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In hisfarewell address, George Washington warned the nation of the great danger posed to our form of government by political partisans. Washington cautioned us that extreme partisanship agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, and foments occasionally riot and insurrection. He could not have given a better description of present-day America.

On Jan. 6, we suffered the riot and insurrection that the prescient father of our country predicted. The unprecedented attack on the seat of our government should have served as a shocking wake-up call for congressional Republicans about the dire consequences of their hyper-partisanship. WhenGOP congressional leadership immediately spoke outagainst President TrumpDonald TrumpLegal organization files ethics complaint on Trump lawyer Eastman Overnight Defense & National Security US warns Putin still mulling Ukraine invasion Krysten Sinema is less of a political enigma than she is a strategic policymaker MOREs instigation of the insurrection, it appeared the message had been received. But that did not last long.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOn The Money Presented by Citi Schumer signals delay for Biden plan Schumer says Build Back Better will be delayed McConnell: 'It would be a great idea' for Manchin to switch parties MORE (R-Ky.), apparently suffering the trauma of losing two Senate seats in Georgia and fretting that he might not realize his dream of taking back control of the Senate, quickly redoubled his partisan posturing. Many Republicans at both the national and state levels were intrigued by the Trump strategy that came close to snatching an undeserved victory from the jaws of electoral defeat. They calculatedhow that strategy might ensure victory next timewith theinstallation of partisan election officialsand some strategic changes to voting laws in Republican-controlled states.

Almost worse than the attempted take-over of our government by Trumpist forces is the present denial by so many Republicans about the horrifying events of that day and the continuing danger the extremists pose to American democracy. How did we get to this ugly state of affairs, where partisan interests trump our national interest?

Although neither of our political parties has clean hands, the Republican Party is primarily responsible for todays slash-and-burn political partisanship.Former Rep. Newt Gingrich(R-Ga.) laid out the path to toxic polarization of American politics during his tenure as speaker of the House in the 1990s. In the ensuing years, GOP politicos have fashioned their form of extreme partisanship to perfection, particularly in the last five years under Donald Trumps noxious influence. McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthyPhotos of the Week: Tornado aftermath, Medal of Honor and soaring superheroes Trump allies urge McCarthy to remove Kinzinger, Cheney from House GOP conference GOP election objectors rake in corporate cash MORE (R-Calif.) now lead the take-no-prisoners partisan warfare in their respective houses of Congress.

In recent days we have seen several instances in which GOP legislators have tried to squeeze partisan advantage out of matters that were historically of concern to both parties. A recent instance involved thenational debt, which increased about $7.8 trillion during Trumps presidency. Congress needed to urgently increase the statutory debt limit by mid-December toavert economic disaster. McConnell announced weeks ago that no Republican senators would support an increase, solely as a cheap political trick to shift blame for the increase onto Democrats. The Democrats gave in last week in order to save the economy something the GOP Senators were willing to risk just to score political points.

Then, on Dec. 9, every Republican senator voted to block President BidenJoe BidenSenate confirms Rahm Emanuel to be ambassador to Japan NY governor plans to add booster shot to definition of 'fully vaccinated' Photos of the Week: Tornado aftermath, Medal of Honor and soaring superheroes MOREs vaccine mandate for large employers, knowing that the House would not go along. Again, the lock-step GOP vote appeared to be just a move to gain partisan advantage.

Several Republicans have tried to have it both ways doing whatever they can to assist the spread of the virus by opposing shots and masking and, at the same time,criticizing the president for failing to get the pandemic under control. Playing politics with the pandemic trumps the health and safety of their own voters. Arecent study foundthat counties that voted heavily for Trump in 2020 have a COVID-19 death rate three times that of those that voted heavily for Biden. Political advantage apparently trumps saving lives.

For decades following World War II, the GOP fancied itself as the bulwark against Soviet and Russian aggression. Strangely enough, that all changed with the election of Donald Trump, who could not keep from fawning over Russian President Vladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich PutinOvernight Defense & National Security US warns Putin still mulling Ukraine invasion White House says Putin hasn't made up mind on invading Ukraine Iran has good reasons to hang tough in nuke talks MORE.Trump was an absolute gift to Putin. GOP lawmakers must have supportedTrumps Putinophiliabecause we heard nary a peep of disapproval from them during Trumps tenure.

