Monthly Archives: September, 2024

(The Center Square) – Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney said Wisconsin needs a proper process to check its voter rolls for noncitizens and remove them, ensuring election integrity in the state.

Currently, election commissions cannot check their rolls with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to ensure an estimated 90,000 individuals who are currently legally in the state, who can get a drivers license, do not register to vote.

Toney was one of several officials statewide to take part in a Tuesday morning press conference from the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy about Wisconsin election integrity.

Wisconsin election managers recently pushed for an Office of Election Transparency and Compliance, with a $2 million budget request for the office approved by the Wisconsin Election Commission.

“We want to make sure that it is easy to vote but hard to cheat,” said Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, who holds the state’s Seventh Congressional seat.

Tiffany pointed to the SAVE Act, pushed by Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, Chairman of the Committee on House Administration. The bill passed the House in July with a 221-198 vote but has not been taken up by the Senate.

Tiffany said that the bill would setup a process ensuring that only citizens are registered to vote and that states must check voter rolls to ensure that is true. Ohio and Arizona were just some of the states where noncitizens have been removed from rolls.

Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, meanwhile, said that it’s essential that each citizen gets just one vote and that election laws are followed. He pointed to a Supreme Court ruling that only the voter can put their own ballot in a ballot drop box as one way to ensure that.

Dodge County does not use drop boxes because it did not have proper monitoring to ensure that only the voter was dropping a ballot. The only exception to the rule comes if a person is bedridden.

“Election laws are just like any other laws, they must be followed,” Schmidt said.

Toney called election and ballot integrity a nonpartisan issue that all in Wisconsin should want to ensure. He said that it would be more difficult for someone in the country illegally to vote because they cannot get a driver’s license but it essential to have a process in place to check those who are in the country legally but are not allowed to vote.

“It is a felony to do this and it is a deportable offense,” Tiffany said.

House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., threatened Tuesday to subpoena the head of border patrol, saying he has not received answers when asked about Vice President Kamala Harris' role as border czar.

Comer sent a letter to Troy Miller, the acting commissioner for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, requesting documents and communications regarding Harris' role in working with CBP to address the border crisis.

"The deadline to produce has passed, and CBP has failed to provide the Committee with any responsive documents, communications, or even a timeline for when CBP intends to comply with the request," the letter said.

CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"If CBP continues to withhold documents and communications on this matter, the Committee will consider alternative measures to obtain this information, including through the compulsory process," Comer said in the letter.

Harris has tried to distance herself from her role in handling the border issue for President Joe Biden, in part because the border has been in crisis throughout the administration with millions of illegal immigrants pouring into the U.S. in just under four years.

Several high-profile crimes committed by illegal immigrants have helped push the issue to the forefront as the number of migrants coming into the U.S. under the Biden administration alone has surpassed the total population of most U.S. states.

Now, lawmakers want answers about what exactly Harris did, or didn't do, to handle the border crisis.

"It is important the Committee and the American people understand Vice President Harris's role as the border czar in the ongoing border crisis," the letter said. "The mass illegal entry and release of illegal aliens into the United States under the Biden-Harris Administration has contributed to murders, sexual assaults, and serious bodily injuries committed against numerous Americans at the hands of illegal aliens. These crimes should have never happened."

Three samplings in battleground North Carolina have been initiated since last week’s presidential debate, and Republican former President Donald Trump has led Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in each.

All, however, remain within the margin of error. And a close finish through 49 more days to Nov. 5 is anticipated by nationwide analysts watching the state.

On the heels of his 1.7% lead from the Quantus Polls and News analysis released Friday, Trump over the weekend picked up a 48.9%-45.9% edge from AmericanGreatness/TIPP Insights and 48.4%-46% from The Trafalgar Group. Sponsors, respectively, were Trending Politics, American Greatness and Trafalgar Group.

RealClear Polling, without the Quantus sampling, has the state remaining statistically even at Trump plus 0.4%. There is no margin of error factored in, though most polls range from nearly 3% to at or just under 4%. This means both candidates are about 3% away from saying he or she leads the state.

Project 538 also computes Trump ahead by 0.4% at 47.5%-47.1%.

