** Late breaking news** — today the Wisconsin Supreme Court set oral argument for January 19. It will probably be live on Wisconsin Eye. https://www.wicourts.gov/courts/supreme/origact/docs/011122order.pdf.
Last evening’s North Shore Fair Maps meeting was our biggest ever (over 100 guests). There were so many highlights for me, I encourage folks who were not there to listen/watch while you make dinner or fold your laundry or whatnot. I especially enjoyed having Republican Walter Olson return to us from the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission. Maryland is being gerrymandered by Democrats, and he offered wisdom and encouragement. This morning one of the participants (an amica in the Concerned Voters brief) sent a timely article from the NYTimes, which opened with “How Do You Get People to Care About Gerrymandering?” and featured Maryland. And then The Week published an article titled “Wisconsin’s 1-party rule is what the GOP wants everywhere,” a reminder that power is addictive and does not let go gently, and if we don’t fix this our republic is in grave danger.
Last night’s theme was friendship….(click through for a soundtrack to accompany this read): friends of the court (amicus curiae) briefs, fair maps friends, joining friends to rally for fair maps, being a friend of election officials, and staying on top of the fight for fair maps by joining your friends at our next meeting (February 14). NSFM co-lead Cheryl Maranto talked “friendly” briefs with attorneys Joseph Goode (Concerned Voters of Wisconsin brief) and Robert Yablon (Legal Scholars brief). Then I spoke with attorney Daniel Hessel (Whitford amici brief – filed at an earlier stage of the case). Lots of good stuff during the meeting!
Watch the January 10 meeting video
Check out the January 10 slide deck (with links)
There were five friendly Action Takeaways::
- Ask a couple of your friends/family to show support as a Friend of Fair Maps – https://bit.ly/
FairMapsFriend. - Join your friends at (and bring friends to) a courthouse rally at noon on January 21 — they are all over the state — https://www.fairmapswi.com/
janrally - Our elections need friends, so join The Clerk Engagement Project – Project Description / Interest Form
- Start a friendship with your local paper — submitting letters to the editor – contact Amanda@fairmapswi.com
- Stay friends — our next meeting is February 14 who knows what might happen to our maps by then, but whatever it is, we will dissect it and take action for Fair Maps — https://bit.ly/NSFMMonthly