Happy Sunday Folks,
Today I’m going to update you on our lawsuit that attempted to remove U.S. Senator Ron Johnson and Congressmen Tom Tiffany/Scott Fitzgerald from office for aiding and abetting the insurrection on January 6th.
But before I do that, I wanted to tie our efforts into the larger picture we saw at last week’s hearing on the attempted presidential coup. In my view, the most memorable line came from Congresswoman Liz Cheney:
“Tonight I say this to my Republican colleagues who defend the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump will be gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
Her Republican colleagues include, of course, the three Wisconsin members of Congress that we sued because they engaged in criminal behavior in an attempt to “defend the indefensible.”
We regret to announce, however, that on Friday, June 3, our suit, Stencil v Johnson (US District Court ED WI), was dismissed on procedural grounds.
Certainly, all of us are disappointed in Judge Adelman’s decision. We believed our lawsuit was necessary to impose accountability on three elected officials who chose deceit and insurrection over openness and truth, filing only after it became apparent that law enforcement at both the federal and state levels were not going to act.
Now, a federal court has refused to weigh in on these crucial issues, claiming that a decision to remove insurrectionists from the ballot should be made by the Wisconsin Elections Commission...even though a member of that commission, Bob Spindell, was one of the ten fraudulent Trump electors.
Additionally, we felt it necessary to sue in federal court because we expected no justice from our state's partisan supreme court, which recently chose to accept the most Republican-biased gerrymandered maps in Wisconsin's history.
We have now been screwed on three different levels, and have nowhere else to turn other than to our fellow citizens.
It’s clear that our democracy will be preserved by us alone: no one else will step up, because whatever the justice department may do based on the January 6th hearings will be too late to keep these Wisconsin criminals off the ballot.
We knew the suit was a long-shot, and I hope all of you who chipped in to help pay for it still think it was worth the effort. SOMEONE needed to TRY to hold these guys accountable.
We attempted to get accountability through our own Attorney General Josh Kaul, but he seemingly didn’t have the stomach for it. And Merrick Garland, if he does anything at all, is moving at a snail’s pace which further augments our collective frustration that seemingly nothing can be accomplished by the only sane party left standing—one that controls both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government but nonetheless seems paralyzed to act.
Unfortunately, it is clear to us that the only avenue left is the vote. Everyone must vote like our democracy depends on it for its very survival, because it does.
In Wisconsin, we’ve only got a few ways left to hold onto what we have, which is currently a barely-functioning democracy. We have to re-elect Tony Evers as our governor next fall. He’s the only one that can hold back the tsunami of Republican deceit and corruption waiting in the wings.
And although no one is thinking about it now, another way to save Wisconsin is by electing a progressive state supreme court justice in the 2023 spring elections. This would change the balance of that court, which is currently a right-wing circus that has wreaked colossal damage on our state over the last decade.
And in Northern Wisconsin, we have to get a little crazy to make things better, because in our neck of the woods, a Democrat ain’t gonna win…yet.
So for us, the decision was clear to work with a moderate, pro-choice, pro-common-sense-gun-regulation Republican who believes Congressman Tom Tiffany aided the insurrection, lied about it, and should never hold public office again.
This Republican is Dave “Ty” Kunelius.
Ty just got on the Republican primary ballot a few weeks ago, and practically nobody knows who he is, but we hope to change that.
As a Super PAC, we can’t coordinate efforts to help get Ty elected, but we can send you to his website to donate to his campaign. Here it is.
Also, because we have a large megaphone, we’re going to be letting Republicans know throughout the 7th district over the next 3 months that there IS another Republican on the ballot who won’t burn down America or allow “Big Mining” to proverbially “burn down” our lakes and streams.
For you see, “Traitor Tom Tiffany,” before the January 6th insurrection, was known as “Toxic Tom Tiffany” because he is wholly owned by the pollution lobby even though he represents the most pristine parts of Wisconsin.
And yes, the chances that Ty beats Tiffany in the Republican Primary this August are slim, but it’s not impossible given that the January 6th hearings will show millions of Wisconsin voters how intricately woven Tiffany and other federal representatives were into the conspiracy to overthrow our government.
And even if Ty loses, the megaphone we have in deep red Northern Wisconsin (through billboards, radio, podcasts, and social media) will allow us to continuously beat the drum to moderate Republicans that their leaders currently “defending the indefensible” have got to go. And of course, any minds we can change “Up North” should help the statewide efforts to elect Tony Evers and remove Ron Johnson from office in November.
If you want to help us keep our megaphone, please consider donating to the Super PAC here.
The obvioulsy MORE FUN way to contribute is to buy our beer and merchandise. You can now get our beer in Wisconsin, Chicago, Minneapolis, Duluth, and Washington D.C.
We may have lost a court case, but that doesn’t deter us. What we’re doing is right in the eyes of every good, clear-thinking person, and that's enough to keep us going.
Thanks for sticking with us, and please visit us in Minocqua now that our new taproom is open (317 Front St. is our temporary location, 329 Front St. will be ready in a few weeks).
Together, we can Make Wisconsin a Democracy Again, One Beer at a Time.
Kirk Bangstad
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC.