North Carolina is among seven states considered pivotal to this election, the group collectively holding 93 electoral college votes. Pennsylvania has 19, North Carolina and Georgia 16 each, Michigan 15, Arizona 11, Wisconsin 10 and Nevada six.

To wit on importance, Harris was in the state last Thursday, her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday, Trump's running mate U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio comes Wednesday, and Trump is slated for weather-battered Wilmington on Saturday.

Trafalgar Group surveyed 1,094 likely voters on Wednesday and Thursday of last week and had a 2.9% margin of error. American Greatness surveyed 973 likely voters on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and a had a 3.2% margin of error.

Since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, the only Democrats in 14 election cycles since to carry North Carolina were Jimmy Carter (1976) and Barack Obama (2008). Neither repeated four years later.

Trump has won the state twice, beating Hillary Clinton in 2016 and the ticket of Joe Biden-Harris in 2020. The differences were narrow, 49.8%-46.2% over Clinton and 49.9%-48.6% over Biden.

American Greatness was created in 2016, billing itself as “the leading voice of the next generation of American Conservatism.” TechnoMetrica conducted the American Greatness/TIPP survey.

Trafalgar polls and surveys originated in 2016. It is based in Atlanta; does release methodology for its polling contrary to published reports; and boasts of an “approach to polling” that “is markedly different from most of the industry.” RealClear Politics named it the best polling firm of the 2016 presidential race in a remarkable rookie of the year accomplishment.

Quantus Polls and News, acquired since the poll came out by Quantus Insights, operates off the emerging substack journalism model. It provides election forecasting, economic and political analysis and commentary.

(The Center Square) – A Dane County Circuit court ruled against former Independent party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., siding with the Wisconsin Election Commission’s decision to keep Kennedy’s name on the state’s ballot this November, despite his withdrawal from the race and request for removal.

Kennedy’s lawsuit argued that, absent a compelling reason, the state’s different treatment for third party candidates violates the Equal Protection Clause and the First Amendment. It claimed the different deadlines for ballot withdrawal for major party candidates versus third-party candidates – Sept. 3 for the former and Aug. 6 for the latter – are unlawfully discriminatory.

Judge Stephen E. Ehlke disagreed, saying Kennedy’s request was essentially that the WEC ignore Wisconsin election law, which only allows a certified candidate to exit the ballot in case of death.

“Courts are required to apply the law as written, not as some party wishes it were written,” Ehlke said. “Under the statute, the commission clearly was correct when it certified Mr. Kennedy for inclusion on the November ballot.”

Ehlke also said Kennedy’s First and Fourteenth amendment rights were not violated, given that “there is no constitutional right to have your name removed from a ballot after you voluntarily submitted your nomination papers with full knowledge that the statutes don’t allow you to withdraw your name.”

After withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsing former President Donald Trump, Kennedy had sent a letter Aug. 23 to the WEC, requesting his name be removed from the ballot.

But in its certification of presidential candidates five days later, the WEC voted 5-1 to put Kennedy’s name on the ballot, saying he had missed the Aug. 6 deadline for third party candidates to withdraw from the General Election. Following the decision, county clerks were authorized to begin printing ballots and Kennedy filed his lawsuit.

“The bottom line here is that Mr. Kennedy has no one to blame but himself if he didn’t want to be on the ballot,” Ehlke said.

(The Center Square) – The University of Wisconsin is telling school leaders not to pick sides in political debates after adopting a new viewpoint-neutral policy at all of its campuses.

“The Board acknowledges that “different ideas in the university community will often and quite naturally conflict,” and stipulates that, in instances of such conflict, “It is for the members of the university community, not for the institution itself, to make those judgments for themselves,” the policy states. “In accordance with RPD 4-21, and in order to uphold and protect academic freedom, freedom of expression, and an environment in which competing ideas can be freely discussed and debated by all members of the university community, it is necessary that all official statements issued in the name of and on behalf of the institution are limited to matters that directly affect the operations and mission of the university, and that maintain viewpoint neutrality in any reference to a matter of political or social controversy.”

The new policy comes after last spring’s campus protests over the war in Gaza and accusations the chancellor at UW-Milwaukee sided with protesters against Jewish students.

“This policy applies to UW System Administration and all UW universities, including all units. It also applies to any person seeking to issue public statements in the name of and on behalf of any university or unit in their official capacity as an employee, or who could be reasonably perceived as issuing a public statement in the name of and on behalf of any university or unit under their purview,” the policy adds.

