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Wisconsin Republicanlawmakers and top GOP aideshave been facing a coronavirus outbreak in recent weeks followinga series of in-person events, including aretirement party for a longtime Capitol staffer, a dozen sources told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

But Republican leaderswould not disclose how many or which lawmakers have contracted COVID-19, nor would they answer questions about contact tracing efforts including whether anyone worked at the state Capitol after they were exposed to the virus.

Those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak include JennyToftness, chief of staff for Speaker Robin Vos, who got sick after attending theretirement party in September.

"Jenny was exposed at the gathering," Vos spokeswoman Kit Beyer said. "As soon as she found out she was exposed, she went into quarantine and is now fully recovered."

Beyer said Vos had not recently been in close contact with Toftness.

"Robin has not been exposed," Beyer said. "He does not have COVID."

She said Vos, a Republican from Rochester,has been working in his district as he seeks reelection andhas rarely been in the Capitol in recent weeks.

Sources told the Journal Sentinel that Toftness was one of at least six people who got sick after attendingthe retirement party and otherrecent events. Others included GOP lawmakers, staffers and at least two lobbyists, the sources said.

Vos declined to be interviewed.

It's unclear whetherthose who were infectednotified anyCapitol authorities, who could alert others who work in the statehouse.

"We are not aware of anyreportsfrom either legislators or legislative staff," Britt Cudaback, spokeswoman for Gov. Tony Evers, said in an email in response to questions about COVID-19 policies of the Department of Administration, which oversees the Capitol.

Scott Kelly, an aide to GOP Sen. Van Wanggaard, said on Twitter there is "no evidence anyone got COVID in the building. Or that they are currently working in the building."

Track COVID-19 in Wisconsin: See the latest numbers and trends

Amanda Jorgenson, director of the Legislature's human resources department, did not respond to questions about whether the office received reports of infections or potential exposures among people who work in the Capitol, or whether the Legislature has a policy on notifying others in the statehouse about potential exposures to the virus.

Rep. David Bowen, D-Milwaukee, tested positive for COVID-19 in March and issued a news release about his infection.

Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, also told reporters about his recent infection.

Bowen said releasing the information was necessary because of his publicposition.

"I felt it was necessary as a public lawmaker to share, not to just hide in my house for several weeks hoping that Id be OKbut essentially just to be transparent with the public that this thing is real," Bowen said. "It's really important. Instead of feeding our sense of embarrassment or being so protective of yourself that you're not protecting the public."

Evers has said that any state workerwith suspected, confirmedor direct exposure to COVID-19 should notify their supervisor, who would then notify human resources, which would thennotify otherswho were inclose contact with thereportingemployee.

Employees arethen asked to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days, andthe worksite is cleaned and disinfected.

Policies on such issues for lawmakers and legislative staffers would be set by legislative leaders, not Evers.

Vos and Senate Majority Leader ScottFitzgerald have both been vocal critics of Evers' mask mandate and other efforts aimed at combating the spread of COVID-19.

Fitzgerald has alsoinsisted that state Senate employees don't need to wear masks while working at the Capitol.

"I won'tbe pushed around by Dane County or the Evers Administration we control the Senate wing,"Fitzgerald told the Associated Press in July. "Senators should be able to decide what they do in their own offices."

It's unclear whether those infected with the virus contracted itat the retirement partyoranother event. Sources have cited the partyas well as a fundraiser held last month by the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee aspotential sources of the outbreak.

The Committee to Elect a Republican Senateheld another fundraiser shortly before the Assembly event.

Republicans have continued to havein-person events, fundraisers and rallies, and have not required attendees to wear masks.

On Thursday, at least five Assembly Republican lawmakers attended an indoor event hosted by Pro-Life Wisconsin and were not wearing masks in photos posted to Twitter by Rep. Ken Skowronski, R-Franklin. The post was later deleted.

Democrats have instead largely shifted to virtual fundraisers, socially distanced, outdoor campaign stops and drive-in rallies.

Gail Scott,health officer for theJefferson County Health Department, said her office did not have any information about theSept. 17 fundraiser held at Milford Hills in Johnson Creek for the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee.

A Milford Hills manager declined to comment when asked about any COVID-19 cases linked to the fundraiser, other than telling a Journal Sentinel reporter that it was "an outdoor event."

