It's been a helluva week here at the Minocqua Brewing Company and Super PAC. We took two great steps forward, and unfortunately a few painful steps backward.
But let's focus first on the steps forward.
As you hopefully remember, we raised $30K from you to start a program with Citizen Action of Wisconsin to call voters in the largest and reddest Northern Wisconsin cities--Hudson, Rhinelander, and Wausau--to educate them about the ills of gerrymandering. Here's a report of what's happened so far.
We've called 4K out of our 20K goal, and asked them this question:
"On a scale of 1-10, do you agree that our voting districts should be drawn by a nonpartisan group in a way that is transparent, provides for public input, and keeps our villages, towns, cities, and counties together?"
Here are the stats: over 80% of people agreed with that statement and a whopping 33% of people answered a PERFECT 10 immediately!
And here's the kicker. When someone gives us a perfect 10 immediately, there's no need for our phone bankers to try and educate or convince these voters that gerrymandering is bad, so they spend that time informing the caller that their republican legislator is against fair maps, and if that fact makes them mad, they should call them and complain. And approximately 50% of those people are telling us they're going to make those calls.
Folks, we think we're on to something. We're getting data that's telling us that gerrymandering is so distasteful to the average voter that once they hear it's happening in their towns, many are willing to pick up the phone and tell their legislators to stop cheating.
This level of anger makes us think that if we keep beating this drum, voters who usually vote straight Republican may change those votes over this issue alone in 2022.
That's why we're going to extend our project another two months to call another 20K voters and try to raise another $30K to do this work.
We'd love your help in raising this money. The easiest way to do that is to buy our Fair Maps IPA or associated Merchandise.
If you want more of your dollars going directly to this cause, you don’t have to buy anything and can donate directly to the Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC here.
If you HATE Super PACs and don’t trust us, then by all means donate directly to Citizen Action of Wisconsin here: This link is coded so that your donation will go directly to fund this project.
Now for our second step forward: The Up North Podcast has made it to Prime Time! We are now being aired live every week on Madison's Devil Radio, 92.7.
Why is that important, you ask? Here's why:
Northern Wisconsin is where balanced reporting goes to die. The few-but-aging-into-obsolescence local papers are super conservative, out-of-touch, and amplify the misinformation folks get if they watch Fox News or subscribe to Q-Anon.
Our podcast focuses on Northern Wisconsin issues through a progressive lens, and our goal is to give folks up here a regular dose of truth to combat the misinformation, and the more platforms we get like Devil Radio, the more ways there will be for people to tune in.
To watch this week's episode, go here.
And finally, here's some bad news.
We have a contract to buy this cute little old gas station and turn it into a tap room, but to begin the project we need to demolish an old house, and the guy that was supposed to do this work refused because of our politics, thus delaying construction by about 2 months. This means it will be next to impossible to sell our beer out of that location by Memorial Day, the beginning of the tourism season. We're currently looking for a temporary solution because so many of you have been telling us for months you can't wait to visit and buy #progressivebeer once you're vaccinated and traveling again.
Additionally, and this is a bit personal, I've been renting a house in downtown Minocqua (close to the old brewpub) since my wife passed three years ago and our old house on Mid Lake was sold. The groundswell of negativity towards my progressive stance in this conservative town unfortunately infected my landlords, who have now told me I have to move out. This is a personal setback but still fits into this email's theme because it is overtly political. If you want to read the story, which I decided to make into a mini-play because it seemed so dramatic, read here.
In short, as I knew when I first hung out a Biden sign and met huge resistance from my County Board, being a progressive voice in this area wasn't going to be easy and there would be people fighting me every step of the way. I'm ok with that. I signed up for that.
Like life, the road to progress zigs and zags, but keeps moving forward. Thanks for reading, and thanks for caring about Wisconsin. We can and will get Northern Wisconsin back on track, which will hopefully get this swing state back on track, which will hopefully help keep our country a healthy democracy.
Kirk