A UW spokesperson says the new policy is intended to create an opportunity for more people to speak their minds and is not aimed at limiting the political speech of UW faculty, staff members or students.

UW-Madison’s chancellor said when school leaders pick a side, no matter how well intended, they can crowd out other points of view.

“When an institutional leader — whether a chancellor, a dean, or a department chair — speaks in an apparently “official” way on an issue of controversy or concern, it may, however inadvertently, discourage free expression among the plurality of voices within our university. Such position statements may chill the broad exchange of ideas that is foundational to our enterprise,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin wrote in a statement.

Mnookin said she has written statements that take political sides, both at UW-Madison and at past universities.

But she now says that strategy is harmful.

“For our campus to best thrive as a center of curiosity, debate, and knowledge-creation, our institutional leadership should show restraint and limit, as much as possible, taking sides in these discussions. If UW–Madison is to be a place of ‘fearless sifting and winnowing’ by its faculty, students, and staff, then the leaders of the university, as a whole and of its units, must not favor the sifters over the winnowers and vice-versa,” Mnookin added.

The new policy went into effect immediately. UW leaders say it does not need to be approved by regents first.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday declared the Venezuelan gang, Tren De Aragua (TDA) as a foreign terrorist organization. Texas Department of Public Safety is aggressively targeting gang members who were released into country by Biden administration, he said.

“I will not allow them to use Texas as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens,” Abbott said at a news conference in Houston. “Texas is a law and order state and I will ensure that law enforcement has every tool they need to keep our community safe.”

Tren De Aragua is characterized as “MS13 on steroids,” Abbott said, referring to a violent El Salvadoran gang. It’s “the largest criminal organization in Venezuela … that has now expanded to a transnational criminal organization … dominating the international flow of migrants from South America through Mexico into the United States.”

They are known for brutal violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking, Abbott said, linked to more than 100 law enforcement investigations nationwide. TDA gang members were “involved in the brutal attack and assault” of New York Police Department officers, the murder of Georgia medical student Laken Riley, and many others, he said.

“In other countries infiltrated by TDA, history has shown they first flood the countries with military age Venezuelan men. Next, they begin to establish a base of operations. Finally, TDA begins a spree of violent and bloody criminal activity. We've now seen the beginnings of these operations in the state of Texas.”

Abbott said wouldn't allow that to happen under his watch and officially declared TDA a foreign terrorist organization.

“We will bring the full weight of the government against the TDA,” he said. "The designation will enable Texas courts to halt their operations using civil asset forfeiture, take their property, and use enhanced criminal penalties to keep them in jail behind bars for longer periods of time.”

Texas DPS has launched a statewide operation to target TDA gang members, elevated it to a Tier 1 gang, the most violent, and is developing a database to track gang members, characterizations, and arrests. No such database currently exists at the local, state or federal level.

“TDA gangsters are like cockroaches,” Texas DPS Commander Steve McCraw said. “They multiply quickly, small intrusions into communities become infestations if not aggressively pursued. These Venezuelan thugs … are highly combative. They're violent, they’re certainly adaptable and they always are involved in criminal activities that first start with human smuggling … of migrants.” They’re involved in extortion, kidnappings, rape, assaults, and sex trafficking, he said. “Once they’re in place, they expand their criminal operations … pushing out other criminal gangs operating in that area.”

McCraw said Texas anti-gang centers already have ongoing criminal enterprise investigations against TDA. They are also asking federal partners to share information on the whereabouts of Venezuelan migrants. “That's very important, because unfortunately, you're either a TDA member or a victim of TDA. This information would be extremely helpful in identifying additional TDA members and their victims.”

He also said that some may “find it harsh using the terms ‘infestation’ and ‘cockroaches.’ But all you have to do is interview or spend some time with some victims … and you'll understand” how dangerous they are.

Abbott made the announcement after a judge ordered that a hotel in El Paso be shut down after it allegedly harbored violent illegal border crossers, including TDA gang members. Texas DPS special agents were involved with arrests as well as arresting 100 suspected TDA gang members involved in El Paso riots, Abbott said.