Republicans who control the Legislature have faced criticism recently for not putting forward strategies to combat the coronavirus, especially as Wisconsin faces one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the country.

The Wisconsin Legislature has been the least active full-time state legislative body in the country since states began taking measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a WisPolitics.com review published earlier this month.

Vos on Friday wrote on Facebook that criticism of the Legislature's inactivity is unfair.

"(Gov. Tony)Evers hasn't given us any concrete ideas as to what we could pass beyond the comprehensive bill we already supported," Vos wrote in response to criticism from his opponent. "He wants to shut down the state, I oppose that. Beyond that, ask yourself what else could be done to fight the virus beyond following the CDC guidelines. This is fear-mongering and really disappointing behavior from Gov Evers."

Legislative leaders are in court now trying to throw out Evers' statewide mask mandate. CDC guidelines includewearing a mask when around other people.

The mandate is supported by a vast majority of Wisconsin voters, according to recent Marquette University Law School polling.

The GOP lawmakers already have the power to end the mask mandate by voting to end the governor's health emergency. But instead, legislative leaders are opting to spend taxpayer dollars to hire private attorneys to accomplish the same goal.

Daniel Bice and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Contact Mary Spicuzza and Molly Beck atmary.spicuzza@jrn.comand molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJSand @mollybeck.

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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Wisconsin Republicans have been facing an outbreak among lawmakers and aides. But they don't want to talk about it. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Republican claims that Democrats would expand the U.S. Supreme Court to undercut the conservative majority if they win the presidency and control of Congress has a familiar ring.

Its a tactic the GOP already has employed in recent years with state supreme courts when they have controlled all levers of state political power.

Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia have signed bills passed by GOP-dominated legislatures to expand the number of seats on their states respective high courts.

In Iowa, the Republican governor gained greater leverage over the commission that names judicial nominees.

The arguments being advanced now by Republican leaders that this is an affront to separation of powers, that this is a way of delegitimizing courts those dont seem to be holding at the state level, said Marin Levy, a law professor at Duke University who has written about efforts to expand state high courts.

President Donald Trump and the GOP have seized on the issue in the final weeks of the presidential race, arguing that Democratic nominee Joe Biden would push a Democratic Congress to increase the number of seats on the Supreme Court and fill those with liberal justices.

Some on the left have floated the idea in the wake of Republicans rush to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to fill the seat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon who died last month.

Biden, for his part, has said hes not a fan of so-called court packing, and its far from certain that Democrats can win back the majority in the U.S. Senate.

Arizonas governor, Republican Doug Ducey, said he opposes adding seats to the U.S. Supreme Court.

We shouldnt be changing our institutions, he told reporters recently.

Yet Ducey signed a bill that did just that at the state level in 2016, expanding the Arizona Supreme Court from five seats to seven. As a result, Ducey has appointed more judges than any other governor in the states history.

Ducey said the situations are not the same because Arizonas system for selecting judges allows him to appoint them only from a list sent to him by a commission that interviews and vets candidates.

Arizona judges also face retention elections, a process that is essentially a formality. No state supreme court justice has ever lost a retention election.

Its apples and oranges, Ducey said, comparing the state and federal high courts.

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Despite rhetoric, Republicans have supported expanding courts - The Columbian

Back in April, Wisconsin Democrats defied Republican voter-suppression efforts and produced an upset for a progressive State Supreme Court candidate. Photo: Sara Stathas/The Washington Post via Getty Images

A week ago I wrote about the big surge of early voting around the country, which had already reached an amazing 21 million! Now that number is up to an estimated 52.7 million and is continuing to climb.

In my earlier piece I echoed many political analysts in warning against too-hasty interpretations of the total numbers or the heavy Democratic tilt of early voting in places where that can be determined or at least estimated. Yes, the surge could mean massive overall turnout or it could simply reflect fears of health risks for in-person voting on Election Day, or unusually early mail-in or in-person voting based on concerns about postal delivery or long lines. And the Democratic skew could mean a big sweep, or simply the partisanship in voting methods resulting from the presidents endless and false attacks on voting by mail.

