Kenosha News. August 19, 2022.
Editorial: Rep. Vos hangs on; Gableman circus leaves town
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos won a narrow victory over challenger Adam Steen in the Republican primary and deserves a round of applause from those who want to move on from the past presidential race and look to the future.
Vos’ win came despite falling into disfavor with former President Donald Trump when he refused to support efforts to decertify the 2020 election – which Vos, election law experts and the legislature’s own attorneys said was a legal impossibility.
Trump labeled Vos a RINO – a Republican in name only – and endorsed newcomer Steen, who lost to Vos by only a couple of hundred votes, Vos’s narrowest victory since he was first elected to the Assembly in 2005. Until this month’s election, no challenger – Democrat or Republican – had come within 16 percentage points of the Rochester Republican. Steen, who campaigned largely on a pledge to decertify President Joe Biden’s win, came within 3 percentage points.
The District 63 vote demonstrated the still long coattails of Trump, who continues to cling to baseless claims that the presidential race was stolen through election fraud. That power was also shown in the GOP gubernatorial primary in the state where Trump-endorsed businessman Tim Michels over party stalwart and former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. Michels won on a combination of Trump’s endorsement and a massive three month advertising campaign in which he spent $12 million.
In truth, Vos’s win came despite his own misstep when he appointed former state Supreme Court justice Michael Gableman to head an Office of Special Counsel to investigate “election irregularities” in the state in 2020.
Gableman’s “independent” probe instead turned into a highly partisan taxpayer-funded boondoggle that cost state taxpayers more than $1 million – including $100,000 that went into Gableman’s pockets – and turned up no evidence of fraud or issues that weren’t already known, such as the use of election drop boxes.
So what did taxpayers get for that $1 million? The probe was characterized by political grandstanding, shoddy record-keeping, court challenges and bogus expense claims. The fact is that only 24 people out of nearly 3.3 million who cast ballots in Wisconsin in the 2020 election have been charged with election fraud. None of them came from Gableman’s investigation.
One of the highlights of Gableman’s probe was his admission that he didn’t understand state election procedures.
The capper came a week before the election when Gableman, too, endorsed Vos’ challenger.
Small wonder then that at his election victory celebration, Vos said Gableman was an “embarrassment to the state.” Vos fired Gableman a few days later and closed the Office of Special Counsel. To which, we can only say: “What took you so long.”
The rift within the Republican Party with its election deniers and Trump’s continued influence on the far right will likely continue in the months ahead, creating more drama.
For now, we congratulate Vos on his win, he has served the 63rd Assembly District well over the years, and we’re grateful that former state justice Gableman and the Office of Special Counsel are finally folding their tents and their political circus is leaving town.
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Racine Journal Times. August 24, 2022.
Editorial: Concurrent enrollment is a UW-P bargain
Psst, hey kid, yeah you, want to line your pockets with several thousand dollars?
If you’re in high school and thinking about traipsing off to college in a couple of years, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside has a deal for you, and it’s a good one.
It’s called concurrent enrollment, where eligible high school students can earn both college and high school credit by taking designated college courses at their high school during the regular school day, taught by qualified high school teachers.
That’s right, a two-fer.
Even better, UWP announced that this year the cost of taking those classes for college credit this year has been reduced to FREE. Since the program, called Parkside Access to College Credit (PACC) began six years ago, it was run on a reduced tuition cost for the courses.
Over the course of those years, according to PACC, 1,400 high school students have earned more than 4.000 college credits, saving over $850,000 in future tuition costs. PACC courses are currently offered in Kenosha and Racine Unified Schools, Burlington High School and Wilmot Union High School.
Depending on the high school, Parkside officials said students can earn from 3 to 33 college credits before graduating high school. PACC director Denise Olstinske, said these are not empty credits and that “Alumni of the program have reported 100% transferability of their PACC courses to other to other colleges and universities in Wisconsin and across the country.”
Do the math.
Let’s see, 33 credits totals up to more than a full year at college, assuming a full credit load of 15 credits per semester. So what does a year in college cost? Last year the average tuition of public four—year colleges in Wisconsin was $8,268. Toss in average on-campus living expenses and you can bump that up by another $12,518.
That totals up to $20,786 and about $3,200 less at two-year community colleges.
So you could walk across the stage on Graduation Day knowing that you could be going to campus as a sophomore and had pocketed up to $20,000 in savings because you had the good sense to double up on your classwork and get college credit.
That’s a bargain. Consider, too, that nationwide the average student debt is now $32,731 and it has gone up 20 percent in the past six years. That’s a debt that can stay with you for years after your college days are gone.
So, what do you think? You’re smart, you’re headed to college. Can you afford to pass up a bargain like this? Do yourself a favor and clip out this story or forward it to your parents.
Then go to www.uwp.edu/pacc or call PACC Director Denise Olstinske to see if qualify and can get in. Like the lawyer ad says, “One call, that’s all.” It could put money in your pocket.