The U.S. Department of State has designated the gang, which began in the Tocorón Prison in Aragua, Venezuela, as a transnational criminal organization. It’s offering up to $12 million in rewards for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of its leaders who are believed to be in Columbia and Venezuela.

TDA gang members have recently become entrenched in major cities nationwide, Abbott and other law enforcement officials argue, because after illegally entering the country, they were released into the U.S. because of Biden administration policies. Since fiscal 2021 through July, they total nearly 856,000, the greatest number in U.S. history.

Another 115,000 Venezuelans were granted parole through a program created by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The overwhelming majority are single military age adults, according to CBP data. The parole program has been directly linked to perpetrators committing violent crimes against Americans, including TDA gang members, who are being arrested nationwide, The Center Square reported.

In Texas, law enforcement officials have arrested more than 3,000 Venezuelan illegal border crossers; more than 200 are wanted, Abbott said.

The perimeter around the Florida golf course where a gunman with an AK-47 style rifle was perched while former President Donald Trump played nearby was not secure because Trump isn't the sitting president, authorities said.

The FBI is investigating the incident as the second assassination attempt on Trump's life since July. The suspect is in custody.

During a news conference after the gunman was spotted pointing the nuzzle of the rifle through a chain-link fence toward the course, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the suspect was able to get within 300 to 500 yards of Trump because the former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee doesn't get the same level of security as a sitting president.

"Well, you got to understand, the golf course is surrounded by shrubbery, so when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they're pretty much out of sight, all right," Bradshaw said after a question about how the gunman could get so close. "And at this level that he is at right now, he's not the sitting president. If he was, we would have [the area around the] golf course surrounded. But because he's not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible. So I would imagine that the next time he comes at a golf course, there'll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter. But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done. They provided exactly what the protection should have been, and their agent did a fantastic job."

Sunday's incident occurred two months after Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. Trump was grazed by a bullet in his ear in the Pennsylvania shooting just two days before the start of the Republican National Convention. The suspect in the earlier assassination attempt was shot ad killed at the scene.

The Secret Service was widely criticized for its lax security efforts after the Pennsylvania attempt. Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the U.S. Secret Service, resigned under heavy pressure.

(The Center Square) – There is more criticism from the Wisconsin capitol after Milwaukee Public Schools missed another deadline on another state-required report.

Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said MPS missed last month’s deadline to turn its District Aid Certification into the state’s Department of Public Instruction.

“This was the very first step under the agreed-to Corrective Action Plan and they missed it,” Wanggaard said in a statement. “MPS and State Superintendent Jill Underly agreed that submitting this report on time and accurate was ‘high-priority and high-urgency.’”

MPS agreed to that Corrective Action Plan after the city’s schools failed to turn in two other required financial reports last year.

So far, the failure to file those reports, as well as other reporting failures with MPS’ federal Head Start program, have cost Milwaukee Schools $17 million. MPS has said it could lose as much as $50 million because of its financial reporting problems and their fallout.

Wanggaard said this is not just a Milwaukee problem.

“MPS is so big, and so heavily state-aided, its financial decisions have a huge impact on schools statewide,” Wanggaard added. “This literally impacts every single district in Wisconsin. Superintendent Underly must impose consequences on MPS. She can’t just ignore the problem like she did before Milwaukee’s $256 million referendum that hurt most every district in the state.”

Records show the state superintendent knew about Milwaukee’s late reports, and the looming financial penalties the district faced, before voters cast their ballots on that referendum.

Wanggaard said Underly now needs to do something about MPS’ problems.

“I don’t care if MPS is one of 100 schools that haven’t filed their Aid Certification yet. MPS is the one under the Corrective Action Plan,” Wanggaard said. “Deadlines are deadlines. Without consequences, there’s no reason to meet a deadline. Everyone knows that.”

MPS has said it is working to properly complete and submit its late reports.

(The Center Square) – A state lawmaker wants a full accounting of how the University of Wisconsin System has thousands of more administrators now than it did 30 years ago, despite having fewer teachers.

State Rep. David Steffen told The Center Square on Wednesday the UW system has hired 6,000 administrators over the past 30 years.

“What are the students and the taxpayers getting as a result of that investment?” Steffen asked. “That becomes very difficult, especially when you dig deeper to realize that it really isn't an increase in the faculty, the in-classroom personnel. These are all ancillary, secondary, non-essential type of additions to the head count.”