But journalist Ari Berman has a different theory based on what hes seen in Texas:

In the last week of September, Chris Rollins, the county clerk of Harris County, Texas, sent out mail ballots to voters in the Houston area who had requested them and set up 12 locations where voters concerned about delays with the US Postal Service could drop their ballots off. Then, on October 1, just as voters had started to return their mail ballots, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an emergency declaration limiting mail ballot drop-off sites toone per county. The moveappeared designed specifically to makevoting harder in Harris County, the largest county in the state, which has 2.4 million registered voters and a larger landmass than Rhode Island

Yet when early voting began in Texas on October 13, Abbotts plan to limit Democratic participation appeared to backfire,as voters in Harris County, where voters of color make up a majority and where Hillary Clintonwon by 12 points in 2016,surged to the polls.

The numbers in Harris County have been astonishing. A record 128,000 people voted on the first day of early voting, up from 68,000 in 2016 and a higher turnout than the entire state of Georgia on the same day. Turnout has barely dropped since then. On Friday, Harris County surpassed1 million early votes, exceeding its total from 2016 with a week of early voting still left, andnearly equaling the 1.3 million people who voted overall in 2016.

Berman quotes local Democrats who suggest that the unusual visibility of Abbotts moves to make it harder to vote really galvanized the voters he was trying to discourage.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the countys top executive and a 29-year-old Latina, says that voters in Texas are used to the steady drumbeat of suppression, which has often kept turnout among voters of color and young voters low. But she called Abbotts declaration limiting mail drop-off locationsthe straw that broke the camels back.

Its the sort of thing that is hard to document other than anecdotally, at least until the returns are in. But there is one 2020 precedent: the infamous Wisconsin primary in April, when the COVID-19 pandemic had reached its first terrifying levels amid blatant Republican efforts to discourage voting by mail and make in-person voting more difficult and dangerous in Democratic-leaning urban areas. There was one very important nonpartisan but very ideologically charged election on the ballot in that intensely polarized state, and all the voter-suppression measures led most observers to expect a comfortable win for a conservative State Supreme Court judge. But it all went wrong, as I explained at the time:

There may have never been in living memory a more blatant voter suppression schemeoutside the former Confederacythan the one Wisconsin Republicans and their federal and state judicial allies attempted this month. With the connivance of the legislature and theWisconsin Supreme Courtthey controlled, the Badger State GOPinsistedon holding an in-person election at the height of thecoronaviruspandemic that was sure to disenfranchise many Democratic-leaning minority voters in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Courtstoppeda federal judge from extending time for voters forced to vote by mail to receive and return their absentee ballots.

The big prize for Republicans in this maneuvering was a ten-year term on the state Supreme Court that would haveensured its judicial agentsa majority on that powerful tribune until well into the next decade, making a Republican gerrymander of the legislature and the congressional delegation much more likely, along with a voter purge. The intended beneficiary was incumbent judge Daniel Kelly. But in a big upset delayed by slow-arriving absentee ballots (SCOTUS would not allow an extension of the April 7 voting deadline but left in place a ban on the announcement of results until April 13), Kellys progressive rival Jill Karofsky won the nonpartisan election.

It wasnt close, and it was pretty clear Democrats were driven to the polls by anger at what the GOP was doing to the franchise. It could happen again in jurisdictions controlled by Republicans who are cooperating with Trumps battle to discourage and intimidate voters likely to favor Democrats.

My colleague Eric Levitz recently speculated that Trumps devious tactics might backfire if ongoing spikes in COVID-19 cases keep Republicans the president has convinced to vote in person instead of voting by mail to stay home on November 3. So its possible the GOP effort to shape an electorate in its own image could backfire twice, by scaring away Republicans and turbocharging angry Democrats. What goes around comes around, for sure.

Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.

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Is Republican Voter Suppression Starting to Backfire? - New York Magazine

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Letter to the editor: What the Republican Party believes - TribLIVE

A longtime Republican stronghold in the heart of San Antonio is shaping up as a partisan battleground.

For decades, ZIP code 78209 the home of affluent Alamo Heights and Terrell Hills was the domain of well-known Republicans, including former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus and Congressman Lamar Smith.

Support for President Donald Trump still is prevalent here. Flags with his name fly from trees and houses. Residents have given so much to Trumps re-election campaign that 09 ranks among the top ZIP codes nationally in fundraising for the president.

