and say they must seize the gift Scott has given them to force Republicans onto the defensive. On the day of the State of the Union, for instance, Senate Democrats ran an ad accusing McConnell of fighting for the same wealthy insiders who get rich by keeping prices high.

During their own retreat on Wednesday, Democrats heard a presentation by Geoff Garin, a pollster, that impressed many of the senators present. Garins surveys have found that more voters blame the coronavirus pandemic, China and foreign supply chains and large corporations raising prices to increase their profits than they do President Biden for inflation.

The bottom line here is that Democrats have a very strong case to prosecute on rising costs, Garin said.

Republicans see the attack on Scott as a desperation play in what could be a difficult election for Senate Democrats, who must defend incumbents in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire while trying to pick up seats in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

If I were them, I would try to use it, too, said Justin Sayfie, a Republican consultant who runs an influential Florida political news website. But theyre going to have to put a lot of money behind it. How much penetration are they going to be able to get with a message about Rick Scott?

McConnell and Scott have a fundamental difference of opinion about how to win the Senate, people who have studied both men say.

The rest is here:
Why Rick Scott and Mitch McConnell Are Feuding Over Midterm Elections - The New York Times

At its peak in 2016, the Republican structural advantage was daunting. Just 195 districts tilted toward Hillary Clinton in that years presidential election, compared to 240 that tilted toward Mr. Trump. The median congressional district voted for Mr. Trump by nearly four percentage points, six points more favorable to the Republicans than Mr. Trumps two-point deficit in the national popular vote. The outcome raised the possibility that Democrats could only win the House in a national landslide.

But the Republican advantage crumbled, even before this cycles redistricting began. A string of court rulings in North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia eroded or eliminated some of the partys most valuable gerrymanders, cutting the chambers Republican edge down by one-third before the 2020 election.

What is redistricting? Its the redrawing of the boundariesof congressional and state legislative districts. It happens every 10 years, after the census, to reflect changes in population.

How does it work? The census dictates how many seats in Congress each state will get. Mapmakers then work to ensure that a states districts all have roughly the same number of residents, to ensure equal representation in the House.

Who draws the new maps? Each state has its own process. Eleven states leave the mapmaking to an outside panel. But most 39 states have state lawmakers draw the new maps for Congress.

If state legislators can draw their own districts, wont they be biased? Yes. Partisan mapmakers often move district lines subtly or egregiously to cluster voters ina way that advances a political goal. This is called gerrymandering.

Is gerrymandering legal? Yes and no. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal courts have no role to play in blocking partisan gerrymanders. However, the court left intact parts of the Voting Rights Act that prohibit racial or ethnic gerrymandering.

At the same time, unfavorable electoral trends eroded the Republican Partys longstanding geographic advantage: the tendency for the party to more efficiently translate its votes into seats than the Democrats, who win lopsided margins in urban areas but tend to lag in less populous areas. Mr. Trumps weakness in traditionally competitive suburbs along with his relative strengths in less competitive rural and urban areas made his coalition somewhat less effective at winning House seats than for prior Republicans. It cut the Republican advantage down by half.

Together, the diminishing Republican geographic advantage and weakened gerrymanders were just enough for Democrats to narrowly win the House with a modest win in the popular vote in 2020.

Republicans were expected to reclaim their advantage again this cycle, as the party would draw more seats than the Democrats. But Republicans had fewer opportunities to improve over their prior maps. In some states, new court rulings and constitutional amendments limited what Republicans could do with their powers. In others, Republicans had already drawn the lines so overwhelmingly to their advantage a decade earlier that there were few opportunities for them to go much further. They chose to reinforce more vulnerable incumbents as often as they eliminated additional Democratic seats.

Democrats, on the other hand, had more opportunities to be more aggressive than they had been a decade ago. Their victories in the 2018 midterm elections gave them more influence in the redistricting process in many states, and Democrats had not adopted especially effective or extreme gerrymanders a decade earlier. Overall, Democrats eliminated 12 seats that leaned Republican in the last presidential election in New York, Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada and Oregon. No state courts have acted to weaken Democratic gerrymanders in those states.

Republicans, on the other hand, have faced a string of adverse court rulings.

In Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, the courts either limited Republican gerrymanders or selected surprisingly Democratic-leaning maps. In the end, Republicans may only eliminate a handful of Democratic districts, like those in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, Nashville and, perhaps soon, eastern New Hampshire.

Read the rest here:
Why Redistricting May Lead to a More Balanced U.S. Congress - The New York Times