Steffen pointed to a memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau that showed in the 1992-93 school year, the UW had 26,360 full time employees. In the 2022-23 school year, the UW’s headcount grew to 33,538.

The additions are all out of the classroom. The LFB’s memo shows the faculty headcount in 1992-93 was 7,181. That number fell to 5,729 in 2022-23.

“How are all of these ancillary and secondary staff positions providing a better product?” Steffen asked.

Staffen said he is pressing ahead with his questions because the University of Wisconsin is asking for nearly $1 billion more in the next state budget.

Steffen said lawmakers and taxpayers need to know how the university is spending the $7.5 billion it currently has before lawmakers can give the school more money.

“So, we have an entity that obviously has not applied the same amount of effort to providing better services at a lower cost with less people. They are the only entity in the world that appears to have taken that approach,” Steffen said. “And that's unfortunate for the taxpayers, especially when you are looking to make an ask at the same time for $855 million dollars more in your upcoming budget.”

University leaders say they need the $855 million more to avoid a tax increase, and to keep the university competitive with other colleges and universities.

Gov. Tony Evers is expected to include the university’s request in his proposed budget.

Steffen said he’s shared the LFB information on the rise in administrative staffers with other lawmakers, including the legislature’s committees on higher education, and the Legislative Study Committee that is looking into the UW’s future.

“This is the sort of issue that needs to receive a tremendous amount of attention. I'm glad that we have this now in September, so that for the next four or five months before the governor's budget is presented, we can begin that communication with the university to make sure that it's clear to them we need better justification for your existing funding in any new funding increases,” Steffen added. “No longer can the response be ‘Give us the money because we're the UW system. Period.’.”

(The Center Square) – Following nearly a year of investigations into political donation platform ActBlue, Republican Rep. Bryan Steil has introduced legislation he says will increase transparency and prevent illegal straw donations in online political donations.

The Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations Act, or SHIELD Act, would prohibit political campaigns from accepting contributions from gift cards or other prepaid credit cards, and require them to obtain and verify the CVV of all online credit and debit donations. It would also require political campaigns to get the affirmative consent of donors before they make a recurring contribution.

“American elections should always be free from foreign interference,” Steil said Monday. “The SHIELD Act will take a crucial next step in blocking foreign funding in our elections and certifying that every political contribution received is actually coming from the individual whose name is on the contribution. By passing the SHIELD Act, we will increase integrity and American trust in our elections.”

Steil launched a probe into ActBlue’s donor verification policies last year amid his concerns the organization was allowing foreign and fraudulent contributions.

Accusations of ActBlue violating or skirting federal campaign finance laws included laundering foreign contributions through prepaid gift cards, and accepting hundreds of donations for $2.50 from the same individual. Unlike many other online fundraising platforms, ActBlue does not require a CVV number for all donor transactions.

In its response to a November letter from Steil, ActBlue revealed it manually reviews contributions that indicate a foreign country in the address information, uses an external fraud prevention tool on its website, and requires CVVs for some transactions.

“Traditionally, CVV numbers have addressed fraud in transactions where material goods or services are provided in order to prevent chargebacks for stolen goods, which is not the case with political contributions,” the organization said. “Still, we currently require and use CVV on many transactions across the site, and have been in the process of increasing coverage of CVV to improve the donor experience.”

During the presidential debate on Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris deflected when answering questions on the ongoing border crisis.

When asked “why did the administration wait until six months before the election to act” on the border crisis, and if she would have done anything differently from President Joe Biden, Harris didn’t answer the question. She deflected by repeating the claim she’s previously made that she prosecuted transnational criminal organizations when she was the attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017.

“I'm the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns drugs and human beings,” she said.

She also repeated a claim that she would sign a U.S. Senate border bill that went nowhere in the Democratic controlled Senate.

“Some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate came up with the border security bill which I supported,” she said. “That bill would have put 1,500 more border agents on the border to help those folks who are working there right now overtime trying to do their job.”

While a U.S. senator, Harris opposed increasing funding to hire thousands of new Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and advocated for eliminating ICE detention facilities, which house the most violent criminals, The Center Square reported. She has also more than once called for abolishing ICE altogether.