But Republicans for Biden signs also are in evidence. The Trump era has stoked Democratic turnout in 09, delivering gains for Democrats in previously Republican neighborhoods. Even some longtime Republicans say theyre uneasy about giving the president a second term.

For Terrell Hills resident Susie Golden, four years of Trump is more than enough. She voted for former Vice President Joe Biden this year and for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The list is so long, starting with the misogyny, the racism, just the lying, the craziness the list is endless, Golden said. I just dislike everything about that man.

Golden grew up in a Republican household, she said, and still has residual respect for Republicans in the Straus mold fiscally conservative with a moderate temperament and less eagerness to please a far-right base.

But given sitting Republicans association with Trump, they dont deserve to keep their jobs, she said. She voted for Democrats up and down the ballot.

I would love to see it all flipped blue at this point, Golden said. I want to see them burn to the ground.

Patti Haugen is on the other end of the political spectrum. For her and her husband, a partner in an oil and gas company, a vote for Trump means a continuation of lower income and corporate tax rates passed under his administration.

Despite Trumps widely criticized handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Haugen is sticking by the president.

I don't think really any of it was his fault, she said. He didn't bring a pandemic on.

On ExpressNews.com: These Texas women arent flocking to Trump. They made up their minds weeks ago.

The road to victory in 78209 may prove tough for Democratic candidates, navigating terrain where voters are more educated than the average Bexar County voter and are prone to splitting their ballots between Democrats and Republicans in the same election year.

That makes it a battleground because those are people who are persuadable by evidence as opposed to voting purely based on partisanship, Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said.

In 2016, Clinton narrowly carried 09, winning 13 out of the ZIP codes 25 precincts. But Trump won Alamo Heights and Terrell Hills.

In 2018, Democrats made headway in pockets Republicans won two years before.

In the race to fill Smiths open congressional seat in 2018, Democrat Joseph Kopser, an Austin entrepreneur, picked up seven precincts Smith won in 2016 and carried a majority of the ZIP codes precincts.

But his opponent, Republican Chip Roy, ultimately won the district, which stretches from San Antonio northeast to Austin and north and west into the Hill Country. Roy now is in a contentious re-election battle with Democrat Wendy Davis, a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate.

In his narrow loss to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, Former El Paso Congressman Beto ORourke managed to flip five precincts Trump had won two years before, including two in Alamo Heights and one in Terrell Hills.

The Republican senator came away with seven precincts across 09.

But that same year, many areas ORourke and Kopser won also went for Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican state Rep. Steve Allison, a former school board president of the Alamo Heights Independent School District who replaced Straus when the House speaker retired.

In early voting this year, Peggy and Paul Foerster an Alamo Heights couple who tend to vote Republican cast ballots for Biden, Davis and MJ Hegar, the Air Force veteran challenging Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

I dont consider Trump to be a Republican, Paul Foerster said. I consider him to be an autocrat.

Biden, has a better chance of drawing the country together, which is what we really need, he said.

But the couple did vote to re-elect Allison, whom they see as more moderate and good on education. Allison once again faces Democratic challenger Celina Montoya, who lost to Allison in 2018 by less than nine points.

I never thought it was a good idea for people to be able to just pull one lever, push one button and vote all for one party, Peggy Foerster said.

On ExpressNews.com: What Trumps save-the-suburbs pledge means in Texass only political battleground

The president has plenty of support in 09. If Trump signs are less pervasive than might be expected for a sitting president in historically Republican turf, it could be because some of the presidents partisans fear blowback if they advertise their support.

Patti Haugen has signs in her front lawn for Roy, Allison and Trish DeBerry, the Republican candidate for Bexar County Precinct 3 commissioner. But she worries her home and family would be targeted if she stuck a Trump sign in the yard.

Im not going to advertise it, Haugen said.

Nancy Garrett, a 79-year-old former USAA employee, knows about how people react to public displays of support for Trump. For years, she has hung homemade signs backing Trump from her house on North New Braunfels Avenue angering many passersby, some of whom made obscene gestures..

I got so sick and tired of it that I started yelling back, Drop your drawers. Of course, I didnt mean it, Garrett said. But it was irritating. Thats slowed down and we get a lot of thumbs up now.

