Wisconsin State Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) is fighting for clean water and tourism-and-recreation jobs, among other commitments in central Wisconsin.
So, naturally Big Ag recruited a Republican, Patrick Testin, to run against Lassa, (see MAL Contends, MAL Contends out of Madison), with a big assist from dark money.
Dark money is dumping targeted mailings aimed at water warriors Lassa and David Gorski, Democratic Party nominee for Wisconsin's 72nd assembly district.
Can't have Lassa and Gorski working for jobs, clean water and a thriving tourism business thwarting Big Ag's dumping millions of tons of untreated sewage into a sited region.
Turns out Big Ag's plans are not as popular with residents as the polluters believe, as polluters work to con central Wisconsin residents whom they play for suckers.
In northern Adams county located in assembly district 72 and senate district 24, residents often vote Republican. They still may in some races, however, now horrified by the prospects of losing their communities, water champions Lassa and Gorski are garnering heavy support in this traditionally Republican region, (Ystad, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune).
Republican dark-money forces are funneling $100,000s into these races led by the school privatization extremists and the shadowy JobsFirst Coalition run out of a P.O. box in Brookfield, Wisconsin, a "shell group tied to American Federation for Children's Scott Jensen, the former Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly who was brought down by his own campaign finance scandal," (PRWatch), (Wisconsin Democracy Coalition).
'JobsFirst' says water warrior Gorski wants to raise taxes so high, a canard, that he will leave residents "penniless," though Republicans hold for now all fiscal and taxing power in gerrymandered Wisconsin.
A different dark money mailing aimed at Lassa says Lassa should be defeated because in 2011, she and other state senators fled the special interests-laden Capitol to warn Wisconsin about the infamous bomb Scott Walker dropped on the state.
This is the best lies these guys can muster with all of their dark money?
Writes northern Adams County resident, Donald Ystad, today in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune:
If you’ve watched the mail recently, you’ve seen the attack mailers from a Washington, D.C., political action committee undermining Julie Lassa's accomplishments. So it begins, dark money from out-of-state trying to control local races.
Let me remind you that Julie Lassa was alongside us in Madison fighting against some very unfair groundwater bills. And be aware that it's the large agricultural growers with their own groundwater agenda who are funding her opponent. We need her to continue her work for our Central Sands area, representing citizens like us.
And, we need a fresh face like David Gorski in our assembly district where we struggle to gain an advantage in our fight to protect our water. While you may not have the time to show up in Madison fighting off these attempts to take away our water rights, you do have the right to vote, and that can make a difference.
Vote for clean water this November.Don Ystad
Amen, Don Ystad