The Senate border bill would have expanded current failed policies, critics claim, codify mass migration and nullify state sovereignty.

Harris also repeated a claim that former President Donald Trump “got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress, and said, ‘kill the bill.’ And you know why? Because he'd prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”

The bill failed because many Senate Democrats didn’t support it and their campaigns began distancing themselves from Biden-Harris border policies, which the majority of Americans oppose, according to numerous polls.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, also said it was dead on arrival. He called on the Senate to pass what he, and others say, is the strongest border security bill, HR 2, which the Senate refused to consider.

When asked about being appointed “to address the root causes of migration,” she did not cite one example of a root cause or what she did to address it, fix it or remedy it.

Nor did she address the record more than 12.5 million foreign nationals who illegally entered the country under her watch, including two million who evaded capture. They total more than the individual populations of 45 states. If illegal border crossers were a state, they’d be the sixth most populous state ahead of Illinois, The Center Square reported.

Nor did she address the record number of known or suspected terrorists who’ve been apprehended attempting to enter the U.S., more than 1,700 since fiscal 2021, the greatest number in U.S. history.

When asked about her flip-flopping on issues like building a border wall, she repeated the claim that “her values haven’t changed.” This is after The Center Square and other news outlets fact checked her opposition to border wall construction and funding for years.

At no point during the debate did she outline her plan for border security, deportation of violent criminals, or express condolences to Americans whose families have been murdered and raped by criminal foreign nationals who were released into the country under her watch. Biden-Harris parole programs have been directly linked to violent criminals who illegally entered and remained in the country who then went on to commit violent crimes against Americans, The Center Square has reported.

Earlier this year when endorsing Trump for president, the brother of Maryland resident Rachel Morin, who was raped and murdered by a Venezuelan illegally in the country, said, “My sister's death was preventable. The monster arrested for killing Rachel entered the US unlawfully after killing a woman in El Salvador. Joe Biden and his designated ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris opened our borders to him and others like him, empowering them to victimize the innocent. Yet to this day, we have not heard from Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. They never apologized.

“When Rachel was killed, President Trump called my family to offer his condolences. He wanted to meet with us. He cared. That is leadership. And we need real leadership back in the White House.”

Houston angel mom mother Alexis Nungaray, who also endorsed Trump, said she never heard from Harris even after she came to a Houston fundraiser after her daughter was strangled to death by two Venezuelan men illegally in the country. They were released into the country because of Biden-Harris policies, she said, which had to change.

“We're losing very innocent people to heinous crimes that shouldn't be happening in the first place."

Unions see a clear path through the legislature to boost membership after several legal challenges saw workers leave in droves.

This, according to a new report released Wednesday that grades public sector labor laws across the nation. The data was compiled by the Commonwealth Foundation, a policy group that focuses on fiscal conservancy.

David Osborne, senior fellow for labor policy at the foundation, said during a media briefing that government privatization, changing demographics and a 2018 Supreme Court decision, Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, have caused membership rates across the nation’s four largest public sector unions to fall more than 320,000 over the last five years.

The decline represents $106.8 million in annual dues and fees, according to the report.

“The overarching theme is that the unions have really responded to the membership losses since JANUS to drive up union membership,” Osborne said.

In the JANUS decision, courts held that unions could no longer collect “fair share” dues from non-members who benefit from collective bargaining agreements. Follow-up litigation has challenged the cumbersome process many former members had to overcome to leave the union and recoup dues improperly withheld.

In the report, states known as union “strongholds” scored lower than others that have enacted collective bargaining reforms.

Illinois, Michigan and Maryland stood out for unprecedented reforms that, in some cases, have constitutionally rooted union protections and tipped the scales in favor of executives, according to the report.

Illinois, for example, enshrined collective bargaining rights into the state constitution, which extended unionizing rights to every workplace, including those once considered inappropriate. Osborne said the “experiment could have really disastrous implications,” such as raising taxes to fund “outrageous” union demands.

He pointed to recent collective bargaining negotiations with Chicago Public Schools, during which leadership asked for abortion care access, affordable housing, homeless shelters in schools and all-electric bus fleets.

“The legislature wouldn’t have any opportunity to overrule that behavior,” Osborne said. “It would take a constitutional amendment to correct that balance.”