Garrett voted for Trump in 2016 because he wasnt a politician and plans to do so again. She backs Trumps wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, opposes the notion of spending less on police and more on social services, and feels that Democratic leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have unfairly maligned the president throughout his tenure.

Theyll spread any lie they can think of, Garrett said. They blame him for everything.

But, Garrett admits, Maybe he shouldve worn a mask more so that people would. But I like him.

On ExpressNews.com: In uncharted waters of competitive Texas politics, can the polls keep up?

Shes not the only one. To date, about $1.4 million has flowed from 78209 residents to a trio of funds backing Trumps re-election bid, raised from nearly 2,300 individual donations. In 2016, Trump raised more than $573,000 from 665 donors.

But fundraising among 09 residents for both sides has surged this election. During the 2016 cycle, the ZIP code accounted for just shy of 20,000 donations to presidential and congressional campaigns, totaling a little more than $5 million.

For all races on the Nov. 3 ballot, residents so far have pumped more than $11 million into campaign coffers, totaling more than 44,000 donations.

Bidens fundraising in the area hasnt been as robust as Trumps. Hes raised about $316,800. But hes amassed that amount from more donors 3,074.

And Democrats in the area are more energized than in 2016. Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue recorded nearly 9,200 contributions back then from 09 residents totaling $194,000, campaign finance records show.

This go-round, ActBlue already has racked up more than 25,000 donations totaling $902,000 and theres still nearly two weeks to go.

Democrats hope they can convince Republicans on the fence about a second Trump term to reject the GOP entirely.

What you see is a lot of those people are turned off by the current Republican Party, the Trump party, Democratic strategist Demonte Alexander said.

In the race to replace outgoing Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff, Democratic candidate Christine Hortick has seized on Republican opponent DeBerrys $1,000 contribution to Trumps re-election bid to try to discourage ticket-splitters.

Jelyn Pizzitola, a lawyer who lives in Alamo Heights, plans to vote for Biden and DeBerry but bristles at DeBerrys Trump donation.

As a female, it kills me, Pizzitola said of DeBerry. But I think sometimes you have people that have to play by the party rules.

DeBerry recently has tried to distance herself from the president while insisting she believes in traditional Republican values.

The DeBerry camp has worked to remind Alamo Heights voters of her community ties including her work for the Alamo Heights School Foundation and Davids Legacy Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of cyberbullying.

There may be a certain percentage of folks who just say, You know what, I cant go for the antics, said Thomas Marks, a local GOP strategist and DeBerrys campaign manager. So yeah, they may split their ticket.

On ExpressNews.com: I want my vote to count By the hundreds, voters are hand-delivering their mail-in ballots to Bexar Countys elections office. They dont trust the Postal Service.

What drove 78209 resident Monica Flynn to plant a Republicans for Biden sign in her front yard was the U.S. Postal Service.

Flynn had to close her Alamo Heights dental practice for weeks to abide by Gov. Greg Abbotts coronavirus pandemic protocols.

When Abbott allowed dentists to reopen in May, Flynn found medical-grade masks she needed to safely resume her business were scarce and expensive. But the governor made some available for Texas doctors.

I signed up and ordered mine in May, Flynn said.

The cuts in mail service ordered by Postmaster-General Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee and megadonor, caused delays in mail delivery. Flynn said the masks didnt arrive until August.

Meanwhile, in July, Trump commuted the sentence of longtime associate Roger Stone, who had been convicted of seven felonies for impeding a congressional investigation into the 2016 Trump campaigns possible ties to Russia. Trump acted days before Stone was to begin serving a 40-month prison term.

Flynn was appalled.

A presidential pardon I think of as something you do for some old guy who was in prison because he stole a loaf of bread, she said, not for someone who is in prison because they were convicted of a crime that was directly related to what they did or were accused of doing that in some ways related to the president, she added.

Flynn became more vocal about her plan to vote for Biden. But that doesnt mean shes thrilled about the former vice president or that she plans to back Democrats up-and-down the ballot.

My vote is a vote against Trump, not a vote for Biden, Flynn said.

Joshua Fechter is a staff writer covering San Antonio government and politics. To read more from Joshua, become a subscriber. jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports

Originally posted here:
I want to see them burn to the ground Democrats angry with Republicans turning San Antonios 78209 into battleground - San Antonio Express-News