The GOP has done an about face on Putin and Russia since Joe Biden became president. KevinMcCarthy has criticized Bidenfor giving Putin a pass, although that would accurately describe what McCarthy gave Trump for four years.Sen. Tom Cotton(R-Ark.) chimed in on the same day as the Biden-Putin summit, falsely claiming that Biden was appeasing Putin. So much for speaking to the enemy with one voice.

There are many other instances where GOP extremism has damaged the national interest. The most dangerous and shameful instance was the rabid partisanship that, in George Washingtons words, fomented riot and insurrection in Washington. Americas voters must take heed and throw the partisans out in coming elections if we hope to remain a democracy.

JimJonesis a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho attorney general (1983-1991) and 12 years as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He is a regular contributor to The Hill.

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Republican extremism is damaging the national interest | TheHill - The Hill

MADISON Republicans and Democrats alike Monday ripped into Wisconsins partisan review of the 2020 election, saying it was a baseless exercise that would needlessly damage faith in democracy.

State Sen. Kathy Bernier, a Republican from Lake Hallie who leads the Senate Elections Committee, said the review by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is firing uppeople who dont understand elections.

"Mr. Gableman is coming to my county and I will attend that meeting along with my concealed carry permit, to be perfectly honest,because (the election review) keeps jazzing up the people who think they know what they're talking about,and they don't," Bernier said.

Bernier, who oversaw elections for 12 years as Chippewa County clerk, said Republicans are reacting to political pressure from former President Donald Trump. Their constant complaints about the election could ultimately hurt Republicans if they don't believe results can be trusted, she said.

"And so I think my advice would be to have Mr. Gableman wrap up sooner rather than later, because the longer we keep this up, the more harm ... we're going to do for Republicans," she said.

In response,Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester issued a statement saying it was Democrats who were preventing Gableman from completing his work sooner. He did not note that much of Monday's criticism came from Republicans and offered no timeline for when Gableman would finish his review.

"The easiest way to wrap up Special Counsel Gablemans investigation is to get the Democrats to cooperate," Vos said in his statement. "Instead, invoking McCarthyism has been their only motive, trying to discredit the investigation rather than finding ways to improve the system and prevent fraud going forward."

Bernier made her comments during a panel discussion in the state Capitol. She was joined by Ben Ginsberg, who spent nearly four decades representing Republicans in election disputes, and Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel during Barack Obama's presidency.

Ginsberg agreed with Berniers assessment, saying attacks on the election will hurt Republicans in the long run because their voters will be less likely to cast ballots if they think elections are rigged.

"We are here today because Wisconsin has found itself really in the middle of a harmful and disturbing national trend that involves the intimidation of election officials the people who are supposed to call balls and strikes in our elections,"Ginsberg said.

Joe Biden beat Trump by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin. Recounts and court rulings have confirmed his victory. A legislative audit and a study by a conservative group turned up no evidence that would question the results.

Vos hired Gableman this summer to conduct his own review of the election. His work is expected to cost taxpayers about $675,000.

Gableman last yearclaimed without evidence that the election was stolen. More recently, he said he does "not have a comprehensive understanding or even any understanding of how elections work."

Bauer said Gableman's comments "and the partisan context in which he received this assignment" show Gableman is not right for the job.

The partisan reviews in Wisconsin and other states are pseudo audits being organized for partisan political purposes by those who do not have the wherewithal to meet any kinds of standards whatsoever," Bauer said.

Editorial: Michael Gableman's sham investigation is a threat to democracy. A Republican leader just called him out.

More: After facing threat of professional sanctions in election review, Gableman goes after attorney for Green Bay

Ginsberg and Bauer this year formed the Election Official Legal Defense Network to provide legal help to election workers who face challenges over how they perform their duties.

Their presence put national attention on what's happening in Wisconsin. But it was Bernier who offered some of the bluntest assessments of what's happening in her state.

"This is a charade," she said. "There's a simple explanation for almost every single thing that people accuse election officials of doing."

At another point, she said: "These made-up things that people do to jazz up the base is just despicable and I don't think any elected legislator should ever play that game."

Gableman has conferred with partisans, former Trump officials and election conspiracy theorists. Bernier said she thought Gableman should have talked to her given her years of work on elections, but so far he has not called her.

Gablemanhas conducted much of his work in secret but plans to talk about his activities on Dec. 20 with theChippewa County Republican Party. Bernier said she didn't think it was a good idea for Gableman to attend a partisan event in the midst of his election review.

Bernier said during the panel discussion that she would attend Gableman's event but afterward said she wasn't sure whether she would.

"I know I'm not going to learn anything more than I currently know," she said. "And then I'll end up with the people who want to yell at me, so that's really probably not a good place for me to be."

More: Republicans sided with Democrats in an election challenge. A day later, they changed course.

More: Intimidation of election officials in Wisconsin has to stop. It is corrosive to our democracy.

Gableman was initially supposed to complete his review in October. His contract with the state runs through December, but Republicans could extend it if they wanted.

His work got off to a slow start but has also been delayed by court fights over his subpoenas. Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has sued to block some of his subpoenaswhile Gableman has asked a Waukesha County judge to jail the mayors of Madison and Green Bay if they won't meet with him.

The mayors have called the request ridiculous, saying they have cooperated with Gableman.

Meanwhile, some Republicans have called for the resignations of members of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission and its nonpartisan director, Meagan Wolfe. Wolfe and the commissioners have said they plan on staying on the job.

Wisconsin election officials have faced a string of threats over the last year over how they did their jobs.

For instance, people this year have threatened to hang, shoot orjail Claire Woodall-Vogg, the director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.

Similarly, people anonymously posted threats to Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl last year in response to an article on the Gateway Pundit, a right-wing website that frequently traffics in conspiracy theories.

Law enforcement was notified of the threats to Woodall-Vogg and Witzel-Behl, according to emails released under the state's open records law.

ContactPatrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Followhim on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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Key Wisconsin Republican says her colleagues are making baseless attacks and need to wrap up election review - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In the House, two Republicans, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona, were stripped of their committee assignments for social media posts that contained threats of violence against Democratic colleagues and a third, Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, could yet be sanctioned for suggesting one of two Muslim women in the House, Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, could be a suicide bomber. When the House on Tuesday debated Ms. Omars bill to create a State Department post to combat anti-Muslim bigotry, Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, accused Ms. Omar of harboring terrorist sympathies.

Insults and shout-downs have become the order of the day. Ms. Taylor Greene showed up in September at a Democratic news event to heckle the majority party, calling them baby killers. In July, liberal protesters drowned out her and other far-right House members with jeers and taunts as they tried to hold a media event denouncing the treatment of those imprisoned for the attack on the Capitol.

Indeed, the ill will on Capitol Hill cannot be separated from the Jan. 6 attack and the fallout from it a hasty impeachment of Mr. Trump that ended in acquittal and an attempted convening of a bipartisan commission to examine the attack that ended with a Republican filibuster in the Senate.

Norman J. Ornstein, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, tagged Congress as the broken branch back in 2006. But 2021, he said, started with not just a broken branch but a broken Capitol.

Senate Republicans had the chance in February to bar Mr. Trump from ever running for office by joining Democrats in convicting him of inciting an insurrection. While seven Republicans did vote to convict, the Senate needed 10 more.

Ms. Murkowski said that the revelations since those events that some House Republicans encouraged the overturning of Mr. Bidens victory, that Fox News personalities begged that Mr. Trump call off the riot and that the former president embraced an illegal, step-by-step effort to maintain control further validated her votes to convict Mr. Trump and create an independent inquiry.

On the Republican side, there was such an effort weve got to get this behind us; weve got to get beyond it and in fairness, we have work to do every day, she said. But this was not just a bad disagreement over policy. This was an insurrection. This was a threat to our very democracy.

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Congress Ends Horrible Year With Divisions as Bitter as Ever - The New York Times

Trump Tower en la ciudad de Nueva York (AFP via Getty Images)

Former president Donald Trump is getting more help paying his legal bills from the Republican National Committee.

According to TheWashington Post, the RNC has signed on to shoulder up to $1.6m towards the costs incurred by Mr Trump in the course of civil and criminal investigations into his eponymous real estate businesses.

The investigations are being conducted by New York State Attorney General Letitia James and outgoing Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, both of whom are examining whether the Trump Organization broke New York laws laws by over or underreporting the value of various pieces of real estate for tax or insurance purposes.

Mr Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in either probe, but a Manhattan grand jury indicted his company and its longtime chief financial officer, Alan Weisselberg, this summer on charges that theyd carried out a long-running scheme to avoid paying taxes on employee compensation.

In a statement to the Post, GOP spokesperson Emma Vaughn said the RNCs executive committee signed off on approving certain legal expenses that relate to politically motivated legal proceedings waged against President Trump.

As a leader of our party, defending President Trump and his record of achievement is critical to the GOP. It is entirely appropriate for the RNC to continue assisting in fighting back against the Democrats never ending witch hunt and attacks on him.

The Post described the move as highly unusual given Mr Trumps status as a former president and as a potential candidate in the 2024 presidential primary. Because the current president is not a Republican, the RNC is bound by its own bylaws to remain neutral in any primary contest.

Doug Heye, a former RNC spokesperson and a critic of Mr Trump, told the Post he does not think GOP donors will complain much even though their money is being used to subsidize a putative billionaires legal expenses.

Some will grumble privately, but most wont say anything, and a lot of them will be good with it, he said.

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Republican Party agrees to pay $1.6m of Trumps legal bills in highly unusual move - Yahoo News

December 18, 2021By: Dwayne Page

Both the DeKalb County Democratic and Republican Parties will hold a primary school board election for districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 and any other vacancies that may occur on Tuesday May 3, 2022.

I have received a proper request from the DeKalb Democratic Party to add school board seats to the May 2022 Primary, said Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley.

Local Democratic Party leaders met on Monday, December 6 to make it official.

We request a May primary be held for any and all school board offices on the August 2022 ballot, including any vacancies that may occur, signed by Chairman Billie Ann Tubbs-Trigueros and Secretary Carolyn Hawkins.

The Republican Party Executive Committee met on Monday, November 29 and voted to hold a DeKalb County School Board Republican Primary election on Tuesday May 3, 2022.

Party leaders had until December 10 to notify the election commission of their decision in time for the 2022 elections.

Under a new state law, candidates for local school boards in Tennessee can now run-in partisan races.

For many years local school board elections have been nonpartisan in Tennessee and candidates were barred from campaigning as a nominee or representative of a political party when running for school board.

Now, local political parties are allowed to direct county election officials to hold a party primary for the seats. Even with the change in the law, school board candidates do not have to run as Democrats or Republicans. They could still choose to run as nonpartisan or independents in the county general election as they have for the last several years.

In DeKalb County, there are seven school board positions, but the four-year terms are staggered, meaning five of the school board seats are filled in the same election year while the other two positions are filled in elections two years later. In 2022, the seats up for election are currently held by Danny Parkerson in the 1st district, Alan Hayes in the 2nd district, Jim Beshearse in the 3rd district, Kate Miller in the 4th district, and Shaun Tubbs in the 7th district. The other two up for election in 2024 are Jamie Cripps in the 5th district and Jason Miller in the 6th district.

In a letter to chairs of both the DeKalb County Democratic and Republican Parties, Administrator of Elections Stanley explained that the district offices for school board up for election in 2022 can be added to local party primary ballots in May 2022.

The General Assembly passed legislation during their recent special session that allows parties to nominate candidates for any school board office. Because you have called a primary in May, you have the option to add school board offices that will appear on the August ballot to the primary. This includes county school districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, said Stanley.

If you would like to supplement your existing call for a primary to add school board offices, you must file an original written notice with our office no later than the close of business on Friday, December 10, 2021. Like any call for a primary, we request that it be signed by two members of the county executive committee, Stanley said.

The election commission will begin issuing candidate petitions for the May 3, 2022, primaries on December 20, 2021.

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Local Democratic and Republican Parties to Hold Primaries for 2022 School Board Elections - wjle.com