California, Pennsylvania and Vermont have considered similar amendments – the latter two more seriously, he added.

In Michigan, which slipped from a “B” to a “D” over the last two years, lawmakers repealed the“paycheck protection” law – which prevents public payroll systems from deducting union dues and political contributions – as was the state’s Right to Work provision. The state also gives unions access to employees’ personal information.

Some 13 other states give unions the same data collection power. In Hawaii, unions even store Social Security numbers to verify workers’ identities. The report says the practice leaves information vulnerable to ransomware attacks – like one that happened earlier this year in California.

Maryland, Delaware and California also offer tax incentives for union membership as way to boost recruits. While Delaware’s labor laws earned a "D" in the report, Maryland and Delaware – along with Illinois, Oregon and Washington – earned an “F” grading.

The nation’s four largest public sector unions – the American Federation of Teachers; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the National Education Association; and the Service Employees International Union – collectively represent 6.6 million workers.

AFSCME, according to records submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor, has lost 7.5% of its members since 2017, outpacing the other three unions between 2.8 percentage points and 4 percentage points.

“I do think JANUS is playing a big role in this,” said Andrew Holman, a policy analyst at the Commonwealth Foundation. “And I think after the decision, people are becoming more and more aware of what their dollars are being put toward and are saying, 'I don’t want to be a part of this.'”

Osborne said 60% of membership fees, albeit funneled through outside organizations, support political causes. Even though members may be aligned ideologically, many feel “uncomfortable” with resolutions that take positions on issues like the war in Gaza or abortion rights.

Unions have refuted this claim in the past, such as the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which is under review by several state agencies for alleged funneling of union dues to support Gov. Josh Shapiro's 2022 campaign. The state's labor laws scored a "D" in the report.

“None of the issues seem to relate to what it is to be a teacher, for instance, so many of the members come home feeling like my union has really taken a stance on these political matters that have divided the workplace rather than united it,” Osborne said.

Of the highest-ranking states, Florida “sets a new gold standard,” according to the foundation. The most impactful reform, Osborne said, requires unions to run for “recertification” once membership drops below 60%. This means workers can decide whether to keep representation.

“We’ve seen a bunch of unions fail to file for reelection because they know they’ll lose,” Osborne said. “This ends up removing a union that never had majority support to begin with.”

Wisconsin and Iowa also require recertification. Unions in other states – like Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York and California – have never run for “reelection” since organizing in the 1970s.

(The Center Square) – Former Independent party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Election Commission to remove his name from the state’s ballot this November, part of his ongoing battle to exit from races in swing states.

The case argues that, absent a compelling reason, different treatment for third party candidates violates the Equal Protection Clause and Kennedy’s First Amendment rights. It claims the different deadlines for ballot withdrawal for Democrat and Republican candidates versus third-party candidates–September 3 for the former and August 6 for the latter–are unlawfully discriminatory.

“Third parties can’t be treated differently and they can’t be discriminated against. Yet that’s what happened here. The Republicans and the Democrats have until today at 5 p.m. to withdraw their nominees and replace them with someone else,” the lawsuit argues. “But those rules don’t apply to independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr…He has not been treated fairly or equally with the other presidential candidates who declared and ran for the presidency and have since wanted to withdraw.”

In its certification of presidential candidates last week, the WEC voted 5-1 to put Kennedy on the ballot, despite his withdrawal and endorsement of Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump. Following the decision, county clerks were authorized to begin printing ballots.

But Kennedy has argued his request is not unreasonable since Wisconsin election law already provides exceptions for candidate removal post-certification, including in the case of candidate death or for personal and health reasons–provided the Democrat or Republican candidate meets the September 3rd deadline.

“Kennedy has (like President Biden) decided that for associational and expressive reasons, he does not want to run for President anymore. The deadlines prevent him from withdrawing, even though the Democratic and Republican Parties (at least in theory) could provide a different nominee to the Commission today,” the case says, arguing this proves “The Commission cannot claim any compelling state interest in forcing Independent candidates to file paperwork a month earlier.”

Due to these reasons, the lawsuit requests a stay on the WEC’s ruling and for Dane County Circuit Court to issue an order barring the agency from placing Kennedy’s name on